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ME R C H A N T S ’ M A G A Z I N E
AND
0
0
M M
£
R E
1 A
L
S E P T E M B E R ,
R E V I E W .
1870.
ON THE ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF NEW ZEALAND.
BV
A R C H IB A L D
H A M IL T O N , ESQ.
[Read before Section F , British A ssociation, at Exeter, Angnst, 1869.]
The colony of New Zealand was founded in the year 1840. Prior to
that date a number of Europeans, consisting of missionaries, whalers, an 1
traders, had settled in various places, but chiefly at the Bay o f Islands
where a considerable trade wiih New South Wales had been established’
Besides which the New Zealand Company had, a year previously, antici.
pated the action of the Government and acquired land by purchase from
the natives, with a view to independent colonization.
Governor Hobson, acting under instructions from borne, entered into a
treaty, in 1840, with the principal natives and chiefs, whereby the sov
ereignly of of the north island was ceded to the Crown, while that oftlie
south (or middle) island was proclaimed by right of discovery.
In terms of the treaty the natives became subjects of the Crown— “ the
Queen of England extending to them her royal protection, and imparting
to them all the privileges of British subjects — in point of fact, we engaged
to maintain law and order among the various tribes, and between them
and the settlers; as well as to introduce commerce and civilization, for
which the natives were eager, having experienced the benefits thereof in
the trade carried on at the Bay o f Islands.
Another provision o f the treaty was that it guaranteed to the chiefs and
tribes, individually and collectively, undisturbed possession o f their land;
1
162
e c o n o m ic
r ii O G R E s s
of
new
Zealand.
[Septem ber,
while ihe Crown acquired the exclusive right o f pre-emption over such
land as the natives might at any time wish to sell. The Government
thus became the sole buyers of land from the natives, which Government
alone could resell to the colonists,— neither could the latter lease land
from the natives, except through Government.
It is unnecessary that I should enter into the disputes of the New Zea
land Company with the Governors and Colonial Office. The Company
surrendered their charter in 1850. A constitution and representative
institutions were granted to the colonists in 1852, with the express res”
ervation, however, by the Imperial Government, of all control over native
affairs. This continued until 1863, when the colonists were reluctantly
induced to undertake that responsibility. Until then the Crown pre
emptive rights remained in force, subject to the direct control of the
Imperial Government through the Colonial Governor; but another sys
tem has, since 1863, been adopted, to which I shall presently allude.
During the thirty years of its existence the progress o f the colony has
been unequalled, except, perhaps, by Victoria. The exports which in
1841 were £11,000, and in 1842 £19,000, steadily increased to
£4,650,000 in 1868. The following table will show the progress of
i imports and exports, divided for convenience into averages of years:
4
5
5
5
5
Average o f
T otal Imports.
years, 1341-44...........................
£189,000
years, 1845-49.........................
193,000
years, 1853-57*..........................
801,000
years, 1858-62............................ 2,273,000
years, 1863-67 ...........................
6,172,000
1 year, 1867....................................£3,345.0 0
Total E xports.
£13,000
77,0(10
336,000
1.078,000
3,953,010
£ 4,645,000
'G old now enters largely into the exports :
tF rom 1857 to December, 1S66 the amonnt ex orle ' w a s ................................................. £'l.sno.ocn
Daring the year 1867 it was .....................................................................................................
2,iou.o(.0
Total exported from N ew Zealand to Decem ber, lc6 7 ...............................................£14,510,000
O f this only £81,000 was from the north; but during lait year rich gold
mines were discovered in the neighborhood o f Auckland, which are
already being rapidly developed; and for the quarter ending March 31st,
1869, they yielded £131,273. Being from quartz veins, these mines
afford eve ry prospect of steady employment and o f becoming a regular
branch o f Industry ; besides which there are continual discoveries of
gold fields in the riorih island, and the auriferous area is increasing every
day.
1850-51 returns wanting,
1S70]
ECONOMIC
PHOGH ESS
OK
N h .f f
163
ZEALAND
The agricultural and pastoral, as might be expected, exhibit a growth
corresponding with the commercial returns.
Year.
1851.
1858
1861.
1864
1867..
A cres Fenced.
41,000
236.000
410.000
1.072.000
3.456.000
8he°p
2 3.000
1.523.000
2,761 i 00
4.937.000
8.419.000
Cattle.
35,000
137.000
193.000
2><*,000
313.000
Horses
49,000
66,000
0
In Appendix, Table Nos. I and II, will be found a more complete
statement of commercial, agricultural and pastoral returns, distinguishing
the north island from the south.
The revenue and expenditure o f the colony, for five years ending 1866>
have been as follow s:
Year.
1862..
’ 63..
’ 64.
V 5.
’66..
G ross Revenue.
$1,886,096
1,380,836
1.608,841
1,525 827
1,978,711
Expenditure.
$1.18,177
1,757,092
1,860,980
2,906,332
3,293,250
In the Appendix (Table No. Ill) is a statement showing the revenue
for the years 1853-67, under the heads ordinary, territorial and incidental
— distinguishing the revenue o f the north island from that of the whole
colony. The ordinary revenue amounts to a tax o f £5 12s. per head of
the European population, exclusive of local burdens ; and. owing to the
expenses of the wars with the natives, the colonial debt, exclusive o f pro
vincial loans, amounts to £3,500,000, with an annual charge o f £242,000
— say, 21s. 2d. per head o f the European population.
According to the last colonial census, the European population in 1867
stood thus:
North Island
South
“
Total
Males.
28,856
62,728
fem a le s.
19,179
28,720
91,584
47,899
Children
15 and urlder.
Total.
31,878
79,913
47,307
138.755
79,183
218,668
Appendix No. V is a table showing the distribution o f employments
among the white population— distinguishing the north island from the
whole colony
Appendix, Table N o. IV , shows the number of emigrants from this
country to New Zealand, from which it will be seen that the colony has
relieved us from 111,306 of our superabundant population, independently
of those who have re emigrated thither from Australia.
Contrasted with these gratifying symptoms o f progress, is the melan
choly decrease in the native population, as shown in the subjoined esti
mates of their numbers :
Males.
Fem ales.
31,657
15,432
24*3*13
12,780
Children
14 and under.
Total.
100,000
10,323
56,049
38,535
] 04
E C O N O M IC
PROGRESS OF NEW
ZEALAND.
[ September,
It is to be observed that the whole white population resides in the
north island, except 1,500 to 2,000 who are resident in the south.
On examining all the returns I can find of native population, which
distinguish ages and sexes, I have a'rived at the following com
parative results, native children being taken at 14 years and under, and
Europeans at 15 and under:
Proportion o l r a iv e a p ir 1,010.............................................
“
Eur peauS
k‘
.......................................
Men.
431
420
W m en.
820
215
B oys.
137
184
G rls.
104
181
These figures indicate a population decreasing from natural causes, as
compared with one that is increasing; the preponderance o f adult males
being even greater among the European than the native race.
Enough has been shown to prove the importance of the colony; but
its rapid growth, hitherto, is a mere indication o f its capabilities. P os
sessed of a 6ne climate ai d a fertile soil, well watered and fiee from
drought ; provided with ample coil fields, the working of which is only
lust begin ; and, independently of gold, with mineral wealth as yet
almost untouched ; indented with harbo-s, and having a geographical po
sition of singular advantage for commerce— possessed. I say, of all these
great and natural resources, there can he no question as to the d-stiny in
store for New Zealaud. And, considering the critical state of our rela
tions with the colony, I now propose to make a few remarks on the i eneral subject of colonial policy, and to apply these to the case of New
Zealand.
There can be no doubt that our relations with the colonies were much
changed— 1st, by the adoption of free trade, when the protective duties
ceased, by which the United Kingdom and the colonies reciprocally
favored their produce and our manufactures ; and, 2dly, by the repre
sentative institutions and self-government which were soon afterwards
conceded to the colonies. The old po icy o f regulating and controlling
everything from the Colonial Office in Downing Sireet having eeastd, it
followed that the imperial expenditure on behalf of the colonies should
cease also, as soon as each colony attains the power of protecting itself.
Such appears to have become the settled policy of this country ; and it
has become an almost equally sjttled opinion that colonies which have
reached maturity should be encouraged to become independent States;
so that, in such cases, the chief duty of the C douia! Office would seem to
be carefully to preserve such relations with ttie colonies as shall admit of
the inevitable separation taking place in an amiiabie spirit. These
opinions, though perfectly just in the main, I submit, require some limita
tions, and are apt to be pushed to extremes. There are those, indeed,
who advocate throwing off the colonies as mere encumbrances, and so
many sources o f expense.
i87o]
ECOK ■ 1!:0
PROO BESS
OF
NEW
ZE ALA N D.
165
It :s argued that we should, at all events, retain our trade with the
colonies, whether we cut them adrift or n o ; and in a recent despatch*
one ground assigned by the Colonial Office for refusing aid to New
Zealand is, that the Imperial Government derives no tribute from
the colony. This was ro hasty remark to a deputation, but occurs in a
despatch deliberately concocted in the Colonial Office. For my part, I
regard it as the merest assumption that we should fully preserve our
trade in the case supposed. So long as they continue ours, the colonies
are identified with the policy of free trade ; but if independent, no one
can foresee what commercial alliances and restrictive tariffs they might
adopt. Take the case o f the United States. Vast as our trade with
that country is at present, there is no doubt our exports would be much
increased were the Americans to adopt free trade, instead of their present
protective, and in many cases prohibitive, duties. In confirmation of this,
I find that in 1801, when the last colonial census was taken, our exports
to the North American colonies amounted to 31s. 2d. per head of their
population ; whereas to the United States it was only 13s. ll^d. per head,
slaves inclusive ; and 15s. l i d . per bead exclusive of slaves. I take the
year of the American census, 1860, one favorable for comparison, being
prior to the civil war. Now the United States is incomparably a vfealtbier
country than our American colonies, and the obvious inference is, that
with free trade our exports to the States ought to exceed per head the
rate o f the colonies, instead of being only one half.
As to the question of drawing tribute from our colonies, surely it was
settled a hundred years ago, when the United States declared their inde
pendence.
It would be difficult to say what is the money value of a colony; but
instead of tiibute, I should rather be inclined to value it by the amount
o f our exports thereto. N ow the Australian and New Zealand colonies,
all established within fifty years, took nearly 15 millions sterling o f our
exports in the year 1866 ; and this amount, in some shape or other,
went to swell the aggregate income of the United Kingdom. In the
year 1866, New Zealand took £2,737,100 of our exports, being £10 12s.
lOd. per head o f the entire population. For further particulars, see
Table No. IY , in Appendix.
In the event of war, it would surely be an advantage to have so many
colonial ports open to us all over the world, which, if independent, would
become neutral ports, a point o f the utmost importance, considering that
steamers must play the chief part in the next maritime war. In the case
of New Zealand this becomes of vital consequence, on account o f its coal
mines, as well as its position and numerous harbors. If our colonies are
prematurely cast off, we shall assuredly lose much o f their sympathy, and
with it all chance of assistance in case of need.
3 66
e c o n o m ic
progkess
of
n ew
Zealan d.
[
September ,
I shall not here dwell upon the indirect advantages which we derive
from our colonies, none the less real because they have been described as
mere sentimental considerations ; but indeed the sympathy of the colonists
is to be valued for other reasons, not altogether o f a sentimental nature.
N ot only d j the colonists look upon England as “ Home,” and maintain
connections which are constantly being renewed and strengthened, but
many o f the more successful among them are induced to return to E ng
land with the fortunes they have accumulated in the colonies, to benefit
the people of this country by their expenditure.
Furthermore, the value of colonies as fields for emigration must not be
overlooked. Of late years, and until quite recently, we have not heard
much of our “ surplus p o p u l a t i o n i n a great measure because o f the
relief which has been afforded by emigration, thereby not only decreasing
the pressure at home, but creating employment for those who remain
behind. During the last forty four years Australia and New Zealand
have taken off 956,457— nearly one million— of our surplus; and this
without expense to the mother country.
So far, therefore, front regarding our colonies as encumbrances, I con
tend rather that we should continue to plant new colonies, until the great
continent o f Australia, at present only partially occupied, shall have been
completely fringed round with British settlements. And if, in fifty years
hence, we shall thereby have added another 15 millions per annum to our
aggregate income, and found profitable employment for another million
of our surplus hands, surely the expense o f founding, and helping for a
time to maintain, these future colonies, will have been well laid out. At
the same time, I fully admit that as colonies gain strength they should
defray all charges c f their own government and defence, and when they
reach maturity they are undoubtedly entitled, if so inclined, to become
sovereign States. A ll that I contend for is, that these general principles,
however sound in the abstract, cannot be indiscriminately applied. If we
would avoid harshness and injustice, regard must be had to existing cir
cumstances in various colonies, which have risen and are due to an op
posite policy, which we have ourselves heretofore enforced and acted
upon. But, in truth, no general rule can be laid down, as the circum
stances of each colony differ from those of others. For example, the
Dominion of Canada, though without an internal enemy, borders on the
United States, and may become involved in our quarrels. Australia has
nothing to fear from neighbors, aboriginal or civilized. On the other
hand, the Cape has had, and New Zealand now has, serious difficulties
with the aborigines. In the colonies of Ceylon, Singapore, and H ong
K ong there are simply no British settlers, in the ordinary sense o f the
word.
1870]
E C O N O M IC P R O G R E S S
OF
NEW
ZEALAN D.
167
I submit, therefore, that we cannot adopt for our pelicy the indiscrimi
nate withdrawal of all assistance from our colonies. W e must decide
each case according to its merits, and we must scrupulously observe
every reasonable obligation to the colonists, while it is our sacred duty
to fulfil every engagement with the natives.
To apply these general principles to the case of New Zealand. It ap
pears to me the colonists have great reason to complain of the treatment
they have received ; and o f this any candid person, who will look into
the matter, can satisfy himself, A s a consequence, the relations between
the Colonial Office and the colony have become truly unfortunate, being
little better than snubbing on the one side and snarling on the other.
In theorv, no doubt, our Minister for the Colonies rules the Colonial
Office, and is responsible to Parliament and the public. But the fact is,
what with the frequent changes of Ministry, the pressure of business on
the House of Commons, public attention absorbed in important questions
nearer home, added to the general ignorance of and indifference as to
colonial matters, it so happens that the Colonial Office is, for all practical
purposes absolutely free from check or control. The officials deal as they
please with the interests o f communities which are destined ere long to
become powerful empires. Occasionally, therefore, we have been startled by
finding ourselves involved in an expensive war, possibly o f doubtful
justice, but certain to yield us no credit; and at present we see n bent on
ridding ourselves o f these annoyances at all hazards, without reference to
justice or sound policy.
I can but hastily glance at the wars with the Maories, and the
interminable disputes to which they have given rise. I have already
stated that the affairs of the colony were controlled from home until 1852,
when a representative constitution was ceded ; bat even then, the con
duct of native affairs was jealously reserved by the Imperial government.
Most important of all, the Crown reserved the monopoly o f buying land
from the natives. The purchases were made often at a few pence per
a c e , and resold to the colonists, first at 20s. per acre, and subsequently
at an upset price of 10s. per acre. With a shrewd and intelligent people
like the Maories, this could not fail to breed discontent; they formed
among themselves aland league, and the war which began in 1860, and
has continued with intervals ever since, originated in a dispute about a
Government puivhase of land. Speaking broadly, I may say that all
hostilities with tht natives since 1814 have been, in one way or another,
traceable to disputes about land.
In consequence of these troubles, the Imperial Government had several
times pressed the cohnists to undertake the management of native affairs,
which, however, the Inter declined. But in 1863, when the lesponsi-
168
economic progress of new
ZEALAND.
\September,
bility was eventually, though most reluctantly, accepted by the colonists,
“ in consideration o f the thoroughly efficient aid which her Majesty’s
Government was then affording for the suppression of the native rebel
lion, and relying upon the cordial co-operation o f the Imperial Govern
ment for the future.” The thoroughly efficient aid referred to, consisted
of an army o f 10,000 soldiers, which, together with a naval brigade and
colonial levies, made up a total force of from 15,000 to 17,000 men.
The colony raised a loan of three millions to contribute their share o f the
expense, in the full belief that here was a great opportunity to convince
the natives of the utter hopelessness of war with the white man ; and that
by cutting military roads through the island, the interior resources of
the country would be opened out, and peace rendered permanently
secure.
Unfortunately, however, this imposing force accomplished
nothing. No reads were opened, and no serious impression was made
on the enemy— insignificant in point of numbers as they were; for it is
believed that there were never more than 2,000 or 2,500 men in arms,
opposed to our 17,000.
In our military annals there are several
disastrous chapteis ; but with the full recollection of Walcheren, New
Orleans, Cabul, and the Crimea, I venture to say that nothing has been
so ignominious as the result of our operations in New Zealand. W ar, it
is true, was carried on by the generals in command with great vigor,
though not against the Maori, but against the Governor, whose province
was invaded with considerable success. Fortunately for those implicated
there was no great sacrifice of life, so that their doings escaped investiga
tion, but the expenditure of money was enormous, and the proportion
borne by the colony all but ruinous; while it proved so distasteful to
the Home Government, that a demand was made on the colony for
payment in future at the rate o f £40 per soldier per annum. TAis the
colonists declined, and in so doing they were right. To be effective,
the military force should obviously be at the disposition of the Colonial
Government; but as the British army can be expected to act only under
orders from home, the colonists were in fact asked to pay for soldiers
over whom they had no control; and they had already suffered enough
from the effects of divided councils and disputes between the Governor
and commanders. The troops were accordingly removed, all save one
regiment, which is now under orders to leave, and will hsve left at a most
critical period. The services of this regiment, by express orders from
borne, have been limited to garrisoning the towns ; thb, however, has set
free tne colonial levies to meet the enemy in the fieU, or follow him into
the bush. W ithout entering into the question as to whether this one
regiment should be allowed to remain, it is at leastobvious that one time
may be more fitting for its removal than another; and its withdrawal in
1870]
E C O N O M IC
PRO G RE SS
OF
NEW
ZEALAN D.
169
the very crisis o f war, it is feared, may have a serious effect on the neu
tral and wavering portion o f the natives; the proposal has been succes
sively disapproved by the colonists, the Governor, the commander of the
forces, the Admiral on the station, and finally by the Duke of Cam
bridge ; nevertheless positive orders have gone from the Colonial Office
for its removal, and by this time it may be on its way home.
The last request on behalf of the colonists is that the Imperial Govern
ment will assist them by guaranteeing a loan o f a million and a half, in
order that they may raise and maintain a force specially disciplined and
trained for the peculiar warfare. It is believed that 2,000 men “ ill suf
fice to leduce the hostile natives to order, a task in which 10,000 regu
lars failed, but it is estimated this force must be maintain' d for seven
years at an expense of £200,000 per annum. By these means it is be
lieved the natives will at length become convinced o f the hopeless strugi
gle in which they have embarked. The neutrals will become friendly
and the Maories themselves will put down the hostile faction. This
moderate request to have a loan of 1|- millions guaranteed has been de*
dined, and the colonists have been in substance told by the Colonial Of
fice that if the settlers in the north island are driven into the sea they
must accept their fate. It is a matter of importance to the colonists, it
they are to be cut off from substantial aid o f any kind, that they shall
be enabled to raise funds on moderate terms— .-ay at 3 per cent insteal
of C per cent or upwards, since we must recollect that already their
taxation amounts to £5 12s per head, exclusive of local burdens, as com'
pared with £2 7s. 9d. in England, also exclusive o f local taxation.
The guatantee would eventually have cost the Imperial Government
nothing, but it would have been a trifling consideration to a country like
this, even if we had to contribute the amount outright, in the honorable
fulfilment of our engagements to the natives, no less than to the colon
ists. The money assuredly would be well laid out, in comparison with what
we have recently expended in the maintenance of our honor in Abyssinia
N or would it be without precedent: we have recently guaranteed Canada
— to say nothing of Greeks and Turks— the recollection of which canno1
but leave a bitter sense of injustice on the minds of New Zealanders.
It would be well to consider what is likely to be the result o f the
Colonial Office leaving the natives and the colonists to their fate. The
first effect of this narrow and selfish policy is already becoming manifest
The settlers in the south island, where it may be said there are no na
tives, already begin to urge, “ if this be no affair o f the Imperial Gov
ernment, neither is it of ours— let us have separation, and leave the set
tlers in the north to fight their own battles.”
This is the more significant because the Colonial Parliament consists o
170
e c o n o m ic
progress
of
new
Zealand.
[Septemher,
forty-three members from the south, against thirty three members bom
the north island, including four Maori representatives. On the other
hand, the effect of this on the natives must be taken into account: they
are keen politicians, and perfectly understand the discussions which take
place in the Colonial Parliament and newspapers. The reduction of the
regular army to one regiment has already been the means of prolonging
the war by strengthening the hostile section of the Latives; and if the
colonists in the north are hereafter to depend on themselves alone there
is too much reason to fear that the neutral Maories will become hostile, if
indeed there should not be a general combination of the natives tribes;
even now the neutrality is of a very questionable descrintion.
As already said, the white population of the north island is 80,000>
against 38,000 Maories. And while I utterly disbelieve the possibility of
the natives driving the colonists into the sea, still the struggle would by
no means be so unequal as those numbers would imply. Of the native
population there are 15,000 adult males, and, considering the assistance
rendered by their women in war, I shall allow only 1,000 for aged men;
leaving equal to 14,000 lighting men, innur. d to bush warfare: for com
missariat they are able to subsist, ar their ancestors did, on fern roots,
everywhere provided by nature. O f the colonists there are in the north
28,856 adult males, though by no means all fighting men. O f these
7,657 are upwards o f forty years o f age, leaving 21,200 of the fighting
age, say from fifteen to forty years. Having regard to the Table No. V of o c
cupations, it would perhaps be no extravagant supposition that two thirds
of these never had a rifle in their hands; and in fact 5,550 of them re
side in the four principal towns, many of whom could not possibly be spared
from their daily avocations. Besides which we must bear in mind that a
still greater number of the colonists have no special tie to the north
island, and, and may be expected in any extremity to remove to the south
island or to Australia. Taking everything into consideration, 1 therefore
think that from the 21,200 men of the fighting age, we must stiike off
one-third as unfit for service in the field, unable to leave their employ
ment, or likely to leave: there would thus remain 14,000 colonists as
against an equal number of natives effective. To recapitulate this esti
mate shortly:
Ma e*.
Native adnlt9 in N orth Isla n d ................................................
15,000
Deduct for aged men, regard being hod to the serv.ces rendered by ih e’r w om en ........... 1,000
Effective warriors......................................................................................................................... 14/00
Eu o ean adults in North Islands....................................................................................
28,856
Detiuc , above 40years o f age . . . .......................................................................................7,656
Deduct unfit fur service and likely to leave......................................................................7,000
14,656
Capable of bearing arm s............................................................................................................... 14,200
Nevertheless, under any circumstances, even if abandoned by the Impe
1870]
E C O N O M IC
PROGRESS
OF
NEW
ZEALAND.
171
rial Government, and by their brethern in the south, I have no fear that
the colonists will be driven into the sea ; outlying settlements may be
abandoned, and the settlers be driven into the towns, the fruits of their
industry destroyed, and their homesteads burnt dow n; our feelings may
be harrowed from time to lime, as they have been already, by news of
women and children ruthlessly massacred ; and we may have to contrast
the rapid progress of the last thirty years with its destruction still more
rapid; but in the end the European will no doubt prevail, though it can
be only at the frightful cost of a war o f races, ending in Maori extermina
tion.
It is frequently asserted that, under any circumstances, the natives
must disappear before the advance o f European civilisation; that they
are a doomed race. For the sake of humanity, I trust that some means
may be found of terminating the present state o f chronic hostilities, so
that there may still bo a fair opportunity for preserving by far the finest
and most intellectual race with whom Anglo-Saxon colonists have yet
come into contact. There is ample room for both : no wide extent of
country is required for hunting ground : and a glance at the map will
show how small a portion of the island has been yet appropriated.
It is admitted on all sides that the colonists have been most anxious to
live in peace with the entire race, as in fact they have always done with
the friendly tribes, hitherto about one third of the native population
The Colonial Government expends about £60,000 annually for native
purposes; the natives have equal electoral privileges; and four Maori
constituencies have been created, which send four of themselves to the
House of Representatives. When the comiuct of native affairs was
forced upon the Colonial Government by the Colonial Office in 1863,
the Government ceased to be the sole buvers ot land from the natives;
the monopoly, though no doubt benevolent in its intention, having been
found mischievous in its results;— and in its stead native land courts have
been instituted, presided over by Europeans, but assisted by native
assessors. After investigat e of title, crown grants are issued, and the
land is dealt with as the owners (whether white or colored) think proper*
These courts have been successful so far, and are valuable as a means of
individualizing titles, instead c f the tribal or communistic tenure which
has hitherto obtained among the natives; and the courts are thereby
gradually sapping the influence of the chiefs.
Those of the friendly natives who liave availed themselves o f the land
courts have benefited greatly by the same, a\i have sold or leased por
tions of their lar.d to their entire satisfaction. Many of their town and
suburban res. rves have becomes extremely valuable, and one s nail tribe
is said to be ir. receipt of £26,000 a year for leased land. By these and
172
E C O N O M IC
PR O G R E SS
OF
NEW
ZEALAN D.
[
September,
similar means for the promotion o f their welfare, and especially bv edu
cation, it is hoped that the decrease o f the native race may still be
arrested. But for these endeavors to be successful, it is necessary, by a
sustained effort, to put an end to the present chronic strte o f hostilities—
an object which can only be attained by convincing the natives, once for
all, of the utter hopelessness of their attempts to drive the white man
from the island.
I earnestly trust the policy of the Colonial Office may be reversed
while there is yet time. It is neither consistent with honor or sound pol
icy, still less with justice and humanity, that the two races in the north
island should be left to a life and death struggle. W e owe a duty to the
native, no less than to the colonist, and cannot wash our hands of the
business, if we would; the attempt to do so will assuredly lead to a war
of extermination, and the blood o f the Maori will be upon our conscience,
while as regards the colonists, we shall leave to our successors an inherit
ance of hatred and ill will, such as we have, even until our own time,
experienced from the United States.
A P P E N D IX .
I.— Commercial Returns o f New Zealand.
Year.
North.
£
1853.. ........................ .
453,400
1S54.. ......... ......................
660,200
1855.. ...............................
585,100
1856.. .. ..........................
477,200
3857.. ......................
610,900
18*8.. ...............................
661,700
3859 . ................................ 806,390
1860 . .................... ........
768,100
1861.. ...............................
917.400
1802.. ................................ 1,273,300
1863.. ............................... 1,487,700
1864.. ................................ 2,845,900
3865.. ............................... 2,568,0(0
18(56.. ............................... 2,003,300
1S07.. ................................ 1,469,2 0
-----Im portsfcouth.
£
146,400
231,000
228,400
2 '3,700
382,100
479,600
744,700
780,200
1,556,400
3,352,800
5,537,000
4,154.700
3,027.000
3,84,600
3,875,400
Total.
£
597/00
891,200
813,5:0
710,900
993,000
1.141,300
1,551,000
1,548,800
2,493,800
4 626,100
7,024,760
7.000,000
5,595 000
5,894,900
5,344,600
N< rth.
£
264.900
278.000
250,300
•09,800
199,900
217 500
256,604
250,400
212,500
266,500
374.900
638,200
434,400
515,600
570,7(0
---- F xp n itsSouth.
£
38,400
42,900
115,6' 0
108/00
169,500
240,500
294,900
338.600
1.157.700
2,156,200
3,U0,5i 0
2,763,5i 0
3,278,800
4.004/00
4,071,000
Total
£
303,300
320.900
SK5.9C0
318,4(0
369,400
458,060
551,600
5>9,000
1,370,200
2,422,700
3,485,400
3,401,700
3,713,2(0
4,520,109
4,644,700
II.— Agricultural and Pastoral Returns o f New Zealand.
Y esr
1851....................
1558....................
1861....................
1864....................
1867... .............
North.
Ye*r.
1851....................
1818....................
1861....................
1864.................... .............
1S67....................
N or h.
110.300
-A cres Fenced
Total.
Sou h.
13,S0Q
40,600
2?5,500
87,400
1*9,200
409,800
1,072.400
742,100
2,715,400
3,455,600
South.
11.100
65,600
97,000
139,500
188,300
Total.
34,800
137,200
193,3(*0
249,8( 0
312,800
Ncrth
77,800
230,8)0
638,600
1,034,100
1,787,700
N orth.
1,900
7 /0 0
12.800
18,300
25,tOJ
— Sheep—
South.
155,200
1,2 *2,500
2.122,800
3,9(3.290
6,630,900
H o r-c
South.
1,000
7,400
15,500
31,100
40,200
Total
283,0,0
1,523,3(0
2,761,600
4,937,300
S,41S,600
T otal.
2,900
14,900
28,300
49.4C0
€5,700
1870 J
E C O N O M IC
PRO G RE SS
OP
NEW
173
ZE A LA N D ,
II I .— Revenue o f New Zealand.
-----------Nor th Iela d only.
Year.
Ordinary. Territorial.
£
£
1853..........
61,1>03
53,000
1854..........
114,000
ia55..........
33,000
1856........
29,000
M) 060
1857..........
83,000
1858..........
50,000
116,0-0
1859.......... . . . .
56,000
125,060
185)..........
61,OoO
1861..
.
75,000
1862..........
