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MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE
AND
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ondon:
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C O N T E N T S
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D E C E M B E R
M A GAZIN E?
T he S uez C a n a l ..............
. ................................................................................................ 899
T he F inancial Q uestion.
(B y 0 . H . C arroll).................................................. ......................... 420
T he R eciprocity Movfment in C anada . . . .
F loatino C apital and N ew L oans . . . .
................................................................................ 428
............................................... ..........................................431
C hicaoo and A lton R a il r o a d ........................... ................................... ..
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...........................
435
T he D iscount Ma r k e t ........................................................................................... .................................437
R elief from F iscal B urdens .................................................................................................
440
T he S upreme C ourt and the L egal T ender A c t ........................... .......................................... 442
T he C ondition of the M assaohdssetts I nsurance C ompanies ...............................................
446
T he H og C rop and its P roducts ......................................................................................... ..
447
T ennesse F in a n c e s .................
448
N orth C arolina B onds
...........................................................................................
4fc0
P ennsylvania S tate D e b t ............................................................................................
450
G eneral Movement of C oin and B ullion at N ew Y ork in O ct b e ; , 1869 ...........
4 50
R ailroad I t e m s .......................................................................- ............................................................... 451
T he P ublic D ebt . . . . . ............................................................................................................................... 463
C ommercial C hronicle aniJ R ev ie w ........................................................
464
J ournal of B anking , C urrency and F inance ........................................................ ..................... 469
T 11 K
MERCHANTS’ MAGAZ! N E
AND
COMMERCIAL
D E C E M B E R ,
R E V I E W\
1 8 0 9.
THE SUEZ CANAL.
The passage of tile grand naval procession from the Mediterranean to
the Red Sea, which sailed from Port Said on the 19th of November, and
reached Suez on the 21st, ended the imposing ceremonies that cele
brated the formal opening of the Suez Canal to the commerce of
the world.
The completion of this great work, accomplished in
the comparatively short period of ten years, is another o f the
many important events characterizing the high and progressive civili
zation o f the present century. Although it is probable that the difficulties
overcome in the construction o f the canal, as well as its value when
finished as a direct channel for the great and increasing trade between
Europe and the East, have been exaggerated in the one instance an droverestimated in the other; it cannot he denied that, to the enterprise of M'.
de Lesseps and the French capitalists who contributed the greater part
of the $55,000,000 expended, the civilized world is indebted for one of
the grandest achievements o f modern engineering science. It will be
1
400
the suez c a n a l .
[ December,
remembered that, during the progress o f the work, the general tone
of the European and American press was one of incredulity as to the suc
cess of the enterprise.
Among the many objections advanced, it was
confidently asserted that, even if it were possible to cut a canal across the
Isthmus, the shifting sand of the dessrt would fill it up more rapidly than
the dredging machines could clear the channel. No sooner was the canal
actually finished, however, than the former disbelievers rushed to the
opposite extreme of unlimited credulity. Not only did they accept the
fact of its successful completion, but they at once decided that the com
merce of the East, which had formerly followed the less direct routes
by way of one or the other of the Southern Continental Capes, must
henceforth flow exclusively through the new channel opened for it by
way of the Isthmus of Suez. It is evident that this estimate of the results
which are to follow the opening o f the canal is extravagant, even though
the sanguine predictions of M. de Lesseps and his friends may not wholly
fail of ultimate realization.
The isthmus o f Suez is, as our readers are aware, seventy-five miles
broad, and separates the Eed and Mediterranean Seas, barring the road
to the goal of Columbus, and, in consequence, opening in past centuries
a New W orld and a new passage to the enterprise o f the Old. It is
almost level with the adjoining seas, having a general depression to the
Mediterranean. Its average elevation is from five to eight feet above the
sea level, although, in the case o f two hillocks, it rises to heights of
thirty and forty feet. Indeed, it is more than probable that the seas once
flowed across this bar. At the present day there are several salt lakes
and swamps which have been used in the construction of the
canal. The land of the isthmus is natural sterile, and wanting in fresh
water. It has long been an object to the rulers o f the adjacent territory
to cut a canal from the Mediterranean to the R ed Sea. It his been
frequently attempted, and more than once wish success. Some historians
attribute the earliest attempt to Sesostris. The ancient Egyptian canal
did not pass in a line across ihe isthmus as in the present case. The
waters of the Nile were divided into two branches, one flowing north
ward to Lake Timsab, and the other southward, through the Bitter Lakes,
to the Red Sea, near Suez. They sailed on the N ile so far as it was
navigable, and when it ceased to be so they cut a canal, filling it with water
from the river, which debouched into the Red Sea, near the present Suez.
T h i^ line thus had four sections, 02|- miles in length— 13-J- miles from
Suez to the Bitter Lakes, 27 miles through these lakes, 40 from the lakes
to El Otiady (of Tomat), and 12 miles from El Ouady to Bubastis, then
one of the principal branches of the Nile. The vestiges o f the old canal
show a breadth of from 100 to 200 feet.
1869]
4:01
THE SUEZ CANAL.
THE E A R L Y H ISTO R Y OF THE
SUEZ C A N A L .
The pamphlet o f M. de Lesseps, recently published in Paris, and
entitled Eg^plc el Turquie, contains valuable information in reference to
the historical antecedents o f the Suez Canal. In discussing this point we
shall principally rely on his authorities. It is known that, in the most
ancient times, in default o f a canal directly connecting the Red Sea and
the Mediterranean, of which the imperfect state o f engineering science in
those days prevented the execution, there existed a vast canal which
united the Red Sea with the Nile. This canal, undertaken, in the first
place, by I f echos, the son o f Psameticus, 630, B. C., or perhaps by his
predecessors, was finished by Darius, the son o f Hystaspe. Half a cen
tury after Darius, Herodotus stated that this canal was four clays’ j rurney
in length, and of a width sufficient to admit the passage o f two triremes
abreast. It commenced at Bubaste on the Nile, following at first an
easterly direction, then diverging to the south, and finally entering the
Red Sea at Patymos. The Ptolemys kept the canal in constant repair,
and added considerable improvements to the great work. Strabo, who
travelled in Egypt fifty years before the Christian era, beheld this canal
covered with ships. The Roman Emperors, Trajan and Adrian especially,
greatly enlarged and extended the canal. When the Musselmans effected
the conquest of Egypt, the canal had been abandoned, but the Caliphs,
comprehending how necessary it w'as to renew the work, in the interest of
the holy cities Mecca and Medina, soon caused the reconstruction o f the
canal, and it was subsequently styled “ Canal o f the Prince of the Faith
ful.”
The Arab historians in detailing the work o f reeonstiuction, give a
curious mythical account o f the inception of the work. The following is
an extract from the Arabic chronicle of El Makrizy : “ This canal was
hollowed out by an ancient king of Egypt for Agar, the mother o f Ishmael
while she dwelt in Mecca. In the continuation of days it was hollowed
a second time by cne o f the Greek kings who reigned in Egypt after the
death of Alexander. W hen the Most High bestowed Islamism upon
mankind, and Amrou-ben.el-A’ss made the conquest of Egypt, this Gene
ral , following the instructions of Omar-ben-el-Khathathab, provided for
the reconstruction o f the canal in the year o f the pestilence. He con
ducted it to the Sea o f Kolzoum, from whence vessels sailed to Hedjaz,
Yemen and India. In the year when MohamnW-ben Hagan rfvolted
in the City of the Prophet (Medina) against Abou-Djafar, then Caliph
o f Irak, the latter sent orders to his lieutenant in Egypt directing him to
fill up the canal that it might not be used for the transportation o f pro
visions to the insurgents in Medina.
His order was accordingly carried
402
the
Su e z
canal.
\
December,
o u t; and communication stopped with the Sea o f Koizoum. In this
condition the canal has remained to this day.”
In reference to the reconstruction o f the canal by Amrou-ben el-A’ss
the following account is given by the Arab geographer Alfergan : “ The
river Trajan, which passes from Egypt to Babylon, as was stated by
Ptolemy, is the same that subsequently named the “ Canal of the Com
mander of the Faithful,” and which flows by Cairo. For Omar, as is
state'1 in the history o f the Egyptian war, ordered that the canal should
be reopened to effect the transportation of food to Medina and Mecca,
which were then desolated by famine. The Caliph’s letter to Amrou was
as follows : ‘ To the rebel son of a rebel— W hilst thou and thy compan
ions are fattening yourselves, you care nothing that I and mine are daily
getting leaner. A t once give succour to us.’ Amrou replied : ‘ la m
thine. I will send thee a train of beasts of which the first shall be with
thee ere the last has set out. Besides I hope to find another mode o f
transportation by sea.' B at immediately Amrou repented that he had
given this hint; because somebody made the observation to him that it
would be possible to devastate Egypt and speedily transfer the spoils to
Medina. Accordingly he wrote directly afte wards to the Caliph, to state
that ho had reflected upon the transportation by sea, and had found insur
mountable difficulties in the way o f the wo rk. Omar replied; “ I have
received the letter in which thou seekest to elude the execution of the
project conceived in the preceding. I swear by the Almighty either that
thou shalt execute it, or that I will diive thee out by the ears, and send
one in thy place who will accomplish it.” Amrou saw at once that he
had blundered, so he began work directly upon the canal. Omar enjoined
him not to neglect sending comestibles, clothing, lentils, onions, and cattle
— in a word, all that Egypt produced. Eikendi states that the canal was
hollowed out in the year 23 o f the Hegira, which corresponds with the
year 643 of the Christian era. It was finished in six months, so that
vessels could pass through it and proceed to Hedjaz.”
In M. de Tott’ s Memories sur les Turcs occurs the following : “ The
late Sultan Mustapha felt uncommon interest in the project for connecting
the two seas by means o f a canal accross the Isthmus of Suez. In addi
tion to the information that I had upon the subject, he wished to know all
that had been ascertained by the different commissions that had been in
Egypt. If Mustapha Lad lived long enough to undertake this work he
woulff have found upon the spot facilities enabling him to carry out the
greatest revolution o f which the political situation was susceptible. This
Sultan, whose mind was becoming much enlightened, caused me to under
take a work explanatory of this important object, which he proposed to
execute as soon as peace was established. O f all the different public
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
403
works which have made Egypt illustrious, the canal o f communication
between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean would merit the first place in
point of rank, if, indeed, the efforts of genius on behalf of public utility
were duly seconded by the generations destined to enjoy them; and if the
foundations of social weal could acquire the same solidity as the prejudices
which tend to destroy it. There lies the abridgement o f all history ; it
affords constantly the same tableau; it is that o f all nations, of all ages.
Without these continual destructions, the happiest position would have
dictated immutable laws; and the Canal of the Red Sea had been con
stantly the basis of the public r g 'it of nations.”
Napoleon appeared upon tin soil which had been trod by Sesostris,
Alexander and Ctesar. Hardly had he arrived in Egypt when he hastened
to Suez to determine whether he could recommence the work of the
Pharaohs— the work continued by the <Greeks and ihe Romans. On the
24th o f December, 1798, he reached Cairo, and, on the 30th, accompanied
by his illustrious comrades, B -rthier, Caffarelli, Gantheaume, Monge,
Berthollet, and Costaz, he rediscovered the vestiges of the ancient canal.
Napoleon tracked them upwards of five leagues ; then, after visiting the
fountains of Moses, be returned to Cairo by the Wady-Toumilat, and in
spected near Baalbec, on January 8, 1799, the ,other extremity of the
canal o f the Pharaohs. H e ordered a clever engineer, M . Lepere, to
prepare a memoir upon communication between the Mediterranean and
the Red Sea. The canal which M. Lepere proposed was no other than
the ancient canal; and according to his calculations the work would not
cost above twenty-five or thirty millions o f francs. The commencement
o f the canal was, as formerly, to be at Bubaste, on the N ile ; its direction
was by Wady-Toumilat towards Lake Timsah, thence turning to the
South it descended towards Suez. Always the thought predominated
that it must be a cinal destined solely to unite the Nile with the Rad
Sea. Yet, by the side o f this principal thought were seen traces of another
— the true one— which, however, remained infeconde. After an examina
tion of the localities, the clever engineer could not hinder himself from per
ceiving the facilities which nature afforded for the construction o f a canal
which wo Id place Suez and Peluze in direct communication. That
would indeed have been the canal dividing he isthmus, and which alo le
would open the grand maritime route reclaimed by commerce and civiliza
tion. But two considerations prevented Napoleon from welcoming the
idea. He believed, in the absence of profound political and strategetical
studies which had not yet been made, that it would be impossible to
maintain the ports in the extremity of the line of navigation. The recent
labors of the International Scientific Commission have perempioriiy de
monstrated tiiat, thanks to the perfect apparatus l o w at the disposal of
404
THE SUEZ CANAL.
[Decem ber,
the engineer, the difficulties of which were formerly dreaded exist no
longer. Upon this point, however, it is well to quote M. Lepere’s own
words. His opinion in regard to the direct cutting of the isthmus is ex
pressed as follows:— “ In this project of the Suez Canal we have expressly
recommended the choice of the ancient route by the interior of the Delta
towards Alexandria, upon commercial considerations particularly referring
to Egypt, and because on the side towards Peluze it does not appear feas
ible to maintain a permanent maritime establishment. Nevertheless, ab
stracting these considerations,it would be easy to open a direct communi
cation between Suez, the Bitter L ike, the Bas el-Moyeh, prolonged upon
the eastern border of Lake Menzalieh to the sea towards Peluze. W e
think that a canal opened in this direction would present advantages
which the interior canal does not afford. The navigation would be con
stantly open, and not subject to the alternate rising and falling of the
Nile. In such a canal, too, it would be easy to attain a much greater
depth. I would add that, if I did not see several difficulties in regard to
digging out and keeping clear the channel to a sufficient depth between
Suez and the roadstead [the force of steam machinery was not then un
derstood], I should propose a direct communication, for the use o f large
ships, between the two seas through the isthmus.” Napoleon, on his
return to France, received from M. Lepere, in presence of the members o f
the Institute o f Egypt, the Memoir on the Canal o f the Two Seas, from
which the above extracts are taken. And the E nperor then pronounced
the following prophetic words: “ It is a big thing. Hiwever, I am not
able to accomplish it. But the Turkish government will one day find its
conservation and its glory in the execution o f this project.” So far about
the predecessors of M . de Lesseps as told by himself. Let us see now
what he has done as it is told by others.
From the days of Napoleon to the present the project which he so
much favored has not been lost sight of. Its present success— whatever
time will prove that to be— is mainly due to Vicomte Ferdinand de
Lesseps, the eminent French engineer. M de Lesseps was born at
Versailles in 1805, and at the age of 23 was employed in the. consular
service of France at Lisbon. His father was for a long time attached to
the French consulate at Alexandria. Here de Lesseps p re attained great
influence over Mehemet Ali and the Turkish authorities; indeed, the
recognition of Mehemit Ali as Viceroy of Egypt is often attributed to
the personal interference o fM . de Lesseps with the Sultan. The intimacy
of the fathers lead also to an intimacy between ihe sons. Young de
Lesseps, after his nromotion from Lisbon, held various consular positions
in the E ist, and was afterwards transferred to Barcelona, where, during a
political disturbance, he displayed great energy, tact, and ability. In 1854
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
405
he visited Mehemet Said, who had succeded to the viceroyaltv. A t this
time he broached formally his idea of the Suez Ship Canal. A t the
request of Said Pacha he drew up a memoir, entitled “ Percementde
l’Isthme de Suez Expose, et Documents Officiel.” M . de Lesseps, in con
sequence, received in 1854 a finnan sanctioning the enterprise, and a
letter of concession in 1859. The Viceroy offered very liberal terms,
taking a large share in the company, making valuable concessions o f land,
and permitting the employment of the native workmen.
M. de Lesseps proposed to dig a canal 90 miles long, 330 feet wide at
water line, sloping at the sides to the bottom, which was to be 20 feet
below the low water level o f the Mediterranean. There were to be at
each end sluice locks 330 feet long by YO feet wide. B y using the tides,
it was hoped that an additional depth of three to four feet might be
gained. As no ship could enter it from the sea, unless the mouths were
protected from the sands and shoals, the greatest difficulty of the work
was anticipated in the artificial harbors necessary at each end. At Suez,
the piers had to be brought out three miles through shifting sands; the
stone, however, could be found near at hand. T he harbor on the Mediter
ranean side, near Tyneh, or Pelusium, was more costly and difficult. The
Nile annually pours into the Mediterranean 13,000,000 cubic yards of sand
and mud, which are borne by a strong ocean current to the neighborhood
of Tyneh, making that coast shallower and more dangerous each year. In
M. Lepere’s report, the opinion was expressed that the Red Sea was thirty
feet higher than the Mediterranean, but the surveys of M. Boardaloue in
1806 flora Suez to Tyneh, and from Tyneh to Suez demonstrated that
hardly any difference of level existed. Nevertheless, men like George
Stephenson, who should have known that with time, money, and labor no
engineering work is impossible, threw cold water on the scheme. Indeed
the English capitalists and diplomats endeavored by every agency to
hinder the work, as they saw in it a political movement. M. de Lesseps’s
company was organized in 1854. In 1855 the Viceroy had a new survey
madeTHE INTER N ATIO N AL CONGRESS.
In that year, the representatives of France, England, Prussia, Austria,
and Holland assembled in Paris to discuss the question in its international
relations. After hearing the explanations and reports o f M. de Lesseps,
it was determined to send five of their number to Suez to examine the
work. Their report went to show the entire feasibility of the scheme.
This report made in November and December, 1855, was published in
June, 1856. The work of organizing the company proceeded until 1858,
when La Compagnie de Grand Canal Martime de Suez became a fact.
406
THE SUEZ CANAL.
\D ecem ler,
It raised a capital o f 200,000,000 o f francs, about $38,000,000 o f our
money, or £7,760,000 sterling.
Subsequently, two other loans o f
400,000,000 of francs in the aggregate were raised.
The following are substantially the terms of the Egyptian concession:
The Egyptian government to have the right of selecting the managing
director from the largest stockholders, if possible ; the concession to last
ninety-nine years from the opening of navigation ; the works to be at the
expense of the company; the Egyptian government conceding public
lands to defray the expenses, and undertaking, if desirable, to build forti
fications at its own expense ; the government to receive annually 15 per
cent of the earnings, without reference to dividend or interest to be
derived from their shares; the remainder of the profits are to be divided,
7o per cem for the general shareholders, and 10 per cent for the original
founders; the tariff (to be regulated by the Egyptian government and the
company) to be the same for all nations. Sho dd the company deem it
advisable to join the Nile and the maritime canal by a navigable channel,
the land now uncultivated may be irrigated and cultivated at their own
expense and charge, the company to have these lands free o f any charge
for ten years, dating from the opening o f the canal ; during the remain
ing eighty-nine years they will pay one-tenth of the usual land tax ; after
which, the whole of the usual tax on irrigated land in E gypt; a plan of
all the lands conceded is to be m ade; the company is to have the light
of quarrying stone on government lands, and of importing tools and
machinery and supplies for the workmen, free o f duty; at the termina
tion of the concession the Egyptian government is to be substituted in
lieu for the company.
In January, 1856, it was provided that “ four-fifths at least of the
workmen should, in all cases, be Egyptians.” These native workmen, or
fellahs, numbered 20,000. Their wages were one-third less than that of
the European laborers, but still a third more than what was usually paid
to the fellahs in their own country. It was also agreed that they should
be provided with habitations, food, and medical assistance, and that while
in hospital they should receive half their usual salary.
On the death of Said Pacha, the Sultan visited Egypt, and personally
examined the works. On his return to Constantinople he published an
order forbidding the forced employment o f the fellahs in the work, as
fever and exhaustion had decimated them, and further disagreeing to
the land concessions made by Said Pacha. M . de Lesseps protested
against this interferenc3, whereupon Ismail Pacha, the present Khedive,
sent to Paris Nubar Pacha to lay the matter before the Direction. They
refused to agree to his demands. Nnbar Pacha then referred the matter
to the eminent French jurists, Odillon Barrot, Jules Favre, and Dufaure.
1869]
TIIE SUEZ CANAL.
407
These recommended the company to abandon their extraordinary demands,
and to be satisfied with the terms offered by the Sublime Porte.
The works were delayed in their progress in consequence of this dispute,
although large numbers of the fellahs engaged voluntarily in the work,
attracted by the good wages and comfortable quarters of the workmen.
The dispute having been referred to the Empeior of the French, he
decided as follows: 1. That the concessions of November, 1854, and
January, 1856, had the form of contracts mutually binding on each party.
2. That as by the withdrawal of the fellah labor the cost of the work
would be increased, the Viceroy should pay an indemnity of £1,200,000
sterling on that account. 3. That the company should cede to the Viceroy
their fresh water canals, reserving only the right; that the Viceroy should
pay £400,000, representing the cost o f construction of the canals and
£240,000 for the tolls, which the company thereby relinquished. 4. That
the company should only retain such lands along the line of the maritime
canal as might be necessary for the care and maintenance of the said
canal. 5. That the company should cede to the Viceroy their title to all
lands capable of cultivation by means of irrigation from the fresh water
canals, and for which the Viceroy should pay £1,200,000. This last
grant made the total indemnification, £3,360,000 sterling.
The canal passes through four large natural lakes. The largest of these
is called Lac Amer, or the Bitter Lake, and is situated some ten miles
from Suez. The other lakes are Lake Timsah, Lake Ballab, and Lake
Menzalleh. Lake Timsah is the smallest of these, and has been drying
up for a long time. These lakes are but ten or fifteen miles distant from
each other. The work of the company consisted in deepening the chan
nel through these lakes, cutting a passage through the intervening sections,
and building the harbors at Port Said and Suez. The land was princi
pally sandy, with occasional strata of calcareous blue slate. The differ
ence of level, even at the highest calculation is only four inches in the
mile, so that the current will not be great. Whatever current there will
he, will be broken by the lakes. The rate at which the work on the canal
was performed was remarkable. The average monthly work was 1,200,000
cubic metres. The divisions o f the Canal are four in number, that of
Port Said or Lake Menzalleh, El Guisr (pronounced El Gearsh) Ismalia
and Suez. Ismailia, at the junction o f the freshwater canal and the
maritime canal, divides the entire work into nearly two equal parts, which
are subdivided into four parts, each having a resident engineer and corps
of assistants.
Port Said is the Mediterranean entrance of the canal. It is 124 miles
north of Alexandria and 30 miles north of Damieta. It is a mushroom
city, such as we have had on the path of our Pacific railroad. It owes its
408
THE SUEZ CANAL.
[December,
origin to the canal, and its name to the first patron o f the work, Said
Pacha. It is now a large city, and promises to rival in importance and
trade both Marseilles and Alexandria. The harbor o f Port Said is artificial,
and, as has been intimated, is o f massive proportions to resist the terrible
influx of sand and mud from the Nile. There are two jetties, the eastern
and the western. The length of the western jetty is 2,200 metres, or nearly
miles; and of the eastern, 950 metres. The width of the mouth will
be 400 met'es (1,300 feet) and the area o f the harbor will be 51 hectares.
These immense sea walls are constructed from artificial stone, made on
the spot. Two hundred and sixty-three thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six centimetres o f this artificial stone have been sunk or used in the
construction of this breakwater.
D IV ISIO N
OF LAKE M EN ZALLEH .
The work on this extending from Port Said to kilometre 23, a distance
of 14 miles, has been very important, it passes through a large lake very
much subject to the action of the wind and sea, from which it is separated
but by a narrow strip of land. The amount of matter excavated here would
be represented by 11,141,622 cubic metres. The division o f El Guisr is the
longest division of the canal, extending over thirty-five miles. As far as Kan*
tara it is very straight, but after that locality is passed the work is heavy espe
cially at El Guisr. The cuttings in this neighborhood are the deepest. Kantara is the principal town of this division. It is twenty-eight miles from Port
Said. Lake Ballah is eight miles south of Kantara. In this neighbor
hood is the village of El Guisr, which is the highest elevation on the
peninsula. The work here was very severe. Ismailia, on Lake Timsah,
is so called after the Khedive Ismail Pacha. It owes its origin to the
canal. The original canal from the Damietta branch of the Nile extend
ed to the town of Z igazig, fifty miles west o f Ismailia. One o f the first
acts of the present company was to bring it within a few miles of the
site of Ismailia. The division ol Ismailia is the third. It extends through
Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes to Kilometre one hundred and fifteen.
Thence to Suez is the fouith division. Suez was an unimportant town
heretofore, but it has been galvanized into vigorous life by the operations
of the canal company. On August 15, 1865, the fete day o f Napoleon,
the first vessel passed through from sea to sea. It was a, coal barge,
which made the passage a portion of the way by the fresh water canal.
In January, 1867, as our special telegrams at th it period announced,
large steamers passed through by means of the same auxiliary canal.
T he completion of the maritime canal is of recent date.
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
B ALA N CE
409
SHEET.
The following is the general balance sheet o f the Suez Canal Company,
exhibiting the whole indebtedness incurred in the construction of the
work, and the funds which have accrued from various sources; dated
June 30, 1869 :
I R.
Francs.
E x p e n d s o f organization from 1854 to 1859 ............................................ ......................... 2,991,435.27
Construction of general rffi e s ........................................ ...........................................................
920,310.42
Furnl ure and materi 1 of offices in Alexandria and the administration in Patis.
141.206.34
Interest on t-har^s 1859-’69...................... ..................................................................................... 64,054,893 30
Into car on bonds lS68-’ 69.............................................................................................................. 7,868,493.75
Extinciion of ob igation* 1868 9 .................................................................................................. 1,7 0,000.00
Expenses incurred in contracting loan c f o m hundred rr ili:o n j o f francs___
1.436,745.40
General expenses of the admit iftraticn o f the if f i s ef the company, com m i-e.on to ag< nts, aad negotiations in France and Egv pt, from January 1,1359,
to date . . . .
.............. ............................................ . ................ ........................... 16,901,241.73
E x p e n d s of health department, 1S68-9....................................................................................
6'17,056.16
Expenses of te’eg aphs, 1868-9.......................... ....................................................................
145,037.40
Expenses of d main, 1S69.................................................... ......................................................
17,503.95
Expenses ot transporiat’ on 1866-9, including floating and rolling stock, buildings,
th eis, ai d also vi« tuall n g ............................................................................— ............ 8,101,631.23
General e *rpen6es o f construction advances to contractors on mat rial and victual
ling
...................................................................................................................................... 17.213.943.88
O her si ores, buildings, & c............................................................................................................ 38.341.980.88
Works in the consiruction of the canals and ports.................................. .................
217,671 670.72
Var oil- running accounts with contractors.......................................................................... 6,962,499.46
Runnii g acc m nts of var ous Services—
Superior agency in Egypt ......................................... ........................................................... 14.117.553.88
Gen r il dir ct on o f w o r k s ................ ..................................................................................... 1.972,250.69
Tra sit service........................ ........................................................................................................ 8,054,987.15
Telega ph service................ ......................................................... ................................................
492.76
Pealth department...................................................................................... .................................
59,833.72
Capit ’.l acco nt—
Egyptian governm ent on account c f grants, ... ................................................................. 30,0-90,090.00
JHa ai.ee to be recovered on bonds, for m i s lal en due ................................................
91.825.00
V «iio u sd tb fo rs.......................... ......................................................................................... .........
239,131.85
Cash o. x and porifolio o f the superior agency in E gypt.............................................. 4,024,000.00
88.291.08
C fS h ....................
...........................................................................................................................
Rank o f France ............................................................................................................................
119.786.71
15,095.25
A g icultural credit................................ - ..................... ..............................................................
Comm acia an i industrial c edit............................................................................................ 4,250,090.00
5.680.28
Sucn te gem rale..............................................................................................................................
85,724.45
S c-ieie oes dep ts et comptes courants ...... .......................................................................
Securities ................ ............... ...................................................................................................
521,783 93
7,8 9,464.52
Property (vaiious)........................................................................................................................
Total.
,451,€56,661.16
Cn.
Francs.
C apial (5r0 f \ on the 400,000 shares subscribed)........ ....................................................... 200,000,000. CO
Indemnity fixed by arbit?at on oi tlm Empi ror.................................................................... 84,000,090.00
Loan oi 100,' 09,000 ( 0J f r on the 333,333 bonds subscribed).......................................... 99,999,900.00
Value o f grants settled by the convention of 23d August, 1869, between the
Egyptian gov rement and ’ he c o r pany, 80,000,CO !; from which, deducting
v Yu of proper tv prev ously purchased, >here remains........................................ 29,744,530.80
Recc ved from various s urces........................................................................................ ...........
R e ce ip s aute-ior o formation o f the company....................................................................
0 /0 4 .8 8
P ro'u cts o f temporary investments, 1359-1&68...................................................................... IS,410,988 64
Products t f tee p i a y in vestments, 1869................................................. ...........................
5"2,637.46
559.3S7.S5
F o m v riou* sources.................................................................. ..................... .......................
Access ry proce d s ...... .................................................................................................................. 7,617,715.50
401.70
Receipts sonnecte « with th3 w ork s..........................................................................................
