Evening star., 1914-07-26
ATTACKS BY BEAR
INTERESTS FUTILE
No Serious Damage Done
Stock Market Despite
Weakened Condition.
NEW HAVEN DIRECTORS
ARRAIGNED BY |. C.. C..
Claflin Paper Proves a Disappoint-
ment to the Interior
Banks.

Nc" 1onh, july Z5.-New York
financial and speculative markets have
been laborfng under the handicaps i'm
posed by no small number of adverse
influences and have taken whatever
comfort they might from the probabi1-
lty that their effects were but tenn
porary. and were in reality stems in the
process of evolution to brighter days
to come. Despite the fact that the
STOCK market has been in a weakened
condition for many months, it has in
recent days been subjected to a series
Oh savage attacks by the bear interests
"hich 1t Wtthstood without showing
any traces of serious damage.
Inc enthusiastically sensational
charges Of inefficiency and criminal
maI1easance preferred against the New
haven directors by the interstate com.
merce commission resembled more the
ciosihs address of prosecuting attor-
hey tnan the studied decision of a sun
posedly impartial tribunal, and left no
room 1or doubt as to the attitude of the
commission toward the railroads. and
especially those which in any way
lrahsfess the letter of the law ,rhs
commission has been suspected ~
catering to the desires of the yellow
onsa tiohal press, and in this respect
mas apparently lived up to its ren1,ta :
ton. There is no denying the fact that
the policy OF expansion followed bv the
New Haven directors in recent years
mas brought great loss of money and
pies,iee TO that great system, but it
directors deliberately chose to ruin the
road and acted accordingly. Had their
plans produced the results they anil
.pated, they would now be receiving
tne hlshest commendation, instead OF
the condemnation and possible crininsl
prosecution which is now forthcor,ina
Bought "Cheap" Competitors.
The New Haven directors. in the MR.
suit of a scheme which is now held to
be in violation Of the law, found that
their local traffic was threatened bv the
cheaper competition of the New England
trolley lines. They. therefore, bought up
their CHEAP" competitors. The competi-
tors naturally insisted on high prices and
received them. Then. again, the railroad
managers found that the steamship lines
which were their competitors We're cutting
too deeply into their profits, so they
bought them up at fancy prices, but in so
doing they eliminated a source of re-
duct1ons In rates and therefore in reve-
nues The same program was carried
out in the matter of railroad competi-
ton In Massachusetts,: hence with The
permission or the state railroad commits
sion they purchased the control of certain
New England railroad properties. There
was no general complaint that its serv-
ice. even after step by step its various
consultations had been completed, was
not adequate or that the charges it made
for such service were unreasonable. The
policy of the management was to pro-
ceed on broad lines and not to count
expense in achieving what 1t, as it now
pVNYtO
Of transportation business Politicians, as
seems to be the usual development in SIM
liar instances, demanded and received
their ''rake-on." Otherwise there is ap-
which any member of the board of man
agement benefited.
The commerce commission probably was
justified in ascribing the term of bone
allowed few men to push through the
policies that brought the New Haven to
It's present deplorable state, but that they
dishonesty gained any personal financial
limited in the Indictment. Now that the
Department of Justice. with the full as
sent and approval of President Wilson is
to press the charges against the former
estates of deceased directors), there will
naturally be tendency to suspend judg-
ment until the facts in the case are pre-
sented in their entirety: This will mean
and if the dissolution proceedings ac-
complish no more than they did In SINH
lar cases, there will be scant satisfaction
either for the Department of Justice or
for the patient and long-sufferine New
England stockholders.
The Freight Rate Decision.
The fact that the railroad freight rate
decision was not handed down on the
first day of the week and the intima-
ton that it might be further delayed
was a great disappointment to- the mar
ket. Most people in the financial dis
trict had arrived at the confident con-
clusion that Monday had been the final
date agreed upon for publishing the
ruling of the commerce commission.
There was, however, a rather general
disposition to credit the accuracy Of re-
ports that were published over Sunday,
purporting to forecast the terms of the
decision. These forecasts suggested
ipcrease Would he