The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-09
COMMISSIONERS SAY WASTE
 IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DROP
 IN NEW HAvEN'S DIVIDENDS
tcontinued fror Page 1.l

fly answered.
 The New York, Westchester & Bos- ton Railway, the evidence disclosed, four-track electric road extending from White Plains. N. Y., to ter minus at Harlem River, a distance of 20 miles. was built and is owned by -he New Haven. When it was open ed for business in 1912 it had cost the New Haven about S34,O00,OO0, $12, coo. .0OO in excess of the value of the property on the New Haven's own showing
 Again the question arises suggests Commissioner Prouty, ." What has be- come of this SIP, 2,OO0,0oo? So far as the records go this money has vanish ed into thin air."
 The property is expected in time to earn its fixed charges and perhaps be profitable The report points out that --a1 this in no respect alters the quaI- sty of the transactions In any as pect of the matter, the patrons or those lines are required to pay upon an investment which never has been made. annd thereby subjected to a perpetual unjust eXaction."
 The acquisition by the New Haven Of trolley lines in Massachusetts is reviewed at length. Particular ref e-ence is made to the operations of J. L. Billiard in connection with the purchase by the New Haven of Bos- ton G Maine stock. The conclusion of the. report is that the New Haven Go. gave away to Billiard and his as sociates about $S, S,0oo,0oO of the prop ertv Of the New Haven
 These transactions says the re- port. "are probably extreme, but by no means solitary. The other outside ventures of the New Haven Co.,, have been almost uniformly prosecuted at a loss This is true of it's trolley ac- auisitions in Connecticut and Massa- chusetts, as well as Rhode Island and New York; it Is true of it's purchase of railroad stocks and steamship lines. MT 8IeIlen entered into an elaborate defense of his management of this property. and he was able to point to but a single instance in which, up to the rresent time, the venture had been profitable He had purchased the Central Railroad Of New Eng land, and the profit upon that trans action had been a handsome one"
 The transactions If President Mel len in giving his personal notes to his own company for stock are discussed at length by Commissioners Prouty.
 On transactions in New Haven stock. bought with such notes, the re- port says, there were profits of $102,- 600 but the New Haven's books do not show to what use the money had been put.
 His statement was that the amount
 
 lures during the summer and fall of 1904. that this had been done by di- rection of his directors, and that they had subsequently, ratified his act These campaign contributions call for no comment from us. The act of the New Haven was not peculiar to that company at that time. What may be open to criticism is the lax way in which this matter was handled be- tween an officer of this company and its directors The special account shows a payment to MT Me1len of $50, ,o00 in cash, which he passed over to the Republican National Campaign Committee It shows a second pay ment to MT Buckiand, now vice-pres- idet of the company, of $6,50o which was turned over to the RepuD- ncan State Committee of Rhode Isl and"
 The investigation disclosed that such stock transactions extended over 3 considerable period and from time to time Mellen was given various large sums for various purposes unstated or the books of the company He ex- pIained that the amounts he received were for campaign contributions and for other expenses, including one item of S33, 900 spent in connection with certain leases of dock property 1T New York City" Commissicnel Prouty says the Commission doubt!
 
 keeping of accounts between MT Mel len and his company. 'fIf," says ths report, 'the president of this corpo ration expends money in connection with the purchase of a lease he should take a voucher for the same If tht expenditure is not such that vouch CT can be taken, it ought not to b; made" It is pointed out that all O MT. MelIen's notes to the New Have1 have been hquidated, except one fo, s5.OOO. but many of them involve transactions which are not disclosed by the books.
 The marine equipment of the Nev Haven was manipulated, according t' the report in a way to defy analysis
 The New Haven earnestly insists, says Commissioner Prouty, that al these involutions and evolutions, al these kaleidoscope transformations injure nobody. This may be true, bu the purpose of bookkeeping is to ex hfbit a plain history of the fnancia operations covered. The purpose, O at least the effect, of this New Havel bookkeeping, is to utterly beclou, those operations so as to render an. intelligent understanding of them i'm possible If the thing done is legiti mate, why not do it in a direct way If the purpose be honest, why cloth it in the habiliments of the mounte bankz The use of such methods i the management of public utilitie should not be tolerated.
 "Our general conclusion is that th outside financial operations of tn New Haven Company for the last min years have been wasteful in the ex treme and that the methods by whic those operations have been conduct ed are unnecessarily involved an complex The reason for this is a apparent as the fact itself. Tn rr1-o7+ of started out with the purpose of con trolling the transportation facilities C New England. In the accomplish ment of this purpose 1t bought wha must be had and paid what must b paid. To this purpose and it's al tempted execution can be traced ever one Of these financial misfortunes an dAraIfr+fors