Trustees Lose Fight With A.G. & E.C. Over Cumulative Ballotting

American Gas and Electric Company managers won their tiny tussle with University trustees yesterday as stockholders in the company approved the plan for cumulative voting for directors. Harrison Williams, who holds $2,570,400 worth of common stock in the utility system, swung the decision with his proxy vote.

The University trustees had opposed the measure. They did not approve cumulative voting under "pressure" from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which recently recommended it to the company.

Only 8.21 percent of the shares voted against the proposal advanced by the A.G & E.C. Cumulative voting gives stockholders the right to multiply their shares by the number of directors and then vote the total number obtained by the multiplication as they please. It is possible for all votes to be given to one individual, or they may be divided among any number of candidates.