Bece pts— Tiansportatirn depaitment, 1866-69.................................................................... 3 ,4 2 1 /9 '.95
Re< e i ts— Sanit»jy department, 1868........................................................................................
S4.371.21
Jtiece pts— O'tal and telegraph de. artment, 1863-69..........................................................
65,635.37
> eceipts from domain...................... .................................. ......................................................
57^,625.72
Onr'ei t account o f d o m a in ...........................................................................................................
168,270.94
Creditors (various).......................................................... ................................................................. 6,471,310.08
Total
$451,636,661.10
410
[ December,
THE SUEZ CANAL.
EN G LISH INTERESTS IN' THE
SUEZ
CANAL.
W hile Lord Stratford de Redcliffe was ambassador at Constantinople,
M. de Lesseps addressed to him a letter in reference to English interests
in the piercing o f the Isthmus o f Suez by means of a canal. The follow
ing is a translation of this interesting document :
“ There are questions (says M . de Lesseps) which require to be frankly
appVoached in order that they may be fairly resolved— as wounds or
maladies have to be discovered before they can be cured. The kindness
with which you have received my first observations in regard to a subject,
the gravity of which cannot be disguised, encourages me to submit to
you the question of the Suez Canal, from a point o f view in which, I think,
the matter may be very usefully discussed. The influence which your high
character and long experience naturally give you in the decisions o f your
government relative to all Oriental questions, makes me anxious to neglect
nothing that might aid you in forming an opinion with full knowledge o f
the facts.
The results already attained through the intimate alliance of France
and England, sufficiently prove how advantageous is this union o f the
two nations in the interests o f the equilibrium of Europe and of civilization.
The future happiness of all the nations of the world is involved in this
state o f things, which, to the everlasting honor of the governments that
have thus far maintained it, can alone guarantee to mankind the benefits
of peace and progress. Hence the necessity of removing in advance every
cause of rupture, and even of coolness, between the two nations; lienee the
imperious duty o f examining among possible contingencies what circum
stances are of a nature to awaken antagonistic feelings and provoke
among either people those emotions against which the wisdom of govern
ments is powet'iess to strive. The motives of a hostile rivalry lend succes
sively to give place to that generous emulation which produces grand
achievements.
In considering the situation in a general way, however, one fails to
perceive on what ground or what occasion those struggles which deluged
the world with blood could begin again. Can financial or commercial
interests divide the two nations ? But the capital of Great Britain thrown
into so many French enterprises, and the immense development which inter
national commerce has made, establish bonds between them which
become closer every day. Are political interests or the questions o f
principle likely to awaken strife ? But the two nations have now but one
single object, one single ambition— the triumph of rg h t over might, o f
civilization over barbarism. Finally, will paltry jealousies in regard to
territorial extension divide them ? But to-day they understand that the
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
411
globe is vast enough to present to their respective populations domains to
be reclaimed, and human creatures to be reclaimed from barbarism ; and
that whenever their flags were together the conquests of the oue enhance
the profits of the other.
At the first glance, therefore, it is difficult to detect anything in the
general situation that could alter our beneficial relations with England.
Nevertheless, upon a more careful scrutiny, an eventuality presents
itself, which, by making the two most enlightened and moderate Cabinets
of Europe partake of popular prejudices and passions, is capable.of reviv
ing old antipathies, and compromising, with the alliance, all the old bonds
of amity which united the peoples. There is, in fact, a ceitain point upon the
globe the freedom and neutrality of which is intimately connected with the
political and commercial power of Great Britain— a point which, in times
gone by, France, on her part, has desired to become posses-ed of. That
point is Egypt, the direct path from Egypt to the Indies— Egypt,
sprinkled so many times with the blobd of Frenchmen.
It would be superfluous to review the motives which would actuate
England in preventing Egypt from falling into the hands of a rival nation
But we must also carfully note that, with interests less positive, France—under the empire of her glorious traditions, under the impulse o f other
sentiments, instructive rather than critical, and for that reason all-powerful
in the minds o f her sensitive people— would never leave England in the
peaceable possession of Egypt. It is, therefore, clear that so long as the
route to the Indies is open and secure, and that the condition o f the
country guarantees facility and promptitude of communication, England
will never attempt to create grave difficulties by appropriating a territory
which has really no other value to lier’s than as a place of transit. It is
equally evident that France, whose policy for the lust fifty years has con
sisted in contributing to the prosperity o f Egypt as much by her counsels
as by the co-operation of a large number o f distinguished Frenchman in
Egyptian affairs, in science, in administration, and in all the arts of peace
or war, will never attempt to realize the project of an epoch now passed
away, so long as England keeps her foot from the country.
But supposing that one of those crises which so frequently disturb the
East should happen, or that England should think herself obliged by
circumstances to take possession o f Egypt in order to prevent another
from seizing it, let us inquire whether it is possible that the alliance
would resist the complication which such an event would produce?
W hat reasons would England have for believing herself forced to become
mistress of Egypt at the risk of breaking her friendiy relations with
France ? Solely on this account: That Egypt is the shortest and most
direct route from England to her Oriental possessions ; that this road must
412
THE SUEZ CANAL.
\ D ecem ler,
be constantly open ; and that she can make no terms with anything that
touches this transcendent interest. Therefore, by her natural position,
Egypt may he the cause of a conflict between France and Great Britain ;
and yet the chances of rupture would disappear if, by a providential event,
the geographical conditions of the old world were changed, and the route
to India, instead of traversing the heart o f Egypt, was carried back to the
boundaries, and, being open to all the world, was no more in danger of
becoming the privileged possession of any.
W ell, this event, which must he in the designs o f Providence, is to-day
within the reach of mankind. It can be accomplished by human industry ;
it can be realized by piercing the Isthmus of Suez. That is one to which
nature offers no obstacles; it is one which would attract the free capital
of England as well as other countries.
Let the Isthmus be cut across; let the waves o f the Mediterranean
mingle with those of the Indian Ocean ; let railroads he directed thither—
and Egypt, becoming immensely valuable as a productive country, as
having good internal commerce, as warehouse and place of transit, would
lose its perilous importance as a line of communication always uncertain
and frequently contested. The possession of Egyptian territory being no
longer a matter o f interest to England, the country would cease to be the
object of a possible struggle between that power and France. The union
of the two people would be henceforth unalterable, and the world be
preserved from the calamities which would follow their rupture. This
result affords such guarantees foi the future that it is sufficient to indicate
it to attract to the enterprise destined to accomplish it the sympathy and
encouragement of statesmen whose efforts have the sole aim of placing
the Anglo French alliance upon indestructible bases. You are one o f
these men, my lord, and you have so great a part in the debates o f la
haute politique, that I am extremely anxious to make you acquainted with
my aims.”
M . deLesseps has published an interesting pamphlet discussing the
various international advantages o f the Suez Canal, from which we sum
marize some important matter. In touching upon this important question,
so far as it regards Turkey, he adopts an ingenious device, which would
have the effect o f specially commending the subject to the attention of all
good Moslems, whether Turkish, Egyptian, or Hindoo. He prefaces his
chapter on the Turkish interest in .he undertaking with three verses from
the 31st chapter o f the Koran, which bears the title, “ Against the Spirit
of Immovableness.” These verses read as follows : “ D o you not see that
God has subjected to your use all that is upon the earth ? lie has poured
out upon you his benefits, both evident and hidden. It l men say: W e
will follow rather that which we found among our fathers But what if
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
413
Satan should invite them to the torment of fire? Do you not behold the
ship wafted upon the sea, bearing the gifts o f God, to m ike you perceive
his teachings ? There is in this many signs for the steadfast man to be
grateful.”
M. de Lesseps declares that interests of the highest order bind Turkey
to the success of the enterprise. A nd those interests he classi !es under
politics, religion, and commerce.
THE PO LITICAL INTEREST
is clearly defined, since the enterprise adds to the stability of the etnpirp,
n giving it a new maritime passage, of which Europe will be as much
nterested in maintaining the independence as it has been in preserving
the neutrality of the ancient route of the Dardanelles. The integrity of
the Ottoman Empire (inscribed in treatises which actually have often had
no other force than accord founded on the interests of the contracting
parties) acquires a consecration much more complete in the necessities of
the case, in the indispensable conditions of the equilibrium o f the world.
The powers of Europe have had one motive for defending this integritv;
henceforth they will have two. The Sultan becomes the guardian of two
political positions o f the greatest importance— the passage, from the
Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and the passage from the Mediterranean
to the Asiatic and Austral oceans. In the same hand these two passages
lend each other a natural strength, a mutual guarantee. Under the same
sceptre, they sanction and consolidate the neutrality of the empire, which
this double postion will at length incorporate in the equilibrium o f
Europe. A s the European powers can never consent to see the Suez
Canal possessed or dominated by one of themselves, Egypt can never in
any case be a gift or compensation; and thus vanish the dream of
certain statesmen, who, desirous o f obtaining a portion of the spoils,
fancy that they can still render acceptable to Europe the par
tition o f the Ottoman Empire.
The policy o f exclusive conquests
appears to have had its day. But, supposing that the world must fall
again into the old ruts, what dangers would the Ottoman Empire have to
foresee and provide against? On one side it must defend Constantinople
— on the other to watch Egypt. These are the two weights upon the
balances— for it cannot be forgotton that since the commencement o f
the present century, on two memorable occasions, the partition o f the
Ottoman Empire has been seriously proposed b y placing E gypt and
Constantinople in the two scales as the condition o f the sale. W ell,
recent events have proved that Turkey would not be left to stand alone
in resisting attacks upon the Constantinople side-
414
THE SUEZ CANAL.
[D ecem ber,
A s for the W est, we know England and France could never agree to
the possession o f Egypt by one o f themselves. Rut what difference in
regard to security, if, instead of being a merely natural question between
these two powers, the question became European; if, by the possession
o f a neutral route between the two most opulent oceans on the globe,
Egypt, under the suzerainty o f the Sultan, rendered Austria jointly
responsible for her position b y the prosperity o f the Adriatic and the
developments o f martime trade; Italy and France by their Mediter
ranean p orts; England by her communications with India and A u s
tralia ; Russia by her ports on the Black Sea, and by the maritime
communication o f the great rivers which debouch near her settlements
upon the A m o o r ; Spain by her colonial possessions and her Mediter
ranean littoral; Holland by her interests in Sumatra, Java, and B orneo;
the United States o f America b y an abbreviation o f nearly 3,000
leagues for their Atlantic ports in navigating towards the Indian Ocean ?
Let us add that, through all the interests attaching to the maintenance
o f the statu quo, the Suez Canal is destined to bind E gypt still more
closely to the rest o f the Ottoman Empire. A ll antagonism between
the vassal and the suzerain will forever disappear, not only on account
o f the exterior considerations which have been indicated, but also on
account o f a powerful motive of internal policy. F or as the Suez Canal
becomes the material demonstration o f the principle sometimes misun
derstood, that the prosperity and strength o f E gypt are elements
essential to the vitality of T u rk ey ; the vassal will be so much more
assured that partizans for the enfeeblement o f Egypt will have lost all
influence in the councils o f the Sublime Porte. Enlightened men in
Turkey, so far from entertaining alarm at the situation, perceive, on
the contrary, in the consequences following the, opening o f the Suez
Canal, a pledge o f security for the future; for they have always dreaded ex
posures to dangerous eventualities on the part o f some European power ;
they always preferred to see E gypt governed, in an exceptional manner,
bv Mussulman princes o f Turkish orgin, and who were attached to the
metropolis by many common ties o f policy and religion.
The Viceroy, Mohammed Said, in his communications with the
statesmen o f Turkey in reference to susceptibilities which it was sought
to awaken against him, remarked :
“ In the actual situation a governing Prince o f Egypt, who had mental
reservations, would never permit the execution o f a Suez Canal. All
the coast from Damietta to the principal ports of Syria, is to-day exempt
from all foreign surveillance as well as from European navigation
Nothing would prevent the V iceroy o f E gypt under given circumstances
to prepare armaments, to concentrate troops without attracting external
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
415
attention, pnd to precipitate his forces into Syria before measures of
prevention could be arranged. But with a canal to Suez the position is
completely changed.”
“ Besides, the important Arabian possessions o f Turkey, which E gypt
is now charged with provisioning in grain, could be easily starved; or
as the leaven o f revolt is there always at hand, it could be laid hold o f
and augmented by Egypt, which, under the present system o f commu
nication, would be in a position to dominate. Experience has already
proved that the distance and the difficulties o f transportation would
never permit Turkey to send into Arabia the forces necessary to assure
the preponderance o f her power. The canal has been spoken o f as a
barrier between E gypt and Turkey. It is sufficient to know the country
to become convinced that physically the separation between Turkey and
E gypt is much more complete by the desert than it would be or will be
by the canal, around which populations o f Syrian and Egyptian culti
vators will assuredly congregate.”
This language is not less remarkable for its loyalty than for its striking
truth.
Let us now show that in this question political interests are strengthened
by religious interests; that sometimes the one is founded in the o*.h< r.
The power of the Sultan’s successors of the Caliphs is at once a political
power and a supreme pontificate. The Grand Signor is chief and pro
tector of the Mussulman religion, and at the same time sovereign o f the
territories which compose his States. Nobody can be ignorant of the
importance the Moslems attach to the possession of the H oly cities, which
fs regarded by them as an essential condition of the spiritual authority of
the Sultan.
But the difficulties and the slowness of communication
between Turkey and Arabia, the consuming distance to be traversed, the
deserts to be passed in order to convey thither the forces sufficient to
maihtain supremacy— the opening of the Suez Canal will cause all these
obstacles to disappear. Constantinople can communicate in a few davs
with Arabia; and a maritime route alwaps practicable and easy will per
mit of arrangements being made against all eventualities, arid really bring
the sanctuaries of faith again under the direction of the Sovereign Pontiff.
The execution of the enterprise resolved upon by the Viceroy of Egypt
will facilitate and multiply, to the aggrandisement of the Sultan’s author,
ity, one of the acts of faith most dear to the piety of Moslems, and free
the subjects o f the empire from those perils of the holy prilgrimage.
To day the route of the caravans is marked by the bones with which it is
annually whitened.
In an indirect manner, but not less certainly, the Suez Canal will render
the same service to the Moslem populations of Asia and Africa. By
2
41G
th e
Su e z
canal.
\December,
uniting the two seas, it introduces into the Bed Sea, and places at the
disposal of the liadjis of those countries the innumerable means of com
munication which are found in such perfection in the Mediterranean ; thus
rendering still more direct the influence o f the Sultan over the tribes
which already recognize and respect his religious supremacy.
In regard to commercial relations, Turkey will reap advantages from
the union of the two seas, not less evident than have appeared in treaty
of political and religious affairs. "Without recurring to souvenirs o f ancient
Byzantium, it is not to be disputed that at certain epochs o f the middle
ages Constantinople was one of the great marts o f commerce between the
East and the West. By the Euphrates, by way of the high plateau o f
Asia, she received the products of India; the silks o f China and the com
modities of all eastern lands embarked at the ports of the Black Sea were
bounded on the shores o f the Bosphorus. The Venetian and the Genoese
were the factors in these important transactions. But, by perfected
methods, by combinations differently arranged, the piercing of the isthmus
should offer to the commerce and navigation o f Constantinople a far
wealthier career. A single material fact will be sufficient to indicate the
advantages which the city has a right to expect from the new route. Of
all the great European ports, Constantinople is the one which the maritime
canal brings nearest to India and China. To day it is the most distant.
It is at present G,000 leagues from Bombay ; it will in future be but 1,800
leagues. Necessarily it will become the emporium of a large portion of
the commerce which will establish itself between the oriental oceans and
the Black Sea ; and an idea may be gained of this movement by remarking
that the Trebizonde and Odessa are less remote from Suez than Trieste’
and Marseilles. And the commercial advantages which have just been
inferred apply to all the other ports of the Empire in Asia Minor, in Syria5
and in the Archipelago. By the mouth of the Danube, Constantinople
extends its commercial relations to the veiy centre o f Hungary and
Germany. Naturally these relations will be augmented by the opening
of the isthmus to navigation, and the Moldo-Wailacliian provinces, in
obtaining new outlets for their products, above all for cereals, will not fail
to acquire new elements o f prosperity. Finally, Turkey, which is to-day
a stranger to the opulent exchanges which are commanded by the great
route around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, can take an active
part therein when the path of exchange shall be the lie d Sea rendered
accessible to the coasters of the Mediterranean by the passage o f Suez.
Such are the immediate results to Turkey of the opening of the maritime
canal; independently of the scope which will be given to them in the
future by the interest of traders and the enlightened solicitude of the
government for the well beiDg and progress of its population.
SCO]
417
THE SUEZ CANAL,
It is claimed that the best and most trustworthy data from which to
estimate the probable traffic o f the Suez Canal, is found in the move
ments of the various European steamship companies. In France, the
Mesageries Imperiales are adapting some of their fine steamers for the
canal traffic. A number of light draught steamers are now building in
England for a similar use, and docks and warehouses have been secured by
the Russian Authorities at Port Said, for the use of the Great Com
mercial Company o f Odessa, whose vessels will ply between that port
and the East. The powerful and wealthy company known as the
Australian Lloyd, has offered to carry free samples of the national pro
ducts, with a view to improving and extending the trade of Austria in
the Indian seas; and the Italian government has urged the ship owners
o f that country to prepare to profit by the opening of the canal. A
steamship line is organizing in Spain to ply between Barcelona and
the Philippine Islands; and in this country, the Oriental Steam Naviga
tion Company will soon establish direct communication with China,
India and the Mediterranean ports.
A s a general summary o f the
commercial movement, M. De Lesseps estimates the tonnage of Liverpool
at 6,000,000, Marseilles, 6,000,000, and the trade through the Dardanelles
6,000,000; and claims that the traffic of the canal will be 6,000,000
at least, affording from the tonnage alone an annual return of $12,000,000.
It is also claimed that the opening o f the canal will favorably affect the
commerce of the United States with the East. For the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1867, our direct trade with the principal countries of the East
was as follows:
Dutch East Indies..............................................................................................
Brit fh Erst Indies............ - .............................................................................
Australia................................................................................................................
Phil ippine Islands.......................... - ..............................................................
Other South Pacific Islands..............................................................................
China................................................................................
Total,
Exports.
$204,395
331,141
5,102,355
45,635
85,131
8,788,145
$14,603,809
$
Imports.
..........
3,932,485
262,401
3,473,371
12,112,449
$24,780,C97
During the same period the total of exports to Southern Europe, the
Mediterrenean and the East Indies, was $71,780,203, and o f imports
$65,394,796, in all $137,147,999; from which it will appear that one
sixth of the foreign commerce of the United States was transacted with
the countries named in the above table. How much of this trade will flow
through the new channel remains to be seen. The canal undoubtedly
shortens the average distance between our Atlantic ports and the East, as
will appear from the following table of comparative distances from New
York and Port Royal to the principal ports of Australia and Asia, via
Gibralter and Suez, on the one band, and San Francisco and the Pacific on
418
THE SUEZ CANAL.
[ D ecem ber,
the other— measured in nautical miles, with the exception of the distance
overland to the Pacific coast:
From N ew York
From Port Boyal
via G braltar
via Gibraltar
and Suez.
and Suez.
Melbourne.................................................................... 13,200
13,700
Shanghai....................................................
13,600
13,COT
H o n g K o r g .................................................................. 11,700
32,200
M a u l . ...........................................................
l l.& ’O
12,100
10,300
10,800
Singa o r e .......................
Batavia.......................................................................... 10,600
11,000
Penang............................................................................
9,050
10,450
Calcutta...........................................................
9,700
10,200
C eylon............................................................................. 8,750
9,250
From N .Y . via
San F'arcisco
& Pacific H E .
10,300
S.860
0,300
0,000
10,600
11,000
11,100
12,ISO
12,200
As some portion of our trade will at once follow the new routes, it is
claimed that the United States will share largely in the increased pros
perity o f the Mediterranean ports, Egypt, Arabia and the Indies. As a
movement is already on foot to transfer a large proportion o f the cotton
manufactures of Northern France to points nearer the Mediterranean, it
is believed that a direct trade in the staple will be established immediately
with this eouDtry.
It may be doubted whether, in this favorable showing, the friends ot
the enterprise have fairly estimated the probable traffic o f the canal and
its influence on the commerce of the world. A formidable array of figures
and statistics are advanced in support of these predictions, but certain
important facts appear to have been left out of the calculation which are
likely to affect the financial success o f the enterprise in no small degree.
As far as the commerce of the United States with the Indies is concerned,
we do not attach much present importance to the opening o f the Suez
Canal. Probably our East India trade will follow the route of the Pacific
Ocean, via San Francisco and the trans-continental railway lines. The
commerce of Europe with the East will alone be influenced by the opening
of the new route; and whether the vessels engaged in this traffic will
pass through the canal or cling to the old path b y way o f the Cape of
Good Hope, will depend wholly upon which route shall prove to be the
quickest and cheapest.
It is the opinion o f many of our practical and experienced shipmasters,
that westward bound sailing vessels will still follow the route by way of
the Cape. It is true the latter route is nearly four thousand miles longer
than that by way of the Suez Canal, but the time required by a sailing
vessel for the vojage from Calcutta to Liverpool by the new route will
be longer by several weeks than the average time now required to make
the homeward voyage by the old path round the Cape. The reason for
this apparent anomaly is found in the trade winds and monsoons, which
favor the vessels taking the Cape route, and the northerly winds of the
Hed Sea, and westerly winds o f the Mediterranean, which prevail through
the greater part of the year, and are favorable only to vessels bound east.
1869]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
419
ward. It is probable, therefore, that but few westward bound vessels, if
any, will mate the voyage from India to the Northern European ports by
way of Suez. The utility of the Canal will be restricted mainly to west
ward bound Indiamen. T o them the principal advantage of the new
route consists in a considerable saving of time; but, on the other hand,
there are several considerations which render it still uncertain whether
even outward bound Indiamen will avail themselves of it. According
to the tariff of charges already published, the tolls which must be paid
to the Canal Company by the owners of vessels of a thousand tons
burden for the privilege of passing through it, will amount to nearly
twenty-five hundred dollars. As the tolls are graduated according to the
measurement of vessels, they would in most cases exceed the amount
above stated, as the majority of Indiamen exceed one thousand tons
burden. It is doubtful whether the saving of time will compensate ship
owners for the largely increased expenses incurred by following the new
route. Besides this, the navigation of the Mediterranean is proverbially
dangerous, while that of the Bed Sea is intricate and difficult; nearly as
much so, indeed, as that of the Malayan Archipelago. The Red Sea
is almost wholly destitute of lighthouses, its coast has been but imper
fectly surveyed, and no trustworthy chart, indicating location o f its many
reefs and isolated rocks, has ever been prepared. It is but natural, there
fore, that special rates should be charged for insuring vessels following the
new route, as no company could afford to take the increased risks for the
same rates now charged on vessels keeping in open sea. The saving of
time, which, under favorable circumstances, could be made by eastward
bound vessels following the canal, is to some extent offset by the great
expense necessarily incurred; and it is still uncertain whether the old
routes are not the safest and cheapest, even for vessels whose cargoes lose
in value in proportion to the time required to bring them to market.
Under these circumstances, the assertion made will) so much confi
dence, that the opening of the Suez Canal would revolutionize the com
merce of the world, is manifestly premature. It is by no means certain
that the canal will be extensively patronized even by passenger steamers,
as the passage will be found far from comfortable at any time, while at
certain seasons of the year it would prove dangerous, if not fatal, to those
not thoroughly acclimated. It may be conceded, however, that the trade
between India and the ISlack Sea and Mediterranean ports will follow the
canal, and that this traffic will be greatly increased by the facilities offered
by it; but it yet remains to be proved that the vast trade of Great
Britain with her magnificent Indian empire will be directed through the
new channel, or even that the opening of the canal'will affect it to any
considerable extent.
420
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
[D ecem ber
TIIE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
BY
C . H . CARROLL.
W hat is repudiation ? W hat is a dollar ? W hat is money ?
These specific inquiries embrace all that is essential in the great unset
tled question of our national finance. Let me endeavor to reply to them
scientifically, uninfluenced by political prejudice, or by the dogmatism o f
writers of any party, or of any shade of opinion.
Eepudiation is the denial o f the validity of a contract, disavowal o f ari
obligation, and refusal to comply with its terms. On this point I think
there can be no two opinions. N ow , what is the obligation o f debt in
this country? Read it on the back of the greenback in your pocket:
“ ib is note is a legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties
on imports and interest on the public debt.” This is equally plain on the
back of the note, and in the law authorizing its issue. Nor is there any
question that a legal tender involves the compulsory acceptance as a dollar,
o f anything which Congress decrees to be a dollar, in discharge o f a debt,
even if it be, as in the case of the greenback, but the evidence of another.
The substitution of debt for debt is not indeed payment; and the law, in
saying that the note o f the government is payment, says an untruth ; but
it is a “ legal tender,” and hence a forced loan.
It takes two to make a bargain; which of these is the repudiator in
this case? Obviously the creditor, when he refuses to accept the green
back according to the terms o f the contract; and the talk about repudia
tion, of which we hear so much in reference to the 5-20 bonds, is all on
the wrong side.
I do not see that the opinion o f S. P . Chase, or o f Jay Cooke, as to the
character of these bonds, is of any more consequence, or is any more bind
ing on the conscience or the capital of the nation, than the opinion o f any
other citizen who may or may not have been concerned in their sale
immediately.
Facts o f experience show that, under tho notions of political economy
prevailing everywhere, the sovereign can make a unit o f price out of a
bushel of beans, or a red herring, or a paper token, or anything else, and
both debtor and creditor must be bound by it. To my mind it is fals©
economy, as well as great folly and injustice; but no opinion which
favors a sound political economy is popular or considered practical a
present, because privileged classes of commanding influence are opposed to
it who gain by the wrong.
But an ex post facto law is a nullity. The constitution of the United
States expressly declares that no such law shall be passed. Hence the
greenback is not a legal tender for any debt conti aoted prior to Feb
1869]
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
421
ruary 25, 1862, the date of the act which authorized theissue of thelegal
tender notes.
What, then, is a dollar? It is a thing of law, and not o f fact, indepen
dent of law. Every government, I believe, makes the mistake o f estab.
lishing arbitrarily a money unit different from the unit o f weight, claiming
the right to alter it in weight and quality at will. Formerly this was
done notoriously to cheat the public creditors. So that, everywhere, at
least in Europe and America, law, and not commerce, determines what
the unit of price shall be, and even whether it shall be a ponderable sub
stance, and money, or not money. If government can change its substance,
or alloy the coin at will, 10 per cent, or 20 per cent, or 40 per cent, and
still give it the same name, and compel its acceptance at the same nominal
value, why not alloy it 100 per cent, that is to say, eliminate the money,
and establish a currency which is not money ? And this is precisely what
our government has done in making a legal tender of the greenback dollar.
I think government has a constitutional right to do this by the power
to borrow money, which implies the choice to issue evidences o f debt in
any form that may serve its purpose ; also, by the power to regulate com
merce and the currency, the last being implied in the power to regulate
the value of money : the moral right, as well as its expediency, is quite
another thing.
It is true the inference may be drawn from the inhibition of
power to the States to emit bills o f credit, or rnak - anything but
gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, that the framers
o f the constitution intended to establish a hard money government;
but this is only an inference. A nd , unfortunately for this view of
the case, the principle had lapsed already on the adoptiou of the constitu
tion ; for the Bank of North America had emitted bills of credit, as well
as loaned its credit in deposits, as money, without money, which had
expelled so much money from the country. So that a specie currency,
with this principle in operation, was impossible from the first.
The original dollar was coined in Bohemia o f a troy ounce of silver, the
fineness of which I do not remember to have seen stated. This was
superseded by the Spanish dollar, weighing 416 grains o f standard silver^
about nine-tenths fine, and the latter was adopted as the money unit here prior
to the establishment o f the mint. The first American dollars were struck
in 1792 to conform in weight and fineness to this Spanish coin
The mint dollar afterwards underwent several alterations, until 1853, when
the coinage of the silver dollar ceased and the gold dollar became the
unit. This coin contains 25.8 troy grains of standard gold, nine-tenths
fine. The real gold dollar, therefore, is 23.22 troy grains of fine metal
which is our 'present money unit, by and upon which all our foreign
422
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
[D ecem ber,
exchanges are reckoned. But our currency unit, for all purposes but the
payment of duties on inipoits and interest on the public debt, is the dollar
greenback, which is essentially a paper token. Thus we have two separate
legal dollars, one of money and one of debt.
Since 1853 our silver dollar has been coined only in halves of 192
grains each, making a reduction o f about 8 per cent from the weight and
value of the mint dollar of 1792. But in Europe the variations of the
dollar have been much greater than in the United States, except that it is
there always made o f silver. In Germany, its birth place, where its origi
nal weight was an ounce, its contents in pure silver vary in different locali
ties from 252 6 lo 271.8 grains, the standard metal being alloyed variously)
so that by our gold standard it is valued at 70 to 75 cents. In Prussia
the ihaler, or dollar, of full weight contains 342i grains of standard silver)
alloyed 25 per cent. In Italy the tallero, the Italian dollar, weighed 454
grains, and was alloyed 40 per cent. I believe this coin, like the old
Spanish dollar, is out of circulation. Enough is here presented to show
that the dollar is a creature o f government and not of commerce ; that it
is subject to the most arbitrary alterations by Princes and legislators who
are wholly ignorant of the effect of their measures, ignorant of the nature
of money, of financial science and of political economy altogether.
