Evening star., 1917-04-01
BY I. A. FLEMING.

TnQnlnly reports from the corporations
whose stocks are listed on the Wash
ington Stock Exchange; indeed, the mat
ter is broader than Washington having,
ATTRACTED attention all over the country.
There are all kinds of corporations and
all kinds of directors. There. are corr
operations of such relatively small capt-
/ tai that the shareholders are perfectly
satisfied if they follow the leadership
of known strong, honest, capable r,en,
largely, perforce, interested in the cor
,poration, whom they re-elect to guide its
affairs year after year, like the national
banks making reports frequently to the
controller of the currency; submitting
to eXamlna ton AMI publishing state
ments five or six times annually These
are frequently close corporations
There are others with such large capi-
tai that they must meets 90 ont INFO the
great martS of the world ID interest the
public and secure invested capital. The
public is generally in the minority in
! such invest mentS. The insiders, bank
| ers. promoters and industrial men who
/ form the corporation, furnish the plant
| or plants, underwrite the capital and
dictate the board OF directors to man
tage and naturally know more about the
! affairs of the corporation than the
! minority shareholders, who must rely
on the Integrity of the management and
| directors.
r Commenting on this very matter, a
member of the local stock exchange said
| IN the matter of railroad corporations
there is. supervising board, the inter-
| state commerce commission; public re-
ports are issued weekly and monthly and
the stockhoider who keeps close watch of
these may know exactly what is going
| on as to earnings.
! Large Industrial corpora tons are un-
fder no obIiga tions, save moral. to their
! shareholders III the matter of giving out
| news, other than the right of inspection
I of books which few will exercise. The
| Steel Corporation, of its own accord,
! makes monthly tonnage reports, ndicat-
/ ing its business. and quarterly reports OF
| gross and net earnings. these reports
1 stamping it as one of the best managed
| and honestly operated.
But there are other corporations that
refuse to take the public and the minority
| shareholders into their confidence.
"The directors attending the weekly
! meetings have a close tirst-hand source
! of information, and frequently they use
| it for their own gain. While entirely hu-
man. and natural perhaps, il is not a
| square deal to other shareholders. and
=! the weekly reports of earnings should
| be transmitted to every shareholder or
| made public where they could. convey the
same information to the shareholder that
| they do to the director Give the share
| holder q square deal and the reports will
do IT, -..---.- 49,
! 1t has also been a matter Of frequent
comment in Washington. according to in
vestors. especially OF late. that certain
directors receive reports from this and
| that corporation and have i'll this manner
| an advantage over the minority share
/ holders and some of the larger.
| Not infrequently directors have been
| known to resign. 'in keeping with a
! firm determination to retire from work,
| etc" or 'in getting out OF all business,
and then a few weeks or months later
/ the denoument comes and the price of
! the shares Of the corporation breaks in
! two but the retired directors have been
/ from under for months, their holdings
liquidated.
| Honesty and square practice would
I suggest the making imperative of
/ weekly reports by industrial corpora
tions using public capital. before the
| listing of stock, in which event there
would be fewer inactive. public conf
/ dence-iacking securities listed on the
stock list Of American exchanges.
Capital Traction Circular.
President Hamilton of the Capital
Traction Company has issued circular
to the shareholders of the corporation.
in accordance with his usual custom.
The need of more revenue is plainly
suggested in the initial paragraph. in
creased operating costs and increasing
ing more and more burdenSome, and,
accordingly, the need and absolute fair
ness of some permitted increase in the
rate of fare to meet such conditions
and demands is made more certainly
apparent"
A history of the recent strike and of
the settlement with the employees is
fully covered
Increased earnings for the first quar-
ter of the calendar year are reported.
The circular full follows:
To the stockholders of the Capital
| Traction Company:
Notwithstanding a gain in receipts
during the quarter now ending, the
I large increase in operating costs, labor
and material referred to in our annual
! report to the stockholders for 1916 has
become and is becoming. more and
/ more burdensorle, and accordingly the
! need and absolute fairness of some
! permitted increase in the rate of fare
! 70 meet such conditions and demands
is made more certainly apparent.
/ 'FolIoWing the strike of our train
men in March of 1916, and IN settle
| ment thereof, a contract for the term
! of one year was entered into between
I the company and its trainmcn. acting
! through a committee of three en-
ployes. who We're members OF the
/ ANA gamated Association of street and
! Electric Railway Employees OF America.
| The terms of this contract We're lived
| up to by both parties, and operation
! Hereunder during the year was in tn"
! main satisfactory.
| Some weeks prior to March II, 1917,
| the date of the expiration of the con-
/ tract referred to. our employees.
/ through the Analgamated Association
| above mentioned, presented a draft of
| contract to begin March IL, 1?li. con-
! tanning provisions for the recognition
of the union. higher wages for tram
/ men and other employees. closed shop
! operation aud other demands relating
f; TO hours ard conditions of service
( THE matter was taken up with the COM
/ n?ittee OF employees under the first agree
nent and after many conferences the
| contract of March 30 WAS hnallN accept
| ed and executed by the company ana by
| ! committee of those of our employees VINO
| we're also members of the Amalgamated
| Association This contract is to remain
! in force and effect until March 80, 1870,
and from, wear to year thereafter, unless
| changed by the parties thereto; the wage
scale on demand made at the end OF any
| wear during the term, by either party, 10
| he the subject OF consideration and reVl-
| sion by and between the parties. or by
| arbitration if necessary, thus assuring tiie
! continuous operation of the company
properties during the term OF the con-
| tract.
! ut establishes q fair wage rate on d
| sliding scale from % cents to 30 cents
| per hour and Il satisfactory adjustment
| in hours and conditions of service. 1t
| maintains the open shop, with no dls-
elimination against any employe by either
party because of membership, or non MEM
| bership in the association or union, and
! recognizes the union. which though not
recognized in the contract OF March IL,
i't9f6 had we know, Voice and influence