57,000
1863........
4S.0U0
207,000
1864.........
80,0 0
1865 ......... . . . .
385,0 0
80,000
1866..........
62,000
1367..........
51,000
— w h ole C o 'o n y .--------------------,
Ordinary. Territorial. I cidental. Total.
£
£
£
£
8o,000
3,0 0
67,000
If 0,000
111,000
181,'09
1,900
293.000
62,000
111,0 o
2,0(0
1 5,090
103.09)
76,000
4,00)
1S8,000
151,00)
91,0 0
8,000
248, <00
162,900
179,000
1,000
342,00)
208,000
242,000
10,900
4H0.00J
233,060
216,000
16,600
465,00)
324 <100
347,000
20,090
091,00j
508.000
697,000
71,900
1,180,000
743,9*0
524,000
114,0C0
1,381,00)
81 *.,000
7 i 5,000
78,00)
1,. 09,00j
937,6 9
599,000
89,900
1,^26,00
1,080,900
776,0. 0
116,090
1,918.000
1,226,000
562,000
77,000
l , 8 6 5 4O ro
Total.
£
117,00)
201.000
11'*,000
109,000
142,0 0
166,000
W ,000
191, t'00
231,' 0 )
232,000
25 .0 »)
3S'\Oi 0
465,0.10
440,090
427,000
I V .— Showing Exports and Emigration from
New Zealand,
Year.
1340..................
1841
.........
1842.................
1843..................
1844 . . .
1815..................
1846..................
1 8 1 7 .................
1848..................
1 8 1 9 .................
1850...................
1851..................
1852..................
1853..................
1 3 9 4 .................
Exports. Emigrants
N o.
£
1.45S
3,901
3,( 64
343
102,2 0
146,800
334,299
202 80)
334,100
Yeir.
United Kingdom, to
Ex o:tB, Emigrants.
£
828,900
1 8 - 5 ...............................
1S56.................................
it 9,t>00
1 *5 ;.................................
4 8 1,300
1 5 * 8 ...............................
■
’ ■32,800
’ 850 ..............................
8>2.300
14 1880
. ...............
MO 000
6 lt-61 ...............................
1,011,000
316 l s82 .................
1,553,000
751 1863.................................
2,094,900
1,823
884 ................................ 3,259,200
2,0) >5 1865 ...............................
2,607.000
2,67 1 1866 .............................. 2 737,700
1.713 1867 .................................
2,779.560
1,429 1863..............................................
1,950
T o t it
N o.
2 son
4,004
3,807
5,872
8,553
5,242
4,555
11,440
13,019
11,970
7,037
4,298
8,984
3,703
111,305
V .— Occupation o f Whites in New Zealand, according to the Colonial
Returns, 1 8 6 7 .
Occupations.
Trade, & c ....................................................................
Agriculture, & c .......................................................
M echanios .. .............................................................
Mining
....................................................................
Profess o n ’ ..............................................................
L a b orers......................................................................
D o m e s tic...................................................................
M iscellaneous..... ........................................................
Mariners ....................................................................
N o oocu pation..........................................................
T o ta l....................................... ...........................
V I
N orth island.
3,068
7,104
5,484
1,813
996
5,400
2,571
2,056
1, *39
49,982
79,913
South Island.
7,1 6
11,759
8,211
18,559
1,214
7,625
4,6-8
4.827
2,098
72,648
138,755
Total
10,194
18,863
33,095
20,372
2,2 0
13,025
7,259
6,c83
3,537
122,630
218,668
.— Ratio o f Distribution o f Occupations in■ New Zealand.
Occupations.
N orth Island.
Trade, & c ....................................................................
A griciil'ure, &c .........................................................
M ech a n ics,... .............................................................
M ining .........
......................................................
Prolessi n s ...................................................................
Laborers .......................................................................
D om estic.................. ............. .................................... ..........
3.21
2.56
Miscellaneous................................................................. ..........
Mariners ......................................................................
N o occnpat on, wom en and children......................
T o ta l.........- ............................................................
South Island.
5.13
8.46
5 .9 )
13.35
.87
5.49
3.37
3.47
1.51
52.45
T otal •
4.t,S
8 63
6.26
9.32
1 01
5.96
3.32
3.15
1.62
56.07
100.00
100.00
1 74
r m lro ad
e a r n in g s
[,September,
.
RAILROAD EARNINGS FOR JULY, AND FROM JAN. 1 TO AUG. I.
The railroad earnings for July have been obtained at an earlier period
than u-ual after the end of the month, and we are thus enabled to present
the tables which follow. The traffic upon most of the roads is equal to,
or a little above, that o f the same month in 1869, although in several
instances there is a difference of some importance. The Chicago &
Northwestern road shows a decrease o f $76,110; Illinois Central a
decrease of $50,460; Milwaukee & lit. Paul an increase o f $50,092;
Ohio & Mississippi an increase of $18,855 ; Chicago & Alton an increase
of $70,440; while the Pacific and other new roads continue to show
their usual large increase.
So far as the earnings are affected by the movement of grain at the
West, a comparison of the total quantity received in July, 1870, at the
f i v e leading Western ports, and in the same month o f 1869 shows an
excess of about 2,000,000 bushels in favor of this year, the total receipts
for each week of the month being nearly as follows :
W eek ending
18T0.
July 30.. ................................................................. buthels. 2,!00,0:’0
July 23........................................................................
1,800,000
July 10............................ ................................... ............. I ,f00,060
July
9 .....................................................
Total bushels ...........................................................................7,050,000
1,350,000
1869.
1,250,000
950,000
1,700,000
1,200,000
5,100,000
As to the earnings for the present month, it seems probable that they
will exceed those of the same month in 1869 on most of the grain-carry
ing roads, as we have now reached the period for this yeai’s grain crop
to come forward ; and the season has been so early that the harvest was
tully three weeks ahead o f last year, and much produce must be ready
for market. In August, 1869, the movement o f grain was very dull and
backwaid in consequence o f the late harvest, and the principal Western
roads showed a material decline in their earnings, compared with the
previous year, as may be seen in the f flowing table:
E A R N IN G S IN T H E M O N T H < P A U G U S T ,
1869
AND
1863.
August, 1869.
Chicago and A lto n ............................................
493,231
Chicago arid Northwestern....................................................................1,032,813
Chicago and R ock Island.................................................
652,652
Illinois C entral..........................................
841,363
Michigan Central....... ............................................................................. 353,569
Milwaukee and St. Paul........................................................................ 525,363
Ohio and M iseist-ippi............................................................................. 275,220
T oledo, Wabash and W estern............................................................. 450,246
August, 1S68.
558, UK)
1,5U,056
668,3S0
763,779
392,942
522,683
287,557
484,208
This year the crops have been very early, but it is not easy to predict
to what extent the movement of cereals may be influenced by the Euro
pean war and the fluctuation in prices. On the 13th of August, 1869,
No. 2 Spring wheat was worth $1 60 in New York, and to-day it is
187 Oj
R A IL R O A D
I 75
E A R R IN G S ,
worth about $1 2 5 ; but we presume there is less confidence in the firm
ness of the present price being maintained than there was last year in
the price then ruling. Taking, therefore, all things into consideration, it
would appear that farmers have fully as much inducement to forward
grain as they had last year, and as there is more produce ready for
maiket we may look for large receipts unless the end of the war or a
decline in prices should check the movement. For the first week reported
in August the roads have shown an uniform increase.
E A R N IN G S
Central P acific...............
Chicago and A lton.............
Chicago & Northwestern...........
Coi. ago, R ock Island <fe Pacific,
Illinois Central..........................
Kant-as Pacific..........................
Marietta & Cincinnati.............
Michigan Central......................
Milwaukee & tat. Paul............
Ohio <fe M ississippi.................
Pacific o f ,*-iesouii................
St. Louis and Iron Mountain,
Toledo, Wabash <& W estern ..
FOR
JU LY .
1870.
...
421,485
1,080,946
111,127
326,891
T ota l.....................................
1869.
$532,657
351,044
1,156,056
455,606
696,228
163,604
114,496
329,950
586,342
192,364
184,411
73,126
310,800
$5,146,684
Inc.
$198,86!
70,440
Dec.
76.110
6,794
116,563
50,092
18,855
76,037
34,397
11,956
50,460
8,369
3,059
$583,997 $131,998
Since Juiiuary 1, in a period of seven months, the gross earnings, with
a few exceptions, continue to show a balance in favor of the present
year, but how much o f this increase is due to increased mileage and how
their expenses may compare with those of last year, it is impossible
to tell. A complete public statement of the monthly earnings and
expenses o f every railroad should be required by the laws o f the Statts in
which they are located.
E A R N IN G S F R O M
C entr,l P acific........................
Chicago & Alton .. . . . . .
Chicago & N on,h w estern...
Chicago # R ock Island.........
Ktnsas P a cific........................
Illin ois Central ....................
Marie ta & Cincin a ti...........
Michigan Central........... .
Milwaukee & St. P a u l ........
Ohio & M ississippi..............
Pac fic o f Missouri .............
Toledo, Wabash & W estern
T o t a l.................................
* A pproxim ate returns by telegraph,
t Approxim ate.
JAN U ARY
1
TO AU G U ST 1 .
1870.
1869.
t *3,775,213 $2,964,919
.. 2,545,337 2,471,706
. 6,756,993 7,640,033
.. 3,141,555 3,287,640
.. 3,763,777 1,145,306
.. 4,660,158 4,575,540
.. 728,534
747,444
. 2,565,94 0 2,603,315
.. 3,721,998 3,5b 0,588
. . 1,646,492 1,466,553
. 1,84 V,696 1,671,995
. 2,194,922 2,151,341
Inc.
810,294
53,631
618,471
84,618
L ee.
8S?i040
146,085
....
..
18,916
37,375
161,4!0
179,939
170,7*1
43,581
....
,35,322,645 $34,286,410 $2,122,645 $1,090,410
170
M R. b o c t w e l l ’ s
p o l ic y
.
[ September,
MR. BOUTWELL’S POLICY.
During the intervals of the war excitement W all street is disturbed by
an ea^er expectancy relative to what is to be done by Mr. Boutwell and
his subordinates under the financial legislation passed in the last session
of Congress. Much, indeed, of the present speculation in bonds and gold
turns on the effect which his immediate movements may be expected to
have on the volume of the currency, the supply o f gold on the market,
and on the relative values of negotiable securities and other commodities.
The legislation in question is twofold : first, the Currency bill, which was
approved 8th July, and, secondly, the Funding bill, which became a law
one week later. Of these two important laws the first has the more
immediate importance, and will receive, for the purpose we have in view,
the chief share of attention.
It is probable that but for the passage of this Currency bill we should
n jt now have gold ranging above 120. For if in the first spasmodic
movements caused here by the war trouble the premium had risen it
would probably have receded again. B it gold is a very sensitive barome
ter o f the currency, and the late rise in the premium is in part due for
its extent and persistency to the changes in our paper currency which
Congress in this law has just authorized. These changes are almost all
in the direction o f inflation. For in the first place it breaks through
the restiiction which was placed upon the volume of the bank circulation
when the National Currency law was first passed. The volume of the
bank notes was never to be allowed to exceed $300,000,000.
Now
Congress has authorized $79,000,000 more, making in all $379,000,000.
If gold had not risen on the war rumors there certaiidy would have been
a rise in consequence o f an inflation like this. It is true the new currency
has not yet been actually put in circulation. But such movements are
always “ discounted,” as the phrase goes, and their direction and force
are es'imated beforehand by ten thousand busy brains, all eager to make
gain by seeing the early approach of the coming change and taking the
first advantage of it
Secondly, this inflation o f the currency will be attended by abuses, and
can scarcely be kept wholly free from corruption. The privilege of issu
ing currency is one o f great value, and many institutions in the South
and W est have paid a liberal commission for the privilege. Now, it is
given them for nothing. But there is room for favoritism, and too wide a
range is allowed for the discretion of the executive officials of the Bureau.
Now it is well remembered that the bad distribution of the first 300
millions of bank notes was due to the permission of this very discretion
to be exercised by Mr. McCulloch, who was the Comptroller of the Cur
1870]
M R. b o u t w e l l ’ s
p o l ic y
.
177
rency. The present Comptroller, with the best intentions and the most
resolute uprightness of principle, will have no small difficulty to shield
himself from the suspicion of inequitable and interested allotment. This
is a necessary consequence o f leaving too much discretion where a clear
settled rule could easily have been laid down. As Congress has failed
to establish such a rule it only remains for the administrative officers to
announce one, and to adhere to it permanently, fairly and without excep
tion.
But this currency law is not all inflation. There are some other ele
ments of perturbation, and what is worse is, that they are tainted with
incertitude. It may safely be said, that neither in this country nor in
any other, was any inflation law ever passed offering so much encourage
ment to those financial speculators who live upon uncertainty and make
gain by whatever disturbs values, either to put them up or to put them
down, or to do both in turn. As we showed recently the seventy-nine
millions of new currency is part o f it to be issued in place of govern
ment certificates o f indebtedness. These are largely held by the banks
as reserve and their place will have to be supplied in part by greenbacks.
W e say “ in part,” because the banks may choose not to carry quite so
heavy a reserve hereafter. They now carry more than the law requires,
being tempted to do so because that part of their reserve which is held
in certificates bears interest and is not unproductive as greenbacks of
course are. When the certificates are called in and the banks are driven
to keep their reserve in greenbacks and gold, they may be tempted to run
closer to the wind and to hold as small an amount o f reserve as the law
allows. However this may be, forty-five millions of certificates are to be
retired if Mr. Boutwell can find means to pay them off, and whether he
can or not, forty-five millions of bank notes are certain to be issued in
their place.
Besides these, there are nine millions more of bank notes
which will be issued without returning anything. When this is done and
fif‘y-four millions of notes are all out, twenty-five millions more are to be
issued and an equal amount of circulation is to be called in from banks
situated in States having an excess of their fair allotment under the old
law. The twenty-five millions o f new notes are to be issued at once. But
the old circulation is to be withdrawn within one year, so that during
the year there will be an inflation and afterwards a contraction. Hence it
is easy to see that except these two movements o f alternate inflation and
contraction are very judiciously regulated so as to strike the proper periods
o f the year when they can best be endured, there may be no small
amount of mischief done. In any case there are here abundant elements
of speculative uncertainty, and no financial bill has been passed for a
long time which is justly open to so many and such valid objections.
1*8
D E C L IN E
O F S H IP B U IL D IN G
ON TH E TH A M E S.
[
Septemlcr,
Had it embodied more stringent regulations for enforcing the redemption
o f bank notes or for protecting the solvency and stability o f tbe banks
the bill would have sailed forth less hostility a id less apprehension, but
as it stands, it is regarded by conservative financiers as one of tbe most
dangerous assaults which has ever been made against the perpetuity, tbe
strength and the beneficent operation of an honorable banking system.
05
TI1E DECLINE
BY
OF SHIPBUILDING ON TEE THAMES.
JO H N
G LO V ER , ESQ.
[Read before Section F , British A ssociation, at Exeter, Angust, 3869.]
Any one who has recently traveled up or down the Thames, between
the Victoria Docks and Limehouse, must have been struck by the fact
which the title o f this paper assumes. The great shipbuilding yards are
idle. W e see most extensive “ plants,” with enormous capacity for work,
which quite recently afforded remunerative employment to a large popu
lation, and made the liver vocal with the busy hum of their industry, but
scarcely any work is going on. There is a “ horrid sound of silence;”
the “ yards” are deserted, and, like a curse, idleness has settled on the
district, *ith sickness, poverty, bankruptcies, and pauperism in its train.
The causes of a fact so painful cannot be uninieresting to this Section o f
the British A sociation.
O f the fact itself, I shall not. trouble the Section with any proof. I
have said that it can be seen. Moreorer, no accurate statistical expression
o f it is possible. The public returns tell us bow many ships are built and
registered in England every year. Th y do not tell us how many are
built on each river. They do not include tonnage which is built but not
registered, of which (in steam tonnage especially) the quantity is often
large. For these reasons the public records do not enable any accurate
statistical comparison between river and river. Unhappily the statistical
proof of the fact is needless. The silent yards, the increased pauperism,
the destitution, the able-bodied skilleddabor emigration from the district,
which has taken place this year, are proofs o f the fact more conclusive
and affecting than statistics could sup dy.
There are some obvious causes which might occasion the failure o f any
industry which my inquiries assure me have not produced the effect under
consideration. I will mention some o f these. The decline of shipbuild
ing on the Thames has not arisen—
1.
From any inferiority in the skill of its laborers. For a long period
their reputation was unrivalled, and there is no reason whatever for sup
posing that their skill has undergone any diminution. On some o f the
1870]
D E C L IN E
OF
S H IP B U IL D IN G
ON
TH E T H A M E S.
179
northern rivers work is now produced which is not inferior to Thames
work, but on none is it excelled.
2. Neither, as certainly, can the decline of shipbuilding on the Thames
be attributed to inadequacy o f capital among the builders. The enor
mous size o f some of the establishments, and the completeness o f their
economical arrangements, are conclusive evidence on this point.
3. From a perusal o f Table I, which is annexed, it is apparent that the
decline is not explained by the slightly higher cost of materials on the
Thames compared with other rivers.* In the following articles, there is
no appreciable difference between the price on the Thames, the Wear*
and the Clyde :— Teake, yellow pine, canvas, rope, yellow metal sheathing
and nails. The price o f angle iron is the same on the Clyde as on the
Thames, but rather cheaper on the W ear. Iron plates are slightly dearer
on the Clyde than on the Thames, the W ear being cheaper than either. Elm
timber is marked higher on the Thames than on either the Clyde or W ear,
but there is no reason why it should be so, and if the demand for the article
on the Thames were large enough it could be sold there as cheaply as on
the northern livers. Anchors and chains are not manufactured on the
Thames to any large extent. They are cheapest on the W ear, 6d per
cwt. dearer on the Clyde, and Is 6d per cwt. dearer on the Thames
The price quoted is for the whole quantity of anchors and chains that a
ship requires, technically called an outfit. The greatest difference shown
in the table is in the price of coal, varying from 2s 6d per ton to 15s on
the worst kind, and from 4s to 20s on the best. The price on the Clyde
is much lower than on the Thames, but higher than on the Wear. N o'withstanding the unfavorable contrast borne by the Thames on the article
of coal, the general result of this comparison o f the price o f materials on
the different rivers, satisfies me that th s is inadequate as an explanation
of the destructijn o f an industry. These differences are disadvantages
only, against which it would be easy to conceive compensating advantage .
I conclude, therefore, that neither the quality of its work, nor inade
quacy o f capital, nor the rather higher cost of materials on the Thames,
explain the decline in its shipbuilding trade. I will now show to what I
think it is to be attributed.
1. The most important and conclusive explanation I have met with is
supplied by the annexed Table II, by which is shown the daily rate o f
wages on the Thames, W ear, and Clyde, of carpenters, joiners, platers,
caulkers, rivetters, painters, riggers, sailmakers, boilermakers, engineers,
turners, and pattern-workers. The cost o f one day’s labor from these
* I have taken the prices o f m ite rials and wages on the W ear and on the Clyde, as fairly
indicating the terms on which other English and S cot:h rivers com pete with the Toam es.
180
D E C L IN E
OP S H IP B U IL D IN G
ON TH E T H A M E S .
[
September,
combined crafts is, on the Thames, 72s ; on the Clyde, 58s 8d ; on the
W ear 55s 8d. The Thames price is 22.72 per cent higher than the
Clyde, and 29-34 per cent higher than the Wear. I submit to the Sec
tion that this single fact is an explanation of the decline of shipbuilding
on the Thames so conclusive as rather to suggest a demand for another
explanation, viz., how the trade was carried on until recent time with such
a disadvantage. The answer is simple. It was not a profitable trade.
One after another the builders failed, and some more than once, and their
estates usually yielded very small dividends. Moreover, it was what I
may call a hot house trade. The buyers were not individuals spending
their own money, looking for the cheapest market, and taking the benefit
o f competition therein ; but, on the contrary, they were chiefly Govern
ments (British and foreign) and large* companies, often highly subsidized
and rich, with whom price, and an adequate return to be earned thereon,
were not primary considerations. W hile the Thames workmanship was
or was thought to be, unrivalled, the buyers I have described contracted
almost exclusively with Thames builders, who obtained high prices in the
absence of competition from other rivers, and so far were helped to pay
such wages as Table II shows. But, as already named, Thames work
manship can now be equalled both on the Clyde and Mersey, on th6
Tyne and W ear; our own and other Governments and the large com
panies no longer restsict their contracts to the Thames ; in such competi
tion the lowest price wins. The Thames has lost— lost inevitably— with
its labour rate 22-72 per cent above the Clyde, and 29-34 per cent above
the Wear. There is good reason for believing, moreover, that this differ
ence in the rate of wages is aggravated by the extent to which work is
done by the “ piece ” in the northern yards. Iron-work on the Clyde is
nearly all so done, and I am informed that on the W ear nine-tenths o f it
-is so done.
2. I have made inquiry as to the establishment charges on the Thames
compared with those on northern rivers. B y these I mean salaries of
foremen, storekeepers, clerk-, draughtsmen, and managers ; also rents
Taxes, and other general charges incident to the business o f shipbuilding,
I can produce no figures on this p oin t; but a competent authority on the
Thames, who is well acquainted with the conditions o f shipbuilding in
the north, assures me that it would not be an unreasonable estimate to
reckon the establishment charges on the Thames at double those on the
northern rivers. If this estimate is even half true, it is a further explana
tion o f the decline of shipbuilding on the Thames.
3. Some further disadvantage to this industry on the Thames has
accrued through the comparative disuse of wood in the construction of
ships. Formerly all vessels were built of wood. Coal and iron, and the
1S70]
D E C L IN E
O F S H IP B U IL D IN G
ON TH E T H A M E S .
181
cost thereof, were not then very important items in their construction.
Now, a steamer built of wood is a rarity, and nearly all large sailing
vessels are built either entirely of iron, or of iron in the interior with a
wooden skin. These last are called “ composite” vessels. It is apparent
how the disuse of wood, and the greatly increased use of iron, favors the
rivers in dose proximity to the banks of which iron is manufactured, and
where coal— so important an item in all work with iron— is also found
proximate and therefore cheap.
4,
The immense increase in steam vessels has further tended to the
disadvantage of the Thames. A steamer is so many tons o f iron plus
coal and labor. Thus the recent demand has been for that in the supply
o f which the northern rivers had the greatest advantage over the Thames;
as we have seen, they have iron rather cheaper, coal and labor much
cheaper. Moreover, the use of steam is not now limited to mail packets
and passenger boats. A il kinds of ordinary cargo— such as coal, iron,
grain and wood— are now largely carried by steamers. For such purposes the high finish o f Thames engine makers is not necessary. A de
quate strength for the hard work to be .done is the quality desiderated.
This is the class of steamer which has increased so largely, and the Mer
sey, Clyde, Tyne and W ear have supplied them, of quality quite ade
quate to their work at 15 to 30 per cent, less than they could have been
obtained for on the Thames. These are the reasons why the Thames
yarus are idle, and that orders very naturally travel northward.
W ith regard to the chief reason, it is most natural to ask why Thames
wages did not fall with the decline of trade until such a level had been
reached as would have enabled Thames masters to compete successfully
with other rivers. The “ Unions” seem to have decreed otherwhe. They
fixed a limit below which wages ought not, in their opinion, to fall. They
succeeded thus far. W a ges remain nominally high. But there is no
work: the trade is destroyed. It is perhaps an extreme illustration of
what happens when the men become masters.
A PPE N D IX.
I.— Prices o f the undermentioned Materials on the Thames, tne Wear and
the Clyde in 1869.
Thim es.
£ s. d
Angle i r o n .......................................... per ton. 7 5 0
P lates....................................................
“
8 5 0
K iv ets...................................................
“
12 10 0
T take ..................................................per load. 12 0 0
E lm ................................ ................ . . .
“
6 0 0
Y ellow p in e ........................................
“
3 15 0
Y e.low metal...................................... per lb.
0 0 7
Canvas
.......................................... per yard. 0 1 6
H o p e ........................... ......................... p r c w t . 2 0 0
Coal
................................................ per ton, 15s. to 20s.
Anchors and ch ains.......................... p e rcw t.
14s.
W ear.
£ s. d.
b 17 6
7 17 fi
19 2 6
12 10 0
4 10 0
3 15 0
0 0 7
0 1 6
1 18 0
2s. 6(1. to 4s.
12s. 64.
Clyde.
£ a. d.
7 5 0
8 10 0
10 0 0
12 10 0
5
5 0
3 15 0
0 0 7
0 1 6
2 0 0
5s. to 12s. 6d.
las.
182
H U D SO N A N D
HARLEM
R IV E R
[September,
C A N A L PR O JECT.
II— Rate o f Wages in the Shipbuilding Trade on the Thames, the Wear,
and the Clyde in 1869.
Trades.
Carpenters............................................
Joiners . . - ............................................
P lat-ra...................................................
Caulkers , ..........................................
R d ette s .............................................
Paint -rs..........................................
H ig g -rs.................................................
Saif m ak ers..........................................
B oiler a ckers...................... ................
E i g n e e r s ............................................
•j Timer*.................................................
Pattern-worker?.. ............................
T o t a l .....................................
Thames,
s. d.
0
0
0
0
0
6
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
W ear,
s d.
5 0
4 6
4 6
5 0
4
2
4 6
6 0
5 0
4
3
4 3
4 3
4 3
€iyde*
s. d*
4 6
4
6
4 8
3 8
3 8
0
5
4 4
4 2
8
5
4 4
5 4
4 10
55
58
8
8
The Thames rate o f 72s. is 32-72 per cent, higher than the Clyde rate, and 29-34 per
cent, above the W ear rate.
N o t e .—
THE HUDSON AND HARLEM RIVER CANAL PROJECT.
The scheme o f a navigable water way, following as far as possible
the course of the streams dividing Manhattan Island from Westchester
County, appears at last to be assuming a practical form, and it is
announced that the work of constructing such a water-way will be begun
during the present season. This project, as many of our readers are
awate, is by no means a nt-w ( ne, a company having been loitm d tor
the same purpi-se many w ars ago, and work begun as ea'ly as 835
During the financial crUis which shortly followed, however, the enterpiise
was abandoned, with great lo=s to the incorporators and stockholders,
although the charter was retained and a form o f organization kept
up for many years. Now , however, under the auspices of several enter
prising capitalists, many o f whom are more or less directly connected
with the city government, the project has been revived,— an organization
having been effected under a new charter obtained from the Legislature
in 1863, and preparations made for undertaking the work without unne
cessary delay. These facts have not been generally known, as the charter
was obtained without exciting public attention, and the company has
endeavored to prevent, as far as possible, the publication of any facts
respecting its organization and purposes. The suit now pending in the
Supreme Court, however, involving a recognition of the company’s right
of way across the lands o f the Hudson River Rolling Mill Company, has
given the enterprise some publicity. The name of the corporation is
the Hudson and Harlem River Canal Company. Its object, as defined
in the act of incorporation, is the *■ constructing, maintaining, managing
and operating a canal, with all ne„3ssary and proper basins, docks,
wharves, piers, bulkheads or other works or appendages connected there
with, commencing at the bulkhead line on the Hudson river, as located
1870]
H UD SO N
AND
H ARLEM
R IV E R C A N A L
PROJECT.
183
by the Harbor Commissioners, at the mouth o f Spuyten Duyvil, and
thence to the draw or swing bridge on the Hudson River Rail rose i
thence along such line or route as the directors may deem proper to the
bulkhead line on the Harlem river, as located by the Harbor Commis
sioners.” An amendment authorizes an extension of the canal u to such
point on Long Island Sound, and along such line, as the directors may
deem proper. The charter fixes the amount of capital stock in this
important enterprise at $1,000,000, to be divided into shares of $ i0 0
each, the company being authorized to begin work when $50,000 shall
have been subscribed; and such issues o f bonds are authorized as shall
be found necessary to complete the work.
The object o f the proposed canal is twofold. Primarily, it is designed
to accommodate the traffic carried on in sloops and schooners between
the Upper Hudson end the New England ports. This traffic is very
extensive and important, and the opening of direct communication across
from the mouth o f Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the East River, and thence,
tlr.L g h Harlem Kills, to Long Island Sound, will prove a great accom
modation to the vast fleet of small sailing craft engaged in this trade.
The saving o f distance by the canal over the route now followed round
the city of New Y ork would be neaily thirty miles, but a more important
advantage will be found in the fact that, by the former route, the
passage o f H ell Gate— which is still very dangerous, notwithstanding
the considerable sums of money expended in the removal o f obstructions
— and the risks of detention and collision in the narrow and crowded
waters surrounding the city, will be entirely avoided. These advantages,
it is believed, are sufficiently great to secure for the canal when com
pleted a large and profitable traffic.
A more important object to be
accomplished by its construction, however, is to affi.rd suitable facilities for
the accommodation o f the canal tonnage of the port. To this end exten
sive basins, wharves, warehouses, ami grain elevators a^e to be built, for
the handling, storage, and transportation o f grain, and suitable accom
modations will be affi'orded to such boats as may be compelled to winter
on the Hudson by an early closing of navigation. The want o f such
accommodations has long been felt by the consignees and shippers of
canal freights, more especially grain, who have been compelled to engage
temporary and often inconvenient wharf accommodations wherever they
could be found, and the necessity for handling and trans shipping such
freights without the aid of suitable machinery has involved extra trouble
and expense.