More obscurity in political economj', and more confusion to commerce,
result from the ignorance and folly of governments all over the world in
separating the unit o f money from the unit o f weight, and tampering with
the money unit, under the notion that they regulate commerce and the
value of money thereby, than from all other causes. Instead of regula
tion, every such act is disturbance; the only regulation in the power of
government being that of prevention, which shall prevent individuals and
corporations from disturbing the normal value o f money with a false
currency in making credit in notes and deposits without value received and
in counterfeiting.
Now let us consider what is money ? Money is a matter of commerce
independent o f government. It existed before government, and records
of its use appear in the dawn of history. It is a commodity which, before
it was tampered with by Princes to cheat their creditors, circulated and
was exchanged by the same unit o f weight as other ponderable substan
ces. 1860 years before Christ “ Abraham weighed to Epbron four hundred
shekels of silver, current money with the merchant,” in exchange for the
cave of Machpelah. The shekel was an ordinary Jewish weight equal to
about half an ounce avoirdupois, having no more relation to money than
to any other commodity that circulated by weight. Every one knows that
tb.e British pound sterling contained originally a pound weight o f silver,
and so did the French livre.
1809]
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
423
From the Conquest, a .d . 1066, to the 28th o f Edward I, a .d . 1300,
the pound weight o f silver was coined into the pound sterling, rather
more than 11 12ths fine. That is, the pound sterling^ contained 11
ounces and 2 dwts of fine silver, and 22 dwts of alloy. Under this King,
in the latter year, the first depreciation appears when the pound of silver
was coined into £1 Os 3d ; but in the reign of Edward III, a . d . 1344 to
1356, the depreciation was extended to 20 per cent, the pound o f silver
still of the same fineness, being coined into £1 5s, so that 25 shillings
were degraded to the original value of 20 shillings'. Gradually, until the
fifth of Edward Y I, a further depreciation took place when ( a .d . 1551)
it reached its climax, the fineness of the silver being reduced to 3 ounces
in the pound weight, and the debased metal was coined into £3 12s.
Both these measures of depreciation reduced the value of the pound
sterling eleven twelfths from that of the original pound sterling or pound
o f siver, leaving to the new coin of one pound but the original value
of Is 8d.
It seems that the sum of £120,000 only was so coined, and in the same
year the standard was raised to 11 ounces of fine silver to the Troy pound.
This pound of standard metal ll-1 2 th s fine was then coined into £3. It
is remarked in James’ essays that “ the coinage of debased silver money
in the fifth year of Edward Y I o f 3 oz. fine, ought more properly to be
considered as tokens,” which is very true, but it should be understood
that all coins are tokens and not money, so far as they consist of base
metal. The alloy is always reckoned o f no value, and as that which is of
no value will purchase nothing, and make no payment, the alloy in coin is
not money since money is a universal purchasing and paying power.
During all these years, from the Conquest, or at least from the reign of
Edward I, the notion prevailed that the will of the Sovereign determined
what should be money, and what should be the value ot money, by the
name of the unit. Calling a thing a pound sterling by authority was
supposed to secure a uniform value under all its variations of weight and
quality.
The world has pretty thoroughly outgrown this foolish notion, but not
quite. There are yet people in this country, of pretensions to scientific
knowledge, who believe that Congress can by enactment determine that
any thing which it chooses to call “ a dollar,” to be paid and received as a
dollar, shall have the value o f a dollar of gold coin containing 23.22
grains of fine metal, in which all the value of the dollar lies. This non->
sense comes of the absurd custom of making and continuing a unit of
money that is not a common end familiar unit o f weight,,ike, for . ample
the Troy or avoirdupois ounce o pound.
Here let me remark, episodically, that, if we in this country are to
424
TBE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
[D ecem ber,
adopt the French metrical system of weights and measures, as I trust and
believe we shall at no distant day, it is to be hoped that we shall have
nothing to do with the franc as the unit o f money, but come at once to
the gramme coined in gold, since the gramme is the French unit o f
weight. The gramme equals l^ x W o English Troy grains; henco, if
alloyed one-tenth, like, the present Federal and French money, it would
make a coin equal to 59, ,8?37 of our present gold dollar or nearly sixty
cents. T o avoid the inconvenience of having so small a coin solid, it
should be made and expanded in a ring. As in any absolute change o f
the unit, a fraction for reckoning, in the translation from the old to the
new currency, is unavoidable, we may as well have one fraction as another ;
and the sooner we get rid of the corrupted, blinding, preposterous, and
unmeaning dollar the better, if we can have the plain unit of weight in
gold in its place.
To return now to our immediate inquiry: What is money? it is neces
sary to say that in every alteration o f the coinage of England, before the
establishment of the Bank, general prices rose and fell to a correspond
ing degree; rising with the depreciation, and falling with the appreciation
in quality of the unit, only excepting variations arising from the difference in
the quantity of other circulating capital, such as the fullness or scarcity o^
crops and production generally. The alterations o f the coin in England
have been great enough, as I have already shown, to mark this feature
distinctly: and the proof is plain that money is pure unwrought gold
and silver, and nothing else, differing from bullion only in the alloy or
impurity of the metal, which must be eliminated to determine the quantity
o f money it contains.
A s has been remarked already, the world has pretty thoroughly out
grown the notion that the fiat of the Sovereign can determine the value
of money by operating upon the unit and debasing the coin ; but it has
only begun to see that the value of money cm be immediately and dis
astrously disturbed by abnormal banking, which operates directly upon
the currency, as well as by the paper issues of government. This is an
evil infinitely worse than debasing the coin directly, because it amounts
to a debasement of the coin in effect, and a loss o f capital into the bar
gain.
By debasing the coin directly, government gets the advantage, as a
debtor, for the difference between the new and the old unit, by paying
a less quantity of money than its debt was contracted in, and it gives to
every other debtor the same unjust advantage over his creditor. But
here the mischief ends; no loss o f national capital results therefrom
because the foreigner, who sells goods to us, must accept the debased coin
which_he can exchange only for its true equivalent in the less quantity of
1869J
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
425
gold or merchandise for export.
Whereas, when debt is converted
into currency, either of notes or deposits, the sum thus added
to the previous currency is as complete a debasement of its value as
would be the addition of a like proportion of base metal to the coin.
The foreigner accepts the debased currency for his goods, and immediately
exchanges it for gold at par for its full amount, through the convertibility
of the bank notes and deposits, end the loss by the debasement is thrown
wholly upon ourselves.
I am indebted to no authority for this doctrine; it is self-evident in my
opinion. Through some leading mind it will some day enlighten Congress
and make an end of “ paper money ” in this country. Long after I had
presented it in this magazine I discovered that it was maintained by
Adam Smith, although in direct contradiction of the “ paper money” theory
which he seems to have contrived as an apologist o f the system of the
B ark of England. In the Wealth o f Nations, Book 4, Chapter 5, on
Bounties, he says :—
“ That degradation in the value o f silver, which is the effect of the
fertility o f "the mines, and which operates equally, or very nearly equally,
through the greater part o f the commercial world, is a matter of very
little consequence to any particular country. *
*
*
*
“ But that degradation in the value o f silver, which, being the effect
either of the peculiar situation, or of the political institutions of a par
ticular country, takes place only in that country, is a matter of very
great consequence, which, far from tending to make any body really richer
tends to make everybody really poorer. The rise in the money price of
all commodities, which is in this case peculiar to that country, tends to
discourage more or less every sort o f industry which is carried on vvituin
it, and to enable foreign nations, by furnishing almost all sorts of goods
for a smaller quantity of silver than its own workmen can afford to do, to
undersell them, not only in the foreign, but even in the home market.”
This is directly in conflict with the teaching in other parts of his book,
that “ paper money ” can be made to economize the precious metals
through the operations of banking, since the paper or bank credit, on its
introduction or its increase, must be an addition to, and consequent local
degradation of the value o f the pre existing currency, including silver, of
course. The Wealth o f Nations is made up of disconnected lectures ;
the author seems to have altered his opinion at times, and to have forgot
ten at one time what he said at another in relation to money.
But an older and a better authority on this point than Adam Smith has
recently been brought to my notice by a controversy in the London Times.
In 1757 Joseph Harris, then master of the mint, wrote an Essay on
Money and Coins, in which my doctrine is set forth better, perhaps, than I
426
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
[ December ,
can do it myself. McCulloch, the economist, who procured the republica
tion of this book by the Political Economy Club in 1S56, describes it
“ as one of the best and most valuable treatises that has ever seen the
light.” Mr. Harris says;
“ Supposing the sum total of money, real and fictitious, now annually
ciiculating in this country, to be 100 millions ; 20 millions of which is in
cash, and the rest in paper credit both public and private. If this paper
credit be increased, by the cieating of more bills, suppose to the amount o f
ten millions; one of the following will necessarily be the consequence :
Either all our commodities will rise ten per cent in their nominal value,
which will render them too dear for foreign markets; or this addition will
drain away ten millions o f our cash, and so impoverish us in reality to
that whole amount ; or the effect most likely will be partly the one, and
partly the other; but whichever it is, the nation will be equally damaged.
May this be ever a caution to statesmen, how they listen to projects that
must clog our trade, banish our coin, and in the end bring on general
bankruptcy.”
Nothing can be plainer than this; bnt it is only a better utterance of
the same doctrine that I have held, and expressed in these pages, for many
years.
Our true financial policy then, is to abolish the fictitious money, or
credit in currency, altogether, and thus maintain the highest possible
value of money, so that we may produce and buy cheap and sell dear. Higher
than the value of gold in the markets of the world we cannot keep it if
we would, because gold will accumulate, both by production and import,
the moment its purchasing and paying power is appreciably greater here'
than elsewhere. Let us so regulate the value of money as to restore it to
its natural position as a c m >dity, and thereby so regulate commerce
that we may produce commodities more abundantly, as well as cheaper,
build ships and sail them cheap r, than the nations of Europe who use a
paper or bank currency, and thus we can easily take the lead of the
commerce of the world.
As to the pretence that a bank currency payable in coin on demand,
without coin in reserve dollar for dollar to cover and pay it, can be limited
to the natural sum o f money that would circulate without it, which is the
theory o f Adam Smith, in which he contradicts himself, it is a proved
impossibility. And, if it were not an impossibility, it must always be
an absence 'and a loss of capital, as the foregoing illustration of Mr.
Harris’ demonstrates, and as I think I have demonstrated over and over
again in this magazine.
O f the 5-20 bonds I have already spoken.
It is, I think, a quibble to
deny that thev can be legally and justly discharged in greenbacks, but it
869]
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
427
would be madness to do this by a new and further issue of greenbacks,
since it would involve such a degradation of their purchasing power, and
consequent rise of prices, as would eventually disgrace and sink them,
and the national debt with them, in the hands of their holders, after the
manner of the French assignats.
N"o such extreme depreciation of
currency will be long endured by an intelligent people. And the loss of
the national debt would thus fall almost entirely upon the working classes,
who cannot afford to be idle and reject the current circulation.
But if new gold bonds bearing a lower ,iate of interest, say 4 or 4£ per cent,
can be sold at par for the existing currency, as many persons suppose,
then surely government ought to accept the opportunity and retire the
five-twenties. I confess to great doubt on this point, because it is not a
question of national credit, but o f the rent of capital in this country.
In England, where the proportion o f capital to the demand for its use
is greater than here, and the currency is always better, because containing
more o f the element of capital, and less of debt, 4 per cent per annum,
offers a desirable investment, the average rate there being 3 per cent.
But here, where a vast extent of new, rich, and cheap, land in market,
and vigorous young enterprise, with a currency o f
debt builtupondebt,
are pressing upon a comparatively limited supplyof capital, 6 or 7 per
cent per annum is its needful rent on good securities. I is not easy,
therefore, to understand why anybody should lend us capital at 4 or 4£
per cent, even on government bonds. Should Congress try the experi
ment, and succeed, I shall be very glad to admit that my political econo
my is so far at fault.
Loanable capital is chiefly home-staying, consisting of goods sold on
short credit, the value of which the owners cannot well part with for long
periods, and of money which does not run abroad to a higher rent o f
capital, because its rent is high only where it is scarce, and where capital
in general is scarce it is of course dear in exchange value, which is the
same thing as saying that money is cheap; that is,
goods commandhigh
prices. Money does not go or stay where it is cheap any more than
other capital. Hence capital in goods runs to California, but money runs
the other way, although the rent of capital, or rate of interest, in Califor
nia is from 18 to 24 per cent per annum on good securities.
W e are always sure o f having all the foreign capital in goods that we
can consume in this country, because our financial system which makes
money cheap makes goods dear. The capitalists who take and hold
foreign loans in Europe pay the shippers of goods that are sold to us;
but in every country such men are but a small minority of the people, and
they hold or own, comparatively, but a small proportion of the capital,
most of it being actively employed at home.
428
th e
r e c ip r o c it y
movement
in
Ca n a d a .
[Decem ber,
Ihowever, Congress will tax out of existence the fictitious bank cur
rency of notes and dejosits, fund the greenbacks, and thus give to indus
try and commerce the opportunity to add to the capital of the country a
currency of money, which the people and the banks can use in place of
ti e present incubus of debt, the rent of capital, or rate of interest, will
fall materially, if not as low as it is in England. W e can then not only
manage the national debt with ease, but as I have already said command
the commerce of the world.
These are my candid and carefully considered views of the financial
question.
THE RECIPROCITY MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
As far as any practical benefit to the people o f British North America
is concerned, the confederation of the several Provinces under one govern
ment has proved a failure. Even Canada has derived but little advantage)
if any, from her union with the Maritime Provinces; and the desire for
independence which has always characterized the thrifty and industrious
people of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, has assumed the form of a
popular movement, numbering among ita most earnest advocates many
o f those in whose interest the Act o f Confederation was framed. Every
thing is tending towards apolitical revolution that is to mark the beginning
o f a new era of prosperity and progress for the States north of us.
During the past twelve months public sentiment in Canada on the subject
o f allegiance tc the British Crown has undergone a marked change.
Until quite recently it required no small degree o f courage to express an
opinion as to the desirability of a final and complete separation o f the
colonies from the mother country, and the bold utterances o f those
who represented public sentiment in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
were denounced as treasonable. The people are now impressed, how
ever, with the fact that the question of independence is not a question of
loyalty or disloyalty to the Crown, but a problem in practical statesman
ship, of an economical rather than political nature.
The comparison between the material wealth and prosperity o f their
country and the United States, so unfavorable to themselves, has led them
to consider, seriously, whether any advantage m aybe hoped for from a
perpetuation of British institutions and British rule. They have seen that,
in proportion to population and resources, their canals and railroads, agri
culture, commerce and manufactures have not kept pace with those o f this
country, and the people are beginning to desire a change that shall result
in independence o f England and free trade with the United States. It
1809]
T H E RECIPROCITY MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
429
was partly to meet these requirements, essential to the prosperity o f the
Provinces, that the present Confederation -was formed. Tiie promoters
of this scheme believed that it would lead to the establishment of a flour
ishing trade between the Maritime Provinces and Canada, as well as with
other countries. These promises, however, never have been and never can
be realized. Both are agricultural, and their products must seek the same
market. The exchange of commodities between Canada and the lower
Provinces in 1865 did not amount to 4 per cent of the trade o f the former,
while in 1866 the proportion did not reach 5 per cent. This trade has.
increased very little under the Confederation, and the returns for 1868
show that the exports during that year from the Canadas to Newfound
land and Prince Edward’s Islanl were were scarcely 2 per cent of their
trade. A t the same time, the exports from Canada to the United States
notwithstanding the high tariff o f duties established by our government
amounted in value to twenty-two million dollars— more than half of her
entire export trade, which is estimated at forty-two millions. The same
disparity is also notable in the statistics o f the trade of the maritime
Provinces for 1868. The small and unimportant trade o f Nova Scotia
with Canada, for example, shows the folly of seeking to protect it at the
expense o f her trade with the United States and Europe. In 1866 the
value of the exports of Nova Scotia to the United States was $3,228,559 •
to Great Britain and other countries, $287,884- It is, of course, evident
from this statement that, as compared with the United States, England
affords no market for Nova Scotia ; and, with the exception of lumber, the
same maybe said of New Brunswick and Prince Edward’s Island. These
facts, showing as they do that the United States are the largest customers
of the Provinces and, for much that they have to sell, their only customers,
are the basis of the present movement in the Dominion for the establish
ment of reciprocal free trade relations with this country.
In the discussion of the questions growing out of the proposed changes
in the government of the provinces, considerations of a purely political
nature, are properly regarded as of secondary importance. That which
will most conduce to the development o f the country and the prosperity
of file people is the object sought.
Whatever may have been the
advantages derived from the allegiance o f the pebple of Canada to the
British crown in former years, the time is past when any further benefits
may be expected to result from it. The civilization of the British North
American Provinces is no longer primitive, in any sense. With a territory
covering an area of 3,097,174 square miles, rich in undeveloped natural
resources, and a population o f nearly four millions. The Provinces not
only claim the ability to govern themselves, but insist that sd f govern
ment is essential to the prosperity of the country. The rapid growth and
430
the
r e c ip r o c it y
m ovement
in
Ca n a d a .
[ D ecem b er,
progress of the American Kepublic, during less than a century o f inde
pendence, furnishes the strongest argument in support of this assertion.
The confederation of the Provinces under one government was a step in
this direction, but the measure has proved insufficient. It is true that
all restrictions upon trade between the Provinces are removed, but the
advantages derived from this are only proportionate to the limited
increase in the population of the country. To give ar. impetus to the
development of their industrial and commercial resources, two things are
needed— independence o f England and free trade with the United States
for agricultural and other products, and for eertain manufactured articles
which here find a market. Until the former is established it is not proba
ble, in the opinion of the people o f the Provinces, that our government
will agree to the latter ; and absolute independence of Great Britain
is therefore demanded as a commercial rather than a political necessity.
F or many reasons this movement should meet with encouragement
and, as far as practicable, co-operation on the part of the people of the
United States. Under the existing tariff, the revenues accruing to the
government from our trade with British America do not exceed $4,000,000 and the sum is of small importance compared with the advantages
to be derived from reciprocal trade between the two countries. Since the
expiration of the reciprocity treaty our trade with British dSTortli America
has diminished year by year, until but little remains o f our former
exchange of produce and merchandise which, in 1863, amounted in
value to nearly fifty millions. Under that treaty the great bulk of the
breadstuff's product of the lower provinces found its way to the seaports
of the Eastern and Middle States, affording a profitable business to our
railroads and shipping. Since its expiration this trade has died out. What
has been lost to New York and other American ports has been gained
bv Montreal. The receipts o f wheat at that city during the present season
exceeded those of last year by 331 per cent.; while the exports to
Europe by, way o f the St. Lawrence, will exceed that o f last year by 521
per cent From sharing any o f the profits or advantages of this trade,
the forwarders and shippers o f the United States are now excluded. In
addition to this, large amounts of lumber and other valuable products are
now directed from their-natural and proper course to the seaboard. The
benefits of a reciprocity that shali reopen the former channels of trade,
and revive the business once mutually advantageous and profitable, are
fully appreciated by the practical men o f both countries. W e need the
coal, gypsum, fish and lumber of the Maritime Provinces, and the live
stock, breadstuff's and general produce of Canada, both for consumption
and export. They, in return, will take our manufactures, besides receiv
ing a considerable share, at leasf, o f these importations from other countries
1869]
FLOATING- CAPITAL AND NEW LOANS.
431
through cur ports. More than this, it is o f the utmost importance that
the transportation routes of both countries should be mutually free. One
great obstacle in the way of our more rapid commercial development is
the enormous cost of transportation from the West to the seaboard.
The fullest competition between the railroads and canals of both countries,
is the best possible means by which to obtain control of the European
markets as an outlet for our surplus products. The inadequacy o f the
railroads and canals o f the Eastern and middle States, dependent as they
are on the Michigan Central and Michigan Southern railroads, as the
only connecting link with the railroad system o f the northwest, and the
consequent delays and expenses attending the Eastward movement o f
produce and the distribution of merchandise throughout the interior, make
the question of reciprocity one o f vital practical importance; the true
solution of which can only be found in the establishment of free commer
cial intercourse between the two countries.
It is probable that, in some form, the question o f reciprocity with Canada
will be brought up during the next session of Congress. If so, we hope
the movement now organized in Provinces will be met with a disposition
on our part to accede to renew the relations formerly existing between
the two countries. W hatever may be the ultimate political destiny o f
British North America, it is certain that the discussion o f any scheme of
annexation is ill advised and premature. The people of the Provinces
do not desire it, nor would it be the policy of our government to accede
to such a proposition at the present time, even if it were made in good
faith, and with the unanimous consent o f the people. Indefinite territorial
expansion is not the aim of true statesmanship, but reciprocal trade rela
tions are highly impoitant to both countries.
FLOATING CAPITAL AND NEW LOANS.
Nothing more clearly indicates the change which has been slowly taking
place in the minds of the people as to their capabilities, financially, than
the large amount of loans put upon our market during the past four
years. Previous to the war if money was to be raised by a railroad or
by a city or town, in most cases an agent was at once dispatched to Europe
to negotiate the bonds.
The idea that our own market could absorb any
considerable quantity of such securities was not entertained. Other
conclusions, however, were forced out of us during the early days of the
war by the refusal of Europe to take our bonds. W e were thus compelled
3
432
t l o a t in g
c a p it a l
akd
klw
loans.
[ December ,
to look to ourselves. A s a result our Five-Twenty loan was offered, and
it proved suck a success the same policy was continued during the war, and
even when the war ended, instead of going back to the old plan, we
pursued the one o f supplying our wants from our own markets.
Among those who do not appreciate the changed condition of the
country in this respect, the many new loans which have been offered, and
are being offered, have caused serious apprehension with regard to the
ultimate effect of this movement upon the business, of the country.
Experience has certainly shown that the too rapid transformation of float
ing capital into fixed and permanent forms is likely to produce trouble in
the money market and consequent disaster in the whole financial machin
ery. The violent panic of 1847, which was so severely felt in the United
States and in England, was attributed chiefly to this cause. Prof. Perry,
in remarking upon it, states the subject very clearly as follows: “ While
credits continued about as they were, or were slightly increased by
railroad speculations, the capital in the loan markets, which had supported
these credits from time to time and on which they depended, was largely
and somewhat suddenly drawn off to be put into the form of fixed capital.
All great public works, such as railroads, canals, and so on, take more or
less money out of the loan maiket and convert it into fixed capital and thus
make it unavailable for future lending, This happened in 1847. Railroad
building was then at its height. The continued demand on the loan mar
ket by these railroad calls diminished the loanable fund to such an extent
that they who had been accustomed to rely on it in carrying forwaid
their business, and whose own capital had become temporarily or perman
ently unavailable, found it impossible to command that perpetual renewal
o f credit which had previously enabled them to struggle on.” The present
period is said by some to resemble in many respects that described above
as preceding the crisis of 1S47. The amount of capital invested in secu
rities of one kind and another during the past five years has been very
large and apparently much in excess of our legitimate savings or accu
mulation of capital.
From the month of May, 1865, to July 1869, a period of about four
years, we may safely say that $500,000,000 o f railroads and canal securi
ties have been issued in the United States in one form or another. A
part of these have been issued to individuals who subscribed for certain
proportions of capital from motives of interest as owners o f property adja
cent to the proposed lines, and a large proportion of company obligations
have also been issued to cities, towns, and counties in exchange for the
corporate bonds o f the latter, which were more negotiable in the market.
For the purpose of showing the real extent o f this movement during the
four years named, we have prepared the following table, which gives, as
18691
433
FLOATING CAPITAL AND NEW LOANS,
accurately as the nature of the case allows, the increase in the funded
debt of railroad companies in the peiiod above named:
SECURITIES NEGOTIATED FP. JM JULY 1SG5, TO JU L Y, 1S69.
Increase in U. S. bonds from
May, 1805 to Junel, 156 3 ............. 76,640,801
2,000,000
Alb it y & S isq t ha.ua..................
Allegh nny Vailty ............................ 4,0( 0,oui)
BaydeNoqne' <fc Marquette.............
250,0 0
Atlantic & "t. L....... — .................... 2,000,000
Boston H. & K.......................................12,000,000
Buff no, Bradfo d <fe P ttsb................
5S0 000
Bnffa o, **«»rry & Pittsb...............****
7U0.UU0
Buffalo & Er ........................................
300,000
Bur., Cedar R*p & Minneso.............
6oo,< 00
Bur. & Mis o«ri R.ver........................ G,250 (X0
Calif rr ia Pacific................................. 2,2 0,000
Camden & A ........................................ 4,< OJ.OOO
305,000
Camden & ur. Co...................... - . . .
Cedar ral 8 & Minneso a .................. 1,700,' 00
Central B*aucL U. Pucific................. 3,200,0JU
Central Pac fic of Cal......................... 26,< 00,000
d u l lest n <fc Sav; nnah....................
505,0' 0
Charlotte X S. Carolina....................
350,( 00
400,000
Chicago, Cin & Louisvi le.................
Chicago, I wa & Ncb.asfea............... 1,100.(03
Chicago & Norwcst............................. 4,6e0,( 00
Chicago, R »ok I. & Pacific................ 7,37n,C09
C n., Da^l •»! & Ea tern......................
475,00*0
Cin. Ham. & D iyti n...........................
250,9Po
Cleveland & P.t's urg.......................
400 000
Cleveland P ins.& Ashtab............... 2,000,000
Columbia & Augusta..........................
40U,u0U
Columbus, < hi . &InO Cen............... 2,' 00,000
Co'uinbus v Ho n,ing Val.. ..........
260,000
Conncctng * b la........... ...................
l,00i»,000
Cumber and & Ptnna.................. .. 1,>00.000
Danville, ll:b ., *1. <fc Pekin............... 2,000,000
Detroit A Mil waukee. . , ..................
1,500,< 00
Dubuque & Sioux Ci y ...................... 1,6(’0,( 00
Dubuque & Southwestern ...............
55U.000
EistTenn. & t . e o . . . . ........................
135,0 0
Eastern i\ ass.......................................
600,600
European & N. American................. 1,0.0,000
Erie.........................
4,814,444
Erie & Pitt-burg................................
900,000
Flint & Pere Marquet ...................... 1,520,500
Grand Rapids & Inmans..................
v00,< 00
Grand River Vail y ........................... 1,0 0,000
Ind. Cinn & ' j f.iyete....................... 1,0( 0,' 00
Ind., « rawford & ai vilie................. l , r0o,(00
Jackson, I.auHLg&Sag.................... 1,5'0,000
Jun-tion Pii la.........................
800.000
Keokuk & M. •an1..............................
400,000
Lawrence, Pa.......................................
360,000
Lehigh <fc Lackawanna......................
20i>,000
Lehigh Valley
............................
1.900,000
Louisv., inn. & Lexington............. 2,100,'00
Louisvi'l*1 & Nashville...................... 2,500,000
Marietta & C.nn ................................. 2,800,COO
Memphis & ha*]e ton ........ .
Milwaukee & St. aul............
Mobile & Montgomery.........
ii' ontgomery & ufaia.......... .
Mor is <fc h sse x ......................
ashville & eeatur..............
Newark & New York............
Newbury »to New Y« rk........
N. Y . <& O we o M idland...
New London Northern........
N oith M it-e o u .i......................
Nort i Pen i a .................... .........
North Shore, L •.....................
No. them C ntr 1....................
O i l * reek & All ghy. Fiver.,
►age Valley .. .................. .
Os wi go & R om e....................
Pater o & iNtwark..............
Pemberton & U ghtetow n..
f e n n e l at ia ........................
Pitt? burg & Count Isvilie...
Pc rt union & Lake M ic h ...
I itts , Ft Wayne & C hic...
Rockford, R. 1. & Sr. Lou s
home, YNatirt & Ogdensb.
St Jcseph & ouuc. Blufi’s.
S '. Louis & Iron a ountaiu..
St. Loui , Jackson & C h ic ...
- t . Lcuis & S . Joseph. .. .
St. l.cu s, Vand. & T.Haute,
at Paul & Pacific.................. .
She'D 'yg n & Fond d u L a c ..
Sioux City *fc i acific..............
Soutnside, L. I .........................
"outhw est "acific, M o ..........
Southern Minnesota..............
Toledo, Peor.a & W arsaw ..
' oledo, Wab. & W estern___
Un on Pacific........................... .
Union I acific, Central B r___
Uni n Pucidc, F. D iv., i ow
Fans s Pacific ....................
W est W isconsin..................... .
W est Jersey..............................
W estern • ary anJ..................
^ esteru U ir o n .. .
..............
D e'. & Hudson Canal............
Lehigh coal & N av................
Aiorriu L a n a i ..........................
Weslern Lniou Telegraph..
T o til Company B onds.. . .
Add U. S. B onds......................
