AMERICAN ‘ RAILROAD’ “ JOURNAL.

953

. commendation of what should be incorporated in

the contract.

As did the scrip, so the resolution prohibited
any cash dividend to the scripholders until the
time for conversion into stock arrived, and for the
same reason in both. It was manifestly because
the scrip had been declared entitled to share in
any future distribution of scrip. There could be
no other dividend than one in stock, or in scrip,
or in cash, and a dividend in stock was rendered
impossible by the restrictions of the mortgage.
A prohibition of cash dividends was therefore a
denial of right to share in the earnings of the
company while the scrip remained unconverted.

The resolution also recommended that the
stock, when issued in lieu of the scrip, should
stand in all respects on the footing of the now
(then) existing stock. It. is asked how can it be
on the footing of the stock then existing unless
entitled to all the dividends awarded to that stock
since the resolution was passed? The question
points to a -very forced construction of the lan-
guage. The stock then existing would of course
continue to exist when the scripshould be con-
verted. Its footingat the time of the conversion
was the footing spoken of. The relative condition
of the old and the new stock to the company was
then to be the same. The resolution did not re-
commend that the new stock when issued should
be on the same footing as the stock existing in
1855 was at that time. It is impossible that the
issue of stock in 1863, or 1864, can give. all the
rights to the new stockholder which belonged to
holders of stock in 1855. They can be on the
same footing, that is, in the same condition rela-
tive to the company for the future, but not for the
past. The stockholder of 1855 had a right to
vote in that year, or to become a manager, as well
as to receive dividends. How can he who be-
came a stockholder in 1864 enjoy all those past
rights’! The language of the resolution as well
as that of the scrip is all prospective. It provides
for what is to be after the conversion of the scrip.

There is nothing, then, in what is called the
surrounding circumstances, and nothing in the
resolution of the stockholders adopted in May,
1855, that would justify such a construction of
the contract as that for which the complainants
contend. They are not entitled to any other divi-
dends than such as may be declared to all other
stockholders andpdeclared after the conversion of
their scrip.

The decree made at Nisi
affirmed.

3? The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, of 16th ult.,
says that the Chicago and N orthvvestern Railroad
is being pushed westward across the State of Iowa
with a spirit of enterprise seldom surpassed, if
equaled, in the history of Western railroads. Two
years ago, when this road was placed under its
present management, it was far behind all other
roads then building across the State. Now it is
seventy-five miles nearer the Missouri River than
any other road in Iowa. And its energy is not

Prius is therefore

. abating. ~

@ The Grand Trunk Railway Company is
desirous of disposing of from two to three thou-
sand tons of old rails, delivered on any point of
their line to suit purchasers. The oflice of the
company is at Montreal. » -

Local and Through Business and Fares on
- Railroads.

By a short—siglited as well as unjustifiable policy
on the part of not a few canal and railroad com-
panies, higher rates are charged proportionally
for local than for through transportation--in one
instance, indeed, which occurs to us at this mo-
ment, the tolls for way business are actually ten
per cent. above what they amount to, when the
whole line of work is used, a rebate of so much
being allowed when freight is carried over its
entire length.

No plausible argument can be offered on behalf
of such a discrimination, except the argument of
force. The company have the legal right to charge
so much ; and seeing that competition on way
business is, in effect, cut off, they do charge. They
have “ nine points of the law” in their favor,
which is held to be a sufficient justification for
their conduct in the premises.

Of course, if a ton of coal or a bale of merchan-
dize can be profitably carried 100 miles for a given
sum, it can be carried any shorter distance for
the same amount. If the through business be re-
munerative, so will the local, when the charges
are actually alike. So with passenger transporta-
tion. How absurd and even suicidal would be
the action of the managers of the Hudson River
Railroad, if they insisted upon charging a larger
sum for each ticket between New York and Pough-
kepsie than they do between New York and Al-
bany. Yet on the Morris Canal such antiquated
ideas prevail to this day.

