The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-02
LAWSUIT MARKING ! 10TH BIRTHDAY OF THE PENNSYL LVAN|A Twenty-Eight Million Dol lars Involved in Suit
 Against Directors BASED ON USE OF
 LONG ISLAND ROAD The Minority Stockholders of This Line Believe That Too Much Is
 Spent in Interest of
 Pennsylvania
By HOLLAND

New York, May 1.-(Special 1.-The sev- entieth birthday of the Pennsylvania Railroad company, which occurred a few days ago, was impaired, so far as the celebration of the event is concerned, by legal proceedings before supreme court justice which involves $2S, 900 900. The amount which certain aggrieved interests believe the Pennsylvania Railroad com pany' through the Long Island railroad, should be held accountable to them, while large IS not so great as the sum involved IT. other railroad litigations
 It. is the peculiar features associated with this litigation which make it uniaue, certainly without precendent in the 70 years of this railroads existence More over, the litigation should be of interest to other parts of the country than Penn sylvania, for the question at issue is cen tered upon a proposition first advocated by the late A. J. Cassatt, president of the then Pennsylvania, which contemplat- ed the direct union of New England, Long Island and the Pennsylvania Rail- road company, whose influence extends lar into the west and into consdera ble part of the south. If Mr. Cassatt's prop osltion worked out satisfactorily, then there was sure to be largely increased trade between New England, the middle west and considerable part of the south. Furthermore, a unique feature of this proposition was the indirect elimination of Manhattan, or the old city of New York. from any consideration
 PRESIDENT CASSATTS PURPOSE
 President Cassatt went even further than Austin Corbin-one time prominently Identified with the Reading railroad-did when he. planned actual physical commu- nlcation between Long Island, Manhattan and Jersey City. For President Cassatt looked farther east and his vista was that of New England by way of Long Island In actual physical direct control with Pennsylvanla and parts of the west and south. He reversed the customary policy Of railroad business, which was constrlc- ton from the east toward the west He purposed extending the Pennsylvania sys- tenn by way of Long Island and in close alliance With the New Haven system throughout New England
 Austin Corbin, shortly before he died, in lS96 had satisfied himself by actual experiment and by deep water tests that 1t was practical engineering proposition to build a tunnel from Brooklyn almost exactly under that point where the East river and the Hudson river unite to form SiAS h~iDCi Ol NEW L OEk, then unQGr the lowest end of Manhattan thence under Hudson river to Jersey City. MT. Corbin was the protagonist of the existing tube systems between Manhattan and Jersey City on the west and Manhattan and Long Island on the east.
 THE CONNECTING LINK
 MT. Corbin confessed that he contem. plated great increase in manufacturing industry upon Long Island, and he also planned for the establishment of an ocean port at the eastern end of Long Island exactly at the point where Colonel Roose- Welt dfsenlb arked his Rough Riders after their return from Cuba. There was tc be established an ocean steamship line whlch would disembark it's passengers ol take on outgoing passengers and freigh, at that point. He estimated that the mails would be expedited about six hours
 MT. Cassatt, who agreed with MT. Cor Lln view, went much further and it is que to his perseverance and unyieldine will that the great bridge, now almost completed, which arches 160 feet above Hell. Gate, was undertaken financed Jointly by the Pennsylvania and thelNew Haven and will soon be ready for use. In bridge construction it stands among the marvels. That bridge is the ligature by means of which the New England railroad system and the Pennsylvania, through it's ownership of the Long Island company. are brought into actual physi- cal union.
 Now minority stockholders of the Long Island railroad have brought suit against the Pennsylvania, which is the owner of the majority stock to compel the direc- tors to account for $2SOOO,0O0, because these minority stockholders claim to be persuaded that this money has been un- necessarily spent in the interest of the Pennsylvania railroad. Technically, the suit is against the Long Island directors, but if it is successful the Pennsylvania company will be compelled to pay the bills.
 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE President Cassatt did not expect to live long enough to see the great devel- opment of commerce between New Eng