The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-24

5 Besides the election of the board c : directors of the road for the ensuin year and the passage of resolution , approving and ratifying the action of directors and officers during tn past year, the annual meeting of tn : stockholders of the New Haven roat ! was featured by several statements O interest by President MeIlen regard Il ing the doings and plans of the com
 pany and the adoption of a resolution approving the action of the officials I in executing an agreement for the Ielectrification of the road between l Boston and Providence and the four I tracking of the. same.
 l The most interesting and i1lun1inat- I ing portion of the session occurred l when President Mel1en announced that he was ready to answer question: I which the stockholders might desire to 1 put to him.
 I the following among other questions: ssMr. President, is there some way we can hold on to our steamship prop critics without turning them out and 1 selling them?''
 l Mr. MeIlen answered: ssIn regard to l that, there has been a vast amount of
 transformation recently. The direc-
 tors spoke in their report of segregat- l ing the steamships from the New Eng l land Navigation Company because of the pending legislation]ar1d 1t was  written. We do not consider the seg5 regation of the property of the New Ezhgland Navigation Company any compliance with the terms of the Isthmian Canal act, which requires railroads to part with their interests in steamships. What we were trying to do was to segregate the operations of our steamship lines from the Inn menSe number of undertakings there are under the head of the New Eng land Navigation Company. For in stance The New EnRIand NaViRHtiOn Company has over $16 6000, GOO of se- curities of other companies in it's treaSurN We felt that if we were to
 be required to sell, it would be neees- sary that the operations of the steam ships be separated from all of the other undertakings under the head Of epany. Therefore,, we established the
 New England Steamship Company
 and had the steamship property care
 fully appraised and sold it to the New
 England Steamship Company for stock
 and bonds of that company. which
 stock and bonds are owned by the Since the first of July, 1912, the steam
 ship properties have been in opera
 ton by the New England Steamship
 Company in every respect as if they
 were independent properties, and we
 are therefore getting for the first time
 a direct line upon the operations of
 our steamship properties in Long Is land Sound. It is not our intention to dispose of them unless we are obliged to, and the IsthmiaH Canal act offers a Way of keeping them, mission agrees In due time we shall undoubtedly make our formal petition for the purpose of seeing if they will consent to our retention, and assume they will consent because the steam boat lines were instituted by the rail- roads themselves as direct extensions from tidewater to New York. For seventy years they have been part and parcel of the railroads. I. do not know just what the effect of parting with them to an entirely outside in terest would be- but we are in shape with the New England Company as it shares of stock, and when we have sold that stock we are done with the steamship business In the meantime l two or three parties have undertaken to negotiate with us. We have told them we did not want to sell, we were not purposing to selb but if an offer tractive would submit it to our boardt of directors. I should deplore the ne-sI cessity for selling; do not believe | we are going to be required to sell; I | do not believe the interests of the | that we serve will be protected by the sale, but all that is the interstate commerce commission and permission must be given-other- wise we must sell on or before July |. 1s14''
 - Attempts 10 WT0ch 4HttAI.
 MT. Mellen went on further to say: .T have little information which I + have complied that I thought would be of interest to you because it shows some of the difficulties surrounding the management of a railroad cor poration. like ours. From January 1st, 1908 to October 18th, of this year, there have been placed 149 obstruc- lions on our tracks for the purpose of derailing trains. This is an aver age of one in less than every 12 days
 
 this year there have been fl cases, or an average of one a week. That is the community in which we are living; that is the difficulty, one of the difficulties under which we areI eontending, and it indicates state of feeling in the popular mind that af- lords you food for thought. In a highly civilized community like this many of the obstructions were on our main line between New York and Boston-when you take that into con sideration, doesn't it indicate that here is something wrong? put it 70 you to think it out for yourselves. think many Of you will lind the ' .eason.
 stI would like to explain had hoped some of you would ask me, but nasmuch as you won't, will explain. There has been a great deal said, md with a great deal of vehenn ence, : n the newspapers that we have failed he Interstate Commerce commission with regard to the Bridgeport disas- CT. and with the result that the . Vestport accident was one of the hings that might .be expected from aiIing to observe those reeornmenda-J ions. The facts are an insp peetor vas appointed by the Interstate CoIn-t nerce omission to make an inves-E igaticn of the Bridgeport wreck, and le made his report to the commis-t ion The commission has never , made any finding or recommenda- ions on that report whatsoever. all the statemen that we ! re disobeying or have ignored any z Commerce commission, are made out < f whole-.cloth, no matter by whom z nade Nothing has ever come to nystr of any reconm enda ton whatsoever of the Interstate Com aerce commission that has been dist T