Besides the centering of the grain interest at a point where ample
accommodation would be afforded for the transfer of cargoes from canal
barges to sea going vessels for export, the proposed canal would etil-cl a
184
TH E
NEW
GOLD
B A N K S.
[ September,
great saving in the cost o f handling grain, and thus be a direct benefit to
tie W estern producer. Vessels freighted at the elevators on the line
of the Harlem River would pass out through the Sound, saving much
time by obviating the necessity which now exists for passing out to sea
through the Narrows. This would also lead to the more general use o f
such portions of our river front on both sides of the island, above the line
which nov; defines the boundaries o f the strictly business part o f the city,
thus relieving the overcrowded wharves and slips at which most of ship
ping is now accommodated, and increasing the use fulness and value of
many portions of our extensive water front now unimproved.
THE NEW GOLD BANKS.
So large is the volume of commercial business which is done on a gold
basis that one half of our city banks are said to have opened gold accounts
with their dealers, In this rapid increase o f the transactions doing on a
coin basis we see the reason and the justification o f the gold banking
clauses in the currency law of 12th July last. This statute introduces
one of the most important changes which has ever been made as yet in the
National Banking system. That system is extended and enlarged so as to
create a new class of banks authorized to issue gold notes on two simple
conditions. First, they must deposit United States bonds in Washington
and receive 80 per cent, o f gold circulation on such bonds.
Secondly,
they must keep 25 per cent, o f coin reserve in their vaults for the
redemption of their notes.
Such is the law about the new gold banks,
one of which with a capital of $300,000 has already been authorized in
Boston, while in other maritime centres o f foreign commerce arrangements
are spoken of for the organization of several similar institutions.
The want these new banks are intended to meet arises out o f the fact
that our foreign commerce is done of necessity on the basis o f gold.
Hence foreign merchants require to keep gold accounts with their bankers.
The annoyance caused to the banks by keeping two distinct accounts
with the same dealer has led to the belief that if reputable, sound, wellconducted gold banks were established, these institutions would take the
gold business of the city, and that the old national banks could well afford
to give up this gold business to the new ones.
Whether it were necessary with a view to facilitate this species o f busi
ness to authorize the issue o f gold notes by the new banks we do not here
discuss. Suffice it to say that such notes are authorized, and, if we mis
take not, some of them are actually being printed. If the issue of those
notes be objected to, it must be remembered that without them the
National banking system could not be introduced into California. In
1870]
TH E
NEW
G OLD
BANKS.
185
San Francisco several o f the gold banks will no doubt be very speedily put
in operation. The specie circulation in use there is very cumbersome*
and a good, sound paper currency, redeemable in gold, would confer
immense benefits on the business interests of that rich, thriving city.
It appears to be the intention o f Congress that the gold bank notes
shall be adapted for local circulation only. Hence the San Francisco gold
banks are exempted from the obligation of redeeming their notes in New
York. This exemption would be impossible if the Sm Francisco notes
were expected to travel far from home. For if not redeemed in New
York, the notes would lack one very important element o f fitness for
use as circulating money. They could scarcely puss current here, except
at a discount, as it would cost over 3 per cent to send them home and get
the gold back for their redemption.
It is obvious, then, that the law
intends that the gold bank notes shall be a local circulation, and shall
be adapted for local purposes only. On this account the bank gold notes
should all be of the smaller denominations, ranging from five dollars to
100 dollars. Such a circulation will be s itable for local use and for
legitimate business purposes, while the demand for the larger notes is
sufficiently provided for by the Government certificates, which are almost
exclusively used as a currency for the special accommodation of the gold
gamblers. These Government gold certificates sufficiently fulfill this pur
pose, and the gold speculators ought not to have further facilities afforded
them by the new gold bank notes.
It has been often remarked that no business in New York is so
thoroughly provided with facilities for economy and efficiency as that o^
gold speculators. The Gold Exchange Bank makes their clearings, to an
enormous daily aggregate, with the use of very little bona fide capital.
And the Treasury, without charge keeps their cumbersome gold coin in
its vaults, giving them paper notes for §1,000 or §5,000 or §10,000, in
a convenient form for rppid, safe and easy transmission from hand to
hand. The gold speculators have too many facilities and advantages
already. They should not be allowed to increase them by means of the
new gold banks. These institutions are established for the benefit o f the
people, and with a view to the coming exigencies of a gradual return to
specie payments.
W e have pointed out the fact that the business done in New York and
other cities on a gold basis is large. W e go further, and claim that it is
increasing and is likely to grow with much more rapidity. It is to meet
the new wants of this augmenting business that the new banks have
been authorized. If they fulfil this object they will be permanent; they
will earn lucrative profits; they will make a good name for themselves
and they will adapt our monetary machinery to the gradual transition
186
A
SPEEDY PEACE
OR A
LONG
W AR.
[ September,
from its temporary delusive, shifting foundation o f paper money to the
durable, solid rock of coin payments. T o fit the gold banks for the place
allotted them in the monetary machinery of this country, however, they
must be prohibited from issuing any but small notes.
W e have said that the new gold banks are offered a lucrative business.
This is especially'true o f those banks which seize the first place. In this
city there is room for several o f these institutions, but other things being
equal, those which are first in the field will outstrip their rivals in the race.
It is very plain, moreover, that for the successful management of one of
the gold banks, more financial ability, foresight, and skill will be needful
than for a bank on the old system. Still, a gold bank which invests its
capital in bonds draws gold interest on them at 6 per cent., and gets
besides an issue of gold notes for 66 per cent, o f its capital ought to
make handsome profits.
A SPEEDY PEACE OR A LONG AVAR?
A war like that now raging in Europe wastes more of the world’s
wealth in one great battle-day t' an Europe can replace in a week, besides
the still more terrible losses, which are indirect and therefore incapable
of estimate, resulting from the withdrawal of so many laborers from their
work, and the general interruption of productive industry. The cry o f
neutral nations is for peace, for while they suffer less than the combat
ants, they still share in the injuries caused by the war, and not at all in
the passions which make it possible, and in the objects sought, by it. Every
day the journals o f every civilized nation out of France express their ardent
desire for an end of the conflict, and every day this desire gives rise to
rumors of diplomacy, of mediation, of coming official announcements,
out o f which, in some way, peace is to grow.
W e cannot but believe that all such rumors are without any founda'ion
whatever in probability, and that they must be dismissed at once from the
mind that would form an intelligent judgment on the situation. It is
beyond the province of the press to predict the future, and we cannot
say that there will be no peace this year; but it is our business accurately
to report the state of affairs at the present time, and it is impossible to
do this without acknowledging that no situation can readily be imagined
in which the prospects of an early termination of hostilities would be
slighter.
I f we look at the position and claims o f the combatants alone this
will scarcely be disputed. It is easy enough to speak of the war as
causeless, wicked, purposeless; and so, in a sense, it is. That is to say,
if two private citizens should fall into a duel, from a dispute in all
1870]
A
SPEEDY PE A C E
OR
A
LO N G
W AR.
187
respects analogous in its causes to this duel between nations, all men
would regard them as quarrelsome and dangerous neighbors. But it is
not true that this war is one of those which are easily stopped; one in
which, as in some of the wars of Frederick the Great and other despots,
nothing but the wicked will o f a single ruler stands in the way o f peace.
Whatever the conduct of rulers or o f diplomatists may have had to do
with the selection of the moment or of the manner in which it broke
out, this war is a war o f nations— a conflict in which two great peoplt8
wrestle for a prize which, despise it as others may who do not see it
before them, seems to them the one object worth existing for as nations,
the national primacy of Christendom.
F or a century France has been the foremost o f the great powers.
After the first revolution no Government in Europe dared to cope with
her alone; and even when she had been drained and wasted by a gener
ation o f constant strife, it took a coalition of nations to humble her in
1815.
From that day till this no other power has met her singlehanded on the battle-field with success. It was France that took the
MalakofF and stopped the growth of Russia; it was France that won
Solferino and gave three fourths of Italy back to the Italians; it is
France that, by the terrible strength that stands always ready behind
her word, has been steadily regarded as the final arbiter of European
questions in our day. Now arises, with unheard of rapidity, another
power, claiming to be her equ.l, her superior. Prussia, a creation of
modern times, a land that was a wilderness of barbarians when Paris
was already the capital of civilization, a nation whose early military
aspirations were checked a score o f times by the French, and seemed
to be finally crushed at Jena— this modern power now undertakes to
fashion Europe at its will. By a perfection o f military discipline such as
the world has not seen before, by a course of wily diplomacy holding
aggrandizement always in view, and, above all, by a series of accidental
strokes of gnod fortune which have no parallel in history since the rapid
growth of the Roman Republic, Prussia has become a first-class power;
has incorporated with herself one land after another, and one army after
another, until she is able, at a week’s notice, to arm and equip the largest
body of soldiers in the world. At the first provocation from France she
pours them into that country and occupies i t ; and we are asked to
believe that the French people will confess themselves vanquished, and
surrender at once to their new rival the place they have so long held in
the van of Europe! But let any man suppose himself a Frenchman,
and he will feel at once, what every Frenchman now feels, be he Repub
lican, Orleanist, or Imperialist, that this is not a question o f dynasty, of
policy, of pa;tv, but a question o f life; and that the only peace nossible,
188
A
SPEEDY PE A C E
OR A
LO N G
W AR.
[ September ,
while France is trodden by the invader, is a peace which follows the
exhaustion of all means o f defense— the peace of desolation and of death.
I f Germans are to dictate peace to France, they must first make France
helpless and poor— her fields a desert and her cities a ruin. The power
of Germany is great, and the work of war is frightful, but the richest
nation in Western Europe, with forty millions o( people united in its
defense, is not to be made the victim o f one blunder in leadership, the
prize o f one battle, or even the prey o f one campaign.
Nor is the prospect that Prussia will yield I er demands, better than
that France will give up the struggle. A ll Germany is intoxicated with
victory, and, at the same time, inspired with an intense hatred for France,
which has only been embittered by the sickening slaughter of Worth and
of Gravelotte. It is not the custom of warriors who believe themselves
irresistible to lay down their arms just as they see before them the prize of
victory, and there is no question that the Germans do now see, or think
they see, in the immediate future, the humiliation o f the French nation.
They may have taken up arms to defend the R hine; many o f them
doubtless had this chiefly in view, but now, flushed with tin ir success in
transferring the war to the enemy’s soil, they are clamoring, from the
Palatinate to Konigsberg, for the dismemberment of the French empire,
and Count Bismarck himself declares that peace is impossible until it is
put out of the power of France to take revenge for the future; that is,
until her military strength is destroyed. If he is ever to take hack these
words, it will not be while German soldiers threaten Paris, it will not be
while a man of all his master’s armies is left on the French side o f the
frontier.
I f the combatants are left to themselves, then, there is no more pros
pect of peace to-day, rather far less, than when the hosts were first gath
ering on the boundaries o f the Palatinate. Indeed, most writers feel this,
and found their predictions o f a cessation of strife on a promised inter
vention by other powers. Intervention is of two kinds, diplomatic media
tion, and an armed interference to stop strife and settle the dispute on
terms dictated to the combatants from without. W e cannot discover any
possibility o f either. There can be no friendly mediation, for there is
nothing upon which diplomacy can act, and no principles to which it can
appeal. The question is, who is stronger, and how are diplomatists to
settle that ? W hat principles o f international law can be laid down to
decide whether France or Prussia shall hereafter take the lead in
Europe? In such a quarrel the time for mediation comes only when the
struggle of one side or the other is hopeless; the attempt to mediate
wno involves the assumption that it is hopeless, and is therefore unfriendly
and even hostile. W ho has the right to say that France shall tight no
1870]
A
SPEEDY P E A C E
OK A
LO N G
W AR.
1S9
longer to maintain her ascendancy, if France herself is confident that she
can do so? W h o has the right to say that Germany shall advance no
further into the heart o f France if the French themselves cry defiance
at her, and bid her come on ? Every Frenchman looks on the thought
of peace now as degradation, and treats the suggestion as an insult.
Under these circumstances a resolute attempt at mediation would only
end in taking part in the war, while a feeble attempt would but make
itself ridiculous.
Nor is armed intervention any more probable. There is no power in
Europe, and no combination of powers, that has at once the ability and
the motive to stop this war. Whatever protests Russia and Austria may
utter, avowedly in the interests o f peace, there is no doubt that both o f
them would be glad to see it fought out to the entire exhaustion o f both
parties. The weakness o f Prussia and of France would be the oppor
tunity of the Eastern Empires. Let France be humbled, and the chief
barrier to Russian advance upon the Danube and the Golden Horn is
broken down. Let Prussia wear herself out in Champagne, and the
Hapsburgs may again dictate a policy to Bavaria and Wurtemburg, if
not resume their Lst provinces upon the Adriatic. As for England, she
will not move a foot towards the field o f strife. Her boasted treaty
for the neutrality of Belgium only binds her to join one belligerent when
the other shall have been guilty of a trespass in Flanders, and even this
treaty, which is o f importance chiefly for its moral force, as a declaration
of a principle in public law, derives that force in great part from the consent
o f combatants, and the expected adhesion o f the other powers. Thev
may join her in protecting a neutral kingdom ; they will not join her in
interfering upon the soil of the belligerents; and alone she can do nothing.
Her whole army, which could not be put on a war basis and transported
to the Continent in six months, and then only at the sacrifice o f Ireland,
would not more than hold in check one army corps of Prussia or France,
or gar i oti one great fortress such as Antwerp. None know her condi
tion better than British statesmen themselves; and they would be the
last to obtrude it on the world by an ill-timed demonstration. The talk
of intervention is as idle as that of mediation.
As the situation now stands, then, the war must go on, France must
come out o f it entire and triumphant, or prostrate. Germany must march
on, to find between Metis and Paris her turn of an Austerlitz or a W ater
loo. Other nations must look on, and bear the sight of waste, ruin and
slaughter as they may, until one or the other o f these fierce warrior
peoples shall, in sheer exhaustion, abandon the fight, and the history of
Europe take a new point of departure. It will not, indeed, take so long
to wear out the strength of either side, or of both, as in the days before
190
OUR S H IP P IN G
IN T E R E ST .
[Se/>tember,
modern artillery and needle-guns were moved by steam, and whole
nations drilled as soldiers. But the exhaustion, though more rapid, will
be no less complete, ere either nation will cry “ enough.”
There is one, and only one qualification to the sadness with which
humane men must regard the strife, and that is the fact that the war
seen s likely to be limited still to the two powers which began it, and
that there is no Pitt at the heal of European politics, who will devote
his unlimited influence to extending the area of ruin, and prolonging
the cxcle of blood, until all Europe seems one battle field, filled with
“ moans o f the dying and voices of the dead.”
OUR SHIPPING INTEREST AND THE DIVERSION OF EREADSTUFFS TO CANADA.
The course of the movement in flour and wheat during the past few
weeks, or since the war broke out in Europe, has been unusual. It will
be remembered that Congress refused, on the call of the President, to
make such a modification of the revenue laws as would permit the pur
chase of foreign built vessels. The war banished from the high seas all
the shipping sailing under the North German flag, embracing neaily onehall the foreign tonnage in our p ort; there was consequently an imme
diate advance o f about one hundred per cent in the rates foi freight or
charter from this to European ports. This was felt severely in our wheat
market; an advance of wheat in Liverpool equal to fifty cents per bushel
in our currency, and an advance in gold equal to ten cents more, or
sixty cents in all, was responded to in this market by an advance of only
twenty cents per bushel; the whole producing interest of this country
failed to the extent of the difference in reaping the advantage it was
entitled to from the flurry into which the declaration o f war threw the
markets for breadstuffs throughout the world. But besides this, it would
appear that the Erie Canal and the great trunk railroads have been deprived,
by the same cause, o f a large share of the business which properly belongs
to them, and which can only be driven elsewhere by an abnormal condi
tion of affairs. The Canadas usually receive but a small proportion o f
the wheat grown in our Western States. They neither require much of
our wheat for their own use nor have they heretofore afforded facilities
for the movement of any considerable quantity going to foreign countries.
Usually they take moderately o f our cheaper spring wheat, and send us in
return their better and dearer winter wheat. But we have witnessed in
the past 'our weeks, a most remarkable diversion into Canada of breadstuffs moving eastward from the great lake ports o f Chicago, Milwaukee
and Toledo, to the great loss o f the Erie Caual and the great railway
lines, to say nothing of other important interests depending directly for
their prosperity upon the forwarding, handling, and transhipment o f
grain, at and between New-York and Buffalo. Statistics prepared for the
1870]
C
h r o n ic l e
TH E
W HARVES
AND
P IE R S
OF
NEW
191
YORK.
show that during the four weeks ending August
1 3th,
there
were shipped eastward from Chicago, Milwaukee and Toledo the aggre
gate of 3,258,000 bushels o f wheat, of which no less than 1,461,000
bushels, or nearly one half, went to Canada, leaving but little more than
one-half, or 1,797,000 bushels to come to Buffalo and Oswego. The
movement may be further and forcibly illustrated by the following Mon
treal figures for one week. W e have not at present the figures for the
other weeks:
R E C E IP T S A T M O N T R E A L W E E K E N P IN G A U G . 13.
„
1869.
Flonr, b b ls .............................................................................................................
22,(00
Wheat, bush ...................... .......... ................................ ................................... 172,9.0
1870.
32,4 0
43..000
I N STO R E A T M O N T R E A L , A U G . 15.
18(9.
Flour, b b ls ................................................................................................................. 63,000
W heat, bush .
..................................................................................................... 161,00)
1870.
121,000
491,000
It may be fairly assumed, therefore, that more than one million bushels
of tbe wheat which went into Canada in four weeks should have come
to Buffalo or Oswego, and would have dene so, but for the crippled state
of our shipping. Our canals and railways have lost tbe transportatioa
charges, our warehouses and banks have been deprived of the legitimate
p ofils which so large a movement ought to bring to them, aid our tax
payers must n ake good tbe loss o f tolls which this diversion must cruse
the canals. A marked decline in ocean freights which has already taken
place in this port, is another result of this change in the movement of
breadstuffs, and this in turn is discouraging vessels from coining here, to
be followed, probably, if the war continue, by a greater advance than that
which has recently taken place, when our cotton movement begins, thus
again absorbing a large proportion o f the profits, which the growers would
otherwise receive.
THE WHARVES AND PIERS OF NEW YORK CITY.
All who have an interest in the mercantile affairs o f New Y ork, will
be glad to learn that at last there is a prospect that tbe Wharves and
Pieis in our harbor may soon be rebuilt in a manner to comport with
the extent and value of the trade of which they are an important vehicle.
W e shall not go into a description o f their present condition, as that
lias been often forcibly depicted, and is well known to our readers.
The theory o f the law, with reference to the piers and wharves, is,
that they are public highways, open to the use o f tbe first comer who
shall pay the wharfage, and harbor masters have been appointed to enforce
this rule. So long as the ships trading with this port were mostly
composed of sailing vessels, this law, which is lounded on very ancient
usage, worked well enough ; but with the increase of ocean steamships
its inconvenience has become so apparent that it is now practically a dead
letter. To avoid this law, or the extortions which its violation involved,
192
t iie
w h arves
and
p ie r s
or
n ew
yo rk
.
[September,
the Cunard steamship company went to Jersey City, where they procured
a suitable wharf, for their own exclusive use, which could be covered and
enclosed to suit their convenience and safety; the German steamships
also went to Hoboken to secure similar advantages and immunities. Of
late years, however, our local authorities have granted to several steam,
ship companies exclusive privileges on certain piers, which they have
sheltered and enclosed to suit their purposes. The small craft which
navigate the various canals leading to New York have also put in claims
for special accommodation. The private docks in South Brooklyn have
been exceedingly useful to canal boats, but their needs at New York
wha’-ves were so great and pressing, that some fifteen years ago our
Legislature passed a law setting apart the first ten piers on the East River
line for the exclusive use of canal boats. This was a g-eat advantage to
the receivers of flour and grain. The floating docks, which are used in
the work of repairing and caulking vessels, have had a struggle to main
tain places suitable to the prosecution of their business. They are mostly
moored in the slips between Catharine ferry and Corlears Hook, and
occupy much room which would otherwise be employed in the accommo
dation of transient shipping. Some years ago, a prominent miller, who
was incommoded in securing the delivery o f his wheat, brought suit to
secure the removal of one of these docks, taking the ground that the
slips between piers— the waters o f the East River— constituted a public
highway, and that they could not be legally obstructed with anything of
a permanent nature, such as a floating dock was assumed to be. The
question never came to a definite solution, but the substantial correctness
o f the proposition was admitted, and efforts made to remove the grievance
o f the comp ainant.
The officials having charge of the duty of rebuilding our wharves and
piers, will have many important questions to consider in the adoption o f
their plans, besides those involve^ in the selection o f materials and some
minor details. They will have the great steamships to provide fo r ; the
smaller craft o f the canals to accommodate; the floating docks to locate;
proper landings to secure for the ferries. To meet all these requirements,
will demand from them the most careful consideration, that no proper
interest need suffer. Mere architectural details, or even the choice of
materials, seem to us o f far less importance. It may be deemed advisable
to rebuild a certain section of the wharves and piers for especial accommo
dation of steamships; another for canal boats; another for large sailing
vessels; another for smaller craft, and that the floating docks be sent
farther north.
Whatever plan of operations may be adopted, we hope will be pushed
forward with vigor, as the concentration o f authority in the hands of
commissioners furnishes ample power for that purpose.
1870]
TH E P U B L IC
D EBT.
193
THE PUBLIC DEBT.
It had been supposed that the heavy payments made by the Treasury
last month, and some decrease in the revenue in consequence of the Euro
pean war, would make much smaller than usual the monthly surplus
available for the liquidation of the National debt. This surmise received
some confirmation from the prospective falling off in the receipts from
Customs. But the elasticity o f our Treasury seems to be unbounded.
What is short in one direction is somehow made up by compensatory
increase elsewhere. Accordingly, the debt schedule, of which our com
plete tabular exhibit appears elsewhere, gives to the country the grati
fying news that our national debt is less to day than a month ago by
thirteen millions of dollars, and that during the seventeen months of Mr.
Boutwell’s administration we have paid off no less than $169,511,209.
Thus, almost one-fifteenth o f the stupendous mountain o f debt which
overshadowed us has been cleared away and got rid o f forever. It is
not the least suggestive among the many gratifying features of this debt
paying achievement, that it has been carried out amidst the turbulent
excitation, the financial derangement, the industrial depression, and the
commercial languor which, though in turns they succeeded our long
intestine war, they are now as we hope passing swiftly away. Here again
as in such numerous instances before, we find an illustration o f Madison’s
words to Miss Martineau, that “ this country seemed set among the
nations of the earth to do many things before held impossible.” If this
profound remark be true in regard to the permanence and stability,
and happy operation o f our democratic institutions, and our popular
liberty, it is equally true in regard to the financial and fiscal strength
whose wonderful development is chronicled in the history b^th of the
earlier and the later struggles of this free country. From the days of
Hamilton and before it has always been held that a permanent national
debt was not to be fastened on the necks of the American people, but
that, when any loan should be contracted, the moment o f contracting
it should be the moment for setting in operation the machinery whose
certain steady action should pay the debt and clear it off within a
limited space of years. In obedience to this wise policy, we have twice
within the memory of men now living paid off our whole public debt,
and we are hurrying on with such rapid, perhaps rash, eagerness in the
same good, honest course, that it seems as though some o f us who are
not very young are still young enough to hope to outlive the war debt
whose frightful dimensions, towering height, and baneful shadow have
caused some patriotic statesmen o f no mean authority to despair o f the
future of this vast, rich, growing republic. The fact is, that young Jona
than, like other rich, generous, expansive natures, rises to the level of
3
194
TH E
P U B L IC D EBT.
[ September,
his work, be it never so heavy. He grows strong in proportion as his
strength is tried, and, by an anomaly which offers a curious and suggestive
subject o f study, his prodigious public debt, instead o f impoverishing,
seems to have made him in some respects richer than ever.
Such is the spirit and temper of the remarks which most frequently
meet us in W all street as the announcement is repeated that we have
paid off another thiiteen millions of our debt, and that the Treasury
is as rich as ever in its reserve both o f currency and of coin. It is
only fair, however, to say that there is a growing anxiety among financial
thinkers whose experience entitles them to respect, and an apprehension
that we are pushing this debt-paying policy rather too far and are hur
rying it decidedly too fast. They tell us that to relieve the pressure of
the taxes and to take off still more o f the oppressive imports which still
hold industry in fetters, is absolutely needful, or this young nation will
become paralyzed in some of its most precious faculties of growth and
productive power. As it is good for a farmer to pay off a mortgage, but
bad for him to pay it by selling his seed corn and working stock, so for a
nation it is wisdom to pay off its debt, but madness to pay it by the
wasle and destruction of productive power which is ever the result o f
over-heavy taxation. These apprehensions find a place among the forces
which rule at the Stock Exchange, and to them, in part, is due the fact
that so many of our people have sold their Government securities during
the past year or two, and have replaced them by investments in bonds
and securities inferior in intrinsic worth, if superior in the rate of annual
income promised to the investor. The theory on which these persons
act is obviously that Mr. Boutwell will shortly be compelled to curtail
his monthly purchases of bonds, and that before such an event prices
must decline. It would be easy to refute this infer ence, but as yet there
is no need, for the Treasury absorption o f bonds will evidently be large
for some time to come, and on Thursday began its programme for this
month, which includes the purchase of seven millions and the sale o f
four millions of gold.
As to the last mentioned item— the sales o f gold— there are now, as
always heretofore, a few persons who think that the gold sales should be
heavier than they are, and that the gold balance— in the vaults of the
government— should be small, if indeed the coin surplus could not be
almost altogether dispensed with. A n opposite party would heap up
coin in the Treasury till the hoard swells to the aggregate of several
hundred millions. The policy advocated in the C h r o n i c l e combines (
as is believed, the advantages of both these rival themes and the dangers
of neither. W e have always contended that a coin reserve should be
held in the Treasury sufficient to guarantee the prompt payment o f the
1870]
TH E
W ASTE
OF
W AR.
195
interest on the public debt and place this payment beyond the reach of
the smalle-t whisper of doubt or incertitude, in tie event o f any sudden
falling off of our customs duties through some financial catastrophe or
some war embargo on foreign ports. Besides this Mr. Boutwell’s coin
balance fulfils other important functions in our complicated financial
economy. Beyond what is called for by these, all the gold in the Treas
ury can safely be sold, and if the Secretary of the Treasury is cautiously
and slowly strengthening his gold reserve, this policy will perhaps be
justified by the probability that the European war is noL to be a short
fi'ful spasm but a prolonged series of miliian convulsions which may
spread and bring unlooked-for trouble. That some such prudential antici
pations hare actually prompted the Treasury accumulation of gold is a
sufficient response to the strictures which from s mie unexpected quarters
this policy has evoked.
THE W ASTE OF W AR.
The American peoide have certainly derived no advantage, as yet, from
the war in Europe. Whether it is possible for an v great nation, as a
whole and in the sum o f things, to profit by the misfortunes o f another,
may be reasonably doubted. It was often said, indeed, when this struggle
lay in the future, that the markets for our breadstuff's and manufactures
would be enlarg <1, that we should sell food rnd clothing at high prices
to the contestants, that the emigration of industrious people to our shores
would be greatly stimulated, and that the cr-dit of our government
would be improved, among men bent on investijg their savings securely,
by the shock to be given to ihe credit of some of the governments which
have hitherto been favorite borrowers But none of these things have
occurred. Our manufactures are not exported, our produce brings no
higher prices than when the war was declared ; emigration is not merely'
che. ke I, but for the time quite suspended, and is likely to be diminished
for a long time by the increased demand for population to fill up the void
created by wholesale slaughter. And even our credit is lower than for
months before hostilities began, simply because a serious shock to p .blic
confidence in any quarter is felt as a shock to confidence throughout
Christendom.
Nor are these the extent o f our own loss s by the war. The pro
tracted stagnation in business under which the whole country has suffered
o f late had already begun to be mitigated at le ist, and there was some
promise o f a decided increase in its general industry and trade, when all
was suddenly unsettled by the beginning of strife. Immediately, the
19'i
TU B
W ASTE
OF
W AR.
[ September ,
tendency to a revival o f activity was stopped. Financial e; terprises can
not be started with success when the future is uncertain; and with the
utter suspension of international relations in one great quarter ot the globe,
comes, o f course, an interruption and hesitation in such relations every
where. W hen the value o f money in Paris and Frankfort, the price o f
leading securities in these great markets, and perhaps the \ery existence
o f civil order and of industrial prosperity in nations commercially united
very closely with our own, all depend from hour to hour on the for unes
of war, Wall street itself is struck with a temporary paralysis And the
financial centres o f a country are the sptings of its entire co mmercial
activity; so that, while apprehension and uncertainty prevail in the
leading money markets, any revival o f general confidence is impossible.
Every merchant who may have been studying the markets early in Ju lyj
with a view to a bold and enterprising movement for the auiumn,
dismissed his half formed plans at once, when war was made.
Thus the whole country is now awaiting with anxiety the end of hos
tilities thousands of miles away; and its activity and prosperity must
needs be less hereafter for every week that the war is prolonged. But
these considerations, though important, are but the beginning of the loss
which we sustain by this barbarous conflict. W e are members of the
great family of Christendom, the system o f modern civilization which
has so bound together the commercial nations of the world that every
war is now a civil war, and whatever injures the wealth and happiness o f
one people is a blow to all. And it is in this broader view, which
loses all smaller interests in those of humanity as a whole, that war ought
to be regarded in our day'. Looking at it in this light, words are wanting
to express the horror with which it will be regarded by thoughtful men.
