The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1913-03-21


extended right 10 tue company Of
expiration. should ht This time ho
/ fnllv cstsl lshed and adopted Re
specifically H. r. PECK,
March ~ PRIEST A. u. r. 4 H. Co.
shylock Versus Portia.
Tho Governor. IN his morning state.
mont drew upon his knowledge ~
Shakespeare 10 point his moral. saying;
"Mr Peck persists in misundcr.
standing mo. hut In doing 20 he un.
Willingly comedies my argument
Gle assumes my statement 10 10
that his company has been violating
tho law and proceeds both In his first
statement and in his statement pub
lishcd this morning to point out that
the company has acted within the law.
My contention, however. has been, not
that his company has violated the law,
as TO which | have expressed no opin
ION, but that the law itself has created
an inoquitabe relation between tho
company and the public and that that
inequitable relation should not be ox-
tended at all, much less for long
period, and indeed tnat no extension
should be granted unless the arrange
meut between the public and the com.
pany is made equitable from this time
| on.
"To take an analogy from Shakes
peare, Mr.. Peck takes the position of
Shylock in saying substantially. IN
have my bond . . | stand here for
law | crave the law, the penalty
and forfeit of my bond. | take the
position, with Portia that the bond
when carefully analysed might be found
to be not quite so good as he thinks
but that il is n pretty bad bond at best
and should not be continued unless
amended so as to be reasonable and
equitable.
f'Throughout his statements Mr..
Peck shows Enthusiastically that his COM
pany proposes TO claim everything in
sight and even goes farther than | did
10y intimating that his company expects
to claim few things not in sight. At
any rate, the company is going to stick
by its bond. In his first statement
last Friday he said, with reference to n
square deal by the public, Il submit
that our franchise or contract alone dc.
termines what this "square deal' shall
be In his statement this morning he
quotes the law as constituting the con.
tract between the public and the com.
pany and says This contract cannot
consent of the company That is just
it, The company has good thing and
proposes to make the best of it, but tho
! public should not permit itself to be
deceived into granting an extension of
that contract until it is made equitable.
"lle also makes the contention which
| predicted he would make when the
time came, although / hardly thought
he would make it SO soon, that the com.
pany can build its road on bonds or
earnings and issue watered stock to the
! amount of the entire cost plus 25 per
cent, then pay off the bonds and the
stock out of the earnings and keep the
road, besides and ask the public to pay
for it again if it wants it; in other
= words, that the public may have to pay
at least three and quarter times tho
. cost of the road to n company that has
!, either not put anything into it or has
taken everything out that it has put
into it and drawn goo& dividends be.
sides.
=, "He further supports my prediction
! by showing that the company con.
= tends that even now under the law it
can issue 81 ,40S,750 additional of wa.
:, tered stock to its stockholders without
their putting any additional capital
:, into the business, and it may be ex-
Il pected to do this, if permitted to do it,
- rs soon as it becomes to its interest
n to do it. He seems to concede that the
,. company has already issued 100000 Of
9 stock to the stockholders, for which
they have paid nothing. had sup.
> posed it was less amount
Z" He quotes the figures thus far-as
a if they were any criterion to go by for
:. the future. In my original statement
y | showed that the proposed extension
y would be the fat period for the com
=. pany, after the company had passed its
h developing stage and the city had
q grown to two or three times its size
!. mt the time the franchise was granted,
II and yet it shows that even during this
>. early developing period the company
# has paid in dividends 1881 ,2S6.05 on
a n capital investment by its stockhold-
a ers of $7O7 800, besides issuing
d 100000 stock dividend and besides
9 paying off $4,000 of bonds, putting
n large sums into extensions of its prop.
n erty and making other investments.
% 81 note also that his company now
!, advances another contention which I
q had not supposed it would advance,
"a even later on, and that is that its pres.
At ent franchise will not expire until June
Ne 20, 1880, that is, 80 years after its ap.
proval by the President of the United
y States whereas the franchise itself Is
r. by its own terms to continue thirty
| years after the railway authorized BY
i this act shall have been commenced
r and the construction of said railway
must commence within one year after
4 the passage of this act and this act
0. shall take effect and become law from
ie and after the date of its approval that
r is, by the President or the Republic of
O. Hawaii, which was on July Z, 1898,
y. which would make the franchise ter.
Ie inmate about two years earlier than
II the company now contends.
Ie GAS ! said in my original statement,
Is the substitute bill prepared by me was
II prepared somewhat hurredly and
is might be improved upon. 1t was pre-.
a. pared by way Of suggestion TO the com.
N mttee which had the company's bill in
" charge and was not at that time intend.
70 ed TO be introduced MS an independ.
X ent bill II was prepared at the request
e. Of one Of the members of the commit.
4