T otal.................................. ji..
.. 1,000,000
.. 5,0d0,0('0
.. 1,200,000
13 ',0u0
.. 8,(00,WO
..
..
500.000
6 0,000
250.000
2,0 0,000
230.000
6,n:0,0C0
27.1.000
1*25,000
•• 1,000,0(0
.
3,170, (!(0
200. 0 (0 •
500.000
500.000
160,000.
2,500,01 ()
.. 2,000,1(0
- 1,100,(00
-
500.000
oo,m o
571,0(0
V
.. 2 000,0 0'
•• 3,00iJ,i ( C
2.600,0 0
•• 1,ono, to
..
4,50li,0(O
•-
275,0(0 <
1,700,010
750,0(0
•. 2,000,0(0
.. 2,0;0,0'0
.
..
■•
..
••
1,400,(00
3,5(0.000
3,300.1 CO
26,0 0,000
1,600,(CO
.. 11,478,0*0
•• 1,000,000
.. 1,0.!(),0<0
.. 1,0(0,0(0
..
..
4,(00,0(0
1,5 0.0(0
6,01 0,0( 0
..
2,500,0,0
230,(li .*
$240,303,4 ',
.. 76,610,8 J
. $325,914,215
In the above statement, only that debt is included which was issued
de novo, and not such as was issued in exchange for other obligations pre
viously outstanding. It is possible that in particular cases the amount o
obligations negotiated may be overstated, but, as a whole, the figures are
below rather than above the actual amount issued.
W e have made no account here of the increase in capital stock, either
of old corporations or o f those more recently organized, as a detailed
statement of stock outstanding could hardly be given with accuracy. It
may be assumed, however, that about one-half only o f the funds for railr
434
f l o a t in g
c a p it a l
and
new
loans.
[D ecem ber,
road construction are raised from the negotiation of company bonds, the
balance being obtained from stock subscriptions or from the aid given by
States, cities, counties, &c., involving the issue of their own obligations)
and thus placing the same amount o f securities upon the market, differing
merely as to the parties ultimately responsible. As we find, then, that
the bonded debt o f railroad and other companies negotiated in the
peiiod named is $250,000,000, the total amount of obligations o f these
descriptions issued, and taken by the people in one form or another, must
have been at least $500,000,000. During the same time, also, the funded
debt of the United States, including the issues of Pacific Railroad Bonds)
and without regard to the cash in the Treasury, was increased $76,640,801 between the first of June 1865 and first o f June I860, making the
total amount o f new securities negotiated in the country during that time
about $570,000,000.
If these totals, showing such large absorption o f floating capital, con
stituted the only fact affecting the question, the situation would indeed
justify much o f the apprehension felt among certain classes. But there
are very many evident and important considerations requiring a modi_
fication o f the conclusion thus drawn. O f course, so far as the absorp.
tion o f these bonds and other evidences o f debt represent a. mere
change o f securities, no harm need be anticipated; the same may be
said also if much o f this money has been borrowed from Europe
indirectly through New York, rather than directly through London •
and on examination such will be found to be the true facts o f the case.
The amounts o f city, county and town obligations issued for war pur
poses, and which have been paid off during the four years, is very con
siderable. In this State alone these securities have decreased many
millions. So, too, several hundred millions o f United States and rail
road bonds have, during the same period, been taken by Europe, and
in return European capital has been poured in here. This has, to be
sure, come to us in the shape of goods and raw material, but is none
the less capital, much o f which, we hove turned into money, and thus
increased our ability to absorb bonds. W e borrow of E urope; but
as wre do it through New York, the commissions are saved to the
countrv. Again, the Government has lately been a heavy purchaser
of its own securities, reaching up to the first o f December, about
75 millions, and this has given the people the means for other invest
ments to an equal amount. These facts, together with the further one
that probably not over 80 per cent, o f the par value o f the securities
named above has been realized upon them, shows that this bond
movement furnishes no ground for apprehension or mistrust. F or the
purpose of indicating the price at which new loans are negotiated, we
1869]
435
CHICAGO AND ALTON RAILROAD.
give below a statement of the several loans now or recently offered in
New York.
N E W LOANS O F F E R E D I N N E W Y O R K .
Name.
N Y & Oswego M d., «£c.
L mi-i»,
S u e ..................
Louisvil'e & Nashv. R.R..
Kansas
iSc R R ..........
Central R R . of Ijw a ........
Mac u i n Co , 11 ...........
Danvi l", Urb n &e.,R <.
Bur .0* d ,*ap.& Min.KR,.
S mth ru Cen. RR. of N Y .
St. J i?i p!i J ty..................
L uirville ’ ’ty..................
Mercer & Grin ’ < Co.Mo..
1 hie. D to. & Vi ice . RR
St.L u S city ,tp.ciaitax.
bonds.................................
Bake Super. & Mips. RR
Hacke.i ■». k <fc N. Y . KR.
Louisian • State,.................
Sav/.nnnh & Churl estm .
Rocn-rt r viiy Waterw’ks
We tf ru R c fic...................
Chicago City Bark Lean ..
N . O. i t / ............................
St. Jo cp i & Denver C ity.
Selma, Marion & M ............
Fate. Price.
Amount.
A g en t
pur
20,00' p m G. O.idyke & Co.
, 7 g ’d
7
70 5 O.UUO
A. D. Se leek.
. 7
85 8,' OO.UOO
J n. m lexand r & Co.
. 7 g’ d
9;i B,50U.0UD
M K Jesup & C j.
95
16,000 p. m .W . B. Snattuck.
. 1 g ’d
10
H owes & viacy.
P ir ..........
. 7tr’ d
95 2,001 000
Turin r Bro .
7 g ’d
95
16,DUO p. L.Rei ry C! jws
Co. 2
7
87 '4 1 500,000
V. rmilye & Co.
7
75 4 m0 uOO
Utley & Dougherty.
7
90 20.1,000
Wm. Al*x. Smith js Co.
8
76 4<i0 0'()
Johnson & Day.
7 g'd
95 2,500,000
W. BMley, L n* & Co.
6
82#
225,0 0
91) 4 609, (WO
80
75,0(10
8
80 250,000
7
80 500,000
6 g’ d
80 800,0:-0
0 g’ d
90 2,80 ',000
90 to 95 2,000,000
, 7
75 1,500.000
, 7
9 7 ^ 1,50',000
. 3 g'd
8 g'd
320,0J0
7 g’d
7
James'n, Smith & C.
J<iy C toke & (;»».
Curt>ent-r
R :char£s.
M. Moigan’s Sons.
Coniici, den Rigs & Co.
Ut.ey & D JUdhe.ty.
F ’ sk & llat h
Ame. lean Exch. Bank.
J. & vV. Si ln<man & Co.
Tanner «fc ( o.
Henry Clews & Co.
CIUCAGO AND ALTON RAILROAD.
During the past week a dividend has been agreed upon by the directors
of the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company of fifty per cent, of the present
par value of the stock on the payment by the shareholder to the Company
o f about fifty per cent, on the dollar of the new stock issued : that is to
say, to any holder of one hundred shares o f the old stock, fifty shares
additional will be issued on the payment of two thousand five hundred
dollars. The exact lerm sof the dividend have not as yet been announced,
but we believe they will be substantially as above, and the money thus
obtained will be used for building a branch road of 112 miles in
length which will be built by the Company for cash and the directors
think will be a very valuable addition to the enterprise. Of course with
this dividend o f stock there is to be the usual cash dividend of 5 per
cent, pay al.le in March.
Since the meeting of the directors agreeing
upon this dividend we have received numerous inquiiies respecting the
present condition of the road, and have, therefore, piepared the following
for the information of our readers.
According to the last Annual Report, the Capital, Stock, and Funded
Efcbt of the Corporation are represented as follows :
Commoi Stock...........................
Prete red Stock..........................
Prefe-re t siuking Fund Hoods
Virsf Mo tg-ge Bonds..............
Inc me Bunas.............................
$5,Mt,S(X)
#,425,40:)- ST,567,200
402.000
1,10»,000
2 , l 0l),u00-
3,002,000
$11,169, v00
433
cm cA G o
T h e C h ic a g o
pay
&
A lt o n
and
Al t o n
[ D ecem b er,
r a il r o a d .
C o m p a n y , o n 1 st J a n u a ry , 1 8 G 4 , a ssu m ed th e
lia b ilit y
to
in t e r e s t a n d d i v i d e n d s
J o lie t &
C h i c a g o R . R . , as b e l o w ;
on
th e b on d s
a n d s to ck o f th e
Mortgage Bonds ei lit per cent, o n ........................................................................................
Stock seven per cent o n . . . .
.................................................................................... ..........
a n d a c q u i r e d b y le a s e in 1 8 3 8 , p o s s e s s i o n in
$500,n0(l
1,500,000
p e r p e tu ity o f th e S t. L o u is ,
J a c k s o n v i l l e cfe C h i c a g o R i i l r o a d , a t a m in i m u m r e n t a l o f $ 2 4 0 , 0 0 0 .
T h e c h a r g e s o n t h e p r o p e r t y m a y th e re fo re b e sta te d a s fo llo w s :
Prcferrei S nki^g B ond s.....
............................................................. ...................................
First IV! or gage, say...................................................... ........................ ...................................
Incom e IV ruls.................................................................................... ..........................................
Joliet and C icago lease .................. ...........................................................................................
St. L tu is. .lol etnud Chicago lease...................................................................... ...................
(Minimum rental)............................... . .............................................................................
$72,000
168,000
77,000
160,440
240,000
$717,440
I n c lu d in g S in k in g
c o n d itio n
Fund
p a y m en ts and
G o v e r n m e n t t a x t h e f i n a n c ia l
fo r 1 S 6 3 m a y b e sta te d as f o l l o w s :
Palanc t^ the credit o f Incom e a ccou nt.........................................................................
N et receipts........................................................................................................................
$024,352 28
2,015,460 33
Disbursement as per the Annual R eport.......................................................................
2 ." P.8’ 2 61
$1,9. o 145 24
$981,667 37
I n c l u d e d in t h e a b o v e
b e in g
d is b u r s e m e n ts
u C ost c f Im p rov em en ts ch a rg e d
w as an
a m o u n t o f $ 6 3 5 ,7 6 0
t h is a c c o u n t ,” s o
t h a t in
07,
a d d i
t io n t o
$924.35*1 28
635,706 07
Balance at cr e lit Incom e aeconnt........................................ ............................................
(. an be added .......................................................................................................................
Total net profits.......................................
........................................................................
$1,560,118 35
T h e e a r n in g s f o r 1 8 0 9 , a s r e p o r t e d h a v e b e e n
Jcnnar 1 to N ovem ber 30, p v s n g er*... ..............
$1,277,835 25
“ '
“
freich ts.......................................................................................... 2,866,99078
“
“
m ai.s............. ........ .............................................................
2u?, 53 08
December earnings estim ated...............................................................................................
Total earnin.s 1869...............................................
$1,346,883 11
1,700 00
....................................................$4,708,£83 11
S h o w i n g an in c r e a s e in e a r n i n g s fo r 1 8 6 9 , o f a b o u t $ 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 .
A s s u m i n g t h e fix e d c h a r g e s a n d
o p e r a t in g
ex p en ses to b e th e sa m e, w e
h a v e th e fo llo w in g r e s u lt :
G oss recein 's................................................................................................................................ $1,703,53311
Expense— same as lis t year................................................................................................... 2, 63,132 64
L e s s fx e d charges...................................
$2,245,405 47
717.440 (0
$1,521,1100^
Commo s to c k ....................................................................................... ................ 2,125,400
P ie er.cd t to c k .................................................................................................... $5,141 800
$7,557,900
10 per c^rt $756,720 00 and 5 per cent fax $37,836...........................................................
Surplus........... .............
............................... . . ............................................... .
791,576 00
$733,409 00
1869]
THE DISCOUNT MARKET.
437
Now let us see how the case will stand after this 50 per cent addition
to the stock:
Th e present stock amounts t o .............................................................................. ..........................$7,567,200 00
Add 50 . er cont iu common stock .............................. ............................................................. 3,783,'iOO 00
T o til s‘ o r* is u e ................................................. ..................................................... $11,350,800 OH
Assuming amo'i t '»n hand, after piym ent« f fixed charges to "e a- stated abo^e.^l 527,063 00
It w 11 be si-fen tbat afte piyment of 10 per cent on the increased capitil. whi- h*
wonfd ne........................................................... .............................. ............... $1,13U> 0
T a x 5 per re n t............................................................... .................................................
56,754
T .ta l divide d ...................................................................................................................................... $1,191 834 00
Balance remaining on hand . . . . .................................................. ..............................................
336, L31 GO
W e t a . <;<eibat after paying 10 per cent, dividend on the present
increased capkal and all the fixed charges against the Company, there will
still be a be a surplu sof $336,131 to the credit of income account.
It should also be staiid that these figures are based upon the business
of tlie present line. They show that if we take the road as it now stands)
it can pay more than 10 per cent dividends upon the increased stock'
Of course there will he a contribution to the earnings of the road,
from the business of the new line of 112 miles, which is to be built with
the money paid in for the new issue of stock.
The directors claim
that the new line will earn its own 10 percent, dividend on cost, and
increase the traffic on the main line. T ae road and branches will be 544
mijes in length.
*
TIIE DISCOUNT MARKET.
For a few weeks past there has been a growing pressure in the discount
market, which at last has developed into an unusual stringency. The
city banks report a greater urgency from their mercantile customers for
accommodation than has been experienced for many years past; and that
the applications have exceeded the ineaDs of the banks has been unfor
tunately obvious, from the fact that several failures have occurred within
the week. W hen the best double name paper is negotiated with difficulty
at 12@ 15 per cent, and choice single names at 12@ 2 4 per cent, the mar
ket is obviously far from being in a healthy condition ; and this state of
affairs appears the more anomalous, in view of the fact that money is
comparatively abundant on call, W all street borrowers being readily sup
plied upon collaterals at 5 @ 7 per cent.
It has been common with the press to attribute this condition o f the
market to a radical distrust in mercantile credits. It is of course to be
expected that, when rates risu to such extraordinary figures, there should
be more than ordinary caution among discounters; but we find no
438
THE DISCOUNT MARKET.
[D ecem ber,
reason for supposing that tlie process which has culminated in the pre
vailing pressure was influenced by any special lack of confidence. The
banks generally state that they now hold more paper than for many years
past, and it is hardly presumable that they would have discounted so
heavily under a feeling of distrust. It has been again said that distrust
has been especially directed against the dry goods interest; this idea, how
ever, is irreconcilable with the fact that there has been no more diffi
culty in negotiating that class o f credits than any other, nor have rates
upon such paper been relatively higher. Of course, with a deranged mone
tary system, with a steady decline in prices and consequently in the value
of stocks o f goods, and with extravagant private and business expendi
tures, there is naturally a chronic feeling of caution respecting credits
generally ; but there has been of late nothing to stimulate or intensify
this feeling, or to augment the risks arising from these causes. On the
contrary, within late months there have been indications o f an improving
condition of the material interests o f the country at large. There has
been a check upon our late excessive importations, and our exports have
very materially increased— the best pos.-ible indication that stocks of com
modities are recovering their normal condition, and that the product of
the country is gaining upon its consumption, the symptom for which
intelligent observers have eagerly watched as the truest evidence o f a
natural return to a healthier condition o f affairs. So far, the signs of
the times have been encouraging to a growth o f confidence in commercial
credits; and the banks have not been slow to appreciate these indiea-*
tions.
This unusual condition of the discount market appears to be very closely
connected with recent irregularities in currency movements. A few
months since the Treasury began to cancel the lower denominations of
United States notes, and the process was continued until several millions
of the more active form o f legal tender circulation were temporarily retired
from use, the Treasury having but this month commenced to replace
the retired notes. From this cause, the New York banks could only very
partially supply the demand for currency from the W est for moving the
grain crops. The W est had consequently to sustain the pressure of an
important currency contraction at a season when currency is required
for the transfer of commodities from the producer to the merchant. In
the absence of the usual medium of exchange, the crops had of neces
sity to be moved to a large extent upon credit. The farmer, having failed
to receive money for his products, wa« unable to make purchases or
settlements with the storekeepers, who, in turn, were unable to settle
with their creditors; and thus the Western merchants were, on the one
hand, compelled to buy in this city more largely on credit than usual,
18 69]
THE DISCOUNT MARKET.
439
and, on the other, to ask a temporary extension of maturing obligations.
The direct result of this process has been to cause a sudden and large
increase in the credits granted by New York merchants; and hence the
unusual magnitude of their present applications for discounts. So far as
this cause may have contributed to the prevailing stringency, the pres
sure is to be viewed as the result of a temporary postponement o f settle
ments, from reasons of an extraneous and exceptional character.
A t the same time other minor influences may have helped to impede
credit operations. Rumors have prevailed foreshadowing a decision o f
the Supreme Court adverse to the constitutionality of the Legal Tender
Act; and its importance having been magnified for sensational effect, it is
possible that some may have felt timid about taking long date paper. The
growing conviction that the increasing crops and the decline in gold will
inaugurate a permanently lower range of values, may also have produced
in some quarters a feeling of caution. But our observation does not lead
us to suppose that these influences have had any very material effect upon
the negoitation of credits. Something, however, is undoubtedly due to
the fact that the means o f (he Western population has been diminished by
the recent fall in the value of grain and other produce. The aggregate
value of the grain crop of 1869 is very materially below that of late years >
and as the reduction of expenditures does not immediately accompany the
it loss of income, is quite conceivable that the West is temporarily short
of funds for paying its debts to the Ease. Then, again, the effect of the
irregularity in currency regulations, above alluded to, has been aggravated
by the lack o f elasticity in our monetary system. In the absence o f any
arrangements providing for the redemption o f bank circulation during
periods of ease in money, the surplus funds of the banks are at the quiet
seasons of the year drawn into speculative movements and there held, at
periods when the crop movements call for a freer circulation, and when
the merchants require enlarged discounts. This, however, cannot perhaps
be regarded as having contributed more than usual to the prevailing
pressure.
Upon the whole, then, we incline to the conclusion that the present state
of the maiket is mainly the result of an over supply of mercantile paper,
induced by temporary and exceptional causes, extraneous to purely com
mercial movements or to considerations fundamentally affecting the
soundness o f commercial credits.
440
RELIEF FROM FISCAL BURDENS.
[D ecem ber,
RELIEF FROM FISCAL BURDENS.
The December statement o f the debt shows us that we have in the
Treasury almost 77 million dollars of bonds, o f which 20 millions belong
to the sinking fund, while the remainder are held to await the action of
Congress. The fact that so large a surplus has been raised by taxation
during the past ten months is very' gratifying and suggestive.
It
shows that this country is in earnest in the work o f pacing off its
public debt, a-nd it indicates the extent o f the fiscal resources and
iniustrial strength which can bear so heavy a drain upon its means, and
can still carry forward with more energy and activity than ever, innumer
able railway and other projects, which are absorbing capital to a degree
seldom equalled in this country heretofore. Now, however, a general
desire appears to be springing up on almost every hand for a diminu
tion o f the pressure o f taxation. Great as has been the amount o f the
taxes repealed during the last two years, it is notorious that much
remains to be done before our internal revenue system can be pro
nounced adapted to the fiscal wants of the country, or free from mis
chievous imperfections. It has been truly said that a bad tax is more
mischievous, and inflicts greater evils on a people, in time o f peace,
than a disastrous campaign in time o f war. Spain, by a foolish and
monstrous tax system, confiscated the property o f its industrial popula
tion, devastated and laid waste its fairest industries, and put back the
progress o f the country for a whole century. Now, although there is
little danger that under our popular government, such stupendous
disasters should be let loose upon the country by bad fiscal legislation,
still minor evils, to a considerable extent, have been produced by some
o f our taxes. And where these fiscal evils remain on the statute book,
public opinion demands that the pruning knife o f fiscal reform must,
with a firm hand, be applied.
But there are other reasons why a dimunition o f the pressure on
internal revenue is demanded. The aggregate amount yielded by these
taxes is regarded as more than the country can really' afford. The cus
tom duties yielded last year nearly lb 2 millions, and the internal
revenue 159 millions. There is a large class o f persons who are in
favor o f reducing the internal revenue to about 120 millions, or even
lower, keeping up b y a revenne tariff the aggregate o f the customs
duties, so as to secure the prompt payment o f the interest on the public
debt, and the redeeming a considerable sum o f the prii cip il o f the debt
every year. By rigid economy in every department o f the administra
tion, by turning a deaf ear to a 1 projects for making grants to new
railroads, or subsidizing steamship companies, or buying up useless leal
1,869]
441
RELIEF FROM FISCAL BURDENS.
estate from foreign governments, we shall he able, it is supposed, to get
along very well with 180 millions from customs and 120 millions from
internal revenue.
But there is a third reason urged b y those who are in favor o f a
repeal or remission o f some o f the internal revenue taxes. It consist in
the fact that to lower taxes does not always lessen their productive
ness. This was seen last year in the working o f the spirit tax, which
yielded 30 millions at the reduced rate o f 50 cents a gallon, against 13
millions the previous year, when the tax was 82 a gallon. The full
report of the internal revenue collections for last year is well worthy
o f examination in this point o f view. It is semi-officially published as
follows :
A-t'cles.
1S19.
On s i n i 8 ............ .......................... .. ...
. ............
6,0 9,s79 5 1
................
8,801,45 1 67
..............
1 244 S P 0 1
................
................
................
29,468 00
2,1'6 ,'0 5 81
877 088 79
................
10.4 0 710 01
................
360,235 12
Bankp «n ' bankers................
..............
(4ros« receipts.............. ..................................
Sales..................................................................
Jncc m e..............................................................
Le^'-c es ..
.........................................
Afticles in schcdn.e.....................................
Passports ......................................................
N otcih erw ise mentioned....................
Siam ps
......................................................
Tota' c o l e c t '- r s ..........................................
Total t"X r- funded.............. ......... . . . .
N et col ections...............................................
1R68.
$1-1.290,730 98
14, A ,, 07 53
5 ,V)X\ 61 70
1,80 ,.45 5>
6.2>0,G i9 34
4,1-3 7 ,0 0 33
10 3*4,547 23
4*,455,5ii8 30
1,518.3'7 <U
1,134.339 98
28,280 00
1 902,0-1 52
1,250 SSI f 9
0 ,0 10 37
11,852,2 >2 02
This report fully bears out what has been said about the increased
productiveness which sometimes follows reduced rates o f taxation.
It is needless to cite the details. Fiscal history is full o f illustrations
o f the same truth. W hat is more useful is to point out a fourth reason
for reversing our internal tax system. W e refer to the necessity for
repealing petty, inquisitorial, unproductive taxes, which make a govern
ment unpopular and cause needless annoyance to private citizens. One
o f the taxes most resented and objected to, because o f its inquisitorial
character, is the income-tax. The M agazine has not ventured to go so
far as to recommend that it should be given up when it expires next
year. It produced thirty-four millions last year against forty-one mil
lions the year before. It this large sum could be dispensed with, we
should be glad. But other inquisitorial and offensive taxes there ire
which have no indispensable character o f productiveness about them
The articles in schedule A , and several o f the special taxes, might be
dispensed with, and we should scarcely lose any appreciable amount o f
revenue ; for they cost ofteniimes to the people far more than they
bring in to the Treasury. The abuses of the tax on gas and on the fares
442
THE SUPREME COURT AND THE LEGAL TENDER ACT. [ D e c e m b e r
upon the street railroads have been frequently pointed out, arid the time
certainly has come for a reform.
W e have space to notice but one more o f the numerous reasons for
revising our Internal Revenue system.
Some o f its arrangements
demoralize the tax payer. W e put too much temptation to false oaths
before the minds ot our citizens. Except, we believe, in Holland, a
generation or two ago, no modern government has ever taken so bold
a step as to put almost every man o f its more intelligent adult popula
tion under an oath in order that it may raise from them a fragmen
tary part o f its taxation and prevent them from defrauding it o f its
legal revenue. B y all means let us do away with the multiplicity o f
oaths.
N o supposed advantages o f any revenue arrangement will
compensate tor the fearful perils which in a Republic like ours must
inevitably spring from causes which demoralize the citizen, degrade the
public opinion o f right and wrong, and outrage the reverence o f the
human n fn d for the solemn asseveration o f an oath.
The English
Government for almost a quarter o f a century has derived considerable
revenue from an income tax, but it has never resorted to the expedient
o f putting the taxpayers under oath, much le>s has it resorted to the
clumsy contrivance o f attempting to prevent false swearing by pub
lishing, or conniving at the publishing, o f the income returns in the
newspapers. Congress, o f course, will take no rash steps in regard to
our fiscal system, but we have said enough to show that a well-considered
judicious reform in regard to our internal revenue is not only expedient
but desirable, and imperatively demanded by public opinion and by
an enlightened regard to the best interests o f the nation.
THE SUPREME COURT AND HIE LEGAL TENDER ACT.
Prophets of evil are always abundant. In fact it requires so little skill
or acumen to follow tlieir profession that it is no wonder many spend
their time in dressing up their imaginary dangers to fiighten the timid
with. A t present the country is full of these self-satisfied individuals
who are filling the air with their dismal forebodings. B.it they lived
during the entire period of the war, and in spite of them the country
prospered.
The rock upon which every man’s fortune is now to be wrecked is,
according to tle-e wise heads, the expected decision of the Supreme
Court with regard to the Legal Tender A ct. That decision will at once,
1869]
THE SUPREME COURT AND THE LEGAL TENDER ACT.
443
we are told, take off thirty per cent from all valuer, leave the country
without a currency, and all commercial matters in inextricable confusion.
This certainly is a dark picture, and if there were any real resem
blance between it and the probable events of the immediate future, capi
tal would be very timid and business paralyzed.
But in the first place may we not challenge the assertion, that the
Supreme Court is to render any decision upon these questions ? If the
results are to be as disastrous to the country as these forebodings indicate^
certainly that Court can see it, and constituted as it at present is, would
delay action until a quieter and easier mode could bo found fur tiffing
us out of our present condition and putting us upon a more stable
currency basis. Our entire revenue system depends for its produc
tiveness upon freedom from any such convulsion; in fact the whole
machinery of the government, its ability to maintain itself under the heavy
payments it must make, are so intimately connected with the commercial
prosperity of the country that we may rest with perfect confidence in the
knowledge that nothing will be done by that, Court which can result
in any sudden tumble in values.
W e should therefore be entirely sure, if the results of this decision
were to be thus disastrous, that the country’s needs would influence and
guide the Court in its deliberations. Yet a delay ot justice is to the liti
gants a denial of justice, and nothing but national disaster, as the result
of their action, would be an excuse for delay. Such, we think, is the
opinion of the Court, and that they do not anticipate any injury to the
country from this decision, and do not intend to hold the question open
much longer, would be inferred from the decisions already made affect
ing this subject. In two cases, they have held contracts valid and have
enforced them, which by their terms were to be discharged alone by the
payment of gold. Anothe" contract under the Confederate Government
the Court decided must be paid in confederate notes or their equivalent
at the maturity of the obligation. In a word, the idea appears to be that
the contract must be executed according to the intent o f the parties
making it, and that these vexed questions shall be so settled and the
statute so interpreted as to work the least possible injury to individuals.
With these idefts in view, then, what is likely to be the decision of
the Court on this legal tender question, and what when made, will be its
results? The Court can come to either one o f the two conclusions.
First, that the provision in the act making the greenback a legal tender
for all debts was void ah initio. Such a decision would not, however
affect obligations payable in dollars made since greenbacks came Into
use as currency; for the Court has already held as noticed above, that
the intent of the parties would iu all cases govern, and that they would
444
THE SUPREME COURT AND THE LEOAL TENDER AGT. \ D e c e m b e r
therefore be payable in currency. Any other construction would impair
the contract, and is therefore who'lv unauthorized. Hence, after the deci
sion, contracts could be made and business could be transacted in either
gold or currency, precisely as it can be now. In this particular then,
such a determination of the question would work no change in the con
dition of the country or in the inodes o f doing business. The words
legal lender would be erased from the United States currency, but they
would none the less be legal tender for the payment o f all outstanding
contracts made since their issue, and for every contract subsequently made,
in which such was the intent of the parties to it. How, then, could any
disaster or check to business transactions result ?
But it may be said that the inferior currency (the greenback) would
be quickly forced out o f use by the better (gold) currency, and that hence
we would have the severest kind o f contraction. This very argument was
used when it was proposed to pass the Gold Contract Bill, and yet
how little influence the decisions establishing the principle contained
in that bill have had ; in fact not the least, in the direction suggested.
And in the nature of things why should United States notes be any the
less in use than at present? They would, according to the above men
tioned decisions, discharge contracts precisely7 the same as now ; the busi
ness of the country would continue as now to be done with them ; and
only by very slow degrees would that law assert itself, and then, in a
natural, quiet way, as the country became prepared for the change, bring
us back to a cm rency redeemable in specie.