The statistics of this subject have been so often collected and published,
and, in spite of their startling character, seem to have had so little effect,
at least in curbing the military passion among the great mass of men
that it seems almost a hopeless task to dwell upon them. If we look only
to times o f peace, and consider the waste done by the warlike spirit, in
maintaining armies and navies, and recognizing the possibilities of settling
national questions by force, the mind is soon overwhelmed by the study'.
It is not necessary to follow the inquiry very far before reaching facts
which the imagination fails to grasp. For instance, those nations in
Western Europe alone, Great Britain, France and Prussia, spent last
year $300,000,000 in preparation for war, which it was then thought
might never come. During the same period two millions o f strong
young men, the very flower of Europe, the world’s best strength for
productive industry, were withdrawn from peaceful labor and put into
standing armies, with no object before them but to learn how to destroy
1870]
THIS W A S T E
OF
W AR.
197
one another. Let us suppose that the sum o f three hundred millions of
dollars a* i ually were employed as a capital for production, and ihat two
millions of able laborers were at work making it profitable, where is the
economist whose mind is powerful enough to estimate the addition that
would be made to the wealth of the world ; the comfort added to unnum
bered families, the beggary and misery banished from streets, the hovels
converted into workshops and homes, the intelligence spread through
districts where ignorance prevails, the stimulus given to the march o f
the whole human race, in every path that leads to comfort, knowledge
and enj iyment?
Y et this is but an element o f the waste o f war. To understand the
whole we must add to the outlay for army and navy, year by year, the
interest paid upon debts incurred by previous wars. W e must add to
the loss, by withdrawing labor from the service of the community, the
greater loss which results from the d.struction of the industrial spirit and
o f the habits of peace among the large numbers who, having once been
thus withdrawn for a time, have returned to their ordinary pursuits.
Both in Great Britain and in France the interest on old war debts is
greater than the whole expenses of the army and navy in a year of ptace,
and constitutes, in fact, that part o f the public burden which makes taxes
really oppressive, and checks the advance o f civilization. But the con
trast between the nominal or official cost of a military establishment
and the actual tax it levies upon the people is nowhere so str'king as in
Prussia, the nature of whose army is so much talked o f and so little
understood.
For instance, it is commonly said that Prussia expends less money upon
her army than any other first class power, and yet has a more efficient
force; and it is inferred that her military prominence is cheaply bought,
and even that her system might be adopted by other nations, to their great
relief from the burdens now laid on them. But it is forgotten that the
tax which other nations pay in money is paid b y citizens of Prussia in
personal service. The young men are imperatively required to join the
army, to learn thoroughly its drill, and to hold themselves in readiness,
at a few hours’ notice, to take their places for actual war duty in the
organization to which they belong. In other words, every citizen is
required, in addition to the pursuit by which he earns his support and his
families, to learn another business, that of the soldier; and to be ready
to leave all else, and practice this at the bidding o f his government.
Let all be said of the burden o f taxation that can be said ; let the terrible
exactions levied on the manufactures and commerce of France or England
or the United States be put in the strongest and most alarming lig h t;
and what are they to this tax, which takes from one to five years out of
198
TH E W A S T E
OF W A R .
[September,
the life o f each citizen, out of its most fruitful part 2 What otter nation
on earth would submit to this2 W h o can estimate the hindrances which
such a system imposes on the progress of the arts, on the accumulation o f
wealth, and on the development of the spirit of peaceful industry, on
which all civilized progress depends? Great as Germany is in thought
and in achievement, no traveller has failed to observe that she is, in indus
trial and commercial activities, far behind countries which do not excel
her in resources or in industry ; but the fact has not been noticed, as it
ought to have been, that her tardiness in these things is, in a great meas
ure, the natural consequence of a military system which wastes in mere
consumption and in lessons o f destruction the best years of the best
strength of the whole nation.
I f we consider how much o f the surplus earnings of Europe is
represented by the money taxation levied for military and naval expenses
and for the interest of war debts, and add to this the number of men
capable o f useful labor, who are diverted from it by the system o f stand
ing armies, we shall find that, in times o f such armed peace as has pre
vailed in Europe since the Austrian campaign o f 1866, full one fourth
o f the amount of wealth which would otherwise have accumulated to
enrich the world is wasted, as the direct consequence o f the system o f
settling national disputes by a trial of strength. Or, to put the statement
in another form, if two great events should suddenly occur, the one the
most frightful calamity the mind can conceive, a pestilence, say, or an
earthquake which should sweep away at a blow seventy-five millions o f
civilized men, or one fourth of the population of Europe, and the other a
simple but effectual agreement among all nations that disputes among
them shall hereafter be settled by an international tribunal of justice, the
former event, in its effects upon the aggregate o f civilization, the sum of
the world’s wealth, would be fully counterbalanced by the latter,
But this is not a ll; for it will be observed that in this estimate we have
considered merely the cost and preparations for war, and not the desola
tion and ruin ivhich result from the actual conflict. In a purely economical
point o f view, however, the waste of war itself is appalling, far beyond
all that even armies and their contractors know or dream of in time o f
peace. W hen hundreds o f thousands of men trained and armed with all
the resources of genius and of scientific knowledge to the single work of
destruction, go to work to practice this art upon the lives, property and
territory of one another, the scene is such an invasion o f all the triumphs
o f civilization as defies all description. The naked figures which express
the cost in lives and in dollars of such a struggle as that in the Crimea, or
that of the war for the Union, are a mere mockery o f our thought; it
is only in silent reflection, calling to mind that every dollar represents
1870]
TH E
W ASTE
OF W A R .
199
some poor man’s privation, some hours o f his labor spent in vain ; and
that every life lost represents some fireside desolate and some heart
broken, that the impression becomes real to us, though it can never be
other than inadequate. But we turn with horror from the thought of
the battlefield, and wonder if it must go on thus forever.
It cannot be. Not many generations ago, it was common to settle
private differences by the ordeal o f physical strength and endurance; and
the duel and the trial by jury, the shame and the honor of our civilization,
both had their origin historically in this acknowledged mode of admin
istering justice. W e are at least far beyond the ordeal n ow ; and the
blood spilt in a private broil is never likely again to be regarded as other
than a stain. But national morality and individual morality flow from
the same conceptions of equity; the law of nations and the laws which
maintain civil order are more or less imperfect expressions of the same
sense of right, which conscience strives to make supreme over govern
ments and their subjects. He would then be a bold man who should
doubt that the time will come when any exercise of violence by a com
munity, for the enforcement o f its rights, will be thought as infamous
as it now would be to substitute it for law in the advocacy of private
rights of property. The time is sure to com e; buthow shall it be brought
to us? Only in one w a y : only by the earnest demand of the public
opinion of the world. The people must see that their interests are not
found in serving the passions of ambitious rulers, or in tearing down
the strength and wasting the wealth o f their neighbors; but in main
taining order and peace throughout the community of Christendom.
Seeing this, they must compel their governments to join in establishing
tribunals o f justice which shall be supreme and final in all questions of
international difference.
That there are difficulties in the way o f constituting such tribunals is
no secret; there are always difficulties in the way of well-doing. They
have been fully considered and discussed by wise men, and no reason
has ever been shown for regarding them as insurmountable. The state
ment o f the necessity for the work is enough to prove that it can be done,
for the necessity is a controlling one, far beyond any other that now
presses upon the nations. The labor and ingenuity which are expended
in the noblest works that human ambition has ever marked out as
the objects of its brightest dreams would be employed more promisingly,
more fruitfully, in bringing men to act harmoniously in doing away with
wa , than in all the achievements o f united art and science in many
generations. The world is surely ripening for this, the one greatest step
which it is or ever has been possible to make in the advance o f civili
zation, and the day is coming when this magnificent reform will be
200
OUR
G R E A T ST A PL E S A N D
TH E W A R I N
EUROPE.
[September,
accomplished, perhaps by means so simple and so rapid that mankind
will first be fully conscious of the elevation in its aims after it has begun
to enjoy the glorious results, and to be amazed at the inconceivable
development of its prosperity and happiness.
OUR GREAT STAPLES AND THE W AR IN EUROPE.
The probable effect of the war in Europe upon the great staples of
our agricultural districts— the cotton of the South and the breadstuffs of
the West— is a question which naturally excites much solicitude. At
this stage o f the struggle there are few precedents to guide us in our
estimate o f the future. The conclusion was reached at once, on the
declaration o f war, that it involved much lower coiton and dearer breadstuffs. The consequence was a panic in the cotton markets and a great
advance in flour and wheat; but neither the decline in cotton nor the
advance in breadstuffs has been maintained. Cotton has recovered a
large part of the decline and breadstuffs lost all o f the advance.
The course which operators in these two great staples pursued, imme
diately after the declaration of war. was dictated by precedent, but in
entire blindness to the fact that in neither was the market in a normal
condition. Cotton was forced down in the face of the truth, that with
the increased production supplies are still below the quantity which
the markets of the world would take if the rates were satisfactory; and
with supplies admitted to be deficient, it is manifestly unsafe to count
upon extreme low prices, even if one or two important sources of demand
have been closed or considerably diminished. The reverse was true of
wheat. The price at the outbreak of the war was rather above the
average, while the stocks were excessive. Taking, therefore, the usual
view of the effect of war upon breadstuffs, there was on good ground for
the advance which took place the last of July— firmness in prices then
ruling was the most that could have been expected.
May we not, then, anticipate unless this struggle be greatly prolonged,
and bring complications which no one now seems to look for, that its full
effect upon Cotton and Breadstuffs has been realized ? As to Cotton, let us
even suppose that the world will have an increase of the supply, equal to
500,000 American bales. Stocks are large, the visible supply at leading
markets being 225,000 bales in excess of last year, so that the whole o f this
increased production o f half a million bales must be manufactured and
disposed of during the year, more than has been used in the year just
closed. But has not this view o f the question already produced its full
effect in the market ? The price o f Middling Upland Colton in Liverpool
is now 8ld ; one year ago it was 134d. Here is a decline of 4fd, or about
*8 7 0 j
OUR
G R E A T ST A P L E S A N D
TH E W A R
IN
EUROPE.
201
thirty-five per cent, to correspond with the increase in the supply. But
we are told that, in consequence of the war, the consumption o f cotton
and cotton goods for the coming year on the Continent o f Europe will
be much smaller tlian during the past year. There is some reason for this
conclusion. W ar is a great destroyer. It impairs the ability of the
people to supply themselves with necessaries and comforts. But it also
creates a demand in the place of that which it destroys. If great armies
are to be kept in the field, their equipment will involve the use o f immense
quantities of heavy cotton goods, for tents, and clothing, and other pur
poses. But besides, may not the increased consumption elsewhere, by
reason of the lower prices, much more than make good any deficiency
in the demand from the Continent. The reduction in goods which attends
the decline in the price o f the raw material, materially increases their
consumption, while in remote parts of the world new markets are constant
ly being opened. There would, therefore, appear to be much force in the
conclusion that no important further decline in cotton may be looked for
at present.
As to breadstuffs, it is evident that the United States are to be relied
upon to supply a large proportion of the bread for the great armies of
both belligerents, and that much will be destroyed in the advance and
retreat o f the respective armies. But this, under the circumstances, is,
we fear, but a poor reliance for any decided advance in prices. All through
the late war in this country, when we had great armies to feed, the price
o f wheat was lower in gold than now at this market, and we were con
stantly shipping largely to Europe. In May, after the surrender of Lee,
the average of wheat in English markets was 40s. per quarter; it is
now 51s. A t the present time there is no deficiency in the crops anywhere;
but the great depressing influence is that the stocks are excessive. In
the leading markets o f Great Britain, on the 1st of January, there were
sixteen million (16,000,000) bushels o f wheat in store, and in the States
about twelve million (12,000,000) bushels in sight— making a total of
twenty-eight million (28,000,000) bushels.
This enormous aggregate,
although we have another good crop already harvested, has not been
reduced one-half— being estimated still at nine million (9,000,000) bushels
in Great Britain, and standing, according to the figures lately published,
at something over seven million (7,000,000) bushels at and between New
York and Chicago, not including a large accumulation at Montreal.
Unless operators, receivers and bankers are anxious to repeat the experi
ence o f last autumn and winter, they cannot for the present favor any
considerable increase o f stocks ; and hence whatever increase of demand
the European war may create, will it would appear naturally be met by
the increased offerings on the market, and therefore all cause for an
advance in prices be removed.
202
STATISTICS O F TH E K IN G D O M OF TH E N E T H E R L A N D S .
[Sept&mheTf
It follows, if these conclusions shall prove correct, that this country is
not to receive any further serious damage from the present aspect o f
affairs in E rope. Coiton and breadstuffs are likely to be exported in
large quantities, but any such changes in values as to disturb exchanges
and cripple trade need not be feared. This view is not favorable to
speculation; but in prosperity o f legitimate trade the welfare of the
country is be*t assured.
ON THE S T A T IS T IC OF THE KINGDOM OF T O NETHERLANDS.
BF
S
.B R O W N ,
KSQ., F .S .S ., P R E S ID E N T
OF
TH E
IN STITU TE
O F A C T U A R IE S .*
I. Introductory—I I . Population and Territory
I .— Introd uctory.
The invitation of the Dutch Government to hold the next meeting of
the Internationa] Stati-iical Congress at the Hague, having been accepted
by th e Commission to whom the decision was left, the assembly has been
fixed for the 6th to 11 ih September next. The King of the Netherlands,
by a decree of 17th October, 1868, appointed a Commission of Organisa
tion, of which the Minister o f the Interior was named President. His
Royal Highness the Prince of Orange has also been named the Honorary
President of the Congress.
Dr. von Baumhauer, Director o f the Statistical Department in the
Ministry of the Interior, who is so well known by his able writings, and
by the active and honorable part which he has taken in all the preceding
congresses, wrote the sketch of a programme of the subjects to be discus*
sed, in which he judiciously reduced them to a small number of questions,
hoping thereby to obtain a more thorough investigation and more effec
tive results. The sub-divisions proposed relate to the theory and limits
o f statistics, and the practical application of statistical data— statistics o f
civil and commercial justice and legislation, of finance, and of public
companies, and two subjects o f more special interest to his own country
— fisheries and European transatlantic possessions— meaning by the latter
the statistics, not of colonies, but of native populations governed by
Europeans.
In following out these ideas more into detail, M . von Baumhauer has
written a very able and interesting treatise, which forms the basis o f the
actual programme issued by the commission, and which it will be seen
comprises subjects deserving of special notice by this country.
In view of this approaching meeting, I venture to think that a few
recent statistics on the Kingdom of the Netherlands, not descending into
* Head before the Statistical Society, London.
1870]
s t a t is t ic s
of the
k in g d o m
of
the
203
Ne t h e r l a n d s .
minute details, but under the broad divisions o f population, army and
navy, commerce, canals and railways, finance, and for< ign possessions,
might be useful to some members o f this Society. I have to ih nk Dr>
von Baumhauer, wbo, in the midst of much occupation, has k’ mlly for*
warded me some tables corrected to last year inclusive.
II.— Population and Territory.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of the territorv of the
ancient Seven United Provinces, and some portions of the province of
Limbourg, lies between 50° 44' and 53° 34' N . latitude, ami 3° 30' and
7° 10' E. longitude. It is bounded on the east bv Germany, . n the
north and west by the German Ocean and the North Sea. and on the
south by Belgium, with the frontier as fixed by the Treaty of 15th
November, 1831, and comprises about 11,000 square miles.
The total population, as computed to 31st December, 1868, was as
follows:—
Nrrth Brabant. .....................
.............................
Gne’deHa' cl
N orth H olland........................
South
“
........................
Zea a n d ....................................
Utrecht......................................
Friesiand...................................
Overyssel...................................
............................
Groningen.
D renthe.....................................
Duchy o f L im bou rg...............
E xtent
in Hectares.
512,794
508.659
299,123
273,(04
337,4S0
266,272
220,502
3,283,997
P op u M if n.
434,832
437,019
692.140
585 920
179,313
176 506
298,744
25',255
231,087
107,612
226,801
Density.
Hcctar s o every
1,(00
iDh toil ants.
1,176
1,164
432
466
983
784
1,096
1,2S7
992
2,475
972
3,628,229
905
The total population shows an increase over the year 1867 o f 35,813
on 3,592,416, on nearly 1 per cent. The previous rates of increase
between the censuses had been :—
1829-39 ........................................................................................................... 9-45
1839-49........................................................................................................... 6-81
1849-59........................................................................................ .................7'74
1859-67............................................................................................................ 9 08
The most populous province was North Holland, showing only 432
hectares to every 1,000 inhabitants, and the least peopled was Drenthe,
in which there were 2,475 h etares to every 1,000 inhahi ants; and the
average of the whole country, 905 hectares t > every 1,000 inhabitants, or
about 2 i English acres to each.
The pure Dutch, or Netherlander, number about 2,070,900, and are
found dispersed through the provinces of North and South Holland,
Zealand, Utrecht and Guelderland ; the Friesians speaking a dialect of
the Dutch language in Overyssel, Drenthe, Gromingen, and Friesland,
number about 895,700; North Brabant contains almost entirely a Flemish
population of nearly 435,000.
204
S T A TIS TIC S O F TH E K IN G D O M O F TH E N E T H E R L A N D S .
[ September,
In 1859, when the religion was distinguished, there were
number—
about in
P r o te s ta n ts .................................. .......................................................................................................
1,942,387
64,539
1,234,486
32
63,890
L u th e r a n s ................ .................. ........................... * .........................................................
Catholics ............................... .................................................................................................
Greeks ................................................. .................................................................................
Israelites.............................................................................. .................................................
Unknown...................... ................................... .........................................................
3,794
The Protestants being about 60.6 per cent, and the Catholics 37.3 per
cent, o f the whole.
Next to England and Belgium, the Netherlands contains a larger town
population relative to the total numbers o f the people than any countryin Europe, and very nearly equal to the proportion in Belgium. Thus,
about the year 1861, the proportion of town population was in England
and Scotland 19.5 per cent of the whole; in Belgium, 11.7 ; and in the
Netherlands 11.1 percent. In 1868 the principal towns of the Nether
lands were:—
Population.
A m sterdam ........................................... 271,764
The Ha. ue (the residence o f the )
Qft
K i g and the Royal family..........j
yu,u
Rotterdam .............................................. 118,837
U trecht.......................................................
60,999
L eyden.......................— .......................
89,294
Groningen..................................
Haarlem...................................................
30,916
M aestricht..
A rnhen........
Leeuwarde.
B ois le Due
Dordrecht
N in egu en ...
D37,634
elft.............
P opulation.
. .
28,679
..
31,792
...
25,048
...
25,038
., . 24,878
...
22,860
...
22,280
830,077
Each of these towns shows a considerable increase in population over
the previous year, and although they by no means equal the large towns
in England, in which, besides London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester,
Birmingham, and Dublin, which were all, in 1865, much more populous
than Amsterdam, still they form together a considerable part of the
whole.
The population statistics o f the Oriental possessions o f the Netherlands
are like those of other countries similarly situated, not yet in a very
satisfactory state, and are to be made a subject for discussion at the next
Congress. Dr. von Baumhauer, in his sketch of the programme, gives
an idea of the difficulties which have attended the obtaining a correct
census. In the Dutch East Indies, as far back as 1819, the chiefs o f the
villages were required to keep a correct register o f the inhabitants, show
ing the profession and the age o f each native ; also a register of births,
deaths, and marriages, to be kept by the assistance of the priest o f each
village.
In 1836, a part o f the public debt being charged upon the Oriental
possessions, suggested a better organisation for increasing the products of
the soil and the system o f forced labour, whilst it made a true census of
the greater importance, naturally led to false estimates o f the extent o f
land and population by the chiefs o f villages and districts in order to
escape their due share o f the taxation.
1870]
STATISTICS
or
TH E K IN G D O M O F TEE N E T H E R L A N D S.
205
In 1844, M. G. L . Baud proposed to the Governor-General Markus the
forms of a census to be collected in each village, district, and regency,
distinguishing the population into adults, male and female; boys above
and under .12 years; and girls. Besides the occupation o f the men, the
number o f cattle and beasts of burden, the nature of the cultivation of
the soil, and the extent o f land in the plantations were required to be
stated. But the expenses of these researches were thrown upon the
separate residences ; and, although in one subresidence of thirteen dis
tricts, the effect of the census was to show an increase of the land liable
to public burdens which augmented the treasury by 150,000 florns, the
refusal to reward the natives who had zealously assisted in the work, led
to the general failure of the operation. The annual reports on the state
of the colonies, which have been made to the Legislative Chambers since
1848, have at various times drawn attention to the defects of the popula
tion returns, and in 1861, the Central Statistical Commiss’on made a
report on the subject, approving generally the plan o f M. Baud, above
referred to, and admitting that the census could not be taken in a single
day or night, advised the establishment o f village registers, but with the
paid services of the notaries or village writers.
In Java great improvements have been effected since 1S57 in the survey
of the country on a general scale o f
w, combining with the survey the
collection of agricultural statistics. Since 1864, an annual sum of
300,000 florins has been allotted out o f the colonial budget for the exten
sion of the survey, the triangulation of the island of Java, and general
statistical labours.
The total population o f the colonial possessions o f the Netherlands, to
the most recent date, is given as follows:—
..........................................
Tear.
18o6
Geographi'-al
Square MLes.
28,943-2
W est In d ies....................................................................
Coasts o f G u in e a .......................................................
1861
1859
2,829 8
5003
85.182
110,118
32,253 1
21,465,570
East Indies...............
T ota l...........................................................................................
Population.
21,210,270
The population of the East Indies, in December, 1866, is subdivided
into eighteen residences, of which the principal are Java and Madura,
with 14,552,473 inhabitants; Sumatra (west coast), 1,903,686 ; Palambang, 544,508; Borneo (west side), 329,223; Borneo (south and east
side), 830,112 ; Celebes, 325,544; the Moluccas, a total of 815,699;
Timor, 1,640,000 inhabitants; and the rest much smaller numbers.
In 1866, the European population in the Dutch Indies numbered
29,132, of whom 23,574 were born in the colonies, 3,427 in the Nether
lands, and 1,231 in other European states. The total shows a decrease
of 4,535, or nearly 13^ per cent, since 1863.
206
ST A TISTIC S O F TH E K IN G D O M O F TH E N E T H E R L A N D S . [
September,
Thu population of the West Indian colonies, on 31st December, 1867,
is stated as follows:
Surinam ..
Cu uc i >
....
..........
.........
.
.
3,652
2,945
B onaire.................................
St. Eustache.................... ..................
................
1,880
1,806
85,182
Going back to Government returns o f 1866, we may obtain a few more
population statistics of the Netherlands. The total population <> 31st
December in thityear was 3,552,665, of whom 1,760,679 w e r e nales,
1,791 986 fem des, or 1,000 males to 1,013 females The prop' rfon of
females has regularly diminished in each year from 1,031 in 1859.
! 1866.
...........
B irtus........................... ...
k*
still-born ............... ............
T otal .................................
D e a t h s .................................
Males.
04,234
3,846
Female.
01,019
8.190
Total.
125,253
6,936
04,109
132,189
50,113
101,851
1867.
B irth s................................... .
“
still-born .................
126,504
6,4 i2
132,946
T o t a l.....................................
De iths...................................
M arriages..... ....................
41.C49
84,767
29,035
L< g iti” ate. lllegimate
•4,695
120,6f 8
424
6,512
127,070
5,119
—
111,921
4,583
__
...
....
—
The still born children, in 1866, were 6,936. Including the still-born
the pioportion o f male to female births was 1,000 to 941.
The still-born children were much greater in the illegitimate than in
legitimate births, being 9.08 and 5'41 per cent on the living born. From
the comparison of the various countries of Europe, it will Vie seen (hat,
in the pioportion of illegitimate births, the Netherlands is at the bottom
of the scale, showing only 44 to 1,000 legitimate births the average of
all countries being 87, and Bavaria as high as 279. owing no doubt to
marriage legislation. In 1866 the proportion in the Netherlands was
only 39 in 1,000, and appears to have been gradually diminishing since
1857, when it was nearly 43 in 1,000.
Amongst the births there were 1,686 twins, 17 triplets, and 1 of four
children, born in Amsterdam in the month of February.
On comparison o f the deaths it will be found that, in 1866, mi the
total population, the rate was 2 ’87 per cent, the births being 3 53 per
cent and the marriages 2 9 ,6 2 0 = -83 per cent.
The deaths under 1 year o f age were, in 1866, 23-3 per cent of the
whole, and in 1867, 29’4 per cent.
Of the deaths, the proportion in every 1,000 was, males, unmarried
628, married 275, widowers 9 7 ; and of the females, unmarried 570
married 255, widows 157.
Of the total marriages 29,620 in 1866, and 29,935 in 1867; the pro
207
ST ATISTICS O F TH E K IN G D O M O F TH E N E TH E R LA N D S.
portions between the different classes of tbe sexes was as follows, com
pared with the same classes in England:—
Marriages.
Bachelors and spinster*......................................
“
w id o w s ..................................
"
v»ivt*r divorced, & c ..................
W idow ers and »p insters.....................................
“
w id o w s .........................................
D iv oiced m en v.ith splutters or w idow s, &c
,----- Netherlands-------- >
1S56.
1867.
796
8*0
42
48
1
113
102
46
iO
2
1,000
1,000
England.
lo5l826
42
85
47
1,100
The marriages may also be subdivided in the proportion in which they
weie contracted at different periods of age, and compared with the same
particulars for England and Belgium.
Proportion o f Marriages according to Age,
Under 30...................
3 0 -4 5 ...........................
4 5 -6 0 ...........................
n0 and upwards..........
Under 30......................
Men aged 30 —45, with 3 0 -4 5 ...........................
wom en aged.............. j 4 5 -6 0 ....................... .
60 and u p w a r d s .......
Under 30.....................
M^r aged 45—60, with 30—45...........................
wom en aged ............ 45—60...........................
.60 and upw ards.. . .
Under 30.....................
y e aged 60 &upwards j 30— 45...........................
with w om en a g e d .... j 45—60 ................ .
L60 and upw ards.........
Men agnd 30 ar d under,
wi h wom en aged —
Numbers observed.
Under 3 0 . - . . , . . .
3 0 - 4 . ..........................
45—60..........................
60 and upw ards.......
/----- Netherlands----- ,
Men.
W omen.
5,660
6,845
3,538
2,740
685
387
28
117
10,000
10,000
1,837
1,572
127
2
119
373
186
7
9
36
54
18
979
888
54
1
38
2,1
159
7
4
21
47
19
Belgium,
Mean,
1811-45.
4,378
857
30
2
2,011
1,799
m
6
124
317
155
9
15
46
49
17
10,000
29,620
10,600
231,797
10,COO
145,655
Netherlands,
1866.
4,880
760
20
Et gland,
1861-53.
7,199
359
4
/----- England.----- ,
Men.
W omen.
7,562
8,220
1,922
1,48J
425
264
91
27
10,000
10,000
,— B elg iu m ----- *
Men.
W om en,
5,275
6.527
3,933
3,019
605
420
34
127
10,060
10,000
It thus appears, if the proportions have not much altered in recent
years, that the marriages according to age, in the Netherlands,
agrt e much more nearly with Belgium than England. By far the highest
pro| onion of men under 30 marrying women under 30, in England,
being 7,199, whilst in the Netherlands it is 4,880, and in Belgium 4,377
in 0,000 marriages ; and the same observation may be made as to the
totals o f males aud females marrjii g under 30 years of age. At 45 and
upwards the Netherlands show 802 marriages o f men and 415 of
women; whilst England only shows 516 of males and 291 of females,
and Belgium 732 of males and 454 of females in every 10,000 marriages.
In this report the materials are afforded for comparing the population
statistics of towns of 10,000 inhabitants and upwards with the smaller
towns and villages, also o f the mortality according to months. But the
208
TRAD E
O F TH E
U N ITED
STATES.
[ September,
four months, MAy to August, iu 1866, are disturbed >>v the effects of the
A s i a t i c cholera, which seems to have reached its maximum in July. In
1,000 deaths for each month, or 12,000 in the year, the proportion by
seasons were:
January to A pril.....................................................
May to August .....................................................
September to Decem ber ....... ...............................
1865.
4,345
3,909
3,746
-Males—.— n
1866
3,60i
5,171
3,223
,----- Fern ales------ ,
1865.
1866.
4,423
3.666
3,869
5;097
3,708
3,237
Contrary to the general rule the mortality seems '<> have been least in
the last four months of the year, but this is not borne
by the averages
o f 1850 to 1859, and 1800 to 1864, when May to A igust show the most
favorable results.
Tim 9 does not allow of pursuing this part of the sn »ject further.
T o be concluded in our next number.]
TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Monthly R ep oit No, 12
contains the account o f the
ended Ji»o« 30, 1870. In
the following brief abstract
Bureau :
o f the Bureau o f Statistics, noi in the printer’s hands
foreign trade o f the United St 1 j for the fiscal year
advance o f a more extended at? • ..eot o f the contents,
has been furnished by Mr. Edw
•Young, Chief o f the
Im portations of M e.chandise:
Free o f duty........................
D utiable...............................
