Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-02-28
THE C. & O. BEING INVESTIGATED.

THE C. & o. BEING INVESTIGATED.
As the panic frightened and moLey
became scarcer and scarcer, the sour
ces of trouble were sought. Every
day some industry quit, banks toppled
aud fell, and railroads cut down forces
or ceased proposed improvements In
all of this financial melee. crashing,
| falling aud general destruction OF for.
tunes, nobody was so loudly damned
as the President. The States in their
determination to stop the loot of their
citizens, had begun TO demand lower
rates of travel and freight. These. too.
were also given an all around aud gen
eral cussing. The country was told
that the Preside ut and the States were
the real cAuses of the panic, and es-
peciaIly the causes of the existing lack
of confidence, making capital hide and
those with money afraid to lend it.
For these reasons the railroads had
stopped all improvements, entirely
buub oOWA AORo Ado OSCn
compelled to discharge thousands of
lemployes, and many other things
which tended to Increase the hard
times. Tley pointed to these as the
causes Of their stocks being unstable
and their bonds drug on the market.
The public, had by the railroad 3 FER
sisteuce in publishing these stories,
almost come to the conclusion that the
| railroads were right, and the Presl
dent and the States were wrong This
belief was somewhat shaken when the
Pennsylvania system WAS put under
the Xray and the roLtenness there laid
before the public. Most people did not
want money invested in such bust
ness, or the bonds of a corporation as
crooked as that one was shown to be.
The Legislature of Virginia as
sem bled not long ago, and petitions
were presented, telling how wrong it
is, and has bsen, to treat our rail ways
so badly, when they ale and have been
doing so much for the State and deal
ing SO fairly with the people. The
people had almost grown ashamed of |
into their midst. 1t came like clap |
of thunder from clear SKY. The q. |
& o. Railway was under the x-ray.
Something had happened to it. 1t was
laid upon the operating table and
great gaping wound it was seen, had |
been inflicted, right in its integrity,
which wound is now being treated by |
that eminent surgeon, Uncle Sam.
This road has been caught red handed.
1t has been making false bills of !,
lading," a crime under the Hepburn
Bill, punishable py fine and lmpris0n-
ment in the penltentiary in each case !
Uncle Sam g agents are at work, and |
there is trouble ahead. Books ha We
been burned, evidence destroyed and
much doubtful work done. Does it not
strike the average man that such
management will do more to discredit
railway securities in one minute than
all Mr.. Roosevelt might say in year ?
LIS it any wonder that investors do not
want the securities of railway which
cannot act straight, and which does
not satisfy itself with the usual prac-
tice of plucking the general public,
but has become so anabalistic that it
has been eating it's kind? This is a
sad case. The worst enemy Of railways
and especially the g. & o. did not want
such thing to happen. 1t begins to
look as if the charge long since made
against railways generally, that they
cannot deal honestly, is true. Such
work will necessarily discredit our
securities at home and abroad, because
the value OF such securities is largely
based on the individual honesty and
integrity of the officers of the corpora
tion issuing them.