Nor need we fear that the Banks would suffer by the action of the Court,
and through the Banks the people. Ordinary banking business would
be conducted as now, money being loaned and notes paid, deposits
received and checks cashed all in kind. The gold decisions and the con
federate decision above leferred to would protect the parties to any
contract. With regard to Bank currency it might be necessary for Con.
gress to grant some relief, so that no one could demand specie o f them
for their bills until both they and the country were in position to
resume gold payments. W e do not indicate what precise action would
be necessary, or what should be done. But the Banks are the crea
tures of Congress, and have become the financial machinery of the
country ; the crippling o f these institutions would be quickly felt through
out the whole commercial body. Ilenca the power and necessity would
exist for meeting any exigency which the new state of things might
make apparent in their business relations with the country.
Again, there can be no force in the idea that as a result o f such a deci
sion gold would rise in value, or more properly speaking greenbacks
would depree'ate. W e have already seen that United States notes would
1809]
THE SUPREME COURT AND THE LEGAL TENDER ACT.
445
perform all the functions o f currency they now perform, so lone; as the
business o f the country was conducted on that basis.
Besides they
would now continue to be the notes of the government, and it would as
now be liable for their ultimate payment. Without doubt some provision
also would be quickly made for their final withdrawal; not violent with,
-drawal so aa to disturb the business of the country; but'gradnally and
almost imperceptibly lifting them up to the value o f gold. This might le
done by converting them in fixed amounts at fixed times into com.
pound notes, as we have often heretofore suggested.
In what lias been said we have taken it for granted that the decision
of the court would declare the legal tender clause voia c s ■■. his is
the most radical form which the decision could UtLe. There is another
conclusion which we think the court is more likely to reach, and which
would involve no possible change iu the status o f things, and yet effec
tually dispose of the question. The Legal Tender act was passed at a
time when the nation was struggling for its life, and it was declared by
the then President, by a large majority o f Congress and o f the people,
that it was requisite as a war measure, as a means of national preserv.
ation. O f course many will insist that it was not necessary ; that the war
might have been successfully prosecuted without it. W e shall not argue
the point.
A s wo have stated above, Congress affirmed that it was
necessary, and a large majority of the people were of a like opinion. The
United States Court can now very reasonably be o f the same mind, and
declare that though the letter of the constitution does not authorize such
an act under any ordinary circumstances or condition o f the country, yet
there is a war power necessarily inherent in any governmental constitution
authorizing any and every act which is requisite for the preservation of
the nation’s life. Should the Court come to this conclusion the result
would simply be that the present issue of legal tenders would be upheld
but any new issue would be impossible. Such a decision could not in
any manner interfere with, or in the least disturb the business of the coun.
try.
W e thus see that in any event the difficulties and dangers suggested by
these prophets of evil are merely imaginary, and that the changes effected
in our duly transactions by this decision would be very slight. But there
is one important particular in which the whole business interests o f the
country would be benefited.
W e are now living under continual uncer
tainty as to whether Congress will or will not issue more currency. Every
interest is held in suspense by this doubt. There can he no real vitality
given to legitimate enterprise so long as this state o f affairs continues.
But let this decision be announced in either way suggested, so that it is
known that no new issue of greenbacks can be made, and at once a
446
massaciicsetis insurance companies.
[December,
degree of certainty is thrown around the future ; confidence will increase;
capital will become less timid ; and the movement towards a more
active, legitimate business be fairly inaugurated. May we not, there
fore, conclude in view of what has been said that a decision o f the Supreme
Court such as we have indicated above would be a source not o f evil but
of the highest good to the country.
CONDITION OP THE MASSACHUSETTS INSURANCE COMPANIES.
The following interesting statement, showing the condition of the
Insurance Companies of Massachusetts, was prepared by the Secretary o f
the Howard Insurance Company of Boston, and presented to the stock
holders of that company at their annual meeting on the 15th of October :
m
a
s
Am erican....................
Bay S tate....................
B o sto n ........................
Poylston
...............
C ity..............................
K'liot..............................
Firem ens....................
Franklin......................
H ow ard ......................
Mannfac n r e :s ........
Merchants................
N ational......................
Kept u»’ c ......................
North A m e iic a n ....
Peoples ......................
Prescott
Shoe & Leather. . . .
suffo k
................
Sprir gftcld ................
Tradt rs «fcMeehan’ s.
Washington................
Hi
1
Name
. 300.000 3.2,470 i
. 104, POO 1,370
. 800.000 2 )8,5?5 :
. 300.000 301,788
.. 200,10* '4,800 I
.*2&0,'t)0 138.481 5
300.0 0 235,090 4
. 30'i,000 8 .009
suo.roo 10.02*
400 OOO 739,0’ 0 5
. 5( 0,0 0 271.958 2
. 800,000 293,*19 2
300.000 358.185 2
. 500,000 20*,000 2
2 0,i 00 102,533 1
. *150,1 (0 40,014 1
. 200,000 05.107 1
. 150,HO 40.077
. 300,000 71,7x8
50 000 80,753
. 300 000 242,135 2
!S till in
t $32,407
f0
• +15,257
20
. $01,854
40
$0,884 115
I +52 130
40
’ +137,' 20
43
» +184,324 100
10X
3,375
5 1-16
7,407
11 1-5
3,247
12 97-100 2,322
8 5-17
2,009
114-9
3,764
15 7-10
3 132
9
3,294
735
4,040
10 53-100 10,516
19 346-1000 3.178
15 41-100 7,935
15 73-100 4,188
11 1 18
2,755
9
5,^05
V -i
5,091
10
3,397
4
8,178
18
7,311
8X
5,507
h K
6,441
yearlvavge. a*g.
'} 1117 21
* Ay rage.
is
gain.
5,70
$ is lo:s.
I860]
the
noa
crop
and
it s
product.
447
THE HOG CROP AND ITS PRODUCT.
The commencement of a new season in “ pork packing,” and tlse curing
o f other products of the hog, brings with it the usual amount of specula
tion respecting the probable supply and demand. These matters are sus
ceptible of being estimated with tolerable accuracy. Packers, through
their correspondents at the different points, obtain such information as
enables them to state the number of swine which are to come to market
with fully as much accuracy as the cotton crop may be estimated ; indeed
o f late years the estimates o f the packers have very nearly approximated
actual results, they seldom making such a mistake as was made last year
in cotton.
There has not been, either, any important obstacle to an accurate
estimate of the probable demand. It is, to be sure, subject to some con
tingencies. The foreign demand depends a great deal upon the state of
trade in Great Britain. I f manufactures are active in that kingdom, and
her working people well employed, our exports o f bacon will be larger
than usual; if otherwise, smaller. The activity of the shipping interest
also produces an increased demand, while the state o f industry in the
Southern States has a considerable influence in the same direction. This
was well illustrated in the early part o f 1868, An extraordinary advance
then occurred in the price o f cotton. It was about the season for planting
cotton, and the advance in the price was a great stimulant to the work
o f planting. The increased work o f planting cotton was immediately felt
in the market for hog products, which were wanted to provide food for
hands engaged in that work, and an advance in prices o f bacon and lard
immediately took place, amounting to about thirty per cent on the prices
previously ruling.
There is a disposition to estimate the number of swine for the coming
season at about the same figure as last season ; while at the moment
nothing is apparent indicating that the demand will be more than an aver
age from any direction. The (lull state of trade in England, and the large
number o f hands in the manufacturing districts unemployed, do not
favor a large export demand. The decline in cotton that has taken Dlace
does not favor special activity in cotton planting, nor any increased
demand for hog products from the South. The shipping interest is so
much interfered with by regular lines of steamers, whose consumption o f
cured meats is relatively much smaller than that o f sail vessels that
but little promise is evident in that direction.
But a comparatively new feature in the trade, and one affecting the
course of it very materially, is the practical abolition o f what was formerly
known as the “ packing season,” which commenced about the first of
November and ended about the first of March. The curing of hog products
4
448
Te n n e s s e e
\ D c c e m le r ,
f in a n c e s .
has for a year or two past been kept up all the year through with the aid
of ice. Ice-cured meats have nearly supplied our local trade for two
summers past, and considerable quantities hare been shipped abroad. The
farmer has discovered that there is a market for his hogs at any lime. Ha
is therefore under no necessity of hurrying them to market at a particu
lar season, or in default losing the sale o f them. They can be sold in
July as well as in December at their full market value. This is a favor
able circumstance in many respects. It promotes better curing, by avoid
ing: the haste and carelessness incident to “ the season.” It facilitates
economy in feeding, and preserves the health of the swine. Its commer
cial effect is to cause the swine to be held back if prices are low and corn
is low. If corn be high, as now, the farmer is disposed to send it to
market, and his swine with it half fattened. There is every prospect of
corn ruling at a pretty full figure for the coming year, even in the absence
of an export demand, the cold and drought east of the Allegbanies having
materially reduced the yield this year. This favors an early marketing
o f the swine which may now be ready, or nearly ready, to come forwardAnd yet there is reason to believe that the hogs will be well fattened.
If corn is scarce and dear, other grains are cheap, which, mixed with pota
toes (of which the crop is excessive), make excellent food for swine.
There is, besides, tbe “ mast” in Tennessee and Kentucky, said to be
never more abundant, and which fattens hogs well.
From this review of the subject, there is little encouragement to expect
the high prices which have ruled in the past six years, ar.d it is probab'e
that for this important crop, as in breadstuffs and cotton, it will be found
difficult to infuse a speculative spirit into the market, in the absence of
which prices are quite likely to rule lower than many anticipate.
TENNESSEE FINANCES.
The following from the Comptroller’s report is o f much interest:
STATE DEBT AND FINANCES OF TENNESSEE.
Bonds loaned to railroads, ante-war............................................................................................
Bends to fnnd interest th. reon— 1866.........................................................................................
N ew bonds to railroads, since war. 1806-60.............................................................................
Railroad bonds indorsed by State...................... .........................................................................
$!3,1 1",000
3,218.000
I I ,201,000
3,196,000
Total railroad debt....................................................................................................................
Bank, capital and otter old debt................................................................................... - -----
$81,121,000
8,413,000
Total debt, October 1,1869....... ................................................................................................
Add July, 1859, interest aopaid............................................................... ...................................
$35,294,000
1,100,000
T o geth er...................................................................................
$86,394,000
Represented as follows :
Railroads for bonds and indorsements, as above............
Due from railroads for arrearages o f intorest due State.
$31,821,000
2,303,000-$31,127,000
State Capitol, Bank o f Tennestee, & c
*1 axables o f tbe State............ . ................
Revenues o f 1860-70.....................................
Less for schools...................................
.....................
$2,267,000
................
223,862,243
$1,878,949
450,000 — $1,128,919
1869]
TENNESSEE FINANCES,
449
The Comptroller remarks:
From October 1, 1869, to October 3, 1870, this amount of money will be p v d into
the Treasury as State tax if the revenue laws are not so changed a9 to lessen it. To
this is to be added the revenue derived from t e privilege tax on insurance companies
bonus from banks, turnpike dividends, telegraph and express companies the redemp
tion of lands and town lots that have been sold for taxes and bid in for the use of com
mon schools, and whatevei may b» received from the railroads.
As to the amount likely to be paid i ito the Treasury from these different sources,
the Legislature will judge from the amount received during the present fiscal year.
The amount paid into the Treasury during the fiscal year ending September 30, i 868,
by the railroads, was $998,251 14. During the year ending September 30, I860,
it was only $730,264 5 \ This shows a tailing off c f $267,985 57.
The cause
o f this deficit cn the part of the railroads, was the inability c f some of the roads
(that are unfini hed), longer to pay, and the refusal of others to pay (able to do so),
unless the State would receive from them in payment of their indet tedness, past
due coupons which they had purchased at a reduced pi ice for that special purpose
— '8 I have been credibly informed, and verily be ieve. The Memphis and Charleston
Railroad Company (due the State on interest account), $5',931 62, proposed to pay
its dues to the State— as above— to the fiscal agency of the State in New York, on
the 30th of June last, provided a portion of it, nearly half the sum, would be received
in coupons.
Learning in June last that certain railroad companies hsd agreed among them
selves not to pay their July interest, thus making it impossible for the State to meet
its liabilities, and afterward, when our securities had depreciated, to buy up t e
coupons, and present them in payment of their July interest. I instructed our agency
in New York not to receive coupons from any road. The proposition of the, Memp’ is
and Charleston Railroad Company therefore was rejected, and the $55,931 62 remains
unpaid.
The Mississippi Central and Tennessee Railroad Company has also failed to p s » ,
notwithstanding the fact that its President was fully advised of the necessities of
the State Treasury, and notwithstanding the ability of the Company to pay.
The case of these two roads is specially spoken of here in my report, for the purpose •
of calling the attention of the Legislature to the necessity of instituting measures t »
effectudly checkmate the designs of railroad companies, which— dead to everv
principle of gratitude to the State that has warmed them into life— use every mea* s .
within their reach to sink her into temporary bankruptcy for purposes of selfi <i
speculation. These roads ceitain’ y ought at once to be put iuto the hands o f receivei s , .
and run in the interests of the State till the last farthing is paid.
My reisons for not accepting coupons from the roads in payment of their July
interest last, may be stated as follow s: The State lends i!s bonds to the railro d
e mpanies. The companies sell the b< ndr, and use the proceeds in building their
roadj . The holders of the bonds r-o not look to the lailroad companies for the
interest maturing on the bonds. That is the business of the State. So far as t e
payment to the St .te of the inter*et due by the companies on the bonds loane.i is
concerned, the law provides that it shall be paid by the c .mpanies to the Sto e
semi-annually, by the 15th day of June and December of each and every year, a . i
not only the amount due, in many, bat enough besides to pay for exchange, cominis
sions, &c.
This beirg the law on the subject, it is evident that no railroad company has even
believed that it could force the State to take coupors in payment <f toe interest due
by said Company to the State. The ol ject of these companies, therefore, must have
been to depress the price of the bonds of the State for purpos* s ol speculation, by
taking advantage of the peculiarly critical condition of the State Treasury at that
time, which was well understood by them.
The rep rt shows what roads have fully pail their Merest. I am m t of opinion
that any of the roads have intentionally failed to pay except the two already
named, and the Evansville, Henderson aud Nashville.
It owes the State $18,0u0
in interest, an I I believe its purpose is to swindle the State. The Nashville and
Decatur has pai I $131,955 29 on its January and July interest, 1569. It still owes
$15,955 26 ; but this will soon be paid. I have assurances, also, that the Knoxville
and Charleston Riilroad will soon pay the amount of interest due by it.
It seems evident that the State has increased her liabilities (by loaning her^
450
MOVEMENT OF COIN AND BULLION IN NEW YORK.
\ D eC em ler,
bonds to railroad companies that failed to pay the interest on them) to such an extent’
that it will be impossible for some years to come to meet them.
Taking this view o f the subject. I would respectfully suggest to your honorable
body the propriety of selling a sufficient number of our roads, for the bonds of the
State, to lessen our liabilities some eight or ten million of dollars. With this reduc
tion in our State debt, our liabilities could be legularly and unfailingly met.
KORTH CAROLINA BOARS.
The Committee on S-curities of the Stock Exchange, ha9 made the following rep or*
in regard to the North Carolina State Special Tax Bords :
First—That those bonds only which have been passed by the Committee, are good
delivery, either as New Bonds or Special Tax Bonds.
Second— That, until further notice from the Committee, all Noith Carolina State
Bonds must be dealt in, according to the ttandard o f the old bonds, and carry the
coupon of January, 1869, or be made to conform thereto. The Committee ikewise
decide, that North Carolina State Bonds, ipsued to the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio
Railroad Company, are not good delivery, either as new bonds or Special Tax Bonds.
They may, however, be called up separately on the Free list.
The following North Carolina State New Bonds have been passed by the Com
mittee :
North Carolina State Bonds, issued to the Western North Carolina Railroad Com
pany, dated October 1, 1868.
North Carolina State Bonds, issued to the Western North Carolina Railroad Com
pany, dated April 1, 1869.
Williamston and Yarboro Railroad Company, dated October 1, 1868.
Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad, dated April 1, 1869.
Western Railroad Company, dated April 1, 1869.
A ll the above bear the imprint (in medallion) that the Special Tax required by
the Constitution, baa been orueted to b,e levied by the act of the Legislature authoriz
ing the same.
PENSYIVANIA STATE DEBT.
Mr. R. W . Mackey, State Treasurer o f Pennsylvania, has issued the folic wing
notice to the holders of the Pennsylvania five per cent State Loan, issued under the
act of June 11, 1840 :
T n c / su e t D epa rtm en t , 1
H aeeisetteg , Penn., N ov. 1, 18',!,. f
r T h e Comndss’ oner? o f the Sinking Fund have authorized m e to give notice to all holders o f
the five per cent. State Loan, due July 1, 1870, lhat all such bonds will be redeemed b.v this
Department in full,rwitb accrued inter e t t o dare o f presentation.
Y o u will, therefore, notify m e (at this t file. ) o f the amount o f bonds you hold and des re
redeemed, and I w ill direct rhe Farm e's’ and Mechanics’ National rank, o f 1 hi aeelphia,
to accept jo u r transfers and pay the amount o f tour bonds, with interest to date ol transfer.
These payments w ill be made on the first and third Sa.urdays o f every m onth.
Yours respectfully,
R . W . M A C K E Y , State Treasurer,
p . S .—The interest on these bonds will cease July 1 , 1S70,
GENERAL MOVEMENT OF COIN AND BULLION AT NEW YORK IN OCTOBER, 18G0.
Specie in b inks October 2 ......................................................................................
Treasure received from California by steam er..............................................
“
*
“
overland....................................................
Imports from foreign p o r ts ...................................... ..............................................
Coin interest paid out..............................................................................................
Treasury sales ot geld.................... , ................................................... ......................
Total reported supply....................................
' Withdrawn for exp >rt............................................
“
cus om s........................................
Specie in banks, October 30..............................
Total withdrawn and in bank ........................
E xcess o f repor ed supp’y not accounted for,
$15,902,819'
$17,797
1,2*7,245
8,559,444
7,7*5,080
11,000,000—
23,559,505
$39,402,385
2,528,073
11,194 1 5 8 -
13,722,231
21,920.046
35,048,277
3,S14,108
1800]
RAILROAD ITEMS.
451
RAILROAD ITEMS.
C onsolidation of the N ew Y ork C entral and H udson R iver R rilroads .—
The agreement of consolidation, made the 15th day of September, i t the year 1869,
between “ The New York Central Railroad Company,” party c f the first part, and
4‘ The Hudson River Railroad Company,” party of the second part, provides that
“ The said companies do hereby agree to merge and consolidate, ana do hereby consti
tute and form one corporation, by the name of The New York Central and Hudson
River Railroad Company. Said corporation shall continue for the term of 500 years.
That the capital stock of the new corporation to be now issued shall be $45,000,f 00. and the authorized number o f shares of said capital stock shall be 460 000.
287,950 shares shall be issued to the holders of the capital stock of the New York
Central, and 160,280 of said shares sha'l be also issued to the holders of the capital
stock of the Hudson River Railroad Company. The said capital sloe* may at any
time, at the option of the Board o f Directors of the consolidated Company, be
increased to an amount suffici nt to capita ize at par the interest certificates hereto
fore issued by the New York Central Railroad Company, under the resolution of the
Board of Directors o f said Company, passed Dece ber 19, 1868 ; and also the consol
idation certificates authorized to be issued in pursuance of this agreement.
No further or other issue of shares of capital stock, beyond the amount necessary
for the capitalization of the said interest and consolidation certificates, shall be made,
unless such increase shall be first authorized and unproved by two-thirds in amount
o f all the stockholders of such consolidated company.
All the bonded or other indebtedness of either of said corporations, including the
debt certificates of the New York Central Railroad Company are hereby declared to
be valid and binding on the new corporation.
article
vir.
For the purpose o f equalizing the values of the property of said consolidating com
panies, and making compensation to the stockholders of said compnnie-, respectivelv,
for all differences in such values, the parties thereto do further agree that there shall
be issued to the stockholders of the said companies certificates, to be called consoli
dation certificates, and which shall provide that the same shall be pavable ratably,
at the pleasure of the company, out of its future earnings, a d that until the same be
wholly paid off a"d redeemed, dividends upon tin amount thereof shall be pai l at
the same rales and times as dividends shall be pai I upon thecipital stock.
Such consolidation certificates shall be issued for such purpose of equalizition
as follows, viz.:
First —To the stockholders of the New York Central Railroad Company, there shall
be issued consoli lation certificates for 27 per cent., or $27 on each $100 of the cipital
stock of said company.
Second— To the stockholders of the Hudson River Rail/oad Company, there shall be
issued consolidation certificates for 85 per cent., or $85 on each $!• 0 of the capital
stock of said Company.
For the further purpose of such equalization, there sha’l be retained out of the
assets of the New York Central Railroad Company, the sum of $518,810, which sum
shall be distributed ratably among the holders of the stock certificates and the hold
ers of the interest certificates of the New York Central Railroa 1 Co upany, at the
time of the exch nge of stock certificates, after the perfection of the consolidation,
us herein provided. The 27 per cent, in consolidation certificates herein provide!,
being the compensation to the stockholder of the New York Central Railroad Com
pany, both in respect to their stock and their interest certificates for 80 per cent, of
the par o f such stock heretofore issued to the stockholders of said C mipany, h
respe* t to such stock— it is underst od and agreed that each stockholder of the
New York Central Rai road Company, shall, at the li ne he sha 1 receive his cons lidation certificate of *z7 per cent , produce the interest certificate of 80 per cent, upon
the par thereof corresponding thereto, to the end that the delivery of the consolida i n certificate may be noted an \receipted for, both on the stock certificate and
the interest certificate ; and in the event that any interest certificate shall have been
sepaiated fr -m the corresponding stock certificate, the holder of the stock certificate
shall not be entitled to receive the consolidation ce*tifioate for 27 per cent until he
sbaU produce for the purpose of notation and receipt hereinbefore provided inteiest
452
r a il r o a d
it e m s .
[.D e c e m b e r ,
certificates to the amount of 80 percent, upon the par amount o f the 6tock, but in case
such stockholder shall be unaable to produce such corresponding interest certificate
be feh^ll only he entitled to re eive consolidation certificates for 15 per cent, on the
par of the stock so produced, and the holder of the corresponding intarest certificate
shall, when producing the same and receipting therefor be entitled to a consolidation
certificate for the residue, being 15 percent, on the amount of such interest certificates.
ARTICLE Till.
It is further agreed that the consolidated Company may at its option, at any time,
convert the amount of the consolidation certificates issued in pursuance of the pre
ceding aitiele, into capital stock, at par ; and that such consolidation certificates may
be transferred in any sums on the books o f the Company by the holders thereof,
either in person or by attoraev, on the surrender of the certificate.
And it is n flie r agreed that the consolidated Company may from time to time
invest its suiph.s moneys in the said consolidation cei tificales, by purchase thereof in
the market.
ARTICLE IX.
It is further ngr« cd that the outstanding interest certificates, issued by the New
York Central Railroad Company, in pursuance of ihe resolution of said Company,
passed December 10, 1S6S, mt>y at the option o f the holders thereof, be converted into
or exchanged for certRcates <fth e same tenor and effect as the consolidation cer
tificates, the issue whereof is herein provided for— and that the consolidation certifi
cate s t-hich may be thus issued for exchange in said interest certificates, may at any
time at the option o f said consolidated Company, b * converted into capital stock at
par, as provided f<v bv the article hereinbefore contained, fixing the amount of
the capital stock of the consolidated Company.
E rie R ailw ay .— The ptrsonel of the Board of Directors of this Company has
come to be a matter of such immense importance to the stockholders, that we give
the directors and officers, as elected on Tuesday, Oct. 1‘2th.
The new board elected Jay Gould President, and James Fisk, Jr., Vice-Presi
dent. H. N. Otis holds over as Secretary, and the appointment of Mortimer Smith
as Assistant Secretary, was confirmed.
Jay Gould continues! to act as Treasurer.
Alexander S. Diven. the former Vice-President, declined being a candidate for reelection, and Mr. Fisk was put in his place.
The new board also proceeded to classify themselves in accordance with the law
passed last winter. The following classification was agreed upon :
Homer Ramscell, Charles G. Sisson and J. D. White, to go cut of office October,
1870.
John Hilton, M. R. Simons and George C. Hall, to go out in in 1871.
John Ganson, O. W. Chapman and Henry Thompson, to go out in 1872.
Alexander S. Diven, H. N. Smith, Abram Gould and H. N. 4Otis, to go out in
1873.
Jay Gould, James Fisk, Jr., William M. Tweed and Frederick A . Lane, to go
out in 1874.
At the meeting of the new board the following resolution was also adopted :
Resolved, That the President, be instructed to carry out the policy which the
Executive have inaugurated ; that he be directed to proceed at one* to carry into
effect ihe contract with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad for a narrow
gauge through line for passengers and freight to Chicago a d the W est; and that
he he authorized and directed, for the completion, finishing and operating
road,
to issue and the Secretary be authorize > to attach the corporate seal to $ 5 /00 ,0 0
bfnds, to be caRdd ti e ‘ ‘ Narrow gauge sinking fund bond?/' secured by the pro
ceeds of the traffic of such narrow gauge as is provided for in such contract.
M issouri P acific R ailroad . — A report from St. Louis, dated 15th inst., says:
“ The sensation o f to-day in St. Louis is the action of our County Court in selling
$500,000 Pacific Railroad stock, belonging to the county, for $250,000 cash to Hudson
E. Bridge, of this city, who has been two years trying to get control of the Pacific
directory. A “ ring” of capitalists in the in' erest of tie present directory had been
1669]
453
RAILROAD ITEMS,
formed to get ail the city and county stock, amounting to over 11,000,000. Since
June la?t the prop is tion ha? been pending to transfer this stock for bonds of a new
track, which the Pacific Company ant?, running centrally through St. Louis county,
shortening the route a number of miles. The whole thing has been regarded as a
grand speculation, out of whieh certain parties woul i reiliee some $2,0 0,000 profits
one way or another. The bid of Mr. Brilgo has broken up the present directory’s
‘ ■ring,” but great indignation still exists among the people at the sale of the county’s
etock for 50 e-nts on the dollar » h d 60 has been offered. Tire City Cou cil, last
week, with only one dissenting voice, vot^i to transfer the city’ s stock to the January,
Gibson or Pacific party, but it is said that Mayor Cole has written a veto o f the bill,
which wid be sent in to-morrow.”
Thomas Allen, President of the Iron Mountain Railroad, offered for the 5,000
eharea of the Missouri Pacific stock, which was 9old to Hudson E. Bridge, $280,000
in 7 per cent, bonds of the St. Louis & Memphis Railroad Company. D. R.
Garrison, the leader of the party opposed to Mr. B. i ige, says that he offered $3 JO,000
in cash for it.
Cincinnati, H amilton a n d D arton R ailroad . — The earnings o f this road for the
years ending March 31, 1868 and 1869, were as follows:
1863.
$476,797
727,-275
63,410
36,303
29,102
F r o m p a s s ^ n g e r a ........................
“
fr e ig h t...........................
“
“
“
m a ils and e x p r e s s .........
r e m o f t r a c k , & e ___ .
r e n t o f m a c h in e r y , & e ,
1869.
$137,6-25
606,691
32,449
40,815
1,521
$1,332,891 $1,209,104
$718,719 $764,074
' $534,175 $505,U30
Expenses....................................
i.ai-niii28 , less expenses___
From wh'ch deduct;
Interest on bonds..................
General i -te.est a cc o u n t...
Taxes, S ta te ............................
“
a t io n a l....................
Insurance.............. ....................
Pro lit aLd loss— sundries. . .
$114,020
21 334
41,268
24,091
7,067
407
------------------------------- 238,199
.....................
$266,830
. . . ...........
498,847
Leaving a balance o f . ..
Add surplus March 31,1868
$ j75,678
T o ta l..................................................................................................
A p - i d as follows:
Sub cription to complete Junction R. R .................................. .
Damage on account o f c j lision at ioctfland, Nov. 21, 1:67.
D iv .u nds No. 26 and 27, s rip ........................ ........................
Balance—surplus account, March 31,1859................................ .
$5,000
17,075
350,000
303,602
$675,678
Total, as above,
Compared with the previous year, the gross earnings show a decrease of $123,790 17
with a decrease in operating exp'n?ee of $44 615 31.
The entire expenditures, including interest, taxes, dtc., was $942,274 16, against
$974,435 60 in 1868— a decrease of $32,L I 44. The net earnings show a decrease
o f $91,628 73. The earning? i er mile have been $20,151 S4* Number ot passen
gers carried, 642,583. Tons of freight moved, 508,692 Number of miles run by
trains, 475,805. The operating expenses v. ere 63.23 per e»ut of gros9 earnings.
CON D EN SED B A L A N C E S H E E T , M A R C H
Construction..............................
Equip me t .................................
Re 1 e-tate.......... .......................
Mater i a :s ............................... ....
W ood 1 a i d s ...............................
Bills le tiv sb le ......................
Stocks and bonds.
D c f ora rui rond compa’ L e
Due from iodivid 'als
j lie Jro.n post office dep’ ent.
Ca-h nd cash a> e ts............ ‘
Davtou and Michigan Radroad, le; sor • account . . . .
31, 1£69.
