Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-18
FISH CHAFES
UNDER DELAY
COUNTING OF PROXIES MAKES
SLOW PROGRESS
Hartman Says Investigations Such as
Interstate Commerce Commissions
Are Injurious to the Country
and Finance
By Associated Press.


CHICAGO, Oct 17.-Until three men
who are locked in room assiduously
counting proxies are able to report to the
stockholders of the Illinois Central there
will be no election of directors. Twice
today the stockholders assembled, only
to be told that the proxy inspectors were
not prepared to report.
The adjournment was taken after
o'clock in the afternoon and carried the
meeting over until tomorrow at o'clock.
The attorneys for Mr.. Hartman, who
have been anxious to push matters to q
speedy conclusion, chafed sorely under
the delays imposed by the proxy in
spectors.
When it was evident at the morning
meeting that the committee would not be
able to report, Mr. Cromwell went to
Judge Edgar Farrar, who represents Mr..
Fish, with the proposition that all the
proxies should be thrown upon a table
in the general meeting, and that con-
fiicting proxies should be thrown out.
This would have killed ALI the revoca-
tions that have been made.
Before it was definitely announced that
the proxy committee would not be able
to report, the attorneys on both sides
were somewhat startled by the sugges-
tion that the transfer books of the COM
pany were open. When the stockholders
meeting was originally called it was not
thought that 1T would last over one day,
and the announcement was made that the
books would be open again on October IT,.
Leave Books Open
After a hasty conference it was de-
cided that there was no way in which
the books could be closed today and it
was therefore decided that they should
be, allowed to remain open until p. M,
when they were again closed until next
Tuesday at IL a. m.
1t was agreed between the attorneys
that no effort should be made on either
side to purchase stock during the day.
The attendance today was much smaller
than yesterday, and only a few persons
were present when the final adjournment
was taken. The situation remains un
changed. Both sides claim they expect
to control the meeting. and both are
hunting earnestly for proxies, or for the
revocation of proxies recently given. Mr..
Hartman is credited witn sufficient conf
dence in the outcome to have offered
dictatorship to a prominent banker of this
city.
When the annual meeting of the Illinois
Central stockholders reconvened today 1t
was evident that the chances for vote
on the directors today were small. The
proxy committee which had worked for
the greater part of the night had gone
on through the letters A to B and had
gotten little way into G.
Hartman today declared he believed
1t would be an excellent thing for the
country II cooperation could be secured
between conflicting interests without re-
course to such examinations as are con-
Quoted by the interstate commerce COM
mission and similar inquisitoriai bodies.
ATTACKS Make Me Sick"
."The attacks on capital that have been
going on throughout the country for SO
long" he declared. ARE enough to make
a man sick. The country is tired of it,
and the newspapers must get something
else to print or they will not sell any
longer.
1.-THE thing for the parties to do is to
hold a conference with representatives
Of the press and avoid this flood of state-
ments. Both sides can have fair hear
ing Sometimes a railroad may be tech
nically guilty OF violation OF the law
where it is not 80 in spirit. 1t is to
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