. $20,159.9 >4
E xports :
Dom estic pr ducts (gold value).
F oreign produces........ ..................
$376,636, 'i0
. 415,846,’>99
--------- ----- 5436,008,033
E xcess o f imports of mer. liandise over e x p orts .
Specie M ovem ent:
E x p o r t s .............................................................. ..........
R e-exports.................................................................... .
T o ta l ex p o r ts
Im ports.................
16,155,2 »
------------- j92,792,150
$43,213,913
$43,882 0-1
14,271, 4
....................................................................... $ 58 , 153 . 9 2 )
................................................................
26,348,ini.
N et outgo o f specie
31,804,939
E xcess o f total imports over exports in 1870 ......................................
Iu the fiscal year 1869 tke mports w ere.................................................
Dom estic exports................................. .......... ...................$325,925,6 3
K e-exports........................................................................... .... 25,17 s, ■*14
E xcess in 1869 of imports over exports .. —
Sk i\viug an apparent improvement iu 1870 o f
$11,408,974
37,314,235
351,099,057
86,215,198
74,806,224
WAREHOUSE STATEMENT.
V alue o f goods in bond July 1, 1868................................................................$17,725,566
Value o f goods in boud June 30. 1869................................ ........................ 6 *,457,436
E xcesss of bonded goods at tke close of fiscal year, 1869........................... ...............
$14,371,870
Valne o f goods in bond July 1, 1869.............................................
............. $62,457,436
Value o f goods in bond June 30, lo70............................................................ 56,891,473
Balance withdrawn from warehouse and added to consum ption for fiscal year
1870................................... .................................................................................................
$5,565,963
T he following c mparative statement o f the foreign trade for the respective fiscal
years 1869 and 1870 exhibits the true adverse balances :
1869.—E xcess o f im ports over ex p oits ........................................................$88,215,198
Deduct as per warehouse statement................................................. 14,731,870
--------------- $71,483,328
1810.—Excess of im ports..................................................................................$11,408,974
A dd as per warehouse statement.......................................................
5,565,963
True adverse balance.................................................................................................... . . . .
16,974,937
True improvem ent over 1869................................................. ............................................
$54,508,391
1870]
M O B ILE
AND
O H IO
R A IL R O A D
209
COM PANY.
MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY.
ANNUAL
REPORT
OP
THE
PRESIDEN T
YE A R
AND
BOARD
OP DIRECTORS
FOR
THE
1869.
T o the Stockholders o f the Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company :
The past year has shown a healthy improvement in your business, consequent
upon an increased cotton crop and the gradual recuperation of the country from
th° blighting effects ol war.
The receipts and expenses for the year, compared with 1868, are as follows:
F rom
F rom
From
From
R eceipts.
1868.
passengers...................................... $545,864 46
freigh t.............................................. 1,179, !S2 37
m ail.....................................
47,089 76
e x p r e s s ............................................
78,465 00
T ota ls...................... $1,850,601 59
1869.
72
1,381,402 21
47,970 CO
70,150 00
Increase.
$66,900 26
' 205,219 84
889 24
Decrease.
1868.
$327,704 16
274, i 85 50
635,015 79
13,646 61
1899.
$338,770 27
812,534 44
669,408 22
34,815 69
Increase.
$11,066 11
38,818 94
34,892 43
21.169 08
$8,315 00
$2,115,286 93
And the expenses were—
F or repairs o f roadw ay........................................................
F or repairs o f rolling s tock ................................................
F or conducting transportation................................. .
F or taxes, Macon shops and incline plane......................
T otals........ ....................................................................$1,250,552 06 $1,355,5^ 62
N et revenue............................................................................
600,049 53
759,758 31
Increase in the re ce ip ts.►
...................................................
.............
264,685 84
Increase in the exp en ses....................- ..............................
.............
104,976 56
$159,708 78
Net increase in revenue
It will be remembered that the cotton crop of 1868 was the smallest pro
duced ia the country tributary to your road since the war, and the receipts for
the first three months of 1869 showed a heavy failing off, but since then the
improvement has been steady, and the increase of the crop of 1869 enabled us
to overcome that loss, and which swell the earnirgs of the year to the extent of
$261,685 34.
The steady improvemfnt in receipts since April, 1869. is due in part only to
the increased cotton crop of that year. The increase of manufacturing on and
near the line has been large, and is furnishing business to a greater extent than
would be supposed without an examination. There are now 997 manufacturing
and mechanical concerns on or near your road, of which 249 were started during
the past year. There are of lumber end grist mills 337, of which 87 were
started the past season.
RESUMPTION OF INTEREST PAYMENTS
It is a matter of congratulation that we have been able to resume payment
of interest to our first mortgage bondholders, and thereby justify the confidence
they had reposed in the real strength of your enterprise. The bondholders who
have generously extended payments are entitled to ycur thanks, and we can but
think that, wlun fully acquainted with your past surroundings, they will thank
fully acknowledge your active and untiring efforts to restore the road to pros
per ty.
CONNECTING
ROADS
With all connecting roads our rela'ions are harmonious, with such occasional
differences as competing intertsts necessarily engender. During the past year
4
210
M O B ILE A K D
O H IO
R A IL R O A D
COM PANY.
[
September,
tbe branch to Aberdeen has been completed by that city and i-> in successful
operation. This branch rpaches the upperm st town on tb- Toinbigbee.
Daring t ie cm rent year tbe Alabama and Chat.annoga road will be running
to Tmkalnosa on tbe Black W arrior, crotsing the Ton bigbee at. J >nes’ B uff,
thus complelii g our appri aclns to the 1>tier i iv< r. and vivi ig us five in all.
The Selma, Meridian and Memphis road is beiug pressed by the indomitable
em rgy o f Gen. N . B. Forrest.
The Selma and Mo tgomerv road will be completed iD the next six months,
enabling us to form sn all-rail route from S ,. Loufa to the capital of Alabama,
while the N ew Orb ans, Mobile and Cbattanoogi road will be fa fab-fa in tbe
same time to Mobile, thus connecting the two cities o f tbe Gulf, and terming
aD all-rail route Irom St. Louis to N<“w Orleans by way of your road.
Y ou
can but be benefited by there new connections, and are luily justified in the
expectation o f increased earnings.
The cit z*ms o f Quito have obtained a charter from the State of K>ntu k y 'to
build a road from Cairo to some poinl on yours, at or near Columbus, K v ., and
are d o w active y engaged n raising the means therefor.
I'l e impor’ ance o this
movement will be appreciated when it is remembeied that this would complete
an all-tail route to Chicago, the great city o f the east Northwest
This done
— our connection with the St. Louis and I on Mountain road completed, as it
wi 1 be within a few weeks— and your road b com s the route leading Irom
both cities o f the Gulf to the two great cities o f the West.
RO LLINS STOCK.
During the past season, in common with all S mlhern roads, your rolling
Stock was insufficient to meet the increased traffic. T o remedy this as far os
ou” ubilfay would go, we have contracted for2n0 freight cars and 10 1 com ttives.
These will, from pre-ent prospects, be insufficient, and it is desirable to increase
still more as fast as the means at command will permit
No life of a passenger has been lost or a bone broken.
The Floating D ebt,
which hung like a nightmare upon your prosperity, has, as will be seen by tables,
been paid, and at no time since the termination of the late unhappy conflict hive
yonr afl.irs been in fo favorable a condition. This pro-peii y is due i i part
to the generous indulgence o f creditors and the eonsidt rate aid furnished us by
the banks o f Mobile and Go umbus, Miss , but, above all, to a kind Providence,
who has guided and protected us through the darkest days of our administrai ion_
CONDENSED BALANCE SHEET OP THE
MOBILE AND OHIO RAILRO AD COMPANY FOR
THE Y E AR
1669.
Dr.
Decem ber 3 1 ,1S69.
T o con stm -t’ o n ............................................................................................................................. $13,994,919
Heconsu uctiou and renew als...................................................................................................
3,881,166
Interest.......................................................................................................................... . . . . . .
3,197,121
Shop sup-dies on hand...............................................................................................................
62,521
Paducah Branch ..........................................................................................................................
102;894
M ississippi, Gainesville and Tuscaloosa Railroad b o n d s ................................................
30,000
M issi-sippi, Gainesville and 1 uscaloosa, due on open account.......................................
25,308
Land Bureau..................................................................................................................................
20,390
Emiara ion Bureau—B xpenses....................................................................
4,416
U nited States r, venue t a x .........................................
49,851
N ew landing on M ississippi River, at Columhns, K y .........................................................
6,610
Uncurrent fu n ds.............................
1.599
Karnincs n o i received by Treasurer in 1869 ..........................................................................
55,105
Cash balance......... ..........................................
51,317
T o ta l.................................-................................................................ „ .................................$21,36°,04*2
1870]
211
M ISC E L L A N E O U S ITE M S.
C r.
Decem ber 31. 1869,
B y capital s tock ........................................................................
$4,371,853
Fund© i d en t..........................................................................
10,083,648
Change bills..................................................................................................................................
806
Bills payabl i . ................................................................................................................................
175,828
Purchase ol roll ng stock, 1865................................................................................................
12,615
Pay rolls and individual balances...........................................................................................
26-1,741
Old P oat ng D e o t ........................................................................................................................
55,891
Land bureau..........................
2 jH,416
Profit a n i loss ..............................................
5,377,422
N et receipts 1869 ......................................................................................................................
759,758
T o a l.................................................................................... ............................................... $al, J >,042
AMOUNT OF THE FUNDED
DEBT
OF THE MOBILE AN D OHIO RAILRO AD COMPANY,
D EC.
31, 18b9.
D
e s c r ip t io n
o p
B
o n d s
.
First Mortgage
Incom e bonds, balance o f 1, 2 and 3 issues,
convertible in sterling...................................
f'iret Mori, sterling b m ds...............................
Int. bonds, 10 yrs., let i:s u e .............. ...........
lo t. bon
18S3, 2d issu e...................... ...........
Int. b o n is , 1833, sterling...................................
£161,300, rated at $4 80.............................
State o f Tennessee bonds. ..............................
State o f Tenn. (funded int.).............................
0
1
1issue.
s
I
%
sH
1" tls
°s
*
N. T . &M ob. 8 p. c. 2,500,000
38,600 22 060
L on.
Mob. (i & 8. 6,00:1.000 6,410,000 22’. , 3M
W obi e ........... 8
803,7 0
803,700 16,740
377.000
377.900 .........
M o b ile ,..........8
. . ...
756,010 ..........
L o n d o n ...— o
755,040
......... 1,L1,600
N ew Y o r k ... 6
1,2:16,000 1,281,000 .........
New Y o r k ... 6
38S,800
388,800 .. .
T ot. ls tm o rt. ..
. . . . . . . . 9,115,010 300,104
Second Mortgage.
Incom e bds, 1S67, 4th issu e............................. M ob ile........... 8
Incom e bonds—liquidation............................. M b ile ........... 8
Total
500.000
1,000,000
147,350 27,880
821,253 93 756
,13,621,4,0 10,083,641 421,8 JO
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
T h e P e o po se d A m en d m en t to th e
M ic h ig a n
C o n s t i t u t i o n . — Resolved, That the
lollowing amendment to the Constitution o f the State be, and the same is hereby
proposed to stand as Article 19 of said constitution, and be entitled “ o f railroads.”
A r t ic l e
19. S e c . 1. The Legislature may from time to time pass laws estab
lishing reasonable minimum rates o f charges for the transportation of passengers and
freight on different railroads in this State, and shall prohibit running contracts !*■tu .■ n
such railroad companies, whereby discrimination is made in favor o f either o f n.< h
companies as against other companies owning, connecting, or intersecting lines o f
railroad.
Sec. 2. No railroad corporation shall consolidate its stock, property or franchises
with any other railroad corporation owning a parallel or com peti' g line, and in no
case shall ary consolidation take place except upon pubiic notice being given o f at
leaste xty days to all stockholders, in such manner as shall be provided by law.
Sec. 3. The Legislature m ay provide by law for the payment by the counties,
townships and municipalities o f this State o f all bonds or other obligations heretofore
issued or incurred in pursuance o f acts o f the Legislature, by such counties, town
ships and municipalities severally for, and in aid of, any railroad co ■pany. Such
bonds or obligations shall be paid by the county, township or municipality issuing
or incurring the same, and in no event shall the State pay or become liable for
any portion o f such bonds or obligations. The Legislature shall submit to the electors
o f each o f said several counties, townships and municipalities for their decision, the
question of payment, together with the mode end manner o f the same. The atoreSaid amendment shall be, and is hereby submitted to the peop'e o f this State
at the next general election, to be holden on the Tuesday succeeding the first lloud av
212
M ISCE LLAN EO U S ITEMS.
[September,
in November, 1870, as provided in Section 1, Article 20 o f the Constitution, an l the
Secretary o f Sate is hereby required to give notice of the same to the sheriffs of the
several counties o f this State in the same manner that he is now required by law to
do in the case o f an election o f Governor and Lieutenant Governor, aud the Inspectors
o f Election in the several townships and cities o f this State shall prepare a suitable
box for the reception o f ballots cast for and against such amendment. Each person
voting at said election shall have written or printed on his ballot the words “ for all
the propositions on this ticket which are not cancelled with ink or pencil,” and
"against all which are so cancelled.” “ For Article 19, entitled ‘ o f railroads.”
“ F or Section 1, authorizing the Legislature to regulate thp passenger and freight
charges o f railroads.” “ For Section 2, prohibiting consolidation o f competing lines
o f railroads.” “ For Section 8, authorizing the payment o f bonds or obligations here
tofore issued.” Each o f said tickets shall be counted as a vote cast for each propo
sition thereon not cancelled with ink or pencil, and against each proposition so can
celled. The ballots shall in all respects be canvassed, and returns be made as in
elections o f Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
It will be Been that the article adopted will not legalize the bonds already is ued,
1 ,.it only enable the municipalities which have voted aid and received the consid
eration, by another vote to legalize their bonds. This would seem to be a pretty
severe trial o f the virtue o f the communities. They have agreed to pay a cenain
amount. On the strength o f that agreement corporations la v e constructed rai’roads that the communities wanted. N ow the law provides, not that they must fulfil
their contracts with these corporations, but that they may if they choose. Probablv
the amendment made the provision in this way because it was believed that other
wise the amendment itself would be unconstitutional. The decision of the Supreme
Court was that the contracts o f the municipalities were void ab in itio , and the
contract having been void when made, the only remedy was to give the pow er to
make a new contract w h:ch would not be void.
It will be seen that the Legislature took occasion to’add, or rather prefix, proviaicns
similar to those o f the new Illinois Constitution, prohibiting the consolidation o f
lailroads in certain cases, and also one autboiiziDg the Legislature to regulate the
tariffs o f railroads. This would indicate that the Legislature not only was indisposed
to grant facilities for the construction o f new lines, but desired to discourage them
altogether. However, we presume the first ami secm d sections will be found so
nearly inoperative as to do very little harm . — R a ilro a d Gazette.
T ea S h i p m e n t s . — The method o f packing the tea which is sent from Shangiiae
to San Francisco, and thence over the Pacific Rai'road, is very peculiar. The tea is
placed in small baskets holding one pound each, and three of those brsketsare
adjusted to the mouths o f three others and strapped together. Then fifteen o f
these parcols o f six baskets are made up into a package and securely co-ered with
matting, and in this style the tea is s> nt to m ile t . It is as-erted that a carrro of
teas can be sent from .-hargbne or Fuo e how to C icago in 45 days.
>he heights
are $3 25 per 100 lbs. lo can Francisco thence by the Pacific Railroad to Chicago,
$4 20, m ating $7 45 fr. m bhanghae to Chicago.
I he through height by rail from
San Francisco to New York is $6 per 100, so that the cost to the M lan iic Statrs
is $9 25. 'I he tea, it is asserted, is o f a good strong flavor, and pel ft cily sound.
A short time ago, a cargo o f 11,000 packages or 900, 000 lbs. o f tea was stut to
N ew Y crk by this route, and more recently, a cargo o f 40,000 was sent to Boston.—
C hicago R a ilw a y R eview . 1
1 H E F i n a n c e s o f G e o e g i a . — Governor Bullock sent a message to the Legislature
at A tb n ta, Gn., on August 2 J, transmitting reports o f the Comptroller ot the Treasury
and the Treasurer. The Governor recommends the payment in gold o f the principal
and interest o f the bonds issued before the war, arid a new issue of 7 per cent gold
bonds to fund the cuirency bond9 issued since the war, bearing mortgage on the State
load. The bonded debt o f the d a t e is 18,014,5' 0, and has not been increased since
1879. 'the S ate has salable property valued at over $12,i 00,000.
T he message was referred to the Finance Committee o f the House, with instructions
to prepare a bill in accordance with the Governor’s recommendation.
1870]
2li>
R A IL R O A D ITE M S.
T h e E q u i t a b l e L i f e A s s u r a n c e S o c i e t y . — The war in Europe affects the f i n u cea
disturbes the gold ami stock markets, enhances the price o f produce, but has no per
ceptible effect upon the condition o f a well-managed Life Insurance Company.
Nothing in the commercial world is more Btable and reliable. Within the short
space o f eleven years the managers o f the Equitable Life Assurance Society h iv e
established an institution possessing 12 million dollars in cash, with yearly receipts
amounting to
millions.
The sum assured by the Society in 1869, new business, was 51 million dollars,
being by more than 1 3 millions, the largest amount insured in that year by any single
company in the world.
The Society is an “ all cash ” company and transacts more than five times the
average amount ol life insurance done by all American companies, exci eding the
new business o f the largest note company by more than 25 million.
It has paid for death claims and dividends about 6 million dollars in ten years.
The Society is limited in its investments, by its own charter, to the most reliable
securities only.
It is a purely mutual company, and divides its profits every year among p ilicy
holders, beginning, in each case, at the end o f the first year.
The Equitable issues all desirable formB o f policy, and in this regard keeps fully up
to the most advanced experiences growing out o f the more purely scientific attributes
o f the business.
Persons in sound health desirous o f becoming assu-ed in “ The Equitable ” may
accomplish two objects at the same tim e : V iew the splendid new fire-proof building
o f the society, corner o f Broadway and Cedar street, and take out a policy on their
lives.
T he Equitable is sound, progressive and liberal —“ Good for all engagements.”
T
a x in g
C
o u p o n s
D
a n d
iv id e n d s
o f
C
o r p o r a t io n s
T
O
.
— T he following explains itself ;
r e a s u r y
f f ic e
o f
I
D
e p a r t m e n t
n t e r n a l
R
,
1
e v e n u e
,
i-
W a s h i n g t o n , Aug 6, 1870. )
: — Y ours o f 18th in3t„ enclosing copy o f ours, dated 29th ult., respecting terms
o f seciion 15, act 14, July, 1870, is received.
Y ou say that you have explained: First— That c rporations will not be responsi
ble for any tax on interest paid on bonds or coupons for the five months en ting 31st
December, 1870 ; and, second, that on the net gains and profit < o f corporations for
these five months, whether distributed in the shape o f dividends used in construc
tion, or carried to surplus fund account, ihey will be required to make return in March
and A ptil. 1871, as the annual income o f companies not required to w ith h old the
“ tax,’ aud inquire if your explanations are coirect.
I reply, that whete interest and coupons fall due at any time dming the five
m onthsending 31st December. 1870, no tax whatever is to be withheld therefrom,
but the persons receiving such payments must return the same as half o f their inc une.
Second— Y our last “ explanation” is not correct. The sixteenth section o f the
act o f 14th July, 1870, provides in what manner the returns of dividends, die., <fcc.,
shall be made, and your attention is called thereto. Respectfully,
J. W . D o u g l a s s , A c t i n g Commh.-ioner.
S
ir
J
o h n
B.
K
e n n e d y
,
E sq ., Assessor, Philadelphia.
RAILROAD ITEMS.
M
ic h ig a n
in t e n d e n t
C
f o r
R
e n t r a l
t u e
Y
a il r o a d
e a r
E
.—
n d in g
A
M
n n u a l
a y
R
e p o r t
i f
t iie
P
r e s id e n t
a n d
S
u p e r
31, 1870.—
Directors' Report.
The report o f the Board o f Directors, signed by James F. Joy as Presidint, is
as follows :
The Directors herewith submit a statement o f the earni- gs an 1 expenses o f the
Company for the year ending May 31 1870, and o f the preseut condition o f its nfifths.
214
R A IL R O A D
ITEMS.
[ September,
Tkcsininf f h i t l i t :
From passeDger..............................................................................................................$1,914,921 57
From freight.................................................................................................... ............... 2,684 488 87
From miscellaneous----- . ..... ............................................ ....................................
157,927 35
Total..................................................... ..................................... ...........................$4,707,287 97
The ordinary expenses of operating, including local taxation, and United States
taxes on dividends ana receipts nave been.............................................................. 3,113,110 65
leaving for interest and dividends ........................................................................... $1/94,177 32
Interest and exchange paid.......................................................................................... . 276,763 56
Leaving, above all expenses. ...................................................................................... $1 317 413 76
It wi 1 be seen lhat tne gross earnings have not been quite equal to those of last
year, being short the sum o f............................................................... .....................
9,001 99
While tae expenses have been in excess o f those o f last year, by the sum o f .... $78,666 63
These results are owing to the reduced rates on East-bound freight and to the
warfare about rates W est, between the trunk roads, as they style themselves, from
N ew -Y ork.
a he funded debt cvarprcd upon the property o f the company is n o w .................$3,629,998 89
L esiheam eun in sinking fund.............................................................................. 1,423,907 00
Net banded debt
$2,206 091 69
T b e cnpital stock now stands a t ................................................ ...................................$13,225,844 00
Bond, a del t ............................................................................................................................ 3,629,988 89
Bonded debt and stock together.................. ............................................................$16.85 ,832 89
Or le^e the amonnt i >sinking lunds .. .................................................. .............. 15 481,925 89
The bonded debt, secured by mortgage on the property cf the company, has
been diminished by conversion o f bonds nto st ick by .. ......................... 1,593,500 00
Am ibes ock has been mcr ased by a corresponding amount, and also by the
amount o f.............................................................................. ...................................
505.000 00
made necessary to meet the cost o f the various im irovem ents upon the read an l
purchase o f land, during the last three years. The largest outlay has been for
lan . in Chicago.
The largest amount ( f the funded debt o f the company, secured by i s m ortgage
at a y time, was $S,0( 0,000. A t the time the mortgage to secure (he debt was
made, there had been issued bunas to the amount o f $4,c 4 ,000. The n ortgage was
to secure that an ount and such furth. r amount as might be issued, nc t exc» e ling in
all $8,000,000.
rJ lie mortgage provided for a sinking for the bonds which might thereafter be
issued, o f ($60,00t ) per annum, it being thought that th< ee having been withdrawn
or provided fur by the op. ration o f this fund, the mortgage would be adequate
curity fir the $4,840,000 theretofore issued. Suteequ* ntly, the sinking fund was
enlarged by $24, 00 to provide for retiring $1.274 0 0 bends reissued, making the
tota: amount o f bonds provi ed for by sinking fund-, $4,334,< 00.
There have been
purchased with this fun » o f the bends to be paid for by it, $639,000
But the
bonds having risen in value above the limit, 1 10, at which trustees were author
ized to buy them, the fi nd has for some years been invested in other eecuritiie, until
it amounts altogether to $1,4 3,907.
By ihe authority giving in the n ortgage to convert bonds into stock, and by pay
ments ot maturing bords, the total bon.le 1 debt o f the company has been reduced
from $8,000,000 io $3,629,988; and o f the bonds f»r which the sinking fund was
provided, there remains cut-tanding, asi« e from those in the fund o f the $4,434,000,
only $2,070,500 ; and tor the p a y m -n t o f $784,907 o f this, there is value iu the
sinkingfuud, leaving o f the bonds liable to be retired or paid for by that fund
$1,285,593.
It will be see*-, then, that more than half the whole m ortgage debt has been paid
by other mean? than this fund ; that tn< re than half the bonds for which the fund
was provided have been paid out o f other means o f the company ; and that a
fund o f $784,9**7 has accumulated to sink or pay a part o f the remainder.
Tt is fund, beari g ger erally e ght per cent, interest semi-annually, regularly in
vested as it accumula *s, will amount to a lou t enough at the maturity o f the bonds
it is intended to pay, to extinguish the principal which will be then due.
In ihese circumstances, with so large an amount o f debt paid from other means,—
in other word?- p<;id so much in anticipate n c f the time when they could be retired
1870]
R A IL R O A D
ITEM S.
215
by the sinking fund, and with so few remaining unpaid, and with an adequate fund
to provide for them,— it has been deemed by the Hoard that it wa9 not improper to
cease paying m oney into that f m l to accumulate in other securities to a larger
amount than is necessary f>r the ultimate payment o f bonds to be provided for, and
worth in the market for some time pa«t twenty or twenty-five per cent, above
par. They have accordingly, for the present directed that ho more shall be paid into
that fund, deeming this to be not unjust or wanting in faith to the bondholders, and
due to the stockholders o f the company.
In regard to aid furnished in building other roads, the report says : It has been
our policy, so far as we deemed it judicious and wise, to aid such as might contribute
to increase the business of our road, and in so doing secure them fiom friends and
allies, thus making them permanently beneficial to thi- company.
This wa9 the inducement to aid the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Road, now a
valuable contributor to our business. The same m olive induced the aid to the Grand
River V alley Road, from Jackson to Grand Rapids, a distance o f ninety-four miles. It
runs west and north, averaging about an equal distance from this and the road o f
the Petroit and Milwaukee Company, and through the county seats between the
two roads, an f about t w e n y - ve miles north o f our line. Its eastern terminus is
upon the grounds o f this company at Jackson
T he terms were, that this company should advance the required money, pay inter
est on its outstanding bonds, and after three years pay a ren al which should be equiv
alent to five per cent, upon its capital 6tock, guaranteed not to exceed $500,000, and
being actually something less. The debt o f tne company is $150,000 at 8 per cent
interest. The road h id been inadequately equiped with cars and locomotive power.
The amount v hich this company lias advanced in consideration o f this arrangement
to complete and further equip the road, an i for all purposes connected with it, has
been $839,173 29.
O f this sum, about $10 000 has been for additional equipment
and for supplies and materials on ban l at the time o f the transfer o f the road to our
possession. Though it has been in working order for only a short period, and is yet
hardiy in order to do a full business, with a country new to a rai road, it is earning a
fair revenue and contributing a large amount o f business to the road ot this company.
Another enterprise also in the section <f the country south of our road, undertaken
by the communities through which it runs, is the Michigan Air Line Railroad. It
wa9 devised as another through line or route from Chicago to Buffalo in connection
with contemplated roads in Canada, crossing, at some point, the St. Clair River. It
had made considerab e progress in its work, and so much money had been expended,
it had beci me evident that, whether valuable or not, in some hands it would proba
bly work i*s way through. It could not, it is believed, have becoma a road o f much,
if any, value in iteeif, i f completed. There was a portion o f it, however, between
Jackson and Niles, being nearly an air-line between those points, and upon which
most <f its work had been done, which might be made valuable t> this com pany.
When, therefore, it became straitened for money, and applied to us for aid, with a
proposition to lease that portion o f its road and put it in our posses-ion to be worked
oy us, finished as a first-class road and with easy grades, at a rental which should
be equal to the interest on bonds which might be used in completing it, not exceed
ing $18,0> 0 per mile, at 8 per cent, interest, it was deemed judicious for our interests
to accede to this also. The distance is 11 0 miles, and for a considerable portion of
the way the line i9 from 25 to 30 miles south o f our road. It will command a good
loca business, and will have thu effect o f si orte ing our line for through travel, and
traffic about sixteen miles.
There are several railway/ in progress, affecting favorably the interests o f this
com pany. That from Jackson southwest to Fort Wayne, i9 now nearly completed.
From Grand Rapids, at which point the Grand River V al ey road now terminates,
is in progress o f construction the Grand Rapids
Lake ''hore road extending by way
o f Muskegon to Whitehall, Pent water and Manistee. A bout thirty miles o f this road,
nearly to Whitehall, is ready for the rail.
A bou t three years since, for the sake o f obtaining a connection with with Grand
Rapids from the W est this O m p a n y aided the credit o f the Kalamazoo, A lleghany
and Grand Rapids Railroad Company, to enable it to obtain money to build that road,
in the anticipation of a valuable business connection with it, under the agreements
by which he aid was furnished. In this we have been disappointed ; the parties
who made the arrangements with this Company having leased that road to the
RAILROAD
216
[,September,
ITEMS,
Michigan Southern Railroad Campany, as well as the I n e south o f Kalamazoo to the
road o f that Company. For a time the business between Grand Rapids and Chicago,
to a considerable extent, has been lost to this Company.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, extending from Fort W ayne, in Indiana,
north through Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids and the northern part o f the State, and
now in rapid progress, will be com pleted between K ila m a z u and Grand Rapids in
a few months.
The Kalamaz >o and S )uth Haven R ailroad, extending west from Kalamazoo in
the diiectioo o f South Haven, will b e a leeder to the Michigan Central road, but
o f less importance than those above named. On the whole, therefore, the railway
developm ent o f the State has thus far tended strongly to benefit the property o f
this Company and to add to its value presently, and in a much greater degree iu the
future.
Treasurer's Report.
