The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-13
WILSON MAKES DEMAND
 FOR RAILROAD PROBE
CContinued from Page 1.o

| porat1ons, it's financial arrangements | and financial condition, and especially 1 the conditions created by, and grow 1 ing out of, the merger of 1907.
 The resolution provides for an in 1 qu1ry into the taxes which this com l pany is paying to Connecticut,f and 1 into the laws under which it is taxed. It is to inquire whether there is any | connection between wrecks, disasters 1 and casualties on this railroad and :ts | subsidiaries and its financial opera
 tions.
 It provides for an inquiry as to 1 whether the original steam road | stockholders have been deprived of | their property by process of semi l 1egalized footing and manipulation. | It is to inquire whether a monopoly | of transportation by land and sea, has | been created by this company. i It is known to you that the presi- l dent of this company is under Fed | eral indictment upon an. allegation i that he assisted in strangling competi- | ton.
 | It is known to you that permission
 was recently refused to him to testify l in the usual manner before a. sub | committee for the interstate com
 merce commission, upon the theory
 that he might thereby gain immunity from criminal proceedings, should aiy be instituted as result of this in quiry.
 i The president of this company and ! several of it's officers are likewise un-
 der indictment upon allegations that
 loss of life occurred in a railroad dis
 aster, which they might have pre- vented.
 | These matters we shall leave to the | several authorities having them in l charge, and not allude to the further | here, beyond saying that they indi- 1 cate a, serious state of affairs in this I | may we'll cause inquiry and alarm. Before May 31, 1907, the New Ha- ven company was a steam road, and l did a steam road business There had 1 come in 1901 a change of manage
 ment. Following this change there | came a change in methods. Until 1 1907 the new plans and policies did
 not present themselves broadly to the public view, though the stage was in preparation for the climax to follow. In 1907 this General Assembly pass ed an act providing that the Consoli-
 dated Railway Company might merge
 with any other transportation com pany.
 Upon May 31, 1907, this company, a street railway company owning 9 few | miles of poorly constructed street rail- way in this state with their equip l ment, did so merge.
 It merged with the New Haven company, which, disappeared and there stood in it's place the Consoli- dated Railway Company, bearing the legal name of the New York; New Haven and Hartford Company. The l old New Haven company, a steam l road company, disappeared. The New Haven company, a. street railway corporation, took its place. This change was accompanied by
 several important circumstances. The
 stock increased s3s,521, 900. The debt | increased by $155,25S. 1000. In 1906 the New Haven company
 had paid costs of operation, dividends
 and interest, and showed several mill lions of surplus.
 In the year following the merger
 the surplus disappeared, and a deficit
 of large amount took it's place. This deficit has continued, with one l exception, annually since 1907, and l the combined deficit amounts to more
 than $8,0OO,OOO.
 1 The railroad commissioners pointed l out that casualties on the steam road 1 increased by fifty per cent. in the year 1 of the merger, and conditions in this ! respect have grown worse instead of better.
 This condition was attended by a 1 general reduction in the help employ | ed, that in 1912, there were 297 fewer tra1nmen other than conduc- tors, and almost 2,OOO fewer section
 
 1908.
 The number of wrecks multiplied, and the injuries and deaths to pas
 sengers steadily increased. Yet, during all this period, the busi- ness of the original New Haven prop erty, the steam road, was steadily in Creasing. In 1907, it fell behind to a trifling extent, but in every succeed ing year it's business increased and it's | earnings increased.
 Despite this fact it showed con tinually a deficit in it's income ac- count, and, responding to this condi- tion the stock of the company began to drop, until, from a value of $20O
 per share, which it had maintained
 for years, it dropped to 1o4, where it
 stands today.
 1 Its funded debt also decreased by | an enormous amount below it's par value.
 It is now admitted, and it has prac- 1 ticalIy been announced, that the divi- dend must be cut.
 | The only explanation which the company has given for this proposed | cut, is that it has been unfortunate in it's transactions in Boston &, Maine; | transactions into which the New Ha- ven company fought it's way, against | the authorities of Massachusetts, in q contest which we shall not consider | here.
 AC any rate the steam road, doing a. growing, profitable and non competi- 1 tive business, presents many of the l aspects of moribund institution, in dropping stock, @ debt that is not worth its face, annual deficit, and i a dividend about to be lowered. What is the reason? What would any grocer do who found his cash l short, when he was doing the biggest and most profitable business of his 1 career? He would ascertain who was tapping his till.
 The situation of the New Haven cannot be understood without an fn- quiry into the purchase of subsidiary corporations.
 Any such inquiry will show that such corporations have been pur- chased, or formed, under terms that renresert a heavy drain on railrnad