The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-01
NEsLEN HTS OUT.
(continued from First Page.)

t
 can conceive of nothing that has
 been done or has been contemplated
 that can in any way impair the ability
 of the company to earn and pay it's
 dividends and with a good surplus, to reinforce that dividend as against re- Eoession in business and 1 am unable to account-except that the company mas been engaged in great many trans actions-for any apprehension or uncer- tainty, or doubt regarding the staplllty of any investment In any class or the companys securities. So far as my m | formation goes, there are none or tue investments that have been made py the company but what coulo pc as
 posed of at very handsome advances l even in these times of tight money Tn lexcess of the cost of price. Indeed With isorne of the investments of the com Lpany, it has been with great difncuity lthat we have fenced off parties that lwere desirous of acquiring them at our hands and at prices thaf seemed very, Iyerv attractive to the directors, and lhut for the desirabilityl of keeping the system intact, knowing what 1t could do | as it is constituted, and having Tn mlnu bthe doubt and uncertainty that might Ecome about from it's dismemberment, Hike parting with its steamboats, its
 trolleys It's Poughkeepsie. bridge line. land other lines I think the prices of Ifered us would have tempted us almost | beyond the power of resistance
 If the gentlemen desire ana Will pc
 more specific as to any particular point | they are in doubt about l will to the lbestA of my ability try and reassure them on those particular points; but
 generally speaking, the year should
 show surplus of approximately two
 and three quarter millions or dollaTs over and above the necessities for dl- vidends. The only uncertain, unhappy, elements with which the management | has to contend are the demands of orr ganized labor, which are tremendous, and which will cost us. the coming year increases in wages; and the un- fortunate situation we are in with re- gard to the freight car demurrag which is doubled by the American Rai!-
 way association, beginning July l, lS0b which will make another SSOO,0O0 in- crease in our expenses. Therefore, I have to look in the face from July l, 1907, an increase in the expenses Of | this company of $1,000,000 from these two items alone, and l regret to say that so far as the organized labor item
 is concerned that I am meeting con- stantly decreased efficiency, with every
 increase granetd in wages
 The earnings of the company are ex- oeedingly good at the present time they run from four to five thousand dollars a month in excess of last year but very little of 1t is net, and very little of it will be net; and l think the
 company will be fortunate if it's rates from time to time that are required,
 making also the necessary increase in
 wages that are required, continuing d
 reasonable scale of improvement ex- penditures. If 1t shall maintain hand
 some surplus while protecting its eight
 per cent. dividend. Nothing that have anything to do with, nothing that I shall ever consent to, will in my iudg- ment impair the ability of the company to continue it's present rate of divi- dends.