The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-28
PUBLIC OPINION
REP. PECK TO THE COURANT.
 Bedding, Conn, June 25, 1911. To The Editor.


 Hartford Courant
 Hartford Conn
 am in receipt of your paper of the 24th inst, in which your editorial on The Public Utility Bill is blue pen- oiled. I am assuming that every Representative of the Legislature has copy with the hope that a paper such as yours might influence him to defeat the will of the public by vot- ing against the Judson Bill It takes no careful mind to determine in ad- vance which side of legislation the Courant would affiliate with, either now or in the future. The demand for reasonable Public Utility Bill such as the Judson Bill is, has not come from the hysteria of ambitious politicians. nor class of citizens who are bent on the destruction of corpo- rations vested rights, but from the thinking people who have stood abuses patiently, hoping that they were tenn porary and would be corrected. Such attitudes by the people have only been an encouragement for further depredations by the public service companies until the people, the whole demanding a fair conservation of such corporations as this "Judson Bill' pre- scribes. There is not one single re- striction in it that decent corpora tion should shrink from, there are ommissions of importance, and one in particular, and that is. that no public service corporation shall issue stock Or bonds without consent of the Pub lie Utility Commission. I am an in vestor in one of the tributary com- panies of the N. r., N. H. & H. R. R. O., and I would much prefer to be a stockholder under this Judson Bill than without it. AS an investor in bs astation of its assets, but on the con- trary the only way in which the stock holder may be protected is through a bill of this kind. It's only a few years ago that the stock of the New Haven railroad was selling above $215 per share, it's now at $1S5 on an 8 per cent. basis. It may have been expedient from the Money Powers" point of view to acquire the ontario & Western R. R., and the other prop critics which they have subsequently, absorbed. This has been done through the consent of the whole stockholders, you would answer, but how. The thousands of stockholders of small holding send their proxies to the in cum bent directors and are utterly ig- norant of the purposes of the direc- tory. It's a case of sending them or withholding; 1t makes no difference. The list of stockholders are not ob- talnable from the company by the stockholders, unless the company de- sires. It is pretty we'll understood to- day by the people that are abreast of the times, that the quick money get ting is by the directors to vote an is- sue of bonds for some purpose, and then get in on the underwriting at sS50 for a $100O bond. Its the feature of any regulation that the President of the N. Y.,s N. H. & Hartford Rail- road objects, he characterizes it as in terference. Last Falls election de- veloped the fact that there were 12,- 900 Socialistic votes cast in this state. Such a condition should suggest a thoughtful inquiry to every citizen for reason. If these public service corporations are to defy the will of the people in their utter greed for in- dividual gain. I predict the time is not far distant when there will be leg islation against them that will be un- fair and unreasonable, and will only come through their indifference of public opinion.
 support a strike bill against a public corporation, any more than I would against an individual. I am inter- tors plane and I know there is no need from an investors position to fear Public Utility Bill such as ex- ists in New York which is far more drastic than the Judson Bill
 Yours truly,
 L. O. PECK.
 The Nugget Is sold in all cigar