But we go further and maintain that, as a
general rule, the charges imposed for carrying
either passengers or freight should not be at a
higher rate for way than for through business.
Let those who are disposed to call this in question
attend to the following considerations:

First. Much pf the success of any public enter-
prise depends upon the good feeling of the locali-
ties in which it operates. Make the management
of a railroad thoroughly unpopular, and its pros-
perity will experience a check from that moment.
Popularize it, and it enters at once on the high
road to success. We do not assert that good-will
is the only or the chief point to be considered,
but it certainly is not one to be overlooked. In
the neighboring State of New Jersey on some of
the railroads lower rates, as well as prices, are es-
tablished for way than for through business, the
consequence of which is a local support which is
never withdrawn, and enables a monopoly ex-
ceedingly distasteful to the outside public to be
maintained, in spite of all the clamor which has
been kept up, nearly twenty years, for its aboli-
tion. _

Second. The idea is essentially flair‘, addressing
itself to the common sense of every child, as well
as to that of every‘ president and director. It is
cheaper to haul an empty than a loaded car; and,
therefore, the charge for transporting passengers
or freight should be regulated solely according to
the distance. .

Tim-d. So far from the principle being valid,
that because managers can, therefore, they should
discriminate against local business, the very op-
posite ought to hold good. The way business is
their own exclusively; therefore, they should
nurse it, foster it, by every judicious measure pos-

its development. That business is the goose
which lays “ golden eggs’; every day in the year;
while the through traffic may or may not.‘ The
one is certain; the other is liable to be cut
ofi‘ at any moment. Every company ought, ac-
cordingly, to make all needed sacrifices to secure
the former, while not neglecting to accommodate
the latter.

Fowtk. The express train, intended chiefly for

others on a well managed railroad. This may be"
all right enough, as the through passenger is sup-
posed to be a man whose time is not only money,
but a good deal of it at that.
no propriety in making the way train lie ofl at the
switch to make room for its “lightning” neigh-
bor; while the passenger by the former is charged
four, and he on the latter three cents per mile.
A just equalization of the scale would, in return
for the point of precedence, exacta somewhat high-
er rate, as well as a larger sum in the aggregate,
from the through than from the way passenger.
The Michigan Central Railroad has not upon its
line, excepting the termini, a city of any conse-
quence, while it constitutes an important link in
the great chain of connections between the East
and West. If the development of through at the
expense of way passenger business can be advis-
able ang/w/'m'e, it is on the line in question. Yet
the experience of the past five years shows that
the latter is not only much greater in volume than
the former, but is increasing at a rate nearly double.
Here are the statistics of five years’ passenger
business, which must we think, settle the question :

Way Through Total

Year ending Passengers. Passengers. Passeng’s.

May 31, 1860....251,755 72,6669} , s24,421a.s
May 31, 1se1....2§2,ee5 65,110 327,775
May 31, 1862....2o3,53_‘6?_= 55,292 308,828t
May 31, 1se3....3s7,e.2 59,G89t 44.7,se1,x,
May 31, 1sc4....55o,2os; 89,552§ 645,759
May 31, 1865....7-15,8489: 107,5-1.0;, 852,889

Thus it will be seen that while the increase in
through passengers has been 48 per cent. in five
years,.that of the way passengers has been a frac-
tion over 200. The experience of the Michigan
Central road may doubtless be that of nearly
every other in the country in this respect.

HE‘ A meeting was recently held at Hamilton,
Madison 00., N. Y., for the purpose of taking into
consideration the utility of constructing a rail-
road to connect Hamilton with some point on the
New York Central Railroad. The people of Stock-
bridge are represented as very much aroused to
the importance of building a road through that
town,to Oneida. The route to Utica, as prospec-
tively the cheapest and best paying investment
was also advocated. A committee was appointed
to confer with the citizens on the proposed routes,
and inquire into the practicability of those routes

and to ascertain whether the people of Utica,
Oneida or any other place will unite with them in
the enterprise.

3?‘ The total mileage of railways in the United
Kingdom, September 2, 1865, was 12,234, against
11,889 miles at the same period last year——in~
crease, 345 miles. Number of railway lines,.74.

E? The steamship Somerset, the first of the
new line between Baltimore and Liverpool, ‘sailed
from that port- on the 29th ult., with a large

oiblepinstead of throwing obstacles in the way of

freight anda number of passengers.

through travel, takes precedence in time of all .

But surely there is '