The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1914-07-17
NEW HAVEN ROAD
WASTEDs90,000,000
COMMERCE COMMISSION DE.
CLARES DIRECTORS GRIM
NAlLY NEGLIGENT"
CHARGES ARE MAMIE OLD
Heads TO Recover Millions Alleged
to Have Been Squandered-
Some Of the Findings.

~ hRiHAE''his DNtF ''' ''1
negligence and one of the most glar
ing instances Of maladministration re
yealed in all the history Of American
~raiIroadine' We're the terms the inter
state commerce commission employed
in reporting to the senate on its in
y|estigation Of New Haven railroad
financial affairs.
Conclusion of Commission.
The commissions conclusion may be
summed up this way:
Losses 10 New Haven stockholders
for the acts of their directors viii
range from $50. 100000 TO $90,o00.ooo
Suits to recover the money should lie
in some cases.
Many of the Transactions. character
lied violations of the law of New York,
Rhode Island and Massachusetts and
the federal antitrust laws. have been
reported to the authorities Of the
states and the federal department Of
justice.
When Depreciation Came.
The depreciation Of the Boston &
Maine began when the 'Mellen-Nor-
ean-Rockefeller management came
into control.
John /. Billiard and the Billiard com
pany We're merely agencies of the New
Haven; Billiard never used a dollar of
his " money and burned his books
and papers. 1t was not the under
standing Of the New Haven board that
he should take profits of more than
s 1000. 600.
An the assets Of the Billiard COM
pany belong TO New Haven stockhold-
ers and a suit by the railroad against
Billiard and those who participated in
the transaction should be maintained
Dummy corporations and their use,
which. the report saws, in the New
Haven was frequent, are condemned in
unmeasured terms.
Score lnterIocking Directories.
The system of interlocking directo-
rates is condemned as it existed on the
New Haven, and in general the com
mission says it found most every other
interest was better represented on the
New Haven board than the average
stockholders.
President Mellen's dealings with for
mer Police Inspector Byrnes tot New
York in the Westchester railroad
transaction were branded as corrupt
and unlawful" The amount illegally
expended should be recoverable.
The purchase of Rhode Island trolley
lines and coastwise steamships were
described as extravagant and waste
full.
All the transactions, the commission
holds, were consummated with the OBJ
ject Of setting up a complete t%ranspor-
tation monopoly in New ngland in
violation of the federal statutes.
All the commissions structures were
upon the management of the New Ha-
ven system under former President
Mellen.
Elliott is Commended.
In Justice to the present manage
ment the commission says it is only
fair to say hat Chairman Howard
Elliott and Walker d. Hines, special
COUNSEL, nave CO-OptTdttu WITH TIC
commission and rendered it substan-
tial assistance throughout this investi-
CATION"
Extensive use Of a paid lobby In
the matters as to which the directors
claim to have no information" is an
other Significant incident" as are
the attemept to control utterances Of
the press by substituting reports.
Suit to Recover.
Boston. Mass.-A demand that the
directors of the New York. New Haven
& Hartford railroad aid minority
stockholders in the suit to
about 1925. 00O, 900 alleged to have been
wasted by the management, has been
made by attorneys for the minority
stockholders. The suit, which, 1t is
said, will be filed this week. is to be
directed against the estate OF j. r.
Morgan. William Rockefeller, Lewis
Cass Ledyard and others of the New
Haven directorate al the time the
transactions that have been the SUD
jects of inquiry by the interstate COM