The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-12-22
Stockholders Consent to DISCO
luton and Transaction ls
Finished
nALF MILLION OWED
In ACCRUED INTEREST
Revenue Barely Sufficient to
Pay Operating Costa, Ac-
cording to Statements for the
Company


Chesapeake Bay Hallway company,
asrer ten years continuous operation.
made their last trip last night at
1876 o'clock.
Yesterday morning. without notice
to the public or intimation that such
q step was contemplated legal rep
reaentatives Of the stockholders of
the company filed certificate show
ing the unanimous consent Of the
stockholders for the dissolution oT
the corporation with the state cor
poration commission
Acting under the precedent estah-
lished by the supreme court in The
Tidewater and Western case. the
commission Immediately entered the
dissolution order. having no dis1re-
ton In the matter.
TAYLOR Thames Commission.
After The dissolution. President
George W Taylor Of the Richmond
ana Chesapeake Bay company. which
il one Of the Gouid properties, gave
our the following statement for pub
iication, in which he blAmes the cor
paraiion commission for falling 10
heed the appeal of the company Ter
assistance in reducing the current
losses by reducing the schedule, APP
rlieatton for Which was made about
Year age:
Mr. Taslor's Statement
The charter 81 the RIehland &
Chesapeake bay Railway company
was obtained from The state corpora
fiel commission in 1905. and immc-
& seteiy thereafter construction work
v&S commenced The total cost Of
ACQUISITION Of property and conatrue-
tlur OF the road and equipment was
approximately $685. coo. The work
was completed IN 1907. since which
time service has been continued from
Richmond to Ashland upon suostan-
tally hourly schedules. During the
period of operation regular service
hss been furnished - &he people. and
tic stale. the CITY Of Richmond and
fle counties in which the property
4 located have received In taxes the
sum Of s47.3@5.
During the ten years of operation.
hov ever. the money invested has re
ce;ved no return. but the accumulat
Ell Interest charges have amounted TO
sSn0. 600. Under these conditioG~.
:, iih no relief in sight. With increas~
foe cost of operation. and no chance
az increased revenue or reduced eN
nenses, the directors determined that
dlt solved and the stockholders have
unanimously consented TO this. The
disc continuance cf the service will no
doubt subject the former patrons of
thtr road. or some of them al least,
10 Inconvenience but they must re-
ssize that the service which they have
heretofore enjoyed has been at the ex-
pense of those who made the orig
inal Investment in the property and
AAa
the entire period through which the
service has been rendered. without
vi Enumeration.
No return in interest or dividends
has been made or can he ever now
realized on the original investment
and but a small proportion. under the
most favorable conditions OF Sa ivage
and sale of the property and equip
went, will he paid in liquidation upon
the original investment
TT will b. recalled that more than
twelve months ago. this com pany
sought 10 lessen the current losses, by
reducing the schedule and made APP
pNcation TO the state corporation COM
mission for permission so to do The
people who had been enjoying this
service at once objected, employed
counsel. and earnestly protested
against the granting of relief. not
withstanding the fact that II was
perfectly obvious from the evidence
submitted that the owners of this
property had not received, and were
rot receiving. returns from the in
vestment. No order in the case has
ever as yet been entered by the conn
mission. In the meantime. the buzz
den OF operation with the fun sched-
Tie has been continued"
A Steady Loser
The statement of the rn ilwav COM
rany fled last year showing its operat-
Ing revenue and expenses showed that
in 1912 Its gross income was s5T,hsa-
~ with operating expenses of S4s,-
$685., In 1913 operating revenue was
s5s.40s.64 with operating expenses OF
s4s,7S4,ts, In 1914 the revenue de-
creased to s5s.952.el and expenses
rose TO s54,720.5 So. In 1915 the figures
stood gross revenue $57.sss95 and
expenses s45,T64.S4 In the f1r.yt nine
months of 1915 the road failed to
collect enough money 70 pay its
operating expenses. the revenue being
s43,s2i.s2 and the expenses $4s.lsI.-
60.
In addition 70 operating expenses
there were interest charges on the
million dollar first mortgage indeht-
ness created In the construction OF the
road. which interest up to this time,
unpaid, il a half million dollars. Nor
do the expense figures cover any
! depreciation.
Got Nothing But Trouble.
II is understood that Mr.. Frank jay
Gould. who put up the money for the
construction OF the road. determined
that he would not carry an invest
nlenf any longer which Was not self
lccnttnusd On second PaEA)