From the account submitted in the report o f the Treasurer, Mr. Isaac Liverm ore,
it appears that alter a dividend o f five dollars a share in cash, July 8. 1869, and one
o f five dollors per share in cash, January 3 ,1 8 7 0 , and deducting disbursements for
operating, local taxes, and interest, there will be found to the credit o f income account
the sum o f $895,722 72. The ballance o f this account at the same period last year
was $800,033 57.
G E N E R A L A CCO U N T.
DR.
June 1, 1870.
T o construction account ........................................................................................................... $16,264,715
T o cash on hand, and loaned on ca ll......................................................................................
396,179
T o materials on hand ..................................................................................................................
248.673
T o assets in hand o f O. Macy, General R eceiver....................................................................
177,904
T o assets in hands o f James F. Joy, President.....................................................................
175,482
T o Jm iet & Northern Indiana Railroad s to c k .............................................
1*8,225
T o Chicago land accou nt...........................................................................
168,293
T o Jackson land account.............................................................................................................
23,911
T o advance to Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Rai road Com pany...............................
1(5,000
T o sundry accounts.......................................................................................................................
49,170
T o Grand River Valley Railroad Company.............................................................................
148,347
T o Michigan A ir Line Railroad Company...............................................................................
1,089
$17,926,992
G E N E R A L ACCOUNT.
CB.
June 1, 1870.
B y c ip ita l s to c k ........................................................................................................................... $13,225,848
By Bond A ccounts, viz :
6 per cent Sterling Bonds, convertible, 1st Mortgage p iya b le Janu
ary 1, 1872................................................................................................. $ 167,488 89
8 per cent, convertible, 1st Mortgage Bonds, payable Sept. 1, 1869.
4.0t0 00
t
8 per cent, convertible, 1st Mortgage B onds, payable Oct. 1,1882... 567,0c0 00
8 per cent, convertible. 1st Mortgage Bonds Sinking Fuuds.pay .ble
Oct. 1, 1832............................................................................................... 2,591 500 00
------------------ 3,629,c83
Rills payable..................................................................................................................................
Unpaid dividends ..................
0 . F. J oy, trustee Ionia and Lansing Railroad C om pany....................................................
Incom e account, balance o f this account...........................................................................
69,600
8,264
97,569
895,722
$17,926,992
General Superintendent's Report.
I beg to submit the following statements o f the operation and traffic o f the road for
the year ending May 31, 1870, together with reports o f the working departments,
statistics, <fcc. :
1869.
1'70.
Increase or decrease
Earning?.
P assergers.............................................................. $1,765,806 11 $1,914,921 75
Iuc. $119,115 64
F r e i g h t .................................................................. 2,755,200 48 2,631,438 87
B ee. 120,761 61
M iscellaneous........................................ ................
165,286 30
157,927 35
Dec.
7,358 95
T ota ls......................................................... $4,716,292 89 $4,707,287 97
Expenses.
Operating exp en ses............................................$2,782,467, 79 $ ’ ,899,831 99
T a x e s .......................................................................
194,475 60
114 033 96
Totals
.$2,886,943 39 $3,013,914 95
Dec.
$9,004 92
Inc. $117,363 29
Iu c.
9,608 c 6
Inc. $126,971 5„
o
R A IL R O A D
Rat’ o o f expenses to earnings including taxes
Exclusive c f taxes.............................................
Passenger earnings per m ile ........................
Freight earnings per m ile ...........................
Miscellaneous earnings per m ile....................
T otal..........................................................
C
h ic a g o
,
B
u r l in g t o n
a n d
Q
u in c y
R
217
ITE M S.
.6121
.59
$6,323 26
9,701 41
581 99
$16,603 63
a il r o a d
.—
A
.643
.6160
$6,142 68
9,276 19
556 08
$16,574 95
n n u a l
R
e p o r t
Inc.
Inc.
In c.
Dec.
D ej.
.028)
.0260
$119 42
4*5 22
25 91
$31 21
Dec.
o f
t h e
D
ir e c t
a n d
O f f ic e r s f o r t h e Y e a r E n d in g
A p r i l SO, 1870— P r e s i d e n t ’ s R e p o r t . —
The following is the report o f the President o f the company, James F. Joy :
The following is a statement o f the earnings and expenses, or o f the transactions
o f the company for the year ending A p ril 30, 1870.
The gross earnings o f the company for the year have been as follow s :
o r s
From passengers................................., .......... ............................................ .. $1,718,323 38
From freigh t............. ........ .
............................................................... 4,514,629 24
F iom miscellaneous business.................... ................................................
333,820 50
----------------- $6,621,773 12
The operating expanses for the same period have been, including ta x e s............... 3,989,768 89
N et earnings........................................................................................................................ $2,632,004 73
The amount o f interest paid on b lids has b e e n ............................................................
496,252 09
F rom which has been paid dividends and taxes on same
$2,135,752 G4
. 1,600,831 57
$534,921 07
There has been paid into sinking fund
111,100 00
Leaving to be carried to account o f surplus..................................................................... $423,821 07
And le iving. with surplus o f last year, a oresent surplus o f ........................................
896,662 97
If to this be ad <ed ihe amount now invested in the bonds o f the company as a
sinking fund, but which bonas are cancelled as purchased, say........................$1,147,861 13
The eurp’us amounts t o .................................................................................... ................... $2,044,524 10
The earnings, however, during, the last year, have not been equal o f the prior
year b y . .................................................................................................................................
191,036 06
A ndtheexpeD S s have been greater b y ............................... ............................................
339,461 25
Maki g a difference in the net earnings............................................................................
$530,497 31
It will be seen that, while the earnings have been less in amount, the expenses
have been considerably larger, being during the past year, inclusive <f taxes, 60
27-100 per cent, o f gross earnings, while last year they were 53 58-100.
This increase in the proportion o f the operating expenses has been partly owing
to the diminished revenue, while the expenses could not be reduced in propor
tion ; and partly because there have been additional roads brought into U 3 3 where
the business, not being fully developed, and comparatively light, the ratio o f ex
penses unon them has been greater in proportion to the business than else
where. T h j reduction o f prices, for both passenger and freight business, has also, in
some measure, affected the ratio o f the expenses, as compared with the gross earn
ings.
t here was in operation, including branches belonging to the company, at the
date o f last year’s report 477£ miles o f road. T o this has been added, during the
year, 12 5f miles.
The property o f the company now consists o f
T h i main stem or trunk to Galesburg o f ........... ...................................................................
Trie continuation to Q u in cy.................... ..............................................................................
The conti nation to Burlington...............................................................................................
The branch from Buda directly south to R u sh ville..........................................................
From Galesburg to P eoria............................... . ....................................................................
From Bur ington to K eok u k ....................................................................................................
From Burlington to Carthage......................................... .......................................................
From Galva to Mew Boston......................................................................................................
From A u r o r a to Turner Junction, old lin e ...........................................................................
365 miles.
300 “
42 “
106% *l
53
“
42% “
80
“
50% “
13
603% “
O f these, the continuation to Q incy, and that to Burlington, connect with main
t unk lines arrows Missouri and Iowa, the one to Kansas, and there connecting
with its system o f roads, and the oth- r with Omaha and the Union Pacific, and
m ay themselves appropriately be called trunk, or main lines. The average length
o f road in operation the past, as compared with the year before, hua been 53 J
against 409 or
miles greater.
218
R A IL R O A D ITE M S.
[ September,
The groes earnings, therefore, have fallen o ff more than the statement in figures
■would indicate, because the extent o f territory drained by the road has been greater
than at any time before. The chief causes o f this diminished revenue has been
the loss o f the corn crop last ye r alw< st entirely, and, to a considerable extent,
also the two years before. Corn is tne great staple o f the State. A failure in its
yield { ffects the business o f the railroad in many indirect ways, as well as directly
The passenger business o f the company has been largelv in excess ofthat o f 1868-9,
the p ior year. The revenues from it have been in excess only #59,014 77, the
tares having been considerably reduced below the average o f the former year. The
whole net earnings for the year, from both freight and passenger business, above a»l
operating expenses and interest, and the amount paid for bonds for sinking fund an 1
cancelled, has been about 15 per c nt. on the average capital o f th j year.
The Lewiston Branch, from Yutes City to Lewiston, long since fully paid for itself
in the business which it brought to the road o f this company. That portion o f the
road formerly styled the American Central, between Galva, on our main trunk, and
New Boston, on the Missis:i, pi, was next opened, a distance o f fifty miles, about eight
months since. It has since added to ,he revenues o f this company #184,009 68,
with a disastrous year, as it may be styled, for business. That from Burlington to
Keokuk has been opened about s x months, and has added to oui gross revenues
#69,966/26. The Peotia and Hannibal, which is the extension of the Lewiston Branch
to Kushviile about thirty miles, and which has been open about the same time, has
produced #79,876.
The Uixon, Peoria and Hannib d, so called, which is about forty-four miles 1 ng, is
prope ly an extension o f the Lewiston and Rushville Branch, northward, till it
stiiKes the main trunk at Buda, is not quite ready fur use, but is doing considera
ble business. This branch from Buda to Kushviile constitutes a direct line running
eouih from Buda one hundred miles, all the business o f which will p^ss over the
main l:ne to Chicago, about one hundred and twenty miles, and will, for local
traffic, be quite as important as the same distance on the main line, and constitutes
the shortest possible line lrom the country through which it runs to Chicago. The
Uaithage and Burlington read, though its main line has been some time laid, yet was
received bj »bis company without side tracks or statious, and not in a condilion for
business. It can, therefore, hardly be said to have been opened up to the close o f
the fiscal year. These things have now been to a great degree remedi d, aod we
may reasonably expect a fair contribution troui that roa ! in the future. Its traffic
w ill pass two hundred and forty miles over our main line to C dca o.
There has been issued and sol t to stockholders at par, during the year, to meet
all these extraordinary expenditures :
Sto< k to the amou t o f ............................................................................................................... $2,764,401
The capitm stock ot the om oanym w stands at...........................................
......... 36/9n,200
The debt o f the Company lor which bonds aud scrip are outstanding i » .................4,649,750
There remains uuiailed for, also, under the decree oi the court tor clos n-* the mort
gage on ihe .Northern cross-road, now the road from ualesburg to Quincy.........
270,C00
This money was due to bondholders, an i la s not been called for, and by order of
the court remains in the treasury o f the company, subject to the order ot the court.
Ia addition to this are the indirect liabilities o f the company, being the amount
o f bonds issued by the various companies whose lines, or parts o f whose lines,
this company has aided to construct as above stated, and which have generally,
by lease or otherwise, become substantially the property of this company, and all
o f which portions o f road so built, are tributary roads directly furnishing business
to our main trunk road to Chicago.
Ti es« bonds are se; u ed by mortgages made by the companies upon the portion o f
roads le ^sed to our company, and are liable to be redeemed from the net earnings
o f the business added by those roads to the general business o f our road.
These bonds are eight per cent, bonds, and issued at different times, and amount in
the gross, upon all the branch roa Is, to $3,800,000.
1he business, or net profits to this Gompany from the business furnished to it by
tho^e roads, will, it i9 believed, m six or tight years, absorb those bonds entirely,
lea\ing the lateral roads the property o f this company at only the cost o f the
money which it has advanced to aid in their completion.
1870]
R A IL R O A D
219
IT E M S .
T R E A S U R E R * -*
REPORT.
The report o f the Treasurer, Araos T. H all, presents statements o f general ac
counts, income account, sinking fund account, and monthly earnings and operating
expenses.
The following is a summary o f the general accounts :
I E B IT .
Capital stock April 30, 1870............................................................................................... $16,590,210 00
Fundnd debt:
Convertible sinking fund 8 per cent bonds, payable Jan. 1, 1S83,
si ill outstanding.................................. — ................................................. $150,000 00
Inconvertible, d o .................... ................. .
.......................................... 2,876 000 00
Fir?t mortgage 7 per cent ben s, payable October 1, 1800...................
430,000 00
Secon i mortgage 4 V per cen tb on d s (4 per c nt alter July 1, 1890),
payab e at Frankfort on-the-Main.........................................................
911 000 60
Total interest bearing b on d s................
...................................... $4,367,000 00
Scrip to be paid in 13 semi-am ual installments o f $21,750 each at
Frankfort on account] o f the Northern Cress roa d.............................
282,750 00
Total lunded debt, bearing an average interest o f 65^ per cen*............................. $4,649,750 00
Am ount due under decree foreclosing mortgage on the Northern Cross r ad,
n<»t yetca led for by bondholders..................................................................................
270,C00 00
D ue for ui claimed dividends, accounts, and pay-rolls, agents aLd co cn e 'tin g
r o a d s ........... ........................................................................................................................
239,86197
Bills pay hie ........................................................................................................................
500,100 00
Sink ng fund
.......................................................................... .................................. 1,117,861 13
Balance to credit or incom e accou nt..............................................................................
896,662 97
$24,294,346 07
C R E D IT
Construction accounts:
Cost o f 400 miles o f road and eq u p 'n en t repo-ted l ’ fet y e a r ...,.......................$19,861,428
64
Expended tor construciion and equi m^nt during past yea*...........................
1,081,133
78
American Oentr 1 Railway coiu-tructiou account paid by this Com pany......
406,203 99
Extension Lewiston Branch ro»d construction account paid by this Company.
237,033 93
K o k u i & St Pa >1 Raiiroad construction acc >unt paid b y tbis Company
—
251,060 40
Carthage & Burlington Railroad construction account p ud by this Company.
04,511 01
496,966 27
Bu Jmgto & viissoiiri River railroad s ock bonds ..................................
Bnrlii.cton depot grounds and accreli n s................
29>!,584 17
1,372 shares PuLm.in Palace Car ». om pauy stock...............................................
113,100
00
Operating accounts:
Material on hand for future operations...........................................................................
Wh-irt and feiry b oats............................................ . .....................................................
Chica3o teams for transferring freight.............................................................................
Monthly Trcffio accounts :
A cco-n rs and bills receiv a ble...........................
Post Office D ei-a m n en t.....
1-iue from agents and •ounecMng r e a d s ...............................................................
Depo its in New Y ork and Boston and in the Treasury...................................
485,824 52
28,565 89
5,312 50
597,795
10,369
1»)5,947
187,517
75
41
96
85
$24,294,346 07
The income account given the receipts as stated in the Presi ient’s report. The
sinking fun i account shows $77 O0<) ot Chicago & Aurora second mortgage foods,
$724,000 Chicago, Builingtcn & Quincy inc*>nvertib.e 8 per c-nt. bonds, $ ! 1 , 0 0 0
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy convert ble 8 per cent, bonds, aud $280,000 Chicago,
Burlington
Quincy trust mortgage 7 per cent, bonds ; a to!al o f $1,092,0-0 of
bonds purchased at a cost o f $1,147,861 13— an average premium o f 5 1-9 per
cent. The premium on the bonds last purchased (inconvertible 8 per cent.) was 10
per cent.
T
h e
R
a il r
©a
d
W
a r
T
e r m in a t e d
.
— The
2Y.
Y.
T im es remarks upon this subject
editorially as follows :
“ It is announced that an arrangement has been made between the New Y ork
Centra!, the Erie, and the Pennsylvania Central Railroads, by which they are prac
tically consolidated. It is also reported that the rates of freight and fare are to be
the same on each o f the roads, and that a common policy is to control them all.
The first fruit o f the new arrangement is a large advance in freight aud passenger
r-'tee, a* d stiil further advances are anticipated as soon as the an iva l o f winter stops
the competition o f water routes.
220
RAILROAD
ITEMS.
[S ep tem b er
“ The new ariangement w ill doubtless be a very advantageous one for the roads,
but it involves a new attack upon the rights and interests o f the people. The thought
at once suggests itself that this new compact between three o f the most powerful
railroads in the country m ay be ihe preliminary to a more complete consolidation.
Such a cor summation would be a natural result o f the tendency which has prevailed
in railroad management fcr the past few years, and which has built up so many colossal
railroad interests in this country. That these interests are in direct and growing
antagonism to the public, besides forming a powerful agency for corru p tion ^ generally
admitted, and the problem how they are to be controlled is one which will soon force
itself more urgently than ever upon public attention.
<l Within certain limits, railroad combinations have sometimes been desirable. In
the infancy o f our railway system, roads were necessarily constructed in short lines,
and aiterward, as the country developed, these were naturally consolidated, thereby
securing econom y of macagement, and greater convenience to the public. The 'lew
Y ork Central is an illustration o f this, and no one will now dispute th it the combina
tion by which that line was formed was desirable, besides being inevitable. But when
it is proposed to make a similar co solidation o f competing lines, the case becomes
very different, and the public have a right to protest. Such a combination becomes a
gross form o f monopoly, and will be sure to lead to other alliances by which a
dangerous power must be created.
“ H ow best to deal with this threatened evil is a subject for grave discussion. There
are those who advocate the purchase and management o f the leadin' lines by the
States. In an address delivered before the Boston Board o f Trade, m 1866, Mr.
Josiah Quincy urged that Massachusetts should own the Boston and Worcester, and
the Western rca-ls, and should ruD them for the benefit o f the public at bare cost.
In Illinois a remedy has been sought for by a constitutional provisi n, which has just
gone into effect, prohibiting such railroad combinations as are reported to have been
made by the Erie, New Y ork Central, and Pennsylvania Central. In Michigan a
similar amendment to the Constitution has just been proposed, and will be submitt d
to the people in November, and the same course is being urged in Pennsylvania and
several other States. But a few more great railroad combinations, such as have
been made within two or three yea s, would budd up a power which might prove
stronger than the Legislatures. Our railroad managers have already discovered the
folly o f competing with each other, and now ma e common cause in behalf o f their
great interests and agaiuet the public. It is asserted that there is alrea v more than
one State in the Union, the polit cal and financial policy o f which is directed aud
controlled by railroad “ Rings.” W e trust that the new combination just made in
this State will not be the means o f adding N ew Y ork to the list.
T o led o , W a r sa w
a n d
W e s t e r n . — The Buffalo C om m ercial A d v e r tis er gives the
following description o f this road, which has recently gained by conso ination a line
from Naples to Hannibal and one from Decatur to St. L uis :
“ It runs from the city o f Toledo, Ohio, to the Mississippi, having four terminal
points on the ‘ Father c f Waters,’ namely : St. Louis, Hannibal, Qn ncv and Keokuk.
The line is 674 miles in length, but w ill soon be much longer, we hel eve, as the
company have several important extensions in view. Its freight traffic is enormous,
as w e had occasion to show rece tly, running as it does through the heaviest corn
and cattle producing districts o f the W e»t. It connects at Toledo with the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern Railway ; at Fort Wayne with the Pennsylvania roads,
and at Lafayette with the Baltimore & Ohio and other railway lines via C ncinnati.
It forms the shortest route (via Toledo) to all points in Missouri and K ansas; from
Buffalo to St. Louis and other Southwestern points it is almost 100 miles shorter
than the routes to those points via Chicago. The entire line is first-cUss as to con
struction ; in equipment it will soon be second to none, as the company are now
building some o f the finest day and night passenger coaches ever put upon aDy
railway, and ere determined to avail themselves o f every invention and improvement
that can add to the comfort, convenience and safety o f travelers b*’ ‘ t i e Only
Central R oute to the West,’ which is the distinctive feature o f the T o ’ edo, Wabash
& Western R ailw ay.”
C a p e C o d R a i l r o a d . — A ll the stock hss been taken for the extension <f this road
from the present terminus at Orleans north to W ellfle^t, ab>ut tw elve miles. On
the line o f this extension the peninsula is nowhere more than four miles wi le.
1870]
RAILROAD
221
ITEMS.
L e g a l iz n g M ic h ig a n
R a i l r o a d B o n d s . — I i accordance with a call o f Governor
Baldwin, the Legislature o f Michigan commenced a special session on the 27ih of
July, to consider the propriety o f submitting to the people certain amendments
to the constitution. The following is the summary o f the Governor’s message :
It commences with a summing up o f the legislative, executive and judicial powers
o f the Government, end the duties of each, with a statement that the ultimate
sovereignty belongs to the people, and tb it changes in the fundamental law should
be made when oouht exists as to the construction o f important provisions, when
alteration is manifestly necess ry, or when a grievous wrong may be obviated
thereby. The railroad aid legislation o f the past ten years was then briefly summar
ized, and the fact sh wn that o f the amount voted, $1,656,000 in the hands now o f
third parties, is mostly held by people o f moderate means.
These bonds are as
fallows : Issued under the enabling arts o f 1863 and 1864, $858,600; acts o f 1865,
$312,700 ; act o f 1867, $28,000 ; act o f 1869, $447,000. O f these bonds, none now
can be legally paid, as even if the municipality issuing desired to do so, no tax for
their payment would be collectable.
The mess ge then shows that these laws have been o f long standing ; that in twentytwo other States their constitutionality ha3 been affirmed ; that Congress makes
grants in aid o f railroads, etc., all showing that the people were entitled to believe
that these bonds were valid securities, and then figures that the good faith and
our State credit requires some provision for their payment.
The message then recommends the submission in N ovem ber o f all amendments
that will allow municipalities to ratify all bonds issued and delivered to parties in
good faith.
The message next considers the bonds still in the hands o f the State Treasurer, o f
which there are two classes : first, those voted to roads on which work has been
done to earn them ; second, those voted to roads simply projected. These amount
to $3,7 1‘ ,875.80, and the message says it is worthy o f consideration whether good
faith does not require a provision for the first class o f these b on d s; also, as to
the matter o f future aid.
The message questions the soundness o f the general
piinciples thereof, and adds : “ I havesetious doubts as to the propriety o f its further
application ;” but leaves the matter to the Legislature. The message then closes
with expressions o f confidence in the wisdom o f the Legislature.
The document was then referred to the Committee. — R a ilro a d G a zette .
E x p o r t
o f
R a il r o a d
I ro n
f r o m
G r e a t B r i t a i n . — Messrs. S. W.
Hopkins &
Co.,6 8 Old Broad street, London, and 71 Broadway, N. Y ., furnish the following
statement of the export o f rails from Great Britain, compiled from official leturns :
S IX
America.
United States...............................
British A m erica..........................
C uba..........................................
B raz.l............................................
C hili...............................................
F e r n ........................................................................
Europe.
Russia............................................
Sw eden.............................. . . . .
Prussia.........................................
1 yria, Croatia, and Dalmatia.
P rance.........................................
H olland.........................................
Spain and Canaries....................
Asia.
British i L d i a ..............................
Austral, a .......................................
Africa.
* ^ y p t .............................................
Otner countries..........................
T o ta l........................................ .
Old iron to all c o a n n i e s .. .., . . .
Pig iron to United States.........
M ONTHS E N D IN G
JU N E 3 0 T H .
1868.
Tons.
148,544
8,668
1,673
1,934
436
770
168,348
17,610
319
561
2,541
11,309
1870.
Tons.
197,045
1 ,649
2,338
2,318
9,395
8,802
20,214
1,140
3,976
3,810
8U
16,7-' 2
4,450
S6,736
2,895
4,544
16,728
3,004
6,3'6
6,693
114,544
1 083
27,141
19,187
189
11,384
9,030
49,494
5,526
37,199
12,296
102,564
5,075
10,512
18,663
3,740
34,845
1,564
34,991
296,542
34.749
31,339
4 15,784
562,709
57,399
54,104
1869.
T o n s.
4 8 ,4 t 6
65,012
P o r t l a n d a n d R o c h e s t e r . — The extensiou of this road from Alfred, Me., to Spring
vale, is to b e completed next fall.
222
RAILROAD
ITEMS.
[September,
N o r th w e ste r n
V ir g in ia
R a il r o a d . — F r a u d u v e n t
I s s u e o f S t o c k — The Haitimore Sun o f 4th inst., s..y s: For som e days past there have been indications afloat
o f some irregularities in coi nection with the stock o f the Northwestern Virginia
Railroad, a road woiked as a branch o f the Baltimore and Ohio, and running the
length o f one hundred miles from Grafton to Parkersburg, on the Ohio river, forming
a connection there at the crossing with the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad. Con
siderable hypothecations o f the stock o f the company in different quarters, at high
rates o f interest, led to inquiry on the sul je c t, and it was discovered on investigation
that over-issues had been made. The stock is not an active one in the mark t, and
hence it is supposed the resort to hypothecation rather than sales of the it regular
shares. The secretary o f the company, Mr. John L. Crawf rd, has resigned his office.
It is understood that the over.issue amounts to some $300,0 0. but as the stock, the
par value o f which is $50 per share, has bee . hypothecated at an average perhaps
o f about $16, the amount o f mouey involved is veiy much less than would otherwise
appear. The money d rive I from the Block is understood to have been applied to
som e extent in enterprises from which [ r ceeds may be more or Res realized, which,
with other assets c f the party implicated, will be relied mi to indemnify the com
pany as far as possible. The company is a W est Virginia corporation, and Hon.
P. G. Van Winkle, its president, who resides in W est Virginia, has been called to
this city in regard to the matter.
A l e x a n d r i a , L o u d o u n a n d H a u p f h i b e — In accordance with 3cts passed by the
Legislatures o f V iiginia and W est V irgin ii, the above company has changed its
name to the “ Wabash and O h ii Railroad C om pan y." It is authorized to increase its
stock to $15,000,000 and to change its route so as to run we6t by south from
Washington, through Winchester to a: y p int between Little Kanawha and ihe Big
Sandv, with a brai ch to the Big Kanawha. A t a recei t meeting o f stockholders
a resolution was ad op tel auth rizing the co i pany to mortgage the road in order to
secure a loan o f $15,0 0 000 f r the purpose o f conetiucting the road from Hamilton
to the Ohio river, absoibing in the first n ortgage bonds the $800,000 <u the A lex
andria, LnudouD and Hampshire already aui i orized, hut no m o e than $90,000 of
which have b 'e n issued. The President, Mr. M iK nzi», stated that in h ss than sixty
days the w a d woul I be put uuder contract to the Shenandoah at least, if not to
AVinchester.
a s t in g s
a n d
D a k o t a . — It
is now rep orts! l l i a i the negotiations for (lie sale ( f
load to Hie M ilvaukee and St. Pau Ooo p ny were at length consummated in
New T o r - city a f e v d iva lii re.
The sal- includes the land grant in aid •f i<a con
strue ioa, Li d t he ivelisfer took place August 1st. General Le Due, President o f the
Hastings and Dakota Company, retains a connection w ith the operation o f the road
under the new r-ij/inu.
Ti e R a ilro a d G a zette has the following item :
I n d ia n a p o l is , B l o o m in g t o n
a n d
W e s t e r n . — T he section between Crawfordsville
and Danvil e is being closed up rapidly. A lready Ihe track layers are within seven
miles o f CoviDgton, wheie the road erases the Wabash, and next week work will
be com m erce! at Danville, on the ether en-i o f the line. There has been some unex
pected delays in completing the bridge at Covington, but an effort will be made to
com plete the line by the first o f Septe mber. A t the other end o f the route a con
nection will be made with the Chicago, Burlingto . and Quincy line between Peoria
aud Galesburg, uv construct ng a bridge at Pekin, and buil ling a road up the river
a few miles.
W hen this is done, it is intended to run passenger trains through
between Cincinnati and Omaha b y way ot ihe Ii.dianap lie, Cincinnati and Lafayette
road to In ianapolis, the Indianapolis, Bluon i igton and Western to Peoria, the Chicago
Burlington and Quincy to Burlington, and the Burlington and Missouri R iver to
Council Bluff.
T h e N e w
O r l e a n s , M o b il e
a n d
C h attan o o g a
R a i l r o a d . — The last rail on the
Eastern Division, from Mobile to Pascagoula, o f the N ew Orleans, Mobile and Chat
tanooga Railroad, was laid on July 30th, and it is now open for traffic.
The entire
line to New Orleans will be running ea ly in S -n t mber.
The great drawbridge
at R i g lettes is nearly finished. This road.th >ugh encountering the gravest engineering difficulties, is declared to be very th orou gd y constructed and eq u ip p e! in the
best manner. It will shorten the time between N ew Y ork and N ew Orleans several
hours.
H
th is
1870]
RAILROAD
ITEMS.
223
M ic h ig a n
R a i l r o a d B o n d s . — The New Y ork W o r ld says : The Governor's mes
sage first recommends that the bonds already issued be vali ated, an I then hints
that the propriety o f submitting an amendment authorizing municipalities to issue
bonds in aid « f railroads is a question for the L eg slature to consider.
The Legislature did consi er that, as well as the other and more open recommenda
tion, and ou the 3 inat. refused to submit amendments either to vadd ate the bonds
now out or to au horize the ism e o f more. By this support o f an eminently proper
de ision the people <f Michigan have beeu spared an unjust debt o f $5,367,175.50.
amounting to a imposition o f $27.44 per capita on the whole vote o f the State at
the last Presidential election. Beyond this, the decision o f the court is so thoroughly
sustained that th re will be no chance for a collusi >n o f railroad corporations and
weak or venal municipal councils to pile up any more five-million debts. Tne defeat
is overwhelming and the lesson salutary. A. po ■erful railroad lobby was iu attend
ance, but. as against the fear among members o f the Legislature o f the popular
opposition to State aid failed to disturb in any way the decision o f the court. The
faw o f Michigan, therefore, remains hostile to State aid.
S t . L o u i s , Y a s d a l i a a n d T e r r e H a u t e . — Th's road, very lecently cora pljted ,
has entered the fiel t for through business w th energy, and seems bound to obtain a
large - hare o f the busings between St. Louis an I the East. The distance to Indian
apolis by this route is 238 miles— 24 miles less than by the Alton route— ami trains
make the distance in time less by an hour. All trains run through b tween Indian
apolis and St. Louis without change, Pullman sleeping coaches run through between
N ew York and St. Louis.
