The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-17
MARINE DEAL GETS
HARD DEATH BLOW
OF 608,593 Shares Voted at
Meeting. 530,O72 Against
British Sale.
END COMES PEACEFULLY
Franklin, Optimistic as to the
Future Of Company, Says
Incident Is Closed.

After more than a year OF nip-fopping.
which would have done credit to the
most active circus acrobat, the funeral
sermon was read yesterday over the ia
nous Marine deal and the remains of
that transaction, which have kept Wall
Street on edge for the last twelve
were in the neighborhood Of 100 persons
at the obsequies. which were held in the
company's office in Hoboken, To judge
from the countenances about the room,
when the final vote showed that the
stricken deal would never return to life,
tho mourners among the number were
few.
Out Of a total OF 60s,59s shares voted
at the meeting, 6s0.o72 were against the
plan for the sale of the British ships
and assets OF the Marine company to a
British syndicate for f27 1000, 900. The
remaining 1854 shares were voted in
favor of the deal.
Nowhere about the room in which tina
session was held was there to be seen
any evidence of the bitter fight which
has been made in the past few weeks by
the two factions-one favoring the sale
and the subsequent liquidation of the In
ternational Mercantile Marine Company
and the other opposing the plan. Every
pOuy III AltChudAiOo at Zig uloChAhB " 90
genial and apparently happy and, were II
not for the way in which the vote stood.
an observer would have been unable TO
understand that there was the slightest
division Of opinion on any question.
None OF the acrimonious comment and
bitter debate which usually marks a
meeting Of this kind was in evidence.
The meeting was called to order
promptly at noon, and after the secre-
tary had read the call for the meetin 9
p. A. s. Franklin, president of the CON-
pany, announced that he was ready to
take a vote on the sale proposition at
once. He asked II there were any re-
marks to be made, but with one excep-
ton. there was none who cared to talk
about the deal in any way. NJ Francis
Snowber. a preferred stock holder. was
the, only one to make any inquiry. He
asked Mr.. Franklin II the British solicit
tors. through whom the offer to purchase
was made, were to receive any commits
sion, to which Mr.. Franklin replied :
mo, sir. not from U.S." Mr.. Snowber
then asked IL they were to receive a
commission from anybody. and the reply
was: Not that I know Of"
Voting Takes Half Hour.
The polls were opened and the voting
pIoSccuCu LII PCihdpo q mail I'LL houi
after which the votes were counted and
the result announced. The motion on
which the vote was taken was made by
John Perry, director of the company.
and was as follows:
RESOLVED, That tho stockholders of
this company concur in the following
resolution Of its board of directors passed
at a meeting held on May 2. 1919: Re-
solved. That (the stockholders concur
rlng) the International Navigation Com
pany, Ltd. be advised that this board
approves the acceptance OF the offer Of
Ashurst. Norris. Crisp q Co.. TO Harold
A. Sanderson. dated May 8, 1919. for
the purchase Of the assets Of Interna-
tional Navigation Company. Ltd, Oceanic
Steam Navigation Company. Ltd. Brit
ish and North Atlantic Steam Naviga-
ton Company. Ltd. Atlantic Transport
Company. Ltd. and Frederick Leyiand
& Co.. Ltd, including the Harland &
Wolff building contract"
Or the 1854 shares voted In favor
OF the deal. 52,613 were preferred shares
ana 25,90S shares common. The 530,072
shares voted in the negative included
cH,l26 OF the preferred shares and 245.-
sas OF the common. When the vote was
announced the chairman declared the
motion lost
John w. Platten, a director OF the
company, who with F. w. Scott. also a
director. has led the opposition to the
sale. addressed the meeting after the
veto was taken, setting forth his atti-
tude with respect to the management of
the company. He made it plain that
the division on the sale was purely an
honest difference Of opinion" and that
the stand he had taken In no way re-
Elected his feeling toward the manage
rent of the Marine company in its gen.
eral business policy.
An impression has been created" he
said. that there IL controversy be-
tween the directors In connection with
this matter. However, II is simply a
question of an honest difference of opin-
ION as TO whether the company should
sell It's British properties and does not
IN any way involve the management OF
tho company. In fact, it can be said
without reservation that we are in full
accord with the business policy of the
company and have great confidence in
its future under the present manage
ment"
Injunction Is Denied.
Just prior to the Hoboken meeting
the application of John OConnor, a
stakeholder, for an injunction restrain
ing the company from putting the sale
70 vote had been denied by Judge
Hand in Federal District Court. II
was brought out during argument or
me application that sufficient proxies
had been obtained by the opposition
proxy committee TO defeat the sale and
inc court decided that the injunction
would be unnecessary.
Yesterday afternoon Mr.. Franklin
said that the matter was closed ono,
and for all, He pointed out that the
directors had done Their duty and haC
submitted what they believed to be q
good proposition to the stockholders
with the recommendation that II be &C
cepted. The stockholders thought other.
wise, he said, and the whole matter
ended there. He was asked II he ex,
pected any renewal OF the offer on q
higher financial basis, but he reiterated
mat the incident was closed.
As to the future for the company and
Tor American merchant shipping general,
~ Mr.. Franklin appears TO be very Cd
timistic He pointed out that every
thing depended on the future attitude
or the United States Government toward
private shipping enterprises and SAID
that If Congress should pass laws which
are necessary to obtain fair return Il
American shipping capital there II
every reason TO look forward to a very
rosy future. He said that II these law
should be passed, the company woult
go ahead and in all likelihood expanG
and continue to make great deal oi
money for the stockholders.