Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-03-12

ark is even more contemplate. TO con
troll and not to own is the motto here.
Frenzied at the treatment they are re-
ceiving at the hands of the trust
people, the minority stockholders sent
a representation to aid the EVENING
STARS fight at Trenton recently, and
now they propose wrestling h COM
pany from the trust, il they are com
PEELED to make financial sacrifices, By
throwing the company into the hands
of a receiver in order to accomplish It,
A history of the telephone situation
in the city of Newark since the first
telephone was installed to the present
time is interesting at this time. 1t was
on January 8, 1880, more h thirty
years ago, that the Bell Telephone
Company received permission from the
Common Council OF Newark to erect
poles and string telephone wires
through the streets. 1t was six years
later, on April %, 1885, that an indie
pendent telephone company came into
the Newark field. 1t was called the
Citizens Telephone Company, and the
same permission as given to the Bel
people was granted to its rival. The
competing company did not prove to be
a formidable one, and q year later the
Two concerns sold their rights and
property to the New York and New
Jersey Telephone Company. That was
the opening wedge of the trust, which
is now second to none in the world.
The Board of Works gave the tele-
phone people the right to build con
duits underground and to put wires in
them. That was speedily done, and
the Improvement was a step in the
right direction. In 1895 along came tn
Newark Telephone Company. 1t asked
for and received the same rights TO
build conduits and put in cables ana
wires. Another independent concern,
known as the Union Telephone n
Telegraph Company, bobbed up, but its
rights were quickly acquired by the
trust. The Newark Telephone Com
pany was not so easy TO fall into the
clutches of the trust, but 1t eventually
did. With all competition out of the
field. 1t was an easy matter for the
trust to abolish the fiat rate for IN
limited service and adopt the measured
system of rates which now prevails.
The fifteen years existence of the
| Newark Telephone Company is an in
teresting one. John w. Gwinnell, since
deceased, was president of the COM
pany and the stock found ready buy
ers at $40 a share. The company abou
four years ago seemed to be on the road
to success. Secretly the trust was get
ting possession OF the stock and at
the annual meeting of the stockholders
recently the following directors were
elected:
James B.. Curtis, president; A. Nor
ton-Taylor, secretary and treasurer;
Edward w. Jones, l.. L. Staehle, Will
lam s. RICHTER, Dudley G.. Browning
and Walter DeRonde. Browning is a
special agent FOR the company and re-
sides at Metuchen, while DeRonde Is
the superintendent. Mr.. Staehle, who
is a druggist in South Orange avenue,
does not want the honor of being a
dummy director" as he humbly puts
It, and he has forwarded his r~esigna-
ton TO the His chief reason
for resigning is because the executive
committee of the board of directors Is
doing everything in it's power to block
the growth of the company, whose sub
scribers are fast dwindling away. The
company has never declared a dividend
and the minority stockholders assert
that if the trust yoke was thrown off
the concern would prosper. That allie
CATION will figure prominently in the
petition for a receiver. (,
What Report showed
The report of President James b..
Curtis recently issued showed that the
deficit for the year, leaving out of ac-
coun an item of interest on 100000 OF
outstanding bonds, which, according to
the declaration of one of the stockhold-
ers, has not been paid for the past fif-
teen years, was approximately $4,000.
This, of course, made the declaration
Of a dividend out of the question and
caused general dissatisfaction. Mr..
Staehle, who has resigned as a director,
said: There is no use in being director
OF a company when you know just as
little about what is going on as the
minority stockholders do. / was a
member of the board last year, but all
We did was to approve the minutes.
We directors never saw any of the in
coming or outgoing money. There is
something radically wrong with the
management of the company.
Even with the stock issue
iuc Company IoShCh DOlido ~ liz
amount of $500, 900, and has never been
able to pay one cent of the interest, so
that you can readily see that the
amount due at the present time is enor-
nous. Curtis and Taylor run the COM
pany and its affairs. We seem to be
around simply for the want of some
thing better. There isn't a stakeholder
in the company to my knowledge, with
the exception of the two men [ have
named, who knows of anything that has
been done or will be lone for the COM
pany's good"
Another ~stoekholder, b.. s. Lauder
bach, said that it is a well-known fact
that the trust controls the Newark
company, and that 1t is doing every
thing possible to prevent any progress
or extension of its business. Mr..
Lauderbach, who owns 1903 shares, says
that the minority stockholders have
been prevented by wilful management
from receiving any dividends on their
money invested.
Edward Zusi, who owns about as
much stock as is credited to President
Curtis, is strong i'm his denunciation of
the company's management. He says
that the Bell people have controlled the
company FOR the past five years. The
only redress left for the minority stock
holders, according TO Mr.. Zusi, is to
have the ompan divorced from the