$3,969,034
‘.195,7 0
330,698
198,090
12,540
8,405
SO *,745
36,360
26.063
6,712
78,653
I Capital stork ......................
} Kirrt raoitgage bon is—
Second mortgage bonds
Third m o 'tg rge bond .
Surplus earnings..............
|lm er- st on bonds..............
| Divi 'en^s unpaid.
Dividend No 27..................
|Due ra lr<ad companies..
j " i n d i v i d u a l s . . .............
| “ Um teJ S t ;t e s ............
Pay rolls
..........................
107,148 I Bills payable......................
$3,500,000
l,25i,000
500.000
282.000
303 602
5,794
13,650
175,000
77,259
70,879
11,043
61,917
310,962
$0,572,135 j
$6,572,115
454
RAILROAD ITEMS.
[D ecem ber,
D ayton and M ichigan R ailroad — The income of this company for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 1869, was as follows:
F r o m f eight..................
........................ $ '04,604
“ passengers.......................................... 341,668
“
m a ils .'........................... , ..................
16,762
“
express............................................
34,211
“
rents and interest...... ....................
1,012
Equipm ent.......... ........................
112,508
Sinking fund......................................
Widening Bayou Bridge, Toledo..........
2,500
Construction....................................................
00,891
Loss on redemption 1st mort. bonds..
38,717
$1,040,289 j
Expenditures........ .....................................
Earnit-gs less operating e penses___
Received f om s le cl steamboat stock
K e'vedfrom sale o f real estate..............
$009,199
692, 4*:a | Exco s of ext enditur -s over receipts. $250,709
i 47,816 } Add b lance due C., II. & D .K .R . Co.,
10,000 I lessees, March 31, 1808
................
672 | Add ba ance o d account D . & W . R. R
T o t a l .....................................................$3*8,484 !
897,164
19,274
$6! 7,148
Interest paid on bonds............................ $245,985 j D e ’ uct for 700 3d mort. bonds................ 500,0 0
(General interest account........................
11,937 |
------------Insurance............ ..............................- ..........
0 / 2 0 j Balance due Lessees, March 31,1869.. $107,148
Taxes, State and N ational....................
40,038 j
The balance o f the First Mortgage Bonds (recently the Second), of which there
wa9 $219,000 held by the lessees, as per last report, to pay the indebtedness to them
for redemption of First Mortgage Bonds due July 1, 1867, have been disposed of,
and the amount realized therefor <$194,818 38) has be n applied for that purpose,
leaving a balance of $38,717 52, which has been carried to this year’ s account.
Two ot the bonds, Nos. 22 and 23, have not been presented for payment, and as there
has been no interest paid on them since 1859, the probabilities are they have been
lost. During the year 35 hirst Mortgage bonds have cancelled by the sinking fund,
making an increase as shown on the balance sheet of $194,000.
A mortgage of $700,000 ha9 been recently placed on the property of the company
to Stanley Matthews, trustee, and bonds issued for that amount in sums of $1,000
each, bearing interest at 7 per cent, per annum, and payab’e October I, 1888.
Thepe bonds have been paid to the lessees at 80 cents or. the dollar, in pait payment
o f aiiHunt due them, leaving a balance still due of $107,148 49, and the discount
on these bonds charged to profit and loss account.
31, 1869.
61 Capital, old.............................
85
“ new..................
39
“
not i s s u e d ............
75 1 st mortgage bonds............
45 2 d
“
.............
31 3d
“
............
17 M o'tgage bonds..................
13 Top do depot bonds........
00 Inc m e bonds......................
IK) Bil s payab e .............. ..........
72 Interest, on bonds...............
91 Indi idual R K. acc un t..
C ,U .& D .R .R .lestor©’ ac t.
$6,827..783 29
CO S D E N -E D B A lA N C 3 S H E E T , M A R C H
Constriction account..
Stock interest account,
Fencing
............
Tole o improvement..
It ght of way .
Lima shop equipment
Beal estate......................
Bolling stock............
B nls receivable............
T<>w of Perrys>urg.
Indiv dual acc o u n t....
Profit and lo.:S................
$4,73'\675
472,743
23,736
333.633
105,401
12,145
92,7'8
650,774
1.624
11 0 )0
7,187
336.072
$2,305,315 OS
74,857 01
10,474 48
2,802.000 00
642 001> 09
7t0,( 00 00
2,000 00
169,600 00
1,300 00
4,200 01
8,147 87
840 36
107,148 49
$6,827,783 29
C incinnati, R ichmond and C hicago R ailroad .— T h e incom e o f this company for
th e
fiscal ye a r
ending March 3 1 , 1 8 6 9 , w as as foil w s :
F r o m p >sseng- r s .................................................. ..........................................................................
“
f »4ght................
“
m ads......... ................................................................................................... ............
“
“
................................................................................. ................................
e x r j s s ................................................................... ................................................................................
r e t.s................
.................... ............................................................................ .......................
mueage o f cars........................ ...........................................................................................
$•'0 895
43,789
3,000
3.123
220
8*20')
49
13
(0
89
56
35
$101,928 42
Expenditures.......................................................................................................................................... $ i0 ,082 50
E x c e -s o f operating '"xpenses.........................................................................................................
$t,451 08
Interest paid on b o n d -.................................................................................... ........................
30,142 25
General i ttereetaud exchange.........................................................................................................
I n s t a n c e ........................................... ................................... . . . ...................................................
Taxes, 1 1te and Notional..................................................................................................................
152 94
8 2 12
5 7-2 45
Ex- ess ot exp ndit.ures over receipts...................................... ................................................
Add balance uue C.,
. < S > D .i i .K . C o., Lessees, March 3 1 ,1S68....................................
$ 4 6 /0 3 84
13,226 29
To al due lessees ................................ . ................................... ......................................$59,730 1
3
1869]
455
RAILROAD ITEMS.
To pay off this indebtedness a mortgage of $G5,000 ba9 been made to Stanley Mat
thews, trustee, and bonds issue! in sums of $l,00t> each for that amount, payable Jan.
1, 1889, and bearing interest at 7per cent. These bonds hive been received by the
lessees, iu full account to March 31, 1889.
B A L A N C E S H E E T , M ARCH
C nstrnction........
equipm ent............
Real ‘.state---------Profit and loss ...
31, 1869.
........ $826,733 29
Cpitaal stock..........................
........ 120,451 98 First mortgage bonds........
700 00 Second “
“
........
61,804 23 Interest on bonds unpaid.
,. $382,609 f0
. £60,000 00
.
65,000 00
..
‘2,081 50
$1,009,689 50
$ V 09,689 50
N ew Y ork , P rovidence and B oston R ailroad . —The receipts of this company
for the year ending August 81, 1869, were as follow s:
From passengers.................................... $368,633 73
“
f e » h i .......................................... 244,493(0
12,?51 51
“
mail service................................
“
rectr’.balanceaccou't............ .
10,478 74
"
gas, b lance account . .
...
993 04
“
dividends, Stoni; gton Steam
62,238 00
boat C o..............................................
Salaries.......
W a g e s ..........
F u e l..............
New cars___
T a xes............ .
Dredging___
Water works
$88,506
26,723
32 157
28,729
17,624
37,945
73
83
06
67
67
37
7*
4^
4"'
9jj
7J
£7
90
$463,729 84
$699,188 05
Expenditures, v i z :
Re. airs o f roads............
*“
engines. . . . . .
“
c rs................
“
bridges, e t c ...
F erry.......................................
General expenses, oil etc,
9,966
$97,301
62,251
32,874
33,970
100
576
N et e a rn in g s ...................... ............. $233,458 21
From which deduct—
Dividends, interest, & c.......................$<14,447 42
Surplus..................... ............................
$21,010 79
Compared with the previous year, the gross receipts show an increase of $235,723 13, with an increase in expenses o f $102,712 38— making an increase of net
earnings, $133,010 75. The report says :
Acting under proper authority, the directors, in November la9t, directed the
issue of $1,0(>0 000 in 7 per cent, bonds, payable in 1899. Of this amount $400,000
was offered for sale, and $383,000 disposed of, and the proceeds applied to the the
payment of the floating debt. In addition, $56,000 of the old 6 per cent, bonds
have been exchanged lor the new issue, and the balance remains in the hands of the
Treasurer.
L iability of C ities for their B onds to R ailroad*3. — Upon this subject the New
York Times gives tbe following : The United States Courts when appealed to, have
invariably enforced the obligations of the Western cities and counties to pay their
bonds issued f r railway purposes, without reference to the responsibility of the rail w ajs negotiating or indorsing the bonds. In the State of Iowa it was supposed
that a Slate constitutional defence might he interposed t > the collection of these
boi.ds, but the Fe eral Courts have decided otherwise, and after a prolonged and
vexations litigation, involving a conflict o f jurisdiction, the following conclusion has
been arrived at. We quote from the Des Moines State Register:
“ Theconflict in the decisions and orders of the State and Federal Courts on the ques
tion of the payment of certain bonds issued by various cities and counties iu this State
for the purpose of aiding in the construction oi railroads, we are glad to know, is
substantially at an end. The late decision of the State Supreme Court, in the case
o f Joseph Holman et al. vs. Harry Fulton, settles the question so far as any inter
ference by the State Courts with the processes of the Federal Courts is concerned;
and the Federal Courts having already determined that all the power of the Govern
ment under the control of the Court should be used to enforce its mandates for the
collection of these bonds, there see ns to be no other alternative than for the cities
and counties who have issued their bonds to go to work iu good faith and honestly
to compromise or pay iliem.
T he C hesapeake and Ohio R ailroad . — R ichmond, V a ., N o v . 2 5 . — The at c hold
ers of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad met to- lay. The receipts for the fiscal
year were $661,297, and the expenses $477,531. An offer was received from some
parties in England to take $800,000 of the Company’s stock, but no actijn was taken
upon it.
456
RAILROAD ITEMS.
|D ecem ber ,
S uits A gainst S outhern R ailroads . —The Washington correspondent of the New
York Times gives the following statement on this subject: The United States Gov
ernment has filed bills in equity in the Circuit Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Tennessee against the E ist Tennessee and Virginia and East Ten
nessee and Georgia Railroad C impanies, the obj -ct of which is to collect from the first
named road the sum of $250,000, and from the l ist named the sum of $356,000. The
evidence of this indebtedness is bonds executed by the President of the roads, and they
were given rs security for the purchase of engines, rolling stock and material turned
over to the roads by the Government in August, 1863. The payment of the bonds
has been delayed by the companies in the hope that they might secure from the Gov
ernment some recompense fir the great amount of railroad material an I supplies
turned over by these companies to general Burnside on his advent to East, Tennessee,
in 1863, as well as for the use and occupati n o f the roads by the Union armies
from 1863 to 1865. These claims agains;, the Government amount to about $700,000.
The United States has taken the initiative to force the collection of its claims in
the Courts. Both parties are willing to submit to the decision of the Courts. The
prayer of the bills in equity filed by the United {States is for the appointment of
receivers for both roads.”
T he Central and U nion P acific J unction C ontroverset S ettles . — Washington,
Nov. 23.— The controversy between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad
Companiee, concerning the possession of the road between Ogden and Promontory
Point, the settlement o f which was initiated by the act of Congress o f last spring,
which fixed the point of junction at Ogden, has been finally arian >ed by an agreement
between the two companies as to the price to be paid to the Union Company for
that portion of the road constructed by it between Ogden and Promontory, 80 miles.
By this arrangement the Central pays to the Union a sum understood to be some
what in excess of $3,000,0 0, and comes into the proprietory possession of that
portion of the road in dispute. These essentials being now settled, both companies
will proceed to erect permanent and commodious buildings at Ogden, and the Treasury
Department will issue to the companies the remainder of the anb&i - y bonds due to
them, except such sum as may be retained to guarantee the final completion and
equipment of the roads, in accordance with the recommendation of the Government
Commissioners. Henceforth the two companies will be as one line.
F reights to the W est. — The representations of the different railroads competing
for the Western tra 'e have met and agreed upon a new freight tariff. The war
in which they have been engaged during th^ past few months has been beneficial,
perhaps, to the shippers, but ha-* certainly done the roads no sort of good, lia'es to
Chicago at one time had fallen so low as 25 cents per 100 pounds. The present
schedule is considerably in advance of former ones, as will be seen by the following
list of prices for first class freight to the places named :
Cleveland, Ohio ....................................................................................................................... per 100 lb s. $0 84
Cincinnau. O lu o ...............................................................................................................................................
118
Chicago, 111 ...........................................................................................................................................
1 25
St. Louis, M o ................................................. ............................................... ......................................... . . .
1 60
The rates for the other classes of freight are proportionately
Commercial Advertiser.
increased.—
L ark S hore and M ichigan S outhern R ailroad . —The New York Tribune gives
the following as the terms ol’ consolidation accepted by the Boards of Directors of
the Lake Shore Road and the Toledo, Wabash and Western Road: “ The Michigan
Southern is to be taken at 100, and the Toledo and Wabash 75. 'I he consolid ation
goes into effect January 1, 1870. The nominal capital of the new Company will be
$50,0"0,00o. Previous to the issue of the new stock, a dividend of 4 per cent will
be made o i the present stock o f the Michigan Southern Road, payable February 1,
1S70. The transfer books of the Michigan Southern Road wi I close on the 15th ox
November, after which a me ting of the stockholders will be calle 1to ratify the act c f
consolidation. The transfer bookso; the Toledo and Wabash Company are now close I,
an i will remain so until the stockholders have voted upon the proposal. The new
Company will be called the B ll'alo, Lake Shore, Chicagoand Wabash Railroad Com
pany.”
1869]
RAILROAD ITSMS.
457
T he P aoipio R ailroad C ommissioners have made their report in full, in which
they estimate that the sum of $1,586,100 will supply a’ l the deficiencies of ihe
Union Pacific road from Omaha to Promontory, so that it may meet its description
o f “ first-class.” Of this amount, $206,044 is needed for the section between Ogden
and Piomintory, which is claimed by the Central Pacific. The surplus rolling
stock, material and supplies, now in possession of the road, are worth, it is thought,
abrut $1,800,000. Esti mates are made for the amount necessary for every separate
improvement, and the whole amount required for the Central Pacific Railroad is
given as $576,840, and this is counterbalanced, so the commissioners think, by a
surplus rolling stock, material and supplies on hand, worth more than a million
dollars.
T he R ailroads of V irginia . — It is reported that the Richmond and Danville
Railroad Company of Virginia has paid into the State Tr asury one half o f the
interest due t e State on its loans, and the remainder is to be paid on December 16th,
under instruction from General Cariby. The Orange an 1 Alexandria Ralroad is yet
behind. The annual interest due from the corporation is about $18,000, while the
Southside Railroad owes the sum of $252,OuO, the time for payment o f which, the
Legislature, satisfied o f the pecuniary position of the Company, has extended oi their
own accord. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad owes about $420,000 interest to
the State, and the last-mentioned road appears not to be in a condition to mset hs
liabilities at present. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad is negotiating a loan with
which it expects to liquidate its entire indebtedness to the State, piincipal and interest,
in all about $850,000.
V irginia and T ennessee R ailroad B onds. — The following notice is published in
regard to these:
‘ Bondholders of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Company.
‘ Every preparation has now been made for the funding of the* past due interest, in the manner
and upon the terms of which notice has been previous y given.
“ On and afte the 1st day of November, I shall be glad to receive the past due coupons o f the
Company, and to have such communication upon the subject otherwise, which bondholders may
desire to make in furtherance of this subject.
“ I shall occupy a room in the Company’s main building at Lynchburg.
“ C hau LES W . S tatii AM, Funding Agent, Lynchburg, Va.”
T he S usquehanna R ailroad — J udge J ohnson’ s D ecision at R ochester.— R oches
, November 8.— The decision of Judge Johnson, of the Supreme Court, was tiled
tc-day in the matter of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad Company. It requires
the receiver to pay, first, the current expenses o f running the road; secon d the
interest doe on the Company’s bonds, as well as the Albany City bonds loaned the
Coupany ; third, it authorizes the payment to the receiver of the balance due the
Company from the Mechanics’ and Farmers’ Bank of Albany, or from any other bank
or person. The receiver is not authorized to borrow money on the ere. it of the
Company without special authority from the Court.
t e r
A rkansas B onds. —The new Arkansas bends exchanged for old obligations at
the American Exchange Bank in this city amount to $4,425/ 00. They are six per
cent-’, part of them date! July 1, 1869, with coupons payable semi-annually in N^w
York January 1 and July 1; and part of them dated January 1,1870; the first cou
pon being annual, payable January 1, 1871, and after that eerai-arnual coupons Jan
uary and July. The bonds run thirty years, aud therefore mature July, 1899, and
January, 19 0.
I owa C entral R ailroad . — Forty-five miles from Ackley to Marshalltown are
now completed. Sixty mors are graded, and work is being urged along the entire
line. This road, as our readers are aware, is to run from the southern to the no;them
boundary of Iowa, near the 15th meridian, a distance o f 240 miles. Wlun finished,
it will supply to St. Louis a connecting link to St. Paul, 147 miles shorter than any
existing route. T h e /l ne in Iowa will traverse the rich central basin Between the
Cedar and 1 esmoines rive»s, prolific in coal and the finest agricultural and cereal
products.
#
R ichmond , V a., N o v . 28.— Arrangements were closed yesterday in New York
with tcvural prominent capitalists, by which tb C h esa pea k e and Ohio dailroad will
be completed at once. Among the capita ists are W . H. Aspinwall, A. A. Low,
C. P. Huntington, Fisk & Hatch and others.
458
RAILROAD ITEMS.
[December,
T he W ells -F argo E xpress . — According to special call, a meeting of the stock
holders o f the Wells, Fargo & Co.’s Express was held November 25th. The object
o f the meeting was to decide whether the capital stock of the company should be
increased from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000, and whether the additional $*,000,000 of
stock should be delivered to the Pacific Express Company, who demand that amount
in order to insure to Wells, Fargo A Co.’s Express the cessation of their rivalry.
Mr. Eugene Kelly opposed both propositions. The great point claimed in favor of
the delivery of five millions of the Wells-Fargo stock was that the Pacific Express
Company had an exclusive contract over the Central Pacific Railway for ten years.
This line covered 800 miles, for the privileges of which the Wells Fargo Express is
expected to pay $5,000,000. The Union Pacific Railroad was 1,000 miles long,
b o w did the stockholders know that some enterprising gentlemen, such as comprised
the Pacific Express Company, would not obtain an “ exclusive” contract over the
Union Pacific Railroa t, and then obtain a concession of stock from the Wells-Fargo
Company ? He did not deny that the rights to be conceded by the Pacific Express
Company were valuable, but he d d deny that they were worth $5,0 0,000.
Mr. Barney arid that the Pacific Express had been organized as an opposition to
Well; Fargo. The officers had been notified of the fact by friends in California, who
had asked them to come on and make some arrangements to fu9e with the oppos:tion. For eighteen months the Pacific Express had damaged the business of the
Wells Fargo, having effiees at all the main stations, and reducing the tariff almost to
a non-paying point. They had a ten years’ exclusive contract over the Central
Pacific Railroad, which owned three-fifihs of their stock. He considered that the
Pacific Express Company had the best of the s tuation. Had he been in their place
he would not h ive taken less than one-half o f the total stock o f the Wells-Fargo
Express, since the latter could not compete with them. Unless the stockholders
decided to carry out the arrangements proposed, it would necessitate a closing of the
concern.
Eveiitua’ ly a vote was taken, resulting as follows : In favor of increasing the capit il
stock to $15,000,000, 50,658 ; in favor o f delivering the extra stoca to the Pacific
Express Company, 50,658 ; against the first proposition, 344, and against the second,
730.
Mr. Kelly and others of the ODponents of the oppansion of the capital stock
refused to vote ; thus the vote drawn out was not nr re thao half ct' the actual capi
tal stock of the Company. While these gentlemen did not vote, the did not
endeavor by injunction to prevent the voting ; but Mr. Eugene Kelly appealed to
and procured from Judge Cardozi, of the Supreme Court, an injunction forbidding
the issuing of the extra stock. This was served upon the President, Secretary and
Treasurer of the Company, and will prevent aDy further action in the matter except
by permission o f the Courts.
C olumbus, C hicago, and I ndiana C entral R ailroad . — The following explains
itself: 57 Broadway, New York, Sept. 22d, 1869.— For the pur, ose of coutradic.ing
rumors in reference to the successful operation of the Columbus, Chicago and Inoi na
Cen ral Railway, un er the lease to the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St, Lou s Railway
Company, which lease is dated on the 22d day of January, 1349, the undersigned beg
leave to say to those interested in the securities, that the road is successfully operated
un er the lease to the satisfaction of the parties, and shows a continued merca-e of
earnings, with every prospect o f a successful future traffic.
The lessees have mate great improvements in the condition o f the road anil its
depots, shops, and o her buildings, anj are adding largely to its rolling stock and
facilities for doing business, and will continue to make whatever expenditures may be
uecessary to meet the increasing traffic of the future.
T homas L. J ewett,
President Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railway Conpany.
E. E. S mith ,
President Columbus, Chicago, and Indiana Central Railway Company.
T he C-bedit Mobilier C ase.— H arrisburg , N ov. 25.— The jury in the Credit Mobilier case came in at one o’clock with a verdict for the Commonwealth ot $407,4 83 3't.
The amount claimed by the Commonwealth w ,s $520,546 87. The jury deducted
$2,890,600 from the nominal value of their dividends, which was over $9,0.0,000.
1869]
r a il r o a d
459
it e m s .
N orth C arolina R ailroad .,— The Raleigh Sentinel says that “ the North Carolina
Railroad Company have let and farmed out their roa^, for the term of twenty year*,
to tv e Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company and others, for an annual rent of
$240,000, to be paid <n the first day of January in each year. Tiie rent is secured by
a deposit in bank of cash or its equivalent in United States bonds ; or good an 1
acceptab e railroad or other bonds ; this deposit is to be permanent, and it there is
occasion to app'y it, then it is to be renewed, aud as o ten as necessary.,,
— The annual report of the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad lor the year
eat ing August Si, >869, Contains the following:
“ In accordance with the proposnion made to our bondholders for a twenty gears’
extension o f their bonds, we have begun the redemption of the two several issues, bv
redeeming upon advertisement from the lowest bidders, in January and May last,
twenty-seven bonds o f $1,000 each, for the sum of $22,766. This redemption will
be continued on the first da)S ot January and May of each year, till all the bonds of
these issues are paid.
The Evansville, Henderson and Nashville Railroad, to whose completion we an
xiously look forward for Southern connecti- ns, has, for financial reasons, progressed
slowly fo the past year, and its completion will probably be delayed another year.
A direct Northern connection <f this road, under the name o f the Evansville,
Te re Haute and Chicago Railway Company, has been organized, to com trnet a
road from Terre Haute to the State Line, in the direction of Danville, there to unite
with the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad, and has so far progressed with its
survt-ys and stock subscriptions as to justify the hope of its completion within about a
year irom this date. Its Northern connection, the C. D. & V . Railroad, is being
rapidly completed. About thirty-three miles of the track is laid, and its builders
contemplate its completion to the Indiana State Line during the coming year at
farthest.
EARNINGS
AND
EXPENSES
FOR THE YEAR
OPERATING EXPENSES.
ENDING AUGUST 3 1 , 1 8 6 9 .
From Passengers.........................................$185,2S3
R n n D i n g Foad................................ - .............$75,474
Freignt................................................. 245,775 Maintenance o f * a y .................................... 74,03s
E xpress................................................ 12,4SS Repairing bridges and Stru ctures... 11,740
M ai Service......................
9,400 Repairs o f Machinery.......................... . . 59,001
4 lieats
........................................
295 Geueral Expenses.......................................... 04,535
44 Use o f Engines aud Cars............................... 3,735
Total E xpen ses........................................$285,451
Total Earnings.................................... ,.$450,978
“
“
“
N et Earnings,
COMPARATIVE
$171,526
STATEMENT
OF EARNINGS AND
EXPENSES
FOR
THE TH REE LAST
1 8 6 6 -7 .
1 8 6 7 -8 .
Y E ARS.
1868-9.
Total Earnings tor Y e ar.................. - ............................................... $507,792
$453,186
$450,978
Total Operating E x p e n s e s ........................................ ................. $34*,4 4
$135,206
$285,451
Net Earnings.....................
Deduct Interest and T a x e s ...............................
....$ 1 6 8 ,3 4 7
308,356
T o Credit Income Account...............................................................$51,991
$117,920
108,946
$171,526
100,033
$8,973
$04,893
GENERAL BALANCE SHEET, AUGUST S I , 1 8 6 9 .
ASSETS.
LIABILITIES.
Construction o f Road.........- ............--.$2,410,284
Equipment..................................................
301.413
Real Esta e not necessary for u s e ...
0,888
District Fair Ground Stock..................
1,0JO
F o e lo n n a n d ..............................................
9 401
Sh p Supplies.............................................
18,6.5
Cafcll...............................................................
40 946
Due from A t ents......................................
10,750
Open Accounts..........................................
9,707
Capital Sto' k paid in ............................... $998,971
Fractional Scrip....................................
8,042
Unclaimed t-tock Dividend, 1 8 3 0 ...
30.147
Preferred Stock........................................
100,000
Seven Per Lent Bonds, va in Line . 1,090,000
Less Redeemed by Sinking F i n d ..
*7,0u0
Seven Per Cent Bond , Rockville
E xtension...................................... ..
150,COO
Due oilier L in es......................................
10,793
Other Liabilities ....................................
38,01
T o ta l.......................
$2,875,073
INCOME ACCOUNT.
Earnings Expended for Construction.................. ....................................................... $414,667
Balance of Account.................... ......................................................................................
54,562
$2,875,037
4G0
[Decem ber,
RAILROAD ITEMS,
— The Treasurer’s report o f the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad Company
shows the following for the year eudiDg June 30, 1869. The capital stock issued is
$2,494,900, divided as fol ows :
$43,800
438 shares in Federal currency, o f $ 10") each.................................................... ............................
fc.0H3 i hares in sterling currency, ol £100, oi $484 each........................................................... 2,450,492
28 fractional share rights, o f $10 each...............................................................................................
008
$2,494,900
During the past year an arrangement has been made with the city of Portland in
reft-renee to their $ 1 ,5 0 0 ,0 0 0 loan, by which the 1 5 .0 0 0 shares, previously reported os
held by the city as collateral, and upon which no assessments have teen paid, have
been surrendered to the company and the certificates cancelled, and are now ur i sued capital. Up< n the Federal shares t wo dividends o f $ 2 per share have been paid
at this office, and the dividends upon the stealing shares have been paid in London.
The debt of the company has been re Deed the past year $ 1 5 9 ,2 0 0 , by payments to
that amount upon the company’s obligations to the city of Portland. The total
debt now is $3,324,SCO, consisting o t :
Obligations to the city o f Portland for the first and second loans o f their bonds___ $1,310,800
Company's mortgage bonds o f 1851............................................................. .................................
014,500
Company's sterling bonds o f N ov. 1, 1853, on 25 years, £100,000 a» $484 to tt e £1( 0 ..
434,000
Company's mortgage sterling bonds, 5-20, at $4 84 to the £ 1 , £182,900, equal t o ..
885,236
Am ount due on exchange o f bonds...............................................................................................
204
$3,324,800
The lessees have promptly provided for the payment of the dividends, the interest
on the debt and the contributions to the sinking funds. They have also assumed
and paid the excise tax of five percent, on the company’s mortgage bonds, thus giv
ing the holders their full six per cent interest.
— The rates of freight from New York westward are now as follows:
First
class.
fit. L o u is..........................................
Louisv lle .......................................
M ilwaukee......................................
Chicago............................................
Cincinnati......................................
Indianapolis................................... ............
C d u m b u s ....................................
Toledo..............................................
C eve and.........................................
B u ffa lo ............................................
D e r o ic ..............................................
Second
c ’ass.
1 00
1 00
Third
class.
93
90
To
r.5
95
98
82
80
6?
50
73
74
61
60
51
41)
54
$ 1 20
1118
...........
1 22
10
Fourth
class.
86
80
05
65
62
64
53
52
42
50
47
Fifth
class.
65
65
50
50
48
50
42
40
34
25
37
— Western B . B . Gazette.
— The Tennessee Railroads, whose suit with the United States was terminated last
week, were found during the war by our armies in a dilapidated condition, with little
or no rolling stock. '1 he government put them in repair and equipped them for its
own use, operated them during the war, end at its close delivered them, with the
improvements it had made, to the compaDias owning them. It charged the compa
nies fur these improvements, amounting altogether to about $2,000 000
Now, these companies had received aid from the State of Tennessee, for which they
were required to pay interest. They failed to pay this interest during the war, and
the government vInch had possession ot their loads did not pay it f,r them. So
wlnn the government presented its claims to the Supreme Court rgainst the
companies, the companies presented counter claims, first for the use of the roads dur
ing the war , ami next for the inteiest still due the State of Ternessee, which, the
companies claim, should have been paid by the government for the time it had full
possession o f the roads.