Sr. Louis a n d S t . J o s e p h R o a d . ----------- The St. Joseph H era ld has a three-column
account o f the excursion celebrating the completion, July 22d, o f this imp riant
connection of the North Missouri Hoad— giving a completed line. W e condense :
The road is com pleted from St. Joseph to the Missouri River opposite Lexington.
7 he line, as provided iu the franchise, takes it from Lexington to a connection with
the Missouri Pacific.
It h well known that the road from Richmond to St. Joseph has been leased by
the North Missouri Railroad Company with which it connects. The road gives t- e
North Missouri a direct route from St. Louis to St. Joseph, a consummati n that
company has devoutly wished ever since it owned a road.
J a c k s o n v il l e P e n s a c o l a a n d M o b il e . —
he terminus o f this railroad has been for
some time at Quincy, about twenty miles we.-t o f Tallahassee, and about as far w ,st
o f the Apalachicola river. W ork has been progressing on an extension to the
Apalachico a, and it i-» now just about ready for the iron.
Preparations have also
been ma e for the construction o f a bridge across the A paladficola. It i9 to be a
short distance south o f Chattahoochee.
O g d e n s b u . g a n d L a k e C h a m p l a i n . — This railroad, extending from Ogdensburg,
N. Y ., eastward to Rouse’s Point, on the eas bank o f l.ake Champlain, near its loot,
is now operated as a division o f the Vermont Central, which now operates 252 miles
o f road.
E u r o p e a n a n d N o r t h A m e r i c a . — This railroad, which is to connect St. J o n*, New
Brunswick, with Bangor and the railroad system o f Maine and the United States,
is to be complete t withiu a year. Fifty miles remain to be built, and on this line
stages run regularly.
W est
W is c o n s in .— A
celebration was held at Eau Claire on the l ’. th inst., in
honor o f the ariival o f the first passenger train over this road.
L e a v e n w o r t h , L a w r e n c e
a n d
G a l v e s t o n . — The road is ready for the iron to a
point twelve miles south i f H um boldt, aud the ircn is on the w ay.
K a n s a s P a c i f c . — It was expected that the last rails would be laid on this road b y
the end o f this week. More than five miles have been laid m one day lately.
— Under the head o f “ Illinois Central,” H e r a p a th ’s R a ilw a y J o u rn a l o f the 9th
inst. sa y s:
There is a m ovem ent in A m erica to get rid of the oppressive 7 per
cent, charter tax, and it i9 to be hoped that the m ovem ent w ill succeed, not that it
would benefit the com pany, excepting to the extent to lower charges enabliug the
224
RAILROAD
ITEMS.
[ September,
traffic to m ove more freely oo the line.’” The movement lias been in the other
direction. A clause in the new constitution o f Illino s adopte 1 by about 12 ,000
maj rity,. makes taht charter tax perpetual and irrevocable by act r f the Legisla
ture. It can now be removed or changed only by an amendment o f the constitution
itself.
— The following is a c mparative statement o f the earnings and expenses o f the
Union Pacific R ulroad for the *n<>nths o f May and June, during the years 1869 and
1870. The staten.eut is official:
May, 1869.................... ..........................................................
J a n e ...........'...................................... .....................................
Total
May, 1870.............
J u n e......................
Earnings.
$797,948 49
706,602 69
Expenses. N et Incom e.
#51-2,276 89 $285,672 10
534,675 72
171.926 97
$1,504,551 18 $1,046,952 11 $457,599 07
$802,580 09
479,640 61
322,945 48
746.450 01
419,151 81
327,298 20
T otal...................................................................*1.549,036 10
$89S.792 42 $650,243 67
May and June, 1870............................................................... $1,549,036 10
$898,792 42 $650,243 67
May and June. 1869............................................................. $1,504,551 IS $1,046,952 11 $457,599 07
Net gain................................................................
$44,484 92
Net gain for May.................................................... $37,273 38
JNetga n for June .................................................. $155,371 23
Net gain two months............................................
$148,159 69 $192,644 61
$192,644 61
— The Baltimore S un o f August 9th says : Further developments in regard to
the over-issue o f Parkersburg Branch Railroad stock yesterday indicated a still
larger augmentation o f the 6tock than w;\9 before known. A list made up by the
Secretary shows some 26,000 shares o f the false stock put forth from time to time, c f
which, however, some (an unknown rum ber) have been take • up or cancelled on
the ruatuting o f loans. Such an issue would amount to $1,300,000 of the par o f the
etock, and it is supposed that nearly $400,000 has been real zed therefrom b y bor
rowing on the notes o f the Secretary and others operating with him, and using the
over- ssue shares as collateral.
An assignment o f all the assets and claims o f the
Secietary is being arranged, which it is designed that trustees shall administer for the
best interests or all concerned.
— An irgenious Englishman has invented a new system o f constructing mountain
r a ilw a y , which has recently been put into practice on a road in Hungary. The line
requires no permanent way at all. Square barriers o f oak, eight inches thick and
fourteen broad, are laid on the ground, and only at rare intervals cros?-sleepers
are used. On the tw o edges o f the bearers are rails only two inches broad, and so
.bin that they only weigh one fou nd per foot. The tiucks run on a pair o f wheels
*Nght inches in diameter. The bodies o f the trucks are three times the width o f the
eai*s, and placed so low on the wheels that they have ju9t room to m ove. The c o t
about one thousand dollars per mile.
— The lease o f the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railroad i',orapany by the Indian
apolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette, the Pan Handle any the Columbus, Chicago and
Indiana Central Railway Companies has been cancelled, and the Indianapolis and
Vincennes Railroad is now controlled and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company. T o e securities indorsed by the Iudianapolis, Cincinnati and Lalayette
and other companies have been retired, and other securities guaranteed only by the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company substituted.
— Railroad maps o f the Northwestern States are published in a neat form, con
venient for the pocket, by Rufus Blanchard, publisher, 146 Lake street, Chicago.
The pi ice o f these map9 is ooly 25 cents each, and they contain the counties o f each
State clearly denned, as also the cities, villages, principal rivers, Ac. Each map is
o f one State only, an arrangement which allows the scale o f the map to be un
usually large, an ci its usefulness greatly increased. A map in similar shape o f the
several Northwestern States together is published by Blanch ird at 75 cents.
— A t the recent annual meeting o f the stockholders o f the European and North
American Railroad, in Bangor, the purchase o f the Bangor, Oldtown and Milford
Railroad wa9 ratified.
1870]
R A IL R O A D
ITE M S.
225
T h e K a n s a s P a c i f i c R a i l w a y — On last Monday, the 15th inst., the last rail was
laid on t i e Kansas Pacific Railway, completing that line from Kansas C ity and
Leavenworth on the M iesouri to Denver, Colorado, at the foot o f the R ocky Mountains,
a distance o f 639 miles. It has close connections with the Denver Pacific Railroad,
which for some months past has been in operati in from Denver north to Chey
enne, on the Union Pacific, a distance o f 106 miles. The tw o roads are substantially
under one management, and w ill be operated, we believe, as a single line. The
Leavenworth Pranch, from Leavenworth to Lawrence, is S3 miles long, so w e have
here added to the trans Missouri railroads 778 miles in Kansas, Colorado and
W yom ing.
A year ago the KariEas Pacific terminated at Sheridan, in the desert near the
western boundary o f Kam a?, 234 miles east o f Denver. A t the same time the
Denver Pacific was partly graded, but had no ircD down. Since that time the 340
miles o f road have been constructed, much o f it through a most desolate country,
where it is necessary to transport all material and supplies great distances.
This railroad was originally intended to be a branch o f the Union Pacific, con
necting at or near the 100th meridian, and haviog its eastern terminus at the mouth o f
the Kansas kiver (Kansas City). For this road it was to receive Government bonds
to the amount oi $16,000 per mile. It was afterwards determined to look to the
South instead o f the North for an outlet to the Pacific, and the line was continued
directly west instead o f northwest, and it was hoped that by means o f Government
aid the line could be extended southwest to the R io Grande, and eventually to
the Pacific. But it became apparent that Congress would not grant the required
subsidy, and then a combination was made with the Denver Pacific Company, a land
grant obtained for an extension westward to Denver, and that extension, as we see,
has been made with great rapidity, and is at last com pleted.
During the present season the rapidity o f track-laying has been remarkable, and
scarcely exceeded by the Union and Central Pacific Companies when they were
running a tace for the Government subsidies. Since the completion c f the Denver
Pacific, the work has progressed from both ends o f the line, and on the last day 10|
m’ leB o f track were laid by the tw o parties by 2:30 p . m ., one party completing its
half two hours earlier . — R a ilr o a d G azette.
C e n t r a l R a il r o a d o f N e w
J e r s e y — W e published several months ago the b rief
statement o f the business o f this road for the year 1869, as returned to the Legislature
o f N ew Jersey, but the following details from the annual report now issued will be
found o f interest.
A comparison o f the passenger business o f the year 1869 with the year 1868 gives
the following results:
1869.
Number o f passengers.................................................................................. 2,2HK,864
Miles traveled b y p a ss.................................................................................... 32,177,945
Equal to through p a ss.....................................................................................
429,039
1868.
1,441.992M
30,475,705
406,317
A comparison o f the merchandise business o f the two years, gives the following
results :
1869.
Number o f tons ca rrie d .................................................................................
705,611
T on s carried one m ile ...................................... ...........................................43,257,860
Equal to through tonnage.......................................... ..................................
577,299
1868.
659,171
39,412,970
525,800
A comparison o f the coal business o f the tw o years gives the following results, the
through tonnage being calculated from Easton to Port Johnston:
1869.
Number o f tons cariied................................................................................... 1,606,052
Tons carried one m i e ................
86,609,284
Equal to through tonnage ................................................
1,272,195
1868.
1,618.845
90,327,012
1,328,338
There was a decrease in Lehigh coal o f 32,172 tons and in Laokawana coal of.
30,621 tons.
226
r a il r o a d
it e m s .
T R A N S P O R T A T IO N
[
Septemberf
ACCOUNT.
The following is a statement o f the ordinary receipts and expenses for the year
1869 compared with 1868 :
1869.
Paeseugers..........................................................................
$957,757 91
M erchandise......................................................................................................1,180,598 73
C oa l..................
1,737,991 66
M a il............................................................................................ ......................
15,772 40
E xpress.............................. .............. - .......................................... - ...............
50,279 60
R en ts.............................
41,377 91
M iscellaneous........................................................................... ................ . . .
26,343 62
Total receipts.................................................................
1868.
$869,31339
1,115,79964
1,598,02519
15 772 40
50,432 31
49,51737
30,552 26
$4,010,121 73
$3,729,41256
E x p en ses:
Running exp en ses........................................................................................ $742,458 61
W ood consum ed....................
75,848 64
Coal con sum ed...........................................................................
289,240 79
Repairs o f roa d s...........................
453,900 45
Repairs o f en gin es......................................................................................
260,706 21
Repairs passenger cars....................................................
63,452 53
Repairs freight ca rs...........................
40,692 01
Repairs o f coal ca rs...................
76,191 05
Repairs docks, Elizabethport...................................................................
22,046 11
Repairs buildiD gs, b rid g e s , e tc..................................................................
146,693 58
Repairs, tools and m achicery
...........................................................
22,023 73
E xpense account........................................................... ............- ..............
99,430 88
Miscellaneous experses ............................................................................
70,382 95
Ferry running expen ses.........................................................
115,905 47
Ferry boat repairs.............................
32,207 11
Ferry miscellaneous exp en ses...................................................................
433 0)
Car service.................................................................. . ..........................
130,500 25
$598,26166
97,26858
234,61965
422,45527
2S1,84674
58,09236
42,59935
70,44249
11,10838
86,54867
25,40823
115,558 46
S0,-;2477
107,44812
53,94215
3,13123
90,136 59
T otal exp en ses............................................................................................. $2,642,163 37
$2,379,192 70
Balance net earnings............................. -
$1,350,219 86
................................................$1,367,958 36
B a l a n c e S h e e t , J a n u a r y 1, 1870.
R ailroad.................................................................................................................................... $7,659,576 G9
Jersey City station..............................................................................................................
960,000 40
P ort Johnston coal station..................... .................................................................. . . . .
964,676 01
Elizabethport station.................................................................
362,033 52
Station-houses, shops and water station s........................................................................
511,666 29
Ferry interest and b oats........... ..............................................
633,250 00
E ngines........... - ................................................................................................................... 1,000,000 00
Passenger and baggage cars...............................................
345,000 00
Freight cars....................................................................
265,600 00
565,000 10
Coal ca rs....................................................................................................................................
Band, docks, machinery, m iscellaneons property, & c .................................................
3,257,601 05
American D ock and Im provem ent Co. stOGk.................................................................. 1,500,000 00
Newark and N ew Y ork R . R , C o ........................................................................................ 1,655,205 4 8
Chairs, spikes, iron rails and ties on hand....................................................................
37,008 59
Materials and fuel on hand...................................
157,806 77
Cash and accounts receivable..................................... ........................................................
462 843 50
$20,006,120 30
Capital sto c k ...................................................................................................
$15,000,000
F .rst mortgage bonds, due 1870................................................................... $900,000 00
Second mortgage bonds, due 1875 ............................................................... 600,000 00
Mortgage bonds o f 1890............................................................................. .. 1,900,000 00
------------------ 3,400,000
Interest on bonds, accrued not yet d u e ............. ............................................................
8r,666
A ccounts payable...............................................................................................
1,517,453
00
00
67
63
$20,006,120 SO
V i r g i n i a V a l l e y R a i l r o a d . — This, the Shenandoah V alley line o f the Bahimore
and Ohio, received a vote o f $1,000,000 aid from Baltimore, on condition that the
country on the line should vote $1,20.',000. The town o f btanton voted $100,000,
counties on the line $800,000, and A ugusta county, in which Stanton is situated, was
called upon to make up the amount by voting $300,000. But this proposition
failed to obtain the required majority.
1870]
R A IL R O A D
ITE M S.
227
W e s t e r n M a r y l a n d R a i l r o a d .— A
circular has recently been issued b y the
President and Directors o f the Western Maryland Railroad Com pany to its bond
holders, asking their indulgence in the postponement o f the payment o f its coupons
now matured, or which shall mature up to January let, 1873. In Ihe meantime a
proposition is made to give each bondholder a certificate agreeing to p ay eight per
cent, interest on the coupon, or interest o f the bond in which the coupons shall be
identified, and placed by holders thereof w th the Citizens’ National Bank, together
with a copy o f his or their certificates as the evidence o f terms ou which the deposit
is made.
The object o f the company in making this proposition is to gain time so that
they can apply the entire appropriation recently made b y Baltimore, o f $1,400,000,
to the immediate completion o f the road from Baltimore to W illiamsport, and its
thorough equipment, enabling it the sooner to earn means whereby to meet all its
obligations.
The actual effect o f this arrangement is a proposition from the com pany to the
bondholders, whereby they m ay fund the matured coupons and those which will
mature up to January 1st, 1873, inclusive, in a certificate, bearing interest at eight
per cent, per annum, payable semi-annually. It seems to us such a certificate must,
undoubtedly, be good security, especially when the fourteen hundred thousand d ol
lars shall have been expended in the meantime upon the road, adding so much more
to its substantial value.
W e are gratified to learn that bondholders are generally assenting to the arrange
m ent above noticed, and that the com pany are anxious it should be entirely effected
by the 20th instant, so that contractors may commence work at that time. I f there
should be any inclined to pursue a different course, an overwhelming majority, as
we learn, agreeing thereto, their efforts can only eventuate disadvantageously to
themselves. W e feel confident it would prove beneficial to the r oid and all interested
to prom ptly acquiesce in this proposition.— B a lt. A m .
This railroad extends from R elay House, seven miles north o f Baltimore, on the
Northern Central R ailway, in a westerly direction to Y ork R o a l, 44 miles. It is
now being extended to W illiamsport on the Potom ac, about 40 miles furtoer west.
Messrs. McGucken cfc Co. have tire contract to construct seven miles o f the line from
H agerstown to W illiamsport, and ten miles between Baltimore and Owing’s Mills.
M u t i l a t e d C u r r e n c y . — Under the rules o f the U nited States Treasury, all muti
lated bank notes are redeemed according to the degree o f mutilation.
A note
with a certain portion o f its superficial surface torn off is never redeemed at its full
value, but in proportion to the quantity o f superficial surface presented for redemp
tion. Since greenbacks were introduced, the redemption division o f the Treasury has
been constantly engaged in redeeming this mutilated currency, and an account o f the
discount has been kept, which shows an aggregate, up to the present date, o f $186,693, which the Government has thus saved, all o f which has, o f course, com e out o f
the pockets o f the holders.
M i s s o u r i P a c i f i c . — Since the inauguration o f the new Directory, strenuous efforts
have been directed toward securing a change in their Kansas leases, which would
inure more to the profit o f the road. The St. Louis T im es says for a time it seemed
probable that the leases hitherto made with the Missouri River and Leavenworth,
Atchison and Northwestern roads w ould terminate in the abandonment o f the roads
by the Pacific ; but after frequent consultations a new basis o f agreement has been
determined upon, which settles ail past disputes, and grants to each o f the roads
equitable pro-rating terms.
The new arrangement gives to the
the Kansas roads, freed entirely from
tions, the former leases to be treated
January 1st, 1870, the same as if put
Pacific road the entire and absolute control o f
all obligations or concessions to other corpora
as nullities, and the latter leases to date from
in force at that time.
A reduction o f the rental is also secured, amounting to fully
or an aggregate during twenty years, the term o f the lease,
Missouri River road is now leased for $50,000, a reduction o f
free from any restrictions, and the lease o f the Leavenworth
$40,000 per annum,
o f $800,000.
The
$17,500 per annum,
and Atchison road,
228
R A IL R O A D
[Septem ber,
ITEM S,
■which involved a payment by the Missouri Pacific o f $59,000 for the first five years,
increasing each succeeding five years to $60,000, $70,000 and $80,000, is also greatly
reduced. The Pacific has also had granted to it absolute control.
F r e i g h t s a n d P a s s e n g e r R a t e s A d v a n c e d . — The trunk railway war has ended,
and the following tariff o f prices for first-class freight has been adopted by the three
trunk lines— N ew Y ork Central, Erie, and Pennsylvania C entral:
N ew Y ork to
Per cw t.
C le v e la n d ..........................................................................................
Columbus, O h io......................................................................
Cinrlnnati ...............................................................................
In d iin s p olis ..................................................... - ...................
Evansville................................................................................................$1 10
Louisville, K y ................................................................................. . .
112
St. Louis. M o......................................................................................... 1 25
Quiney, 111.............................................................................................. 1 25
8t. Joseph. M o ....................................................................................... 1 1 2
Chicago, 111........................ ...........................................................—
100
Form er price*
32
40
45
47
57
60
67
67
$1 14
50
T he following are the rates by steam by w ay o f the lakess :
Per cw t.
T o Detroit, Cleveland and T oled o.....................................
T o Chicago and M ilw aukee................................................................
71c.
Former price.
30c.
85c.
The price of a car-load o f cattle between Buffalo and N eew
w Y oork
r k is increased
from the nominal price o f $1 to $1 40, and higher prices are expected in October.
The Erie aDd N ew Y rk Central Companies are going to close their contracts with
the United States and American Express Companies, for the purpose o f doing the
express business themselves.
It is also contemplated to make a division o f the live stock and heavy business,
to be shipped chiefly by the Erie road, and through passengers by the Central.
Passenger rates have also been advanced.
— A despatch from Indianapolis says : The consolidation o f the Toledo, Wabash
and Western, with the Decatur and East St. Louis railroads was effected yesterday,
on filing papers with the Secretary o f State. The completion o f the Decatur and
East St. Louis Railroad will form a continuous lire from Toledo to St. Louis. The
W abash Company is to pay for the Decatur and East St. Louis Railroad, on comple
tion, at the rate o f $40,000 per mile.
— The earnings
coupons due July
that the coupons
which it is hoped
o f the Suez Canal have not been sufficient to pay the interest
1. Although the payment has been deferred, the directors state
will take precedence in the future distribution o f the earniDgs,
will, by the growth o f the traffic, soon increase rapidly.
— The following is the official statement o f the earnings and expenses o f the Western
Union Telegraph Com pany for the month o f June :
1869.
R eceipts............ ......... .............................................. $590,994 31
E xpenses............................................ ......................... 381,646 85
N et profit........................................................ $209,447 48
1870.
$59S,749 31
422,819 38
Increase.
$7,755 00
41,272 63
$175,939 93
$33,517 73
— S a n F r a n c i s c o , A ug. 23 . — The Central Pacific, California and Oregon, Oakland
and Alam eda, and San Joaquin Y alley Railroad Companies have consolidated
under the name o f the Central Pacific Railroad Company.
— The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, reaching from St. Paul to Duluth,
ran the fiist train through on A ugust 1st.
M e m p h i s a n d C h a r l e s t o n . — The stockholders have voted to issue a million dollars
o f mortgage bonds to liquidate the com pany’s indebtedness to Tennessee.
1870]
R A IL R O A D
229
ITE M S .
— The Northern Pacific Railroad Company has determined to build four large
docks at Duluth for the use o f its contractors and operators. The docks will cost at
least $200,000. A Duluth paper says the officials o f that road are already prospect
ing for sites for magnificent freight and passenger depots, which it is expected w ill
noon be erected.
The R a ilr o a d G a zette has the following Uem3 :
W i n o n a a n d S t . P e t e k . — Contractor De Graff has a force o f about seven hundred
men at work, and is laying track at the rate o f a mile a day. On the 13th instant
the rails were laid to within eight miles o f St. Peter and within three and one-half
miles o f Mankato. It was expected to reach the terminus, St. Peter, to-day. A s
the blanch o f this road running to Mankato requires very heavy grading, which
will take some time to com plete, arrangements have been effected with the St. Paul
<fe Sioux City Railroad to run trains o\er that road from the point o f junction to
Mankato, until the branch line o f the W inona & St. Peter Railroad is com pleted.
L e a v e n w o r t h , L a w r e n c e a n d G a l v e s t o n . — This road is now open from Kansas
C ity to Ottawa by the completion o f the branch via Olathe,jwhich occurred on August
22d. This addition o f 53 miles is an important one for this road, bringing into
Kansas City and connecting with lines east from that point, instead o f being obliged
to go via the Kansas Pacific.
W e s t W i s c o n s i n . — The grading is com pleted from Eau Claire, the present terminus,
west to Menominee, 15 miles, and cars are to be running to that point before winter.
Grading from Menominee west to Hudson is to be prosecuted through the winter,
and Lake tit. Croix will be bridged at the same time. A strong effort w ill be made
to com plete the line through to St. Paul befoie the end o f next year.
C a l i f o r n i a a n d O r e g o n . — This road is now com pleted for fifty miles north of
Marysville, and is to reach Tehama in a few days. The road will connect at the
State line with the Oregon and California Railroad, which is surveyed throughout,
and graded from Portland to Salem, fifty miles.
L i t t l e R o c k a n d F o r t S m i t h . — More than one half o f the line from Little R ock
to Fort Smith, 160 miles long (266 miles b y river), is ready for the iron, and track is
laid fur 26 miles. It is inten led to run trains to Lewisburg, 50 miles, by the 1st
o f October, and to or near Spadra, 100 miles, by the 1st o f January. I t is expected
that the line will be open to Fort Smith early in 1871.
C a i r o a n d F u l t o n . — Surveys have been com pleted for this line from Little Rock
to the Missouri line, under the direction o f A . P. Robinson, ch ief engineer o f this and
o f the Little R ock and Fort Smith road.
Surveys o f the line southwest o f Little
R ock are in progress. Nearly twenty miles o f the line from L ittle Rock northward
is nearly ready lor the rails, and this part is to be in operation by the 1st o f Decem
ber.
— T he following is the official report of the earnings and expenses o f the Western
Union Telegraph Com pany for the month o f May :
1869.
R eceipts................................................................................................................ $590,145 21
E xpenses.............................................................................................................. 387,861 54
N et profit................................................................................
T he rates were very much low er in 1870 than in 1869.
$703,283 62
1870.
$596,290 28
407,423 44
$188,866 84
— The Jeffersonville correspondent o f the Louisville C ou rier-J o u rn a l sa y s: The
reports hitherto circulated, stating that the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad had obtained
the right o f way across the bridge, now proves to have been prema ure. W . D.
Griswold, president o f the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, was in Louisville a few
days since, and had a conference with the Bridge Company, which resulted in Mr
Griswold refusing the terms offered.
230
D EST R U C T IO N
yiCKSBURG
OF
[ September,
BO N DS.
AS A COTTON MARKET.
A circular has been issued by the Chamber o f Commerce o f Vicksburg, from which
we make the following extracts, by re q u e st:
T o the C otton S p in n ers o f E u r o p e a n d A m e r i c a : A s a result o f the late war, w e
beg to call your attention to the follow ing important change in our business. T he
system o f large plantations with few proprietors is being rapidly abandoned, and in
its stead we have smaller plantations and more proprietors— if not more proprietors,
certainly a vastly increased number o f cultivators o f the soil, who control the crops
they make and do their own trading. This change has lec to a largely augmented
home trade, and a rapid growth o f the interior cities and towns existing before the
war, and to the building up o f many entirely new ones. The many thus engaged
in buying and selling now, unlike the few heretofore, greatly prefer lo buy and sell
at the near instead of the distant markets.
This disposition has created a demand for a greater number of leading cotton
markets, and the rapid communication prom oted by railroads and telegraphs has
done away with much of the necessity for middle men.
W ith these general remarks, w e propose to pass on to the point o f showing you
the special advantages o f Vicksburg as one o f the new leading cotton markets
demanded by the necessities and wishes o f the country. W e beg that you will first
examine a map o f the Southern States, by which you will see that Vicksburg is
situated very nearly upon the 32d parallel o f latitude north ; that she stands mid
w ay between the mouth o f the Arkansas River cn the north and o f Red R iver
on the south ; that between the lines o f latitude on which these two rivers em pty
into the Mississippi lies the great cotton belt o f the South, extending from the
Atlantic coast to the Western border o f T e x a s; that Vicksburg is not only mi lw ay
between the northern and southern limits o f the be t, but is also m idway between
the eastern and western limits. A gain, please consult the map, and you will see
that the great Y a zoo V alley— capable, when fully reclaimed, o f producing more
cotton than is at present made in all o f the S outh—pours through the Y azoo river
and its many tiibutaries, all o f her rich products into the lap o f V icksburg. W e beg
to call your special attention to the fact that the immense tract o f V alley lands tribu
tary to Vicksburg give one distinctive feature to the cottons which she furnishes,
to -w it: the length o f the staple, short staple cotton being com paratively unknown in
her market. Y o u cannot avail yourselves o f this distinctive feature so entirely in
any other market. N o less than half a million bales o f this Valley land cotton are
sold or reshipped at, or pass by V icksburg seeking a market. A steady demand
here from spinners would arrest the whole o f it at Vicksburg.
In conclusion, we desire to bring to your notice the fact that w e are in direct com
munication with Charleston and Savannah by railroad— a distance o f 670 miles)—
and that lines now in course o f construction will lessen the distance by about 100
miles. Cotton can g o to the Southern Atlantic by three routes ; to the North by
tw o railroad routes, or by the Mississippi river to the W est or South.
A m p le banking facilities for the purchase o f all exchange that may be offered at
V icksburg are constantly at hand. A Iso a compress for preparing cotton for ship
ment.
D. W . L a m k i n ,
W
ie t
A
d a m s
,
H.
S .
B
o w e n
,
D .
N.
M
o o d t
,
H.
S .
F
u l k e r s o n
,
Committee.
DESTRUCTION OF BONDS.
The 130,000,fOO o f bonds destroyed, being cancelled bonds purchased by Secre
tary Boutwell on account o f the Sinking Fund, and Special Funds, comprehended
only such cancelled bonds as had been purchased up to the date o f their order for
their destruction, which bears date about the 15th o f Ju ly. Since the date referred
to, two millions have been purchased on account o f the July policy, and four millions
for August, making a total o f six millions which w ill p robably be con
signed to the flames at an early day. It is indicated that hereafter all bonds pur
chased on account o f the Sinking Fund w ill be cancelled and destroyed immediately
after their purchase.
1870]
r e d u c t io n
of
in t e r n a l
revenue
231
.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE TRINACTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE
YEAR ENDING JUNE 30TH, 1870.
The following official statement is certified by the A cting Secretary o f the Treasury :
N et balance in the Treasury on June 30, 1869.................................................................. $1.K5,680,840
N et receipts from custom s....................................................................................................... 194,538,374
N et receipts from internal revenue........................................................................................ 184,899,755
Sales o f public la n d s..................................................................................................................
3,350.481
Miscellaneous sources.............................................................................................................. 28,496,S64
T o t a l...................................................................... ............................................................. $566,935,818
Less in the Treasury ................................................................................................................ 155,680,340
Balance...................................................................................................................................$411,255,477
From exeess in conversion, & c., over the redem ption, &c., o f bonds, Treasury
notes and fractional cu rren cy............................................................................................. $1,270,213
T otal net receipts for 1870......................................................................................................... 568,205,032
Net expenditures for civil and m iscellaneous........................ - ......................................... 53,237,668
W a r Departm ent......................................................................................................................
57,655,675
N avy D epartm ent.................................
21,780,229
ludians and P en sion s.................................................................................................. .........
