Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1922-10-13
In 1918 the directors and officers and

IHg u turn over the valuable assets q
the company to the state. In doing S
the private stockholders who owne
two -fifths of the stock made consider
able sacrifice, because the compan,
had gotten into a condition which
would have justified a good dividend
Personally, never owned a shar
OF stock nor was ever interested di
rectly or indirectly in any share 0
stock. My salary was at the beginnin!
$33 per month. 1t was gradually in
creased during the ten years serve,
to SIS per month. A large part of M,
time was consumed in the performance,
OF my duties.
! At the 1918 session of the Genera
Assembly bill was introduced in boil
houses turning over the assets of tn,
Turnpike company to the state. Thi
bill was approved by the Legislative
committee that established the Stat,
Highway System, of which Senator
Goodrich was CHAPMAN.
In the Senate the patrons were Cool
rick, Byrd, Downing, Jordan, Robert
son, Andrews, Conrad and Trinkle.
In the House the patrons were Tay
lor, Hunter, Omps, Willis, Pence o.
Shenandoah, Brown of Roanoke, An
derson of Rockbridge, and Gilpin.
In your recent editorial you grow
peevlsh concerning this original bill
and charge me with inserting jokers
into its provisions.
You were not always of this mind
In 1918, shortly after your term as Gov
began, you caused to be published. in
the Southern Planter an editorial en-
titled THE Passing of the Byrd's" in
which you say:
with true Byrd unseIfishness,
Senator Byrd in his signed article
claims to have been the patron of the
bill 1.-THE Turnpike bill, filching the
credit that the record shows be-
longs to his fellow senators and CO.
patrons of the bill, Goolrick, the lead
ing patron; Jordan, Robertson, An
dreWs, Conrad and Trinkle.
In 1918 you accused me of filchine
the credit of presumably good bill
from my fellow senators. In 1922 you
accuse me Of being solely responsible
for the same bill and crIticise it as a
bad one. In accordance with your re-
quest will answer your charges in de-
| tail.
u You criticise the original bill for
demanding guarantees that the road
would be properly kept up.
1t is true that owing to lack of con-
fidence in the efficiency of the High
way Department as organized by you,
the patron of the bill, the officers and
directors Of the company and the tray.
cling public thought that guarantees
should be enacted. These guarantees
We're in part omitted and in part re.
tanned in the amended bill you signed
and it became a law.
| (2) You claim that the preamble OF
the amended bill which was passed BY
a soild vote in the Senate and by q
majority OF sixty -four votes in the
House, and which was signed by you,
gave false impression as to the amount
contributed by the private stockholders
II this is true why did you sign it? But
1t is not true. You say:
The preamble to this bill recites
that the state owned three-fifths OF
Inc stock and then showed that the
lnventorieo value of the stock to be
transferred amounted to- 1858, 900.
Ihls gave the impression that the
turnpike Company was giving the
state two>fifths of that sum, or s235.
2oO. Again this was misleading, for
In the body of the bill it was provided
that $45, 600 cash in the company's
treasury should be paid to the private
stockholders, That reduced the ap-
parent gift to $4,000. But what the
] bill failed to set forth was that the
company owed the state for principal
and interest on a loan, the sum OF
sllo,oOO This still further re-
duced the apparent gift to s75-
!, ooo, and it is safe to say that if actua
! values had been substituted for in
| Ventory values the $4,000 would
have disappeared
This statement coming from child
In the kindergarten would be amusing
but solemnly published by an ex-gov.
ernor Of Virginia is almost pathetic.
/ Assuming the total assets of the Val
ley Turnpike Company to be 1888, COZ
) subject to debt of $3.50 the net
assets would be $473. 900, of which the
state would own three fifths, and the
: private stockholders two-fifths. The
) state would own $2S3, 800 and the pri
Vate stockholders s1S9, 200.
Where did you get the the idea
Governor, that the debts of corpora
ton must be paid in full by the minor
r ity stockholders.
1t is painfully evident that since yo,
have been retired to private life 20,
nave not had the advantage of tn,
tutelage of that eminent calculator
: Col. Leroy Hodges.
IN lieu thereof, Governor, respect
iully suggest, provided you can spar
tne time from your. severe agriculture
iabors, that you take course in ele
mentary arithmetic at some convenien
primary school. Gentlemen who us,
an alleged agricultural paper as pc
e iitlcal pamphlet and who wish to con
lou nd political adversaries by figure
should first learn to do sums correctly
Apart from the little mistake Of charp
r ing the whole debt of the srurnpik,
company to the private or minorit,
e stockholders, you are further IN erro
e IN saying that if the actual instead Q
- RHva0