According to the ttrm9 of the settlement, as they are reported, the roads are to
rema n in the control o f the con parties, and they are to pay first the interest due
the State of Tennessee, but the whole amount of the net earning-’, after paying this
1869]
RAILROAD ITEMS.
461
debt, must go to pay the government demand ; and tbey give their own bonds, or
those Df the State, to the amount of $3,‘,00,000, to insure the performance of the
contract.
The roads concerned are the Fast Tennessee it Virginia, from noxviile to Bristol,
on the Virginia line ; the East Tennessee A Georgia, from Knoxville to Daltcn, ft a .;
the Nashville A Chattanooga ; and the Nashville & Northwestern, which extends from
Nashville to Hiclrman, on the Mississippi, hut during the war was operated only to
Johnsonville, on the Tennessee, 78 miles from Nashville. The whole length of these
roads is about 450 miles.
The Western Railroad Gazette gives the following:
— The city council of St. Louis last Tuesday parsed an ordinance transferring the
city’s interest in the Missouri Pac tic Railroad, of $600,000 o f s'oi k, to t h oles
Gibson and T. J. January. I he grantees give S3,000,'00 in bonds to tuild within
two years a railroad through the center of 8t. Louis countv, to Howell’s Ferry,
on the Missouri river, where it w il1connect with the prrjec’ ed road v;a Louisiana to
Keokuk and to South Point, where it will connect with the Missouri Pacific, short
ening the road to Kansas City, and offering a new connection to the S-u hwest
Branch of the Pacific Railroad to the preset t directors.
— It is reported that arrangements will be completed in a few days for the transfer
o f freight, without breaking bulk, between the Iron Mountain and Mobile A Ohio
Railroads at Belmont, Missouri, and Columbus, Kentucky.
— The articles of consolidation and amalgamation of the Western Pacific Rail
road and San Francisco Bay Railroad Companies, and the incorpor tion of both
under the name ot the Western Pacific Railroad Company have been hied in the Sec
retary of State’s office. Directors— Inland Stanford,C. P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins
Charles Crocker, E. B. Crocker, E. H. Miller, Jr., and E. B. Stanford. Capital
stock $10,000,000.
— The St. Joseph Gazette says that Mayor Hall of that city has made arrangements
for putting $1,500,000 of the bonds of the St. Joseph A Denver Railroad on the New
York mar-et, and that he has purchased a new locomotive for the road and hen
enough to complete it to Hiawatha.
— A temporary bridge has been built over the Kansas river at Lawrence fer the
use of the Leavenworth, Lawrence A Galveston Railroad.
— A committee of the Cincinnati Board o f Trade which lias been examining the
condition and pr spects of the Fort Wayne, Muncie A Cincinnati Railroad lecomniends the loan o f $500,000 seven per cent, gold bonds to aid in the completion of
the 42 miles between Muncie aud Biuffton,
— The Treasury Department has paid to the Union Pacific Railroad Company
$437,000 in bonds for that portion of the road between the 1,020th mile post an 1
Ogden, at the 1.034th mile post. Toe Union Pacific Company now owns up to the
latter point, but the remainder of the distance, between Ogden and Protnont ry
Point, is still in dispute. It has not yet been eettled whethei the Union Pacific
Company shall have that part of the road, or whether it shall be given to tire Central
Pacific.
— The Cincinnati and Zanesville Railroad, extending from Zanesville to Morrow,
132 miles in length, together with other property and franchises, including the fran
chise to be and act as a corporation of the Cincinnati and Zanesville Railroad C mpany in the State of Ohio, will be exposed for sale at public vendue, in the city of
Cincinnati on the 1st of December. Tbe minimum price lived by tbe Court is
$1,003,968.
402
RAILROAD ITEMS.
[D ecem ber,
— The Bangor, Oldtown and Mi'ford Railroad Company have sold their rrad,
better known as the Verzie Railroad, running from Bangor to Milford, thirteen miles
in length, to H. G. Jewett and Noah Woods, acting in behalf of the European and
North American Cornnany. The piice is not made public. The sale takes effect
on the 1st o f December. This is •ne of the oldest rabroads in the country, and will
be discontinued as soon as tracks ca t be laid from the European and North American
Railroad to points accommodated by the Vetizie Road.
— Mayor Cole, of 't . Louis, has vetoed the ordinance o f the Common Council sell
ing the city’s Pacific Railroad stock to January & Gibson for $250,000 in bonds of
the new railroad through S f. Louis count". This transaction is distinct from that of
the County Court, which sold half a million o f the county’s— not the city’s— stock for
$250,000 in cash to Hudson E. Bridge, who leads a party in the Pacific directory
opposed to January and Gibson.
— The work of laying the track of the Mobile and New Orleans Railroad was com
menced at Mobi’e on November 8th, and was witnessed by most of the prominent
citizens. This road is being buiit by Northern capitalists. The grading is well
advanced, the ircn has ueariy all arrived and an early completion of the road and
connection with New Orleans is promised. The distance is 138 miles.
— The Denver Pacific Railroad is not yet completed to Evans, ns has been reported.
It is open for 40 miles south of Ohe\ cnne, and it is 20 miles further to Evans. There
is one stage lice from the terminus to Evans, and another between Evans ami Denver.
The road will be ci mpleted to Evans before the winter, however, leaving but 50 miles
of staging to Denver.
— The injunction lately obtained by the Rutland Railroad Company, staying further
proceedings before the Supreme Court of Vermont in the case o f Cheever di Hart,
Trustees, vs. Rutland and Burlington R'ailroad Company and others, has been dis
solved.
— Louisvilie, K y., has voted by a maj rity of about 500 to subscribe $500,000 to
the pn jected Louisvide, New Albany and St. Louis Air Line Railroad. General
I. M. St. John, Chief Engineer, in the report o f his survey, estimates the cost at
$3,100,583.
__The stockholders of the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad Company,
at a late meeiing, passed a resolution rejecting the river line for the connecting hue
between the Louisville and Nashville and the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington
roads.
__Upon the recommendation o f the Secretary of the Interior the President has
accefted a section of sixty-three miles of the Western Pacific Railroad, and ordered
the bonds due on account of the construction thereof to be issued to the company.
__The St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad Company has executed a mortgage for
$•250,000 to George Opdyke and Philo. C. Calhoun, of New York. It is promised
that work shall commence on this road at Shawneetown next spring.
__The city of Memph’s on the 6th iosf., sold its st ck in the Mississippi Ten
nessee Railroad, (Memphis to Grenada.) amounting to $300,000 to A . T. Lacey,
agent of the Mississippi River Railroa ), for $40,000.
__Under the reorganization the Little Miami road controls the Columbus & Xenia,
Dayton & Xenia, and Da ton &. Western roads. The entire capital stock paid up
is $3,358,600, and the traveled length 196-ij miles.
— Evansville, Indana, has voted to subscribe $300,000 toward the building o f the
Evansville, Carmi and Paducah Railroad. This makes the constiucliou of the road
a certainty.
— The unfinished portion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rai'road, from Covington
to Catlettsburgh and Point Pleasant, has been placed under contract.
1869]
463
PUBLIC DEBT OF TUB UNITED STATES,
THE DEBT STATEMENT FOR DECEMBER.
Tha following is the official statement o f the public debt, as appears
from the books and Treasurer’s returns at the c.ose o f business ou the
last day of November, 1869 :
D e b t b e a r in g in te re s t in
Character
o f Issue.
5’s, Bonds...........
5’s, Bonds .........
6’s o f 1831...........
8’s,Oreg.War,’81.
6’s o f 1881...........
6’s, 5-20s..............
«’s o f 1881...........
5’s, 10-40’s ...........
fa’s, 5-20’s .............
6’s, 5-20’s .............
6's, 5 23’s .............
5’s, 5-20’s .............
6’s, 5-20’s .............
6’s, 5-20’s .............
C o in .
When Payable.
.After 15 years from January 1,1859....
.After 10 years from January 1,1881__
.After December 81,1880........................
.Redeemable 20 years from July 1,1861.
.A t pleas, after 20 years from June 30, ’61
.20 years from May, 1, 1862*...................
, After June 30,1881..................................
.10 years from March 1,1864t................
.20 years from November 1, 1864*..........
.20 years from November 1, 1864*..........
.20 years from November 1,1865*..........
.2 1 years from July 1,1865*....................
.20 years from July 1,1867* ...................
.20 years from July 1 ,186S*.....................
Amount
Outstanding.'
A ccrued
Interest.
$416 66.3 .7
7,022,000 U0
1'6 291 67
18.415.000 00
460,375 00
945,000 00
23,-25 00
189.317.600 00 4,732,940 00
514.771.600 00 2,573,858 00
75.0
0,000 00
1,^75,000 00
194.567.300 ( 0 2,432 041 25
3,882,500 00
19.412 ;,Q
125.561.300 00
627,806 50
203,327,250 00 1.' 16,636 25
332,998,950 00 8 321.9 3 75
379,54. ,150 00 9,489,753 75
42.539.350 00 1.063.48-j 75
$ 20,000,000 00
Aggregate o f debt bearing interest in c o in ......................................... $2,107,938,000 00 $33,202,914 9
Coupons due, not presented for pay ment.................................................................. 8,u67.572 00
Total interest.
$41,27 , 8» 09.
D e b t b e a r in g in te r e s t In L a w fu l M o n e y .
3’s, Certificates..On demand (interest estimated)......................................
3’s, Navy pen. f d. Interest only applic. to pay. o f pensions........................
Aggregate of debt bearing interest in lawful money............................
E >ebt o n
w h ic h
$47,195,000 00
14,U)a,0u0 00
$943,900'
li5,uw> 00»
$61,195,000 v.0 $1, 18,90j tO >
in t e r e s t lia s c e a s e d s in c e m a t u r it y .
6‘s, Bon3s........... Matured December 31, 1862 ................................................
6’s, Bonds...........Matured December 31,1867................................................
6’s, Bonds........... Matured July 1, 1863 (9 months’ inter.).............................
5’s, Texas indem.Matured December 31,1864 ...............................................
Var., Tr’y notes. Matured at various d a tes.................................................
5@5>^’s, Tr’y n’es.Matured March 1,1859 .......................................................
6’s, T-eas. notes. Matured April and May, 1863............................................
7 3-10’s ,3 years.. .Matured August 19 and October 1,1864...........................
»’s, 1 & 2 years.. .Matured from Jan. 7 to April 1,1866 ......................
6’s, Certif. o f ind.Matu ed at various dates in 1866......................................
6’s, Comp. int. n.Matured June '0, 1867, and May 15, 1868...........................
4,5 & 6’s, Temp. 1.Matured October 15, 1866 ..................................................
7 3 -1 0 ’s, 3 years...Matured August 15, 1867, and Juue 15...........................
and July 15,1868...............................................................
Aggr’te o f debt'on which int. has ceased since matur........................
$6,000 00
14,150 00
58,700 00
242,000 00
103,614 64
2,400 00
3,250 ».0
30.8<)0 00
292,852 00
12,000 00
2,521,150 00
182,160 00
$384 01
849 00 s
2,641 50
12,100 0
3,072 35
120 0
195 0
1,124 20
14.503 l.j
720 04
485,219 37
7,564 65
822,950 00
34.037 63
$4,292,026 64
$558,506 83
!
D e b t b e a r in g n o in te re s t.
Authorizing acts.
Character o f issue.
July 17,1864 and Feb. 12, 4862........... Demand n o t e s ................................
Feb. 25 & July 11,’62, & Mar. 3, ’63 .. CJ. S. legal-tender notes................
July 17, 1862.... ............................... Postal cu rren cy..............................
March 3,1864 and June 30,1864........ Fractional currency . : ....................
March 3,1863..................................... Certificates for gold deposited....
Aggregate o f debt bearing no interest..............................................
Amt. ontstanrt
...................
$114,258 50
..................................... 356,000,000(.0
| 8s885,564 cs
.*.‘ *‘ .'.‘ .'.'.‘
3G,SG2,940 00
...................$431,861,163 18
R e c a p it u la t io n .
D ebt
bearin g
I nterest in Coin —Bonds at 5 p. cent............................
Bonds at 6 p. cent............................
Amount
f'ntstauding.
$22 ' .58 (X) 00
1,836,348,700 09
Interest
Total debt bearing interest in coin....................................................... $2,107,138,000 GO$41.2‘»0,4S6*0iF
D ebt be ar ; x i n te ssst in -.a. -Fun M *ne —
Certificates at 3 »e- c *nt.......................................................................
$17.19',0 0 0)
Navy p^n ion fund, at 3 per cen t.........................................................
14,000. 00 04
Total debt bearing interest in lawful m o n e y ......................................
D e bt on w u o .i ix r . ia s c .a s ^ u sung * m a t u r it y ................................
$61,195,009 09
4,292,0.6 4
1,1*8.900 00
558 506 tS
* These bonds are redeemable at any time after 5 years from the date here given and payable
artci 2 0 years
i
These bonds ate %doemable at any time after 10 years from the date here given and payable
after 40 j ears.
5
864
COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND
[ D tcem ler,
REVIEW.
DEBT BEAMING NO I nterest —
Demand and legal tender notes...........................................................
Postal and fractional currency............................................................
Certificates of gold deposited.............................................................
$356,113,253 50
38,8-5,564 68
36.862,940 00
Total debt "bearing no interest...............................................................
$431,861,763 18
T o ta l.................................................................................................... $2,605,286 789 82 $42,947,8! 2 9?
Total debt, prin. & intMito date, including coupons due not presented ior payment $2,648,234,682 7£
A m o u n t tn t h e T r e a s u r y —
Coin...............................................................................................................................
C urrency......................................................................................................................
Sinking lund. in U. S. coin int’st b ’ds, and acc ’ d int. thereon............................
Other u . S. coin int. b ’ds purchased, and accr’ d int. thereon............................
$105,969,949
11,892,765
2 1,416.026
56 436,206
77
79
0)
00
Total..............................................................................................................................
$104,674 947 56
Debt, less amount-in the Treasury.................................................................................... $2,453 559,735 23
Debt, less amount in the Treasury on the 1st ultimo.....................................................
2,461,l3i,18J 36
Decrease o f debt during the past month....................................................................
Decrease o f debt since March 1, 1869 ..........................................................................
7,571,454 13
$71,903,524 73
B o n d s is s u e d t o t lie P a c if ic R a il r o a d C o m p a n ie s , I n t e r e s t p a y a b le in
L a w fu l M on ey .
Character o f Issue.
Union Pacific Co............
Kansas Pacific, lat j U.P.
E. D .................................
Siout City and Pacific...
Central P a cific.................
Central Branch Union
Pacific,assignees ot At
chison & Pike’s P’k . . .
Western P a cific..............
Total issued.
Interest
Interest
Interest Balance o f
Amount
accrued
paid by
repaid by inte’t paid
outstanding, and not
United tra n sition by United
yet paid.
Stutos. o f mails,&c. States.
$27,075,000 00 $676,842 32 $2,081,869 89$ 1,105,941 51 $975,928 38
6,303 000 00
1,628,320 00
2,362,000 0 1
22,009,000 00
1,600,000 00
1,648,0)0 00
157,575 <0 834,813 09 631,224 99 203.588 10
40.70 < .»)
v-6.508 *9
16 27
96,49.' 42
5 .,061 22
588,S16 8 0
549,639 86 l,lb0,399 75 J 94,2 6 48 1,624,960 10
40,000 00
18,375 64
205,808 26
46,606 03
5,290 79
...........
200,517 47
46,608 03
62,625 320 00 1,536,20540 4,984,822 54 1,836,730 04 3,148,092 50
COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW
Monetary Affairs—Rates of Loans and Dieconnts— Bonds sold at New York Stock Exchange
Hoard— Price of Government Securities at New Y o rk —Course o f Consols and An r.ric.n
Secuiities at New York— (ipening, Highe-t, Lowest and Closing Prices at the New York
Stock Exchange—General Movement of Coin and Bullion at N ew Y o rk -C o u rse o f Gold
at N ew Y o rk —Course of Fore gn Exchange at New York.
November has been characterized by a steady, quiet course of business in
Wail stieet. The m oD ey market has been more settler.) than was expected.
Although the month is usually one of special activity in the pork trade of the
West, no considerable amounts of currency were sent 10 that section until the
third and fourth weeks, when the remittances to the West and Scuth combined
aggregated probably closeupon ©5,000,000. This drain was met without much
inconvenience to the banks, and produced little effect upon the general tone of the
market. It is iudeed somwehat remarkable that, with such a comparatively li:ht
supply ofMegil tenders in the banks, these withdrawals should have produced so
little effect; the explanation being peihaps aff rded, first, in the partial re urn of
m^ney from the East; next, in the liberal disbursements of ibe rtub-Tr-asory;
and further in the modirateness of the advances upon stocks, the pri e-. of which
have ruled below the average. The rate of interest on call loans Ins ranged
1S69]
COMMERCIAL
CUROJWCLE AND
4GS
REVIEW.
between 5 and 7 per cent; but at tbe close of the month a hardening tendeney
was apparent, and 7 per cent quite general. In discounts thers has been a gradual
improvement of tone but with little alleviation o f rates. In the absence of
failures, the uneasiness engendered by the excessive pressure in October has
gradually disappeared, and, with the exception of paper coming from those
baanches ot trade which have suffered from a late fall in prices, there has been a
fair degree of confidence in credits. As western collections have come in slowly,
and merchants have had to give unusually liberal credits to traders in that
section, ti ere has been a very heavy supply of paper, and it is to this cause
mainly that the high rates must be attributed. During the latter half of the
month the demands for discounts from the pork sections came in competition
with local paper, and stopped a declining tendency in rates which was becoming
apparent. For the first half of the month prime double name paper ranged at
10 to 15 per cent, and subsequently at 9 to 12 per cent, while for single name
of like grade the range has been 12 to 24 per cent.
The causes which we have previously noted as tending to restrict speculation
still continue to operate, especially in the stock market. In United States bonds*
the transactions for November show a decline of nearly forty-five per cent com
pared with the same month last year. In that class of securities, however, there
has been considerable investment business, but rather in the way of selling than
buying. The government purchased §11,000,000; and yet prices have declined
2$ to 4 per cent. In gold value, however, bonds were worth more at the close
than at the opening of the month ; for the price of gold declined from 128f on
the first, to 121$ oa tbe 30th, and at London Sixty.two’s advanced I f. The
decline in gold, by rendering the interest upon currency investments more valuable,
has caused a large amount of stock to be exchanged for railroad and other bonds,
and the expectation that Congress may adopt some measures for funding the six
per cent debt, at a lower rate of interest, has also induced free sales by the same
class of holders; the purchases of the government, however, have absorbed the
supply of bonds coming from this source.
BONDS SOLD
AT T H E
N.
Classes.
U .S . b o n d s..........................................................
T.
STOCK
1808.
$23u65,v<00
EXCHANGE
BOAKD.
1809.
$13,185,850
3,296,7uO
Inc.
....
___
115,000
Dec.
$V 8n ,050
58»;, O)
...
Total— N-fV.mber......................................... $29,063,600 $1«,31‘2,('50
Since January 1 ................ .................................. 225,184,690
292,546,059
....
$67,361,909
$L ,, iL l, LOO
............
State & city boi ds..........................................
5,4 H,000
4,8:29,510
Company bonds.
1,181,7o0
..........................................
$
The daily closing prices ol the principal Government securiu^- .*i tfie New
York Stock Exchange Board in the mouth of November as rei»res< i.tuu by the
latest sa.e officially reported, are shown in the following state men i :
PRICES OP GOVERNMENT SECURITIES A T NEW Y O R K .
Day ot
m onth.
1.......
2
.......
6
8
...
......
3 .....
4 .....
5 .....
9........
6’ s, 18S1.— -------------6’ s, (5-20 yrs.) Co upon-------- — s 5‘ s ,10-40.
Coup. Res;, 1862. 1864
’ <» 1805, llvJW ’f>7
C’ pn.
1191* 119% 116
n s * 114
1:6
i t - * n * 108
in *
115
n s * 113% 115% 1 5 * 3if / '8 107*
118
315
313% i n * 113* 115%
115% n s * i t s *
35% n * J l " * 107*
in *
h im
n s * 115* n s * 1 3
i n * 115%
li6
116
its*
115* 113% I t s * 136
107*
318
113 H 1 3% 116
116
116
107%
115* 113* 113% 116
107*
li5 «
commercial chronicle and review .
406
10 ....................................
1 1 .................................... ......................
..................................
13...................................
15....................................
15 ..................................
i r ..................................
i * ....................................
19.................................... ......................
SO....................................
2 ?....................................
23 ............................ ..
24....................................
25...............................
..
....
26............ .
27.................................... ..............
29.................................... ................ .
........................
80
117%
n
F irs t ..............................
H igh est .....................
L o w e s t ...................... ......................
C losin g ........................ .......................
ir v
117?.
117%
in x
117^
i is
m%
115%
i i5 %
119%
It'!*.
115%
115
115 V
u%
115%
n sx
USX
1 11 ’/ .
113
[December,
115%
115%
115%
115.%
115%
1U X
U SX
115 X
115%
115X
115%
U.5%
115%
U5X
116%
115%
116
115%
li5 %
15%
115
114%
USX
11;%
u .->% m x
1 ,2 %
HW
115% 112 %
n by.
U SX
lis x
1 1 SX
USX
U 5X
u sx
114
U SV
u sx
r .s x
U SX
111
111%
U SX
115
U 5X
1 15*
iis x
115%
U 4X
114
114
111
lt lX
118
11H%
U 3x
113%
115%
1 5%
15%
115%
tu x
USX
114
112%
lltX
116
116
112%
112%
113%
113
:i3 «
113%
lts x
liox
111
USX
113X
unx
ill
i is %
U SX
115%
107%
107%
1“7%
1-07%
10 , x
107%
10 1 %
10S
116
if%
115%
115%
1"7%
107%
114 X
U S%
i07«*
307%
1 '6 %
107
U fiX u«x
11«% nsx
118% 133%
U S X 113%
108
104
10SX
li)7
COURSE OP CONSOLS AN D AMERICAN SECURITIES AT LONDON.
Cons A m . securities.
for U. S. Ill.C. Erie
mon. 5-20s sh’ s. shs.
Date.
Monday....................
Tuesday ..................
W edn esday............
Thursday................. .
F rid ay......................
Saturday..................
M onday....................
Tuesday....................
Wednesday . . . .
T h u rsd ay................
Friday.......................
Saturday..................
M o n d a y ..................
T u e sd a y ..................
W ednesday..............
T h u rsd ay................
Friday . . . „ ............
Saturday ................
1
93%
4
5
6
93%
03%
....
8 43%
9
9:4%
.31 93%
,.12 9 i%
..13 USX
.15 03%
,10 93%
.17 93%
.18 93%
,.19
,.20
93%
aioii
83
83
83
«■*%
(IIo i
84%
33%
83%
83%
83%
Si%
33%
83%
33%
8<%
SIX
83%
(lay)
97%
98
9SX
93%
(lay).
9X%
98
9S%
98%
98%
93%
93%
98 M
99%
94 %
99%
99 y
Cons Am. securities.
for U.S. Ill.C [Erie
mon. 5-20s sh’ s. |sh’ e.
Date.
M onday. . . .
Tuesday
Wednesday.
Thursday ..
Friday..........
Saturday . .
Mo day ..
21.
20% Tuesday. . . .
20
20% Low est.........
20% H ig h est.......
20% Range...........
20% L a st..............
i-0
20 % Low ) <u,H ..
20% Hig a ..
20% RngfcZ^..
29% Last
21%
20%
20%
21
y d
99%
99><
99%
83% 99%
83% 99%
83 X 99%
9-4% 81% 99%
cO 93% 84% 99
23
24
25
26
27
29
93%
93%
93%
94
93%
93%
83 X
83 X
S ix
20%
20%
20 X
21X
21
50%
21%
21%
93% 83
97% 20
94
84% 99% 2 X
IX
%
IX 2
93% 84 X 99
21%
92% 14% 92% 17%
94
81% 99% 23%
9%
i%
i% 11%
93% 84% 99
21%
The dulness in the stock m arket is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the
sales of all kinds of stocks a t the Exchange have amounted to only 705,238
shares for the month, again st 1.713,627 shares in November, 1868. This
depression is the more singular from the fact that the earnines of the road3 have
been, in the main, satisfac ory, and th at the condition of the money m arket has
favored the carrying of stocks—conditions which it m ight be supposed would
have induced an active speculation for higher prices It is very evident, how
ever, that the cessation of the “ w atering ” mania has taken aw ay the special
inducements to speculation which have influenced the m arket for the last two
years; and as the capital of nearly all the roads represented on the Stock Exchange
has been largely increased, and the fall in the prices of produce raises a prob
ab ility th at railw ay companies may find it necessary to reduce the rates of freight,
there is a very general disposition to postpone speculations for a rise, until it
becomes more apparent how the net earning are lik ely to square w ith the increased
c a p ita l; and yet, as the roads are a t present earning good dividends, and prices
of stocks are moderate, there is no immediate inducement to operate for lower
p rices; in this position of affairs there is very obvious cause for the extreme
moderation of business. In prices there has been considerable irregularity, but,
1869]
COMMERCIAL
CHRONICLE AND
467
REVIEW,
on the fiverage, quotations are lower at the close than at the opening. The
Vanderbilt stocks have been especially weak, New York Centr 1 having declined
from 1D2| lo 1G9£ ; Hudson River from 172J to 154, and Harl mfroru 141-J to
129, fiom which it is to be inferred tha! the c Depletion of Mr. Vanderbilt’s con
solidation scheme has been followed by an extensive realizing by the larger
holders of stock.
STOCKS SOLD AT THE NEW TOEK STOCK EXCHANGE BOARD.
Classes.
Railroad “
Coal
"
Mining
"
Improv’ n t "
Telegraph "
Steamship"
Expr’ ss& c "
1863.
...................................... ...........................
................................
......................... ..........
..............................
...............................
.............................
......................................
1,5^212
1S69.
1,201
629,436
3,455
I6,v25
2,200
11,639
22,883
18*192
Dec.
1,141
90 >,776
8 214
12,525
9,000
14,510
26,030
27,180
Increase.
Total—November................ .
705,22S
Since January 1 . . ..... ........................ .......................... 18,619,672 10,582,994
1,008,388
8,036,618
The following table will show the openmg, highest, lowest and closing prices
ot all the railway and miscellaneous securities sold at the New York Stock
Exchange during the months of October and November, 1869 :
Rail roai 8 took s—
Open.
Alton & Terre Haut.....................
"
"
pret.............
----- 56
Bos on, III’ tford & Erie ........... _____ 13
Chicago & Air o n .........................
do
do pref................... ............... 144
Chicago, Burl.& Quincy . . . . .........
165
do
& Northwest’ n ............. ...............
i m
do
do pref............. ■ ......... 8 4 *
do
& Rock Island..............
Columb., Chic. & Lnd. C..............
Cleve. & Pittsburg......................
do Col., Cin & lnd................
Del., Lack & Western................. .........
110
Dubuque & Sioux c ity ................
Erie.............................................. .
do preferred ...............................
Harlem...........................................
Hannibal & St. Joseph...............
do
do pref...............
Hudson R iver...............................
Ilinois Central.............................
Joliet & Chica/o...........................
Lake Sho. & Mich.South-...........
Alar. & Cincin., 1 s t ......................
Michigan Central.........................
Milwaukee & St. Paul................
*t*>
do pref.........
........... - 81%
Morri^ & Essex.............................
d>
scrip............... ............
do
Centra]......................
New lo r k Central........................
do
&
It. C atk........... ,
do
srrip ........................ .
do
& 1ST
. Haven....... — ............. 128
do
do scrip..............
Norwich & Worcester.................
Ohio & Mississippi......................
do
do
pref..................
Panama............................................
Pitts., b\ W . & Chi. guar.............
Readimr ..................................... ,
Rome, W. & Cgdensb’g ...............
Third venue..................................
Toledo, Wab. & Western..............
do
do
dopiet.................
—Octo ber----High. Low.
32
30
60
56
IS
17
146
135*
1J7
136*
159%
165
73 %
89%
85*
83%
110
1 354
22
2 f*
104
66%
78
73%
111
109
110
108
34%
29%
59*
54
149* 12W
112
105*
111
108
174* 156%
149
332
92%
92%
B '.%
Clos.
32
50
17*
1)5
147
159%
69*
84
103*
26*
86*
78
111
108*
30
54
143*
108%
109%
373
339
91*
91*
18
122
67*
80
88
120
Open.
29
58
11
146%
146*
355
69
84
103
28
66
78
311
109
29%
51
141*
107
107
172*
137*
91*
20
119*
67*
79*
19%
88%
87*
120
511%
112
95
107% 97
100
195
171* 193% 192*
96
82
139
140
V 5
140
131
130
130* 132
108
26
28%
26
26
69
70
70
70
207%
240
200
210
85
85*
85%
S3*
96)4
97
93
96*
105
m * 197* 197*
63%
67
55
64
75
76*
so
78
94%
20
124
70
83%
88*
120
18
319
65*
—Nove mber—
High. L w.
