The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-29
TRoILAF oVERCsPrrALIz TION.

 role of schoolmaster In no mean con nection. Without regard to what has been undertaken and achieved under previous administrations in the way of over-capitalization, in the case of troll ley companies, he Is proceeding to take intelligent advantage of his position as chief executive. who is charged with the protection of the public against i'm mature legislation. to lay down in time ly veto messages the principles of con- duct which should animate the general assembly. It was high time that such educational tasks were set the legisla- ture without regard to the errors in judgment which have been made in the past
 The bothersome thing about 1t all is that what the governor is endeaVoring to accomplish is as old as the oldest of the most offensive trolley charters. When the first group of promoters sue cessfully undertook to take advantage of the need of the travelling public for rapid transit by gratifying it, while absorbing rights which were scandalous in their looseness of construction, there were those who cried out in indignant and prophetic protest. They insisted that trolley builders should build hon. estly with their own money; that their right to issue bonds by the sale of which the public would do the building should be restricted and that the term capital stock" should have meaning which could be construed and even parsed This sentence from Governor Woodruff's most recent veto message has familiar ring, as if it were the utterance of some old friend These railways have been largely, and in many instances it is believed entirely, constructed and equipped with money realized from bonds authorized by the | charters and sold to the investing pulp He, and in such cases little if anything has been paid by the subscribers for the capital stock, which has been a perquisite for the promoters of the road, This 'watered stock forms the basis upon which the dividends are to be paid for which the public is expect ed to supply the funds"
 Connecticut has been a notorious sim ner in these particulars. It has nip- panty granted charters to promoters who have overcapitalized their com panies without other regard than the limit of the public to be fooled. The result has been that in more than one 1 instance the public has been asked to 1 earn an amount of money for them in l the form of interest on bonds and dlv- i idends on stock, which has made maln- tenance heavy burden, and improve ments in the service impossible. The capital stock of such corporations has not represented so much cash or property; it has represented all that the cunning and greed of experienced promoters have succeeded in developing during several years given over to the deliberate de- ception of the public. When the Con l soldated took over the Connecticut Railway and Lighting company President Melen' openly regretted be- fore the railroad committee of the general assembly that he had been obliged to purchase such an inordin- ate amount of "wind and water" If we understand Governor Woodruff's s purpose, and it would appear to be im- possible to misunderstood it, is is the abrupt termination of the exploitation of the investing public for the benefit of promoters purses. It is not to the point that the substitute policy is a laggard in presenting itself. It is al together to the purpose that the rule should be adopted that past tricks are not to be repeated and that when this fact is firmly established, 1t will be possible to begin study in how to correct some of the errors of the past
 Tn other words, there are signs that Connecticut. if the governor has his way, which is manifestly the way of the public, proposes to begin to act like an honest business man.
 We are not unfamiliar with tho siren argument that it makes a mere theoretical difference how the money is raised to construct these useful public tools of travel, and that their possess sion is the great thing. And it may be added that the state of Connecticut has been tremendously benefited by the roads which have been built, but it is by no manner of means demon- strated that in the long run Connecti- cut would not have been better off had it compelled trolley managers to pro- mote with some regard for sound and honest business principles. Honest money would have been found to build the railways, while the absence of the necessity to earn dividends on wind and water" would in all probability