The Republican journal., 1913-05-08
Concerning Corporations
IL. P Evans, in the Piscataquis Observer


the daily papers and State and National
legislatures, and am convinced that many
times it is wrong. and detrimental to
public welfare.
A fire in Mayo's block nearly Is years
ago caused serious water damage to my
stock. | had been paying insurance
premiums for quite number of years
but this was my first loss and ! had no
idea of the course | should pursue.
1t seemed reasonble, however, that
the damaged goods should be separated
from the others so | had the stock moved
and started at once on such a separation,
making an inventory of the damage as l
went along.
While l was doing this two friends
came in, one travelling salesman, and
criticized me severely, saying | was in
juring my chance for a good settlement
with the insurance companies. But my
idea still seemed reasonable and | kept
on.
l had three large upright show cases in
the store which were moved without in
jury, but after removal a glass shelf in
one of them was loaded too heavily and
broke.
The insurance adjusters had arrived
and one of them noticed the broken
shelf and spoke of it. The cause of its
being broken was explained, but he re-
piled: ut wouldn't have been broken
but for the fire, would it?''
| finished my work on the stock as
soon as possible and submitted the inven-
tory to the adjusters, one local man,
one from Augusta and one from Boston.
They took but very short time for its
consideration and then reported that as |
had seemed inclined to be fair in the
matter, and as they realized that more
careful inspection of the stock would
show damage not then discovered, they
should add a hundred dollars to my claim.
They also included rs cents for the broken
shelf which had not listed.
l had met the adjusters as man to man,
assuming that they would treat NE fair
ly, and was not disappointed. l have
since gone on that principle with rail-
roads and other corporations and have
yet to find one that has been unfair in
any claim | have had occasion to make
The Government has claimed that the
Standard Oil Company was a menace to
business and ordered it dissolved. | have
no doubt but it used some drastic methods
in its early days but cannot ask for
better company to do business with in
the advertising way, and the merchant
who handles its by-products-wa cam
dies, paraffin, ETC., has nothing to COM
plain Of.
Their price for kerosene has been
reasonable for many years. Governor
Halnes said in private conversation at
the Board of Trade banquet a year ago,
that man could not barrel water from
the Piscataquls river, ship it to Pennsyl-
vania and sell it as low as the Standard
OIL Company had shipped crude oil into
Maine and sold it to him for fuel.
The charge recently made by the Gov
eminent against a corporation was that
1t closed certain factories after they came
into its possession, and yet within the
year the Government has abolished IS
pension agencies, representing an aggre-
gate of $72, 900 a year in salaries, and is
consolidating the custom districts, which
will deprive other patriots of salaries
ranging from few hundred to several
thousand dollars year. 1t seems to be
sll right for the Government to CONSOLE
cate its business in the interests of econ
ony, but all wrong for corporation to
do the same thing.
A suit has been brought by the Gov
er1ment against company because it
has endeavored to maintain the retail
prices of its products, and yet the Gov
eminent forbids the sale of its stamps at
less than face value.
A principal target of criticism and
attack is the railroad. When the Bangor
& Aroostook's engineers and firemen
struck, paper in the western part of
the State expressed great satisfaction,
for one reason because the road charged
2 Ia cents mileage and would not sell
less than a thousand mile book. But
every one familiar with the amount of
travel over the Bangor & Aroostook
lines knows that the Maine Central can
better afford to sell mileage for less than
two cents than the Bangor & Aroostook
can for less than Ia cents.
The railroad has another serious con-
dition to contend with, which President
Todd brought out in a statement made
after the beginning of the strike on his
road; that is, if an accident happens on
its lines it has to pay for the lives lost
or property damaged: but has no remedy
when the accident is the result of viola
illustrate, the conductor of an excursion
train on the Bangor & Aroostook took a
chance in violation of orders and caused
wreck which President Todd said had
cost the company $4,000, with some
claims still unsettled.
To illustrate the attitude of the public
mind towards railroads. also the relation
between railways and their employees,
President Truesdale of the Lackawanna
recently gave the following facts:
"The accident at Corning, one of the
most serious that has ever occurred on
Lackawanna's lines, came about through
fault of an engineer who ran by three
standard block signals, one set at eau
ton and two at danger, as also one in
hands of flagman, striking, while rum
ming at full speed, the rear Of standing
passenger train, and resulting in the
death of 80 passengers and injury to rs
more.
"Upon full investigation the COM
merce commission and the public service
commission found the engineer solely to
blame. The engineer, although off duty
30 hours, had misused his opportunity to
rest, having visited numerous saloons
and INDUCED in intoxicating liquor.
1.-The coroner's jury recommended to
the grand jury Of the county that an in
dictment be found against the engineer.
This was done, but about the time his
case was set for trial, on the district