29
25
58
58
11
9*
152
145
H9% 116*
155
147
65 *
75*
89
83%
106% 102*
28
21*
79
86
78
74*
111
101*
109
108
30
27
42
53
H I * 12 >
I S * 107
109
106
172* 154
140
131
86*
9U (
21
lS.%
121
119*
71
6'>*
IS *
84*
88
87
120
1-0
112
112
88
98*
192* 169*
96
87
74
83*
141
138*
141
132
108
108
24*
27*
69
69
207* 203
85
88
95*
99*
105 . 105
63*
75
55
75
Clos.
‘ 5
58
10
148%
118*
152
14*
S7*
165*
21*
80
74%
1(5
109
27*
46*
129
107*
106
155
133
8P*
20
121
67*
S2*
87
120
112
88
16'i*
87
74
140
141
108
24 *
69
203
87*
98*
105
.. •
55
75
468
COMMERCIAL
CHRONICLE AND
[ December ,
REVIEW,
Miscellaneous—
American Coal ........................................... 40
40
40
40
Cumberland Coal......... .............................. 27
29
26*
27V
Pennsylvania Coal................. ................... 220
250
220
230
Del. & Hud. Canal ..................... ................ 120
124
122
120
Pacific M ail.................................................. 68 V
59*
56*
t>n*
Boston Water >ow er................................. 13
14*
14
13
Brunswick City L a n d .... ..........................
9*
9*
9*
n*
Canton.......................................................... 53
54
50 6 2 *
Mariposa.......................................................
9
8
8
9*
ao
pref.............................................. 1 6 *
18
16
16*
Quicksilver................................................... 12
15
12
14*
West. Union Telegraph.........................
SB*
37
36
«6*
Bankers & Brokers Ass........................... 104
104
105
105
Express—
American M . Union...................................
Adams ......................................................
United States..............................................
Wells, Fargo & Co......................................
31
62*
50*
18
36
68*
60
26*
?0
52*
49*
17
35
57
68*
20*
27
28
26
26
122.
59*
122
63
120
51
120
51
9
52
8
16*
15
36*
104*
9
62*
8
16V
15*
36*
10a *
9
50*
8
15*
13*
34*
103*
34
58
58*
19
58*
36*
32
59
55
51*
16*
20*
9
51
8
15*
13*
31*
103*
35*
57
52
16*
The course of the gold premium has been steadily downward, from 128f on
the 1st to 121£ on the 30th. The decline has been partially due to the large
supply on the market, consequent upon the lightness of the exports of specie for
the past 11 months. The chief cause, however, is in the large sales of coin by
the Treasury, the effect of which, after having been staved off by speculation and
doubts as to the persistence of Secretary Boutwell in his policy, is at last having
its force. The total amount of coin advertised by the Treasury for sale during
the month was $11,000,000, the last instalment of $1,000,000, offered on the
30th, was not sold, Mr. Boutwell declining to sell below 122, while the bids ranged
between 120.63 and 121.20. The exports of specie for the month were quite
nominal. The receipts on customs duties amounted to $9,190,801, against
$7,638,883 in November, 1868.
|Lowest.
5
Date.
Openi’g
-*U
O
Q
Closing.
Lowest.
Date.
Openi’g
COURSE OP GOLD AT NEW YO R K .
Monday.......................
Tuesday......................
Wednesday.................
Thursday. .................
Friday .. ....................
Saturday....................
Monday.......................
128*
128
127*
126*
126*
127*
120*
Tuesday........23
Wednesday.. 24
Thursday.... 25
Friday .. ....2 6
Saturday....... 27
Monday.........29
Tuesday........30
126*
126*
125 V
121*
125
123
122
126*
125%
124%
124*
123*
121%
121*
Wednesday.................
Thursday....................
Friday..........................
Saturday ....................
Monday........................
Tuesday .....................
Wednesday.................
Thursday........... ..
Friday....... ..................
Saturday.....................
Monday......................
126* 126* 127* 127* Nov., I8 6 0 .....
12/
“
1868....
126* 127 126V
126* 126* 126* 1 6 *
“
1867....
126* 126* 127 127
“
1866....
126* 126* 127* 127
“
1865....
“
1 8 6 4 ...
127* 127* 121* 127*
127* 126* 127* 127
“
1863....
“
1862....
(Th tn* flavin? Day).
126* 1126* 1126* 1126*
“
1861....
126^ 1126*1126% 1126V
126*1126*1126* 126% S’ ce Jan 1,1869.
128%
133*
149%
116*
145%
238*
146
129*
100
121*
132
137*
133%
145*
210
148
129
100
128*
12«
127*
127*
121*
1 2 b % 127*
126* 126*
128*
127*
127
126V
126*
128*
127*
127
126*
127*
126*
O
Q
Id
bfl
a
.a
O
Q
o
Q
126*
126*
125*
124*
125
123
122%
126%
123%
124%
124%
123*
122
122*
128%
137
141*
143%
118%
260
154
133*
100
—
—---134% 121% 162*
122*
135*
138
141*
147*
230
148*
129
100
------ 123*
Foreign exchange has ruled steady at |@| below the specie shipping rate, the
market having been well suppled with both southern and local bills, while a
moderate amount of bond bills have been marketed.
1809]
JOURNAL OP BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE,
COURSE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE (6 0 D A T S) AT NEW YORK.
London.
cents for
64 pence.
Days.
1 . . . ............................109
@ ’.09tf
Paris.
centimes
fordollar.
Berlin,
cents fo
thalers.
40J6@10.tf
78 tf@ 7 8 tf
35tf@.35tf
71tf@ 71tf
516tf@516tf 40tf@40tf
78tf@73tf
35tf@3>tf
7Ltf@71?£
« . . . ........ ........... ••■••10SJi@109
BlBtf » 5 1 # tf 4s)tf'«40X
4 ..
. ........................l(H tf@109
5l6tf@ 516tf 4 0 tf@ tu tf
5 .................................. lOStf @ 1' 8)£
517t,@ 516tf 40)6@ 4 0tf
6 ..
. ........................103tf@10Stf
617tf@516tf 40)6 @ 40)4
8 ..
. ........................108tf@109
517tf@516tf 4 0 ‘i@ 4 0 t f
9 ..
. ........................l«8tf@ 109
517)6@51016 4otf@40.tf
5l7tf@ 5 1 6 tf 4 0 ),@ 4 0 t f
1 0 ..
. ...................... 108)6 @109
1 1 ..
. ........................!0SJ6@109
518)4@517)4 4 0 t f @ 4 ;t f
1 4 ..
. ....................... 10S)-,@109
518)6 @517)4 40tf@ 4o tf
1 3 ..
. ....................... 109 @ 10 9tf
518tf @517)4 4l)tf@40tf
1 5 ..
. ......... .......... 109 @ 109)6
516)6@517tf 40*)© 40tf
10 .................................. 104 @109)6
5181,@517)4 40tf@ 40tf
1 7 ..
. ...................... 109 @109tf
518)6@517)4 4U tf@40tf
7«*«7S tf
78tf@ 7S tf
78tf@ 18tf
7S tf@ 18tf
78tf@ 78tf
78tf@ 78tf
7 8 ‘4 @ 7 8 tf
7 8 tf@ 7 » tf
7stf@7S,tf
7 8 t f @ 7 't f
7atf@ 78 tf
7S>6@78)6
78tf@ 7stf
3 5 t f» 3 5 t f
35tf®ii5tf
3> tf@ 35tf
3 .tf @ 3 5 tf
3 5 ii@ 3 5 tf
35tf@ 31tf
S5tf@ 35tf
35tf@ 36
35tf@ 36
3 r tf@ f«
3otf@ 36
3 5 ),@ 3 0
35tf@Sti
t lJ W lt f
7 1 t f@ 7 jt f
7 1 tf@ 7 Itf
71tf@ 71tf
- < lt f @ :i t f
71*@ 7 1 tf
71tf@ 71tf
7 it f@ 7 1 t f
71 tf@ 7 1 tf
7 1 tf@ 7 l*
7 1 t f @ 7 lt f
71tf@ 71tf
7 ttf@ 7 itf
3 5 % @ '«
35tf@ 36
35tf@ 30
85tf@ 36
3A tf@ 36
35tf@ 36
7 !) 6 @ 7 lt f
71tf@71.tf
71tf@ 71tf
71tf@ 71tf
lltf@ iltf
7 1 ) ,@ 7 t t f
78tf@79
35tf@36
71tf@71tf
518)6@517)4 4iltf@10.tf, 7 8 ),@ 7 9
5l8tf @517)4 4 0 ) ,@ 0)4 78tf@ 79
518tf@S17tf 4otf@ 4U * 78tf@ 79
3 5 ),@ 3 8
35)6@36
35tf@ 3S
71tf@ 71tf
71tf@ 71tf
71tf@71.tf
s . . . ........................... 108tf@10i
51rtf-l.5U tf
Amsterdam. Bremen. Hamburg'.
cents for cents for cents for
florin.
rixdaler. M. banco.
i s . . . .........................
(Holiday).
1 9 . . . ........................ 109 @106)6
SO . . .......................... 109 @ 10 0 ),
5 1 ..
. ....................... 109 @IOPtf
5 3 ..
. ....................... 109 @ !0 9 t f
8 4 ..
. .......................1 0 8 tf@ 1 0 l
5 5 ..
. ................
lU 8tf@ 10)tf
5 0 ..
. ..................... l '-),@ 104
518)6@517)4
518)6@517)4
51S)6@5 7tf
518)6 @ 51 7tf
518 ),@ 5 1 7 )4
818)6@517)4
40tf@ 40tf
40tf@4Utf
40tf@ 10tf
4l>tf@10tf
40tf@ IO .tf
4 t f@ 4 0 t f
5 Stf@5l7.tf 4(tf@IUtf
5 7 ..
. ....................... 10Stf@109
8 9 ..
. ....................... 1 0 S ).@ 09
so .................................. 104 @ 10 9tf
'78 tf@ 7 S tf
7 -t f@ 7 8 t f
78tf@ 78tf
78tf@ 18tf
7?% @ 9
7stf@ 74
Oct., 1868 ................ 109 @109)6 518)6@513)6 41 @41tf 7Stf@79.tf 35)6@S«tf
Oct., 1869....
.. lOStf @109)4 5l8tf @510)4 40tf@40tf 78tf@79
35tf@30
71)4@7i
70tf@71tf
JOURNAL OF B A N K IN G , C U RRENCY, AND FINANCE.
Returns of the New York, Philadelphia and Boston Banks.
Below we give the returns of the Banks of the three cities since Jan. 1 :
NEW Y O R K C IT Y B A N K RETU RNS.
Date.
Loins.
February 6. . 260,541,732
February 13.. 204,380,407
February 20.. 263,42s, 06 i
February 27., 201.371,897
March 0 ___
202,089,883
March 13....... 201,'09,095
.March 20....... 203.098,302
March 27........ 203,909,589
April 3 ......... 201,933,675
April 1 0 ........ 257 480,227
April 17 ....... 255,184,882
April 24....... 257,158,074
May 1............. 20. »,135,100
May 8.. . . . . 208.480,372
May 15............. 269.498,897
May 22............. 270,275,95*
May 29............. 271,935,461
June 5 ......... 27'%919,009
Jane 12........... 271,983,735
June 19........... *63,341,906
June 26........... 260,431,732
J ly 3.............. 25.' ,308,471
July 10............. 25\424,942
July 17............. 257,008,2s9
July 24............., 259.011,889
Jclv 31............ 200.530,215
Angus*. 7......... 264,8.9,357
August 14....... 200.505, 05
August 21........ 262,7 i1,133
August 28. . . . 20:,ul?, 109
September 4. 202,549,8 9
September 11. 208,804/ 33
Sepxemb-v 18 200,190,024
September 25. 203,141,828
October 2 .. .. 255,239.049
October 9 . .. 210,749,914
Circul tion.
Specie.
27,939,404
34,240,436
34,263,451
35,854,331
28,351,891
34,247,321
20,832,003
34,217 981
19,486,634
34,275,885
34,690,145
17,358,671
15,213,306
34,741 310
12,073,722
34,777,814
10,737,839
31,816,916
34,609,360
8,791,543
7,811,779
34,430.76.)
8,8)0,369
34,060,5-1
33,972,05S
9.207,6 5
16,081,489
83,986,160
15,374.769
33.977,793
15,429,404
33,927,386
17,871,230
33,920,805
19,051,133
33,9^2,995
19,053,580
34,144,790
19,025,444
34,193,829
20,2 7,140
34,214,785
23,520,267
34,217,973
30,266,912
31,277,945
31,055,450
31.178,437
30,079,4 24
34,110,7-<8
27,3 1,933
34,-68,677
26,003,925
33,917,985
24,154,499
33,y92,257
21,591,510
34,028,104
19,169,102
31,999,7^2
17,4 1,722
33,960,1:35
14.942,066
33,961,196
14,538,1^9
33,972,7 9
13,963,481
33,996,081
15 902,349
31,169.4- 9
21,513,526
34,173,925
Deposits.
196,602,899
192,977,860
187,612 546
185,216,175
182.604,437
If 2,392,458
183,501,999
180,113,910
175,325,7fc>9
1*71,495,580
172,203,494
177,310,080
183,948,565
19 <,8'3,’ 37
199,392,449
199,414,869
203,055 600
199,124,042
193,886,905
186,214,110
481,774,695
179,929,467
163,197,230
188,431,7 1
193.622 20)
190,416,443
200,22o,((0S
198,952,711
192,024 540
188,754,539
191,1U ,086
188,823,3^4
185/300.130
130,230,793
183,124,508
179,214,673
L. Tend’s. Ag. c’ ear’gs.
53.424,133
070 329,470
52,334,052
090,754,499
50,997,197
70 ,991,041
50.8:15,054
520,815,029
49,145,369
727,148,131
49,639,625
029,177,566
50,774,874
730,710,002
50,555.103
797,987,483
48,496,359
837,'•23,698
48,644,732
810,05 >,455
51,001,.88
'172,803,294
53,677,898
752,905,766
56,495,722
703,168,349
55.109,573
901,114,517
56.501,350
86U,720,8S(i
57,8 8, i!»8
788,747,85*2
57,810,373
781,646,491
51,289.429
766,28 ,026
50,859,258
856,006,645
49,0i 2 488
836,224,021
48,103,920
76 ,179,74*
40,737,203
40,763,300
48,7-2.723
676,540.291
51,859,706
711,328,141
54,271,802
5 8,475,097
56,101,027
614,455,4 7
56,050, >34
614 875,037
54,7-30,089
6 ■'2,821,627
53,07-),831
566,1*50,531
52,792,834
603,80 ,345
5 ,829,782
516,889,278
51,487.867
791,753 341
51.259,197
662 419,784
60,025, 81
989,274,472
54,-09,088
792.693,772
52,011,558
628,1)80,852
*
470
Date.
October 1 6 ...
Oct ber 2 3 ....
O tober 30..'..
> ovemljer
November 13
November 20.
> ovem ber 27.
Deci mber 4 ...
JOURNAL OF B A N K IN G ,
Specie;
248,537,981
219,3..5,073
250,940,833
252,790,450
251,1-0,557
25 \908,008
2f>2/7«,474
453,235,995
20.399.070
19,300,701
21,9 0.010
2 ,219,000
2-•,755,093
27.929.071
29 637,895
30,633,539
CURRENCY, AN D
Circulation.
34,217,114
34,204,435
34,136,249
34,188,603
34,212,807
34,231,922
32,155,883
31.140,408
F IN A N C E .
Deposits.
173,642,936
175,798,919
ISO,828,882
182,961,8 >0
183,754,306
183.731.19(1
183,597,395
182,690,140
[D ecem ber,
L. Tend’s.
53.229,504
52,037,6 4
52,177,831
49.9‘>7,590
54,095,001
4^,455,121
48,181,890
45,959 274
%
Cl ear'ga
1,390,262
581,510,207
510.4-0,012
689,88:, 076
570,859,293
4 * 1 /5 0 /5 8
57’ ,! 83,860
670,011.384
PHILADELPHIA BANK RETURNS.
Date.
April 5 ........................
April 12 .............................
April 19..........................
y* pril 26..........................
May 3 .........................
MaJlO...............................
May 17...........................
Mav 24...........................
M y 31............................
Loans.
f0,499,806
50,770,193
51,478,371
51,294,222
51,510,982
51,936,530
52,168.526
52,301,764
52,210,874
Jane 7 ............................
62,826,357
June 14..........................
June 21..........................
June 23................
July 5...........................
July 12...........................
July 19..........................
J a y 26...........................
An crust 2 ..................
Au^uso 9 ....................
August 16......................
August 23......................
S
August 30
53,124,800
53,810,095
53,661.172
53.937,521
53,140,7-5
53,128,598
52,463,100
51 953,8 3
52,022,330
61,932,991
52,309,626
62,033,052
51,931,372
61 597,258
51,703,872
September 6,
September 13
September 20
September 27................
October 4 ......................
52,130,402
52,105,010
Octo"er 11.
October 1 3 ....
Ocober 25----November 1 ..
November 8 .
November 15.
November 22.
51,597,9 >4
51,657,364
51,701,059
51,532,214
51.909,081
51,731,495
51,379,807
Specie. Legal Tenders.
189,003
12,169,221
184,246
12,643,357
167,818
—
12,941,783
104,261
13.640.003
201,758
14,220,371
270,525
14,023,803
2rr6/.67
14,096,365
17*4,115
15,087,008
185,257
15,484,947
109,316
15,37*,388
152,451
15.178.3 >2
148.795
14,972,123
180,084
14.507,327
303.021
14,061,449
13,415,493
456,750
12 944,886
390,377
13,070,) 80
384,869
13,013,911
325,210
13,530,061
266,089
13,047,035
244,256
12,977,027
245,515
13,01*213
247,358
13,073,705
169,169
12.900,0-4
174,855
13,348,598
139,058
13,448,889
177,303
13,835 858
205,111
12,820,357
284,503
12,380,187
*15,9 5
12,4:38,801
854.845
13,104,244
527,685
13,278,507
573,475
13,175,402
12,9.1,135
Deposits.
35,375,854
36.029,133
37,031,747
37,487,285
38 971,281
39.478,803
40,002,742
41.061,410
42,-47 319
42,390,330
42,005,077
42,060,901
41,517,7!0
41 321,537
40,140,497
39.834,802
36,160,044
39,717,126
39,506,405
39.141,196
39,0-'0,’665
3 ,833,414
39,212,568
38,915,913
39,109.526
39,345,373
38,4S5,284
87,102,575
37,02 '•,082
37,905,411
88,781,734
38,438,991
Circulation.
1M,6*2/98
10,626,166
10,629,423
10 624,407
10 6 7,813
10,617,934
li',' 14,01^
10,018 216
10.6 8,561
10.610,890
10.6 1,932
10,617 804
10,622,704
10.618,043
10/1* *7i
1",618,706
10,0 4,o73
10,610,233
10, 08,381
10,610,861
10,008,852
10,608,824
10,011,674
1' ,012,041
10,610,053
10,0(.9,182
10 598,9'1
10.007,343
10,599,394
10.590/55
]'>,5.(7,973
10,592 939
10,595,186
10,602,097
BOSTON BAN K RETU RNS.
Date.
j - pril 12.................
Ap'il 19................ . . . .
A iril26 ............... . . . .
*'8y 3 .................. . . .
May 10.................. . . . .
May IT................... . . . .
May 24.................. . . . .
May 31.................. . . . .
June 7 ................... . . .
June 14 ............... ..
June 21.................. . . . .
....
July 19.................... . . . .
uly 26.................... . . .
...
...
Augu-t 23............... . . .
...
.. .
...
September *7........ . . .
...
...
...
...
.
...
D cember 6 ........... ..
(Capital Jan. 1, 1866, $41,900,000.)
Loans.
Specie. Legal Tenders.
802,276
11,248,884
750,100
11,391,5-9
039,400
11,4.9,995
99,113/50
617,435
12,361.827
98,971,711
70S, 963
12,352,113
100.127.411
l,vS7,749
12,513,472
100,555,542
1,134,886
12,888,527
101,474.527
934,560
13,191,542
102,043.181
772.397
13,096,857
101,53,278
13,454 001
103 043,849
040,582
001,742
12.643,615
104,352,548
959,796
12,087,305
103,691,658
1,105,662
11,784.802
102.5 5.825
3,140,676
102,033.943
9,595,868
3,255.151
9,541,879
10l.405.2tl
3,024
595
9,798,461
102,70',5 50
2.365,920
10,719,569
103,601/54
10 438 595
2,154,616
10,811.271
2,317.372
31,2 0,604
102,9>8.791
1,871,713
11,908,736
103,053.(07
11,792,519
} ,71.1.563
1(3 9(4.5 5
12,371,211
1,2 8,474
104.4S7.227
915,681
12,747,857
104,478 949
518.579
12,950,087
1(M,375,531
652.197
12,767,004
105, *-9,208
1,1 91/12
11,913,893
101,940.179
11.376.043
1 1M,2£l4
104,051,831
11,319,786
1,090,130
103,69*1,620
11,711,185
1.303/21
U>3,410,990
11,560,147
1,636.2,9
2,713 2 8
11,636,1 8
104,500,997
11,395,690
1 7( 5.308
11,579,005
1,827.098
1,990,720
11,678,107
103,963,8.0
Deposits.
33,504,099
34,392,377
31,257,071
35,302,203
36,736,742
37,457,887
38,708,304
39,347,881
38 403,624
38,491,148
37,408,719
36,243,995
34,331,417
31,851,745
34 520,417
35.211,1>>8
c7,3( 8,687
36,117,973
34,931,731
35.229,149
87,041 (>45
37,362,7 1
87,(t*Oi.497
36,917.
36,8-0,894
34.891,701
34.446,808
34.877 071
35,310.864
7,6,896,518
36.007.305
36,398.9 1
36.676,549
37,342,225
Ciiculation.
24,-7 ,716
25,388.782
25/51.8 4
25.-19 751
25,830 660
25,821,533
25,' 09.602
25.290,382
25,175,2*2
25,292.157
25 247/ 67
25,: 13,(.61
25,804 858
25,885,701
25,3-'5,0*5
25,254 * 4
25,514,7(>«
25,2 «9,283
2.%244f0"4
25,2(0,683
25,2* 2,27 4
25,2i : .279
25,2:7,734
25,807,121
25.321,4(4
25,888. 90
2 ,818.494
2-.2iv,03
25.3V', 0 9
: 6.3:9.961 iq
s s m » # *“
25.388,72 >
25,3 J.-5I
MARINE INSURANCE.
O F F I C E
OF
T H E
UN MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY,
IN CO RPO R ATE D M A Y 22, 1841.
XT 0 .
52
W A L L
S T R E E T ,
sh Capital paid u p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500,000 00
rplus 1st Jan., 1869,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - $531,167 17
Total A s s e t s ,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - - $1,031,167 17
Ne w Y ork, January 23, 1869.
following statement of the affairs of this Company on the 31st of December, 1868, is published in conity with the requirements of the 10th Section of the Act of incorporation:
loums on Unexpired Risks Dec. 3 st. 1867.......................... . . . .....................................................$222,591 54
einiums received during the year euding December 31, 1868 :
larine R isks....................................................................................................................... $624,680 87
uland Risks........................................................................................................................
14,706 97
----------------- 639.388 94
>tal premiums..
............................................................................................................................. $861,950 38
:e i off as earned during the year ’u8................................................................................................... 636,574 79
rn premiums during year................................................................................................... $76,815 63
•sses incurred during the year (including estimates for all disasters reported :
larine Risks..................................................................................................... $1 4,294 99
□land Risks.....................................................................................................
2,118 43
--------------- 316,413 42
jnses, Reinsurances, Taxes, Commissions, Abatements in lieu of Scrip,&c............. 100.728 39
$193,957 44
ie ASSETS of the Company' on the 31st Dec.. 1868, were as follows :
. 5-20 bonds...................................................................................................
. 10-40 bonds..................................................................................................
$340,400 00
164,600 00
$5( 5,000 00
Bonds and other Stock ...................................................................................................
11,752 00
Is and Mortgages — ........................................................................................................
26,000 00
on dep tsits, and loans on demand, secured by Bonds and Stocks .........................
62,292 62
----------------*— $r05,044
lium Notes and Bills Receivable not matured.................................................................................. 154,974 9
cription Notes.......................................................................................................................................... 111. 166
Premiums in course of collection and accrued interest on Loans and Stocks..............................
21,168
Iry Salvage, Re-insurance and other claims due the Company, estimate i at.............................. 138,813
•tal assets remaining with the Company on the 31st December, 186?
62
35
25
04
$1,031,167 17
•Fire Risks have been taken by the Company during the year, except in connection with Marine Risks,
view of t ’e forego;ng result the Board of Trustees have this day
solve ', That a PROFIT DIVIDEND OF FOUR PER CENT., in Cash, be paid to the Stockholders
•inand, free of Government Tax,in addition to the interest Dividend of Seven Per Cent., paid in July and
ary.
so, That a SCRIP DIVIDEND OF T W E N T Y PER CENT, free of Government Tax. be declared on
iet earned premiums entitled to participation for the year 1868, for which certificates may be issued on
ifter the Ist day of April next.
order of the Board,
ISAAC H. W ALK ER , Secretary.
sH. Grinnell,
P«n ‘Ison,
lm,
i
eblan,
.m H. Macy,
G. hosier,
ardson i'. Wilson,
I. oacy,
y Foster Hitch,
Ponvert,
n i e Vise r,
K. Preston,
T R U S T E E S :
Isaac A. Crane.
A. znagu del Valle
John S Wright,
Wm. >on Sachs,
Philip Dater.
' m o 1,
Thomas J. laughter,
Joseph Gaillarcl, Jr ,
Alex. M. Lawrence,
I«aac Bell,
Elliot C. Cowdoin,
•C H, WALKER, Secretary.
Percy R. Pyne,
Samu 'l M. r ox.
Jo eph V. Onativia,
Edward S. Jaffray,
William < othout,
Ernest Caylus,
Fr d -rick Chauncey,
George . K ngslana,
James F Penmman,
F rederic Stu ges,
Anson G. P. Stokes.
MOSES H. GKINVELL, President,
JOHN P. Pa ULi S >N, Vice-President.
c
5
t %
Q
C
^
O
C
X
5 C
X
3 C
K
X
X
^ e ’
ATLANTIC
| jjjutuai i uMptiq (|ompamj
II
fJ
(•
J|
J
(*
(*
( P r G A N IZ E D
{]
/
in
1 8 4 2 .)
J
Office, 51 "Wall St., cor. of William, New York,
Q
3 ‘^L3STU‘
^ 2 r Z ‘9 1 3 S 9 ,
f.
H as now Assets, accumulated from its business, o f over Thirteen
and one-half Million Dollars,
>{
[\
^
/
t)
Q
f\
VIZ. :
United States and State o f Ne\v' York Stock, City, Bank and other
Stocks,
$7,587,4
Loans secured ky Stocks and otherwise,
.
.
.
.
.
2,214.1
Premium Notes and Bills Receivable, Real Estate, Bond and Mortgages
and other securities,
3,453,7
Cash in Bank, .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
405,f
p
___________________________
$ 13,660,!
Q Insures against ■MA3RISE and TMLAJNT
ir r ig a tio n 4 'Risks,
whole profit < ■ /
p o u r e d , cliu/ t'i </tvf(/c(/ anUUtlllp
&X*
''( o o m ^ L C t r i y
ieimcnatec/ c/uhny. t/te yccil /
tMucc/j
hearing riterrsst
t(
t i
tf/io-n t/ie ^liemiun
ct»u/ jfol ai/uc/t, ceih^icctioi <sj
unit/lec/cemet/.
TRUSTEES
J. D. JONES,
CHARLES DENNIS,
W. H. H. MOORE,
HENRY COIT,
WM. C. PICKERSGILL,
LEWIS CURTIS,
CHARLES H. RUSSELL,
LOWELL HOLBROOK,
R. WARREN.WESTON,
ROYAL PHELPS,
CALEB BAR8TOW,
A. P. PILLOT,
WILLIAM E. DODGE,
le u e its
DAYID LANE,
JAMES BRICE,
DANIEL S. MILLER,
WM. STURGIS,
HENRY K. BOGERT,
DENNIS PERKINS,
JOSEPH GAILLARD, Jr.
C. A. HAND,
JAMES LOW,
B. J. HOWLAND,
BENJ. BABCOCK,
ROB’T. B. M1NTURN.
GORDON W. BURNHAM,
:
FREDERICK CHAUNOEY.
R. L. TAYLOR,
GEORGE S. STEPHENSON
WILLIAM H. WEBB,
PAUL SPOFFORD,
SHEPPARD GANDY,
FRANCIS SKIDDY,
CHARLES P. BUKDETT,
ROBT. C. FERGUSSON.
SAMUEL G. WARD,
WILLIAM E. BUNKER,
SAMUEL L. MITCH ILL,
JAMES G. DE FOREST.
JOHN D. JONES, President.
CHARLES DENNIS, Yice-Prcsid
W. II. H. MOORE 2nd Yicc-Pres\
J. D. HEWLETT, 3d Yicc-Pres,
•J. H. CHAPMAN, Secretary
^
@FedFRASER