31 748,140
Interest on Public D eb t.................................................................
127,702.338
T o t a l................................................................................................................................ .. $292,124,052
Purchase o f Bonds for Sinking F un d .................................................................................... 126,579,508
T otal.......................................................................................................... ............................ $418,703,560
N et balance in tbe Treasury, June 30,1870......................................................................... $149,502,471
T h e above statement shows the amount c f bonds purchased for the Sinking Fund,
at par value, to be. .............................................................................................................$109 050,000
Am ount of premium and accrued interest.................................................... ..................... 17,529,508
T o t a l............. .................................................... ................. ............... ...........................$126,579,508
N et balance in the Treasury June 30, 1869 .........................................................................$155,680,340
N et balance in the Treasury June 30, 1870......................................................................... 149,502,471
D ifferen ce............................................................................................... ............................. $6,177,868
Actual gain in 1870............................................................................................................ $119,131,485
REDUCTION OF INTERNAL REVENUE, & c.
Monthly Report No. 11 o f the Bureau o f Statistics, now nearly ready for distribu
tion, contains, in addition to the summ ary heretofore published, a variety o f inter
esting statistics, among which are the following table, the first showing the estimated
reduction o f revenue by the new Internal Revenue A ct, and the second show irg the
comparative Area, Population, Public Debt, Revenue, Expenditures, Railroads,
Telegraphs, Merchant Marine, A rm y, <fcc., o f the United States and o f the several
European countries:
E S T IM A T E D AN N U A L RED U CTIO N O F T H E IN T E R N A L R E V E N U E B Y T H E A C T A P P R O V E D J U L Y
14, 1870.
Sources o f revenue.
Special taxes, including those on Bank
ers...................................................................
Gross receipts
S ales................
Incom e, including salaries.
L e g a c i e s ........................
S u ccession s.....................
Articles in Schedule A .
P a ssp orts..................... ..
S ta m p s .............................
T otal
Provisions o f the law
Receipts in
Annual
of J u ly 14, 1870.
fiscal y ’r ’70. reduction.
W ill cease M ay 1, 1871, except
those connected w ith fermented
liquors, spirits and to b a cco ----- $10,674,000 $10,674,000
6,784,000
W ill cease October 1, 1870...........
6,784,COO
W ill cease O ctober 1.1S70, except
those on sales o f tobacco,spirits,
8,804,000
w ines and those paid b y stamps
8,804,000
W iil b e 22£ per cent on incomes
o ve r $2,000, instead o f 5 per cent
37,243,000
23,700,000
on incomes over $1,000............
1,619,000
1,619.000
W ill cease O ctober 1, 1870...........
1,364,000
1,364,000
do
do
...........
892,000
892,000
do
do
...........
25,000
25,000
do
do
...........
W ill cease Oct. 1,1870, for prom
issory notes for less than $100,
for receipts for canned and pre
15,611,000
1,350,000
served fish........................... ..
83,016,000
55,212,000
232
TABLE
RE CE IPTS O F TH E U NITED ST ATE S IN T E R N A L R E V E N U E .
S H O W IN G
THE
C O M P A R A T IV E
[September,
A R E A , P O P U L A T IO N , P U B L IC D E B T , R E V E N U E ,
AND
OF
TH E
EXPEND
SEVEEAL
o
A
I s
W
n 93
o
<y'O
w
a
a c3
Pnblic D ebt.
COUNTRIES.
•
United States..........................................3,543,000
Great Britain.......................................... 120,000
Germ anZollverein, excl.Luxem burg* 206,000
F ra n ce....................................................... 212,000
N etherlands.............................................. 11,000
11,000
B elgium ...........................
Portugal.................................................... 37,0 >0
Spain.......................................................... 183,000
Italy............................................................. 110,000
Switzerland............................................... 15,000
A ustria........................................................ 245,000
Turkey (E uropean)................................. 297,000
G r e e c e ...................................................... 20,UC’0
Russia (E uropean).................................. 1,890,0(10
Sweden and Norway................................ 290,000
D enm ark.................................................... 14,000
o
40,000,000
30,500,<>00
38,514,000
33,200,000
3,592,000
4,984,000
4 350,105
16,732,000
25,527,000
2,510,000
36,000,000
10,725,000
1,400,000
68,390,000
5,859,000
1,750,000
CO
p
58
0
§ .2
ftr*
>
o
H
W
H
403 292
450 360
187 168
410 325
45 39
32 30
17 20
140 143
160 211
4.3 4 0
150 152
76 78.5
6
5.3
355 365
18 16.2
35 14 2
Years. Amount,
q
1870 2,369,324,476 $59
1868 3,985,15^,250 133
18b9
565,229,903 15
186S 2,833,400,285 74
408,953,995 112
125,350,105 25
1865
214,652,360 15
1870
819,637.355 50
1868 1,057,516; 490 41
1868 1,512,657,948
345,711.350
70,000,000
1866 1,372,723,850
1868
29,815,185
74,312,325
g
*42
34
50
19
5
46
♦The German Zolverein, excl. L u x
emburg, com p rises:
a North German U nion, or Prussia,
Saxony, Ducal Hesse, (north o f the
Main), Thuringia, Oldenburg, Bruns
161,384 29,9C6,092 1867
w ic k ..................
335,430,325 11.5
b T he South German States:
Bavari*. .......................................... 29,498 4,830,778 1866
148,346,380 30
W urtem burg.....................................
7,585 1,778,396
35,169,555 20
. ...
4,953 1,433,525
B aden. . - ...........................
46,283.643 33
Ducal Hesse (south o f the Main..
2,989
564,971 ....In c.in N .G e rm ’ y..
129 5 133.3'
23.3 23.3
12. 11.8
9.
9
13.1 10.8 J
THE RECEIPTS OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE.
A comparative statement has been prepared at the Treasury Department showing
the receipts o f internal revenue, from every source, for the fiscal years ending June
80, 1869 and 1870. The following aggregate w ill serve to show the uniformity with
which the revenues o f the Government have increased under the present administra
tion :
A rticles and O ccupations.
1869.
S pirits......... .......................................................................................................$45,026,401
T o b a cco ............................................................................................................... 23,430,707
Ferm ented liquors...........................................................................
6,099,879
Gross receip ts...............................................................
6,300,993
Sales..................................................................................................................... 8,206,839
In co m e ................................................................................................................ 34,229,893
Banks—-speci il tax on capital, circulation and deposits......................... 8,335,516
Soecial taxes, not oefore named.................. .........................................
8,801 454
Legacies and successions................................................................................ 2,403,588
G a s..........................................................................................................
2,116,005
Stamps, other than spirits and tob a cco...................................................... 15,505,492
Salaries o f Government officers..............................................................
561,962
Schedule A, passpoit penalties and unenumerated sources................. 8,704,379
Grand total
$159,124,126
1870.
$55,531,354
31,318,588
6,260,728
6,884,098
8,830,212
36,243,345
4,409,035
9,556,508
3,088,775
2,311,203
15,611,004
1,109,526
2 469,491
$183,634,832
T o which thers remains to be added, for the year 1870, various returns from
districts not yet received, and estimated to amount altogether to $615,000.
f
1870]
TH E PARK ER SBU RG
233
B R ID G E .
IT D E E , R A I L R O A D S , T E L E G R A P H S , M E R C H A N T M A R I N E , A R M Y , E T C ., O F T H E
EUROPEAN
U N IT E D
S TATES
C O U N T R IE S ,
.S
X3
a
o~
"4
M E R C H A N T M A R IN E .
Z* a
«
<
45,000
10,952
6,724
5,334
.524
1,236
278
2,097
2,092
526
3,019
113
4
2,764
836
186
6,724
E-i
75.000
13,831
11,952
14,868
991
1.591
1,204
4,343
5,951
1,672
5,479
l.< 600
1,516*
599
Steam.
Sail.
V es'els .
Tons. Vessels. Tons.
7,025
2,400,607
597
613,792
23,165
6,993,153 2,426 1,651,767
4,320
1,046,044
127
105,139
4,968
S91.828
2b8
212,976
444,111
82
89,405
1,690
81
31,198
9
6,357
368
87,018
18
13,126
3,036
545,<>07
148
72,845
3,395
907,570
86
36,358
Total.
Tons.
Vessels.
2,914,399
7,622
8,644,920
25,591
1,151,157
4,447
1,104,804
5,256
483,516
1,772
37,555
90
100,144
386
618,452
3,184
943,948
3,4S1
, .
W ar
Peace
footing, footing.
35,000
....
138,691
398,330 1,173*,368
434,585 1,350,000
61,755
....
.. .
lOt),000
32,342
73,025
80,000
573,72*1
183,441
200,000
822,472
246*,695
460,000
110,496
31,300
11,460
697,137 1,238,000
142,000
43,860
49,000
37,000
852
317,780
*74
44,312
926
1*,8H0
1,306
5,582
3,415
875,680
346,176
1,330,070
183,510
“ ’8
62
309
44
8,267
28,422
25,945
12,580
1,868
1,368
5,691
1,459
363,092
170,000
378,947
371,598
1,:-56,024
195 595
4,320
1,046,044
127
105,139
4,447
1,151,157 f 319,476
977,262
49,949
14,093
14,812
117,450
34,953
43,703
11,952
..
•]
i
i
THE PARKERSBURG BRIDGE.
Over the Ohio R iver at Parkersburg a bridge is in process o f construction, con
meeting the Marietta <fc Cincinnati with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. T o the activ
business men o f Cincinnati, and others interested in the prosperity o f the city, th*>
news will be w elcom e that this railroad bridge over the Ohio R iver will be com plete^
and in use in about sixteen weeks— not later than the 1st day o f December coming.
This bridge is built join tly b j the Baltimore & Ohio and Marietta
Cincinnati
railroads, the former paying two-thirds, the latter one-third o f the cost. The two
main channel sp in s are each three hundred ard fifty feet long, and the height o f the
bridge above low water i3 ninety feet. This relieves the roads from the obligation
under the law to make it a draw bridge. These tw o spans w ill he com pleted some
time this month. On the Ohio side a shore span o f tw o hundred and fifty feet in
leDgth has been com pleted already.
On the Ohio side the bridge is approached by a deep fill a mile in length. T h e
bridge proper consists o f thirty-six spans, and is four thousand one hundred an 1 thirteen feet, or a little over tour-fifths o f a mile long. Nine o f the spans, or 952 fee*
o f the length, are on the Ohio shore. The six channel spans stretch over a sp ace*of
1,541 feet. On the W est Virginia shore there are twenty-one spans, covering a
space o f 1,520 feet.
T he channel spans c f this bridge are built upon a plan which is an im provem ent
upon the old W hipple bridge. The shore spane are built upon a different plan!
The entire structure, exHu-ive o f the piers, o f course, i9 o f iron. Its total cost w ir
exceed a million dolllars, but not greatly . — C in cin n a ti G a zette .
234
P U B L IC
D EBT
O P TH E
U N ITE D
|September,
ST ATE S.
THE SUEZ CANAL.
T he London E co n o m ist sa y s: W e have d o w the particulars o f traffic o f the Suez
CaDal for the period ending the KOth o f o f Jur e. There have passed through the
canal 363 ships, and deducting 130 which passed through during the four days o f
inauguration, there remain 233, representing 195,428 tons, which have passed through
and paid due9. Besides these, small craft have passed through, representing 6,498
tons, so that 201,926 tons altogether have paid dues. This large tonnage was dis
tributed among various nationalities as follows :
Ships.
N o.
F r e n c h ................
E gypiian....................
...............
...............
19
9
...............
...............
8
1
Tonnage.
...............
.................
....
................. ..................
........... . ...................
..................
...................
2 548
732
480
6S6
37
T o t a l....
That this is a very different rate o f traffic from what the promoters o f the call
anticipated, even from the fre t, we need hardly say. W e have ourselves been ac
cused o f a malevolent disposition towards the enterprise, for mildly hinting that the
canal would do Tery well i f a million tons o f shipping passed through it the first
year. In the first half year only a fifth o f that amount has passed through. The
total rceipts to the 30th o f June w ere £129,784— a very small sum to meet the
workmg expenses and the interest on the obligations o f the company— the latter
alone amounting to £200,000 in the hair year.
THE DEBT STATEMENT FOR SEPTEM BER, 1870.
T h e follow in g is the official statem ent o f th e p u b lic debt, as appears
from the book s and Treasurer’ s returns at the close o f business on the last
day o f A u g u s t, 1 8 7 0 :
D ebt b earin g Interest In Coin
Character
or Issue.
Total.
O utstanding.
$ 20,000,000 00
7,022,000 00
18,415,000 00
945.000 00
189,318,100 00
498,012,1=00 00
75,000,000 00
194.567.300 00
3,129,100 00
107,611.750 00
188.380.300 00
280,298,350 00
347,714,500 00
39,737,850 00
A ccru ed
Interest.
$166,666 (h
58,516 67
184,150 00
9,450 00
1.893.181 00
9,960,256 00
750,i 00 0C
4.864.182 50
62.582 00
2,li'2,235 00
3,767,606 00
2,802,983 50
8,477,145 00
397,378 50
A g g reg a te of d eb t bea rin g inter, in c o in $718,242,000
$1,251,910,0 .0
$1,970,152,050 00
in terest due and u n p aid ............................................................................................................
$30 546,332 84
6,470,331 25
"When parable.
Registered.
5’ s, B on d s........... Jan. 1,1874.....................
$5,910,000
5*8. Bon ds .........Jan. 1,1871.......................
6,075,0(10
5,142,000
6’ s o f 1881............Jan. 1. 1881......................
6’s, B’ d 8 0 reg .,’81.July 1,1881.....................
—
6’s o f 1881..............July 1 ,1881................... 119,110,600
6*8, 5-20s>, 1862.......May 1,1 82...................... 118,364,350
6’ s o f 1881............ Ju ly 1,1881......................
51,754,700
5’s, 10-40’s ............ Mar. 1,1904..................... 130,058,750
3,129,100
6’ s, 5-20’s, 1861....N o r. 1.1884 .....................
6’s, 5-20’s, 1864.. ..N o v . 1,1884.....................
58,207,150
6’s, 5 20’s, 1865... .N o r . !, 1835 .....................
57,350,750
6’S, 5-20’s , ’65,n ew Ju ly 1,1885 .....................
75,224,400
6’8, 5-20’s, 1867... .J u ly 1, 1887.....................
83,164,400
9,158 800
6’8,5-20’s, 1868.... July 1,1888.....................
Coupon.
$14,090 OliO
947,000
13,273 000
945,000
70.207,500
384,048,450
23,245,300
64,508,550
49,404,600
131,029,550
205,073,950
264,5.-0,100
30,587,050
$37,016,664 09
T ota l in te re s t..
D ebt b earin g Interest in L a w fu l M on ey.
3’9, Certificates. .On dem and (interest estim ated)..........................................
3’ s, N avy pen. fd .In te r e s t on ly a p p lic .to pay. o f pensions..............................
$45,395,000 00
14,000,000 00
$390,672 93
70,000 00
A g g re g a te o f deb t b e a rin g Interest in law fu l m o n e y ...............................
$59,395,000 00
$460,672 93
D ebt o n w liic li interest lias ceased since m a tu rity .
$360 00
741 00
1,281 00
6’ s, B on d s............ M atured D ecem ber 31,1862 .
6’ s, B on d s............ M atured D e ce m b e r 31,1867.,
6’s, B on d s............ M atured Ju ly 1,1868 ..............
5’ s, Texas indem .M atured D e ce m b e r 31,1864.
V ar., T r ’ y notes.M atured a t variou s dates .
.
„n
n’’c
es.M
M arch 1,1859
“_
8,Tr’y
” atnred
'
6’s, Ti eas. notes.M atu red A p ril and M ar, 1863.................................................
7 3-10’s, 3 y e a r s .. .M atured A u gust 19 and O cto b e r 1,1864..............................
5’s, 1 & 2 y e a r s .. .M atured from Jan. 7 to A p ril 1,1866 ...................................
6’s, Certif. o f ind.M atured at various dates in 1866..........................................
6’s, Com p. int. n.M atu red June 10,1867, and M ay 15,1868..............................
4 , 5 & 6*8, Tem p. 1.Matured O cto b e r 15,1866 ........................................................
7 3-10’8 ,3 y e a r s .. .M atured A u gu st 15, 1867, and June 15 and Ju ly 15,1863
3,200 00
23,500 00
23i.502 00
5,000 00
2,090,590 00
181,310 00
588,350 00
2,938 76
108 00
195 00
857 77
12,266 28
313 48
898,478 02
7,501 91
21,474 79
A g g r ’ te o f d eb t on w h ich int. has ceased sin ce m aturity..........................
$3,505,127 85
$458,616 01
$ 6,000 00
12.350
25,700
242,000
89,625
00
00
00
35
2,000 00
12,100 00
1870]
C O M M E R C IA L C H R O N IC L E
AND
235
R E V IE W ,
D ebt bearing: no interest,
A u th orizin g acts.
C h aracter o f issue.
J u ly 17,1861 and Feb. 12,1862............ D em and n o t e s ................................
F e b . 25 & July 11,’62,& Mar. 3, ’63 ..U . S. legal-tender n o te s................
Ju ly 17,1862........................................... F ra ctio n a l c u r r e n c y .....................
M arch 3,1863 and June 30,1864.........F ractional c u r r e n c y .....................
M arch 3,1863......................................... Certificates fo r g o ld d e p o s ite d ...
A m t. outstand.
...
$103,971 00
... 356,000,000 00
•l 40,054,384 43
28,415,320 00
A g g re g a te o f d eb t bea rin g n o in te re s t................................................
...$424,573,675 48
R ec a p itu la tio n .
A m oun t
O utstanding.
$221,589,300 00
1,748,562,750 00
D e b t b e a r in g I n t e r e s t i n C o in —B onds at 5 p. cent.
Bonds at 6 p. cent.
Interest
T ota l d eb t bearin g interest in c o in .............................................................$1,970,152,050 00 $37,016,664 09
D e b t b e a r in g I n t e r e s t i n L a w f u l M o n e y —
C ertificates at 3 per c e n t ............................................................................
N a v y pension fund, at 3 per c e n t ..............................................................
$45,395,000 00
14,000,COO 00
T o ta l d ebt bearin g interest in law ful m o n e y ..........................................
$59,395,000 00
460,672 93
D e b t on w h ic h I n t . h a s c e a s e d s in c e m a t u r it y ...................................
3,585,127 33
458,616 01
D e b t b e a r in g no I n te r e st —
D em and and legal tender n otes.................................................................
F raction al curt e n c y ......................................................................................
C ertificates o f g o ld de p o site d ............................................. .....................
$356,103,971 00
40,051,384 48
28,415,320 00
T ota l d eb t bea rin g n o in terest......................................................................
$424,573,675 48
T o t a l ...............................................................................................................$2,457,623,852 83 $37,935,953 03
T ota l debt, prin. & int., to date, includiD g interest due n o t presented lo r paym ent. $2,495,561,8C5 36
A m o u n t tn t h e T r e a s u r y —
C oin ........................ ! ..................................................................................................................
C u rr e n c y ..................................................................................................................................
$102,504,705 80
37,135,949 65
T o ta l..........................................................................................................................................
$139,640,655 45
D ebt, less am ount in the T reasury...........................................................................................
D ebt, less am ount in the Treasury on the 1st u ltim o ............................................................
2,355,921,150 41
$2,369,324,476 0C
D ecrease o f d eb t during the past m o n th ...........................................................................
D ecrease o f d eb t since M arch 1, 1870.................................................................................
13,403,325 59
$82,407,326 76
B o n d s issued to tlie Pacific R a ilr o a d C om pan ies, Interest payable in
L a w fu l M on ey.
C haracter o f Issue.
U nion P a cific C o ............................................
Kansas P a cific, late U. P . E. D ............
S iou x City and P a cific ..... ...........................
Central P a c ific ...............................................
Central Branch Union P a cific, assignees
o f A tch ison & P ik e ’s P e a k .................
W estern P a cific ..............................................
Interest
Interest
Interest Balan ce o f
A m ount
a ccru ed
paid b y
repaid b y in te’ t paid
outstanding, and n o t
U nited transp’ tion b y U nited
y e t paid.
States, o f m ails,& c. State*.
$27,236,512 00 $272,36. 12 $3,713,371 05$1,322,770 62 $2,39^.600 43
6.303.000 00
63,030 0» 1,212,993 09 712,824 76
500.168 33
1,628,320 00
16.2^3 20
194.207 89
396 08
193,811 81
25,881,000 00 259,810 00 3,261,767 84 241,462 40 3,020,305 44
1.600.000 00
1.970.000 00
64,618,832 00
T otal issued,
16,000 00
19,700 00
301,808 26
131,197 36
7,401 92
.............
294,4C6 84
131,197 36
646,188 32 8,815,615 49 2,284,855 78 6,530,489 71
COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW
M onetary Affairs—Rates of Loans and D iscounts—Bonds eold at N ew Y ork Stock Exchange
Board—Price o f Government Securities at N ew Y ork—Course o f Consols and America
Securities at N ew Y ork —Opening, Highest, L ow est and Closing Prices at the N ew Y o r k
Stock Exchange—General M ovement o f Coin and Bullion at N ew Y o r k -C o u rs e o f G old
at New Y ork —Course o f F ore gn Exchange at N ew York.
The chief feature o f business in financial circles, duriDg August, has been
extreme dullness.
The first flush o f excitement growing out o f the war in
Europe was followed by a steady reaction, which finally settled into a stubborn
inactivity in every branch of investment and speculation.
the weather caused an extensive migration
The extreme heat o f
o f operators from W a ll street to
the country, which also very materially contributed to the prevailing dullne s.
238
c o m m e r c ia l
Money has continued easy.
c h r o n ic l e
and
r e v ie w
.
[
September,
Although the resources o f the banks have been
freely drawn upon by the W est, and stood at the close o f the month lower than
a year ago while the deposits and loans were higher, yet the supply has been
abundant on call at 4 @ 6 per cent and 7(0.8 per cent on prime commercial paper.
In the merchandise market there has been much less disturbance o f confdence
arising from the war than might have been expected.
A fter some brief fluctua
tions in prices o f our staple productions and o f a few classes o f foreign goods
at the outbreak o f hostilities, values settled down upon a steady basis and
business has proceeded with a fair degree o f confidence.
United States bonds have been much steadier than might have been expected
from the dangers threatening our foreign exchanges. The amounts returned
from Europe have been quite nominal, and after the first panicky effects the
foreign bankers were the chief buyers.
The London market has shown a decided
firmness in our securities, and the steady decline in the Bank o f England rate
o f discount has helped to sustain confidence in five-twenties both at home and
abroad. Another consideration tending to sustain prices at home has been the
fact that it is assumed that the Secretary o f the Treasury will find it necessary
to employ hi3 large currency balance in increased purchases o f bonds.
The extent o f transactions in Government and other bonds during the month
is shown in the following statem ent:
BONDS SO LD AT T H E N. T . STOCK EXCH AN G E B O A R D .
Classes.
1869.
U. S. b o n d s ....................................................... $13,398,850
'State & city b on d s..........................................
6,091,000
Com pany b on d s................................................
1,124,000
1870.
$8,731,850
2,133,500
1,335,200
In c.
$ ..........
.......
211,200
T otal—July................................................. $19,616,850 $12,200,550
Since January 1, 1870 ...................................... 234,614,709 176,680,826
P R I C E S O P G O V E R N M E N T S E C U R I T IE S
Day o f m onth.
1......................................
2 ......................................
: 3 ......................................
4 ........ .............................
5 . r f,a............................
6 ........................ ...........
8 ......................................
9 ......................................
1 0 .....................................
11......................................
1 2 ... .............................
13 .....................................
15......................................
16......................................
17............................. .........
18......................................
19.......................................
20......................................
22......... .............................
23......................................
24......................................
25......................................
26......................................
27...................... ...........
29......................................
80.......................................
31......................................
O pen in g..........................
H ighest............................
L o w e s t ............. ...........
Closing ............................
6’ s c ’ pn
1881. 1862.
HU*
. . . 11316 H O*
no*
110*
111*
H I*
112*
112
. . . 114% i n *
112
112
in *
...
11416
.
114*
113
112*
112*
112*
...
114*
...
Ill*
...
114*
112*
H I*
112
112
112*
112%
112*
112*
no*
112*
110*
112*
AT
$7,416,300
51,933,883
NEW YO RK .
in *
New,
1865.
1865. 1867.
11U% 108*
108* 103* ios%
110*
1(9
103* 109*
109* 1 (9 *
iii
1 9 * 109*
111% 109* 109%
i n * 109* n o
i n * 109* 109*
n o* no
109* n o
109* 109*
104*
no*
i i i * iio
ill* n o * no*
in * no* no*
in * no* no*
........ no
no*
no
110
in * n o * n o *
in *
no*
111
no
104*
no
in *
110
no
ii i% n o
no
i n * no
i n * n o * 110*
no*
111*
1U9*
111*
no*
in *
108*
111*
1861.
110*
109*
HO*
no*
H I*
no*
lil
ill*
H I*
H I*
H I*
iii
in *
in *
m
in
in *
in *
D ec.
$4,667,000
2,960,510
108*
no*
103*
no*
10-40 6’ 3
1S68. c’ pns. car’ cy
106* _____
109
1 0 .*
107
no*
107*
109% 107* i i i
___
107*
no
107%
no*
in *
110* 108
n o * 107*
107%
108
no
112*
108
108* 112
n o * 103*
no*
110% ios%
n o * 109
108*
109
108%
103%
no
no
109
103% 109
110% 110*
108* 109
n o * no
106*
no*
106*
109
112
112
in *
.....
110%
112*
110*
111*
1870]
C O M M E R C IA L C H R O N IC L E
AND
237
R E V IE W .
C O U R S E O P CONSOLS A N D A M E R IC A N S E C U R I T IE S A T L O N D O N .
Cons Am. securities.
for U. S. Til .C. Erie
mon. 5-20s sh’ s. shs.
Date.
Monday......
Tuesday__
Wednesday.
Thursday...
F riday........
Saturday ...
Monday
Tuesday...
Wednesday
Thursday ..
F rid a y........
9
.12
...15
.. lfi
...17
~ .lb
..191
Cons Am. securities
for u.s. IU.C. Erie
mon. 5-20s sh’ s. sh’ s.
Tuesday.......... ........ 23 91% 88% 112
Wednesday...
91% 87)* 111
Thursday....... ........ 25 91% 8i% 109%
riday.............
91% 87% 109%
Saturday.........
91% 3 7 % 110
Monday..........
91% 87% n o
Tuesday........ .......30 91% 88% i n
.........31 91% 88% m %
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
83% 82 101
14%
88% m % 18
91%
3%
e % 10
71%
91% 88%! 111% 17%
Lowest) o ^ . . , , , . . . . »
...2 0 1 91% 88% j111" 1 17)*
...2 2 91% 83)*1112 1 17
Last
88%
94%
6
..................
91%
1
§05
Satupday...
Monday ...
Tuesday ...
Wednesday.
Thursday ..
Friday ......
Saturday .
Monday__
..
89% 83 103
15%
15%
88% 82 103
n
88% 83% 1"2
14%
88%
82% 101
101
15
89% 83%
89% 88% 101
15
80
104
15%
90%
90% 80 105
15%
8G
J*
91%
106
10%
18
90% 80% 105
91% 86 106)* 17%
91% 86 106
17%
91% 87 107)* 17%
15
91% 87% 108
91% 87% 109% 17%
91% 88 109% 1 17%
91% SRWIllOfel 17^
Date.
10%
88 *
99)* 14%
113
22*
18% 8
111% 17%
The stock market has been excessively dull, partly from the absence o f
operators, but more from the absence o f any special inducements to speculation.
The leading clique operators are the principal holders o f stocks, and as the
outbreak of war has been unfavorable to a speculation for higher prices, they
appear to have been willing to allow the summer to pass without inaugurating
any special movement, and have confined their efforts to keeping the marketsteady.
The following table will show the opening, highest, and lowest closing prices
o f all the railway and miscellaneous securities sold at the N ew Y o rk Stock
Exchange during the months o f July and August, 1870 :
Railroad Stocks—
A lton & Terre Haute. . . . . . . .
B oston, Hartford <&Erie
Chicago & A l t o n ..................
do
do p re f.............
do
do scrip............
Chicago, Burl. & Q u in cy. . . .
do
& N orthwest’ n ___
do
do p r e f... .
do
& R ock Island.......
Oolumb., Chic. & Ind. C.......
Cleve. & P ittsb u rg...............
do Col., Cin. & In d .........
Del., Lack & W estern.........
Dubuque & S ioux c it y .........
E rie ............... ...........................
do p r e fe r r e d ......................
H a rle m ........... .........................
Hannibal & SL. J o s e p h .......
do
d o p ref........
Illinois Central......................
Joliet & Chicago....................
Lake Sho. & Mich. South___
M ar. & C incin., 1st...........
Michigan C en tra l.................
M ilwaukee & S t. P a u l.........
do
do p ref. —
M orris & E ss ex ......................
N ew J e r s e y ...........................
do
C en tra l............
N Y C e n . & h R. C s t k ....
do
certificates. . .
do
& N . H aven. , . . ,
do
do scrip
Ohio &M ississip p i.............
do
do
pref........
Panama...................................
P itts., F .W . & Chi. g u a r ...
R e a d in g .................. ...........
-July.—- —* r-August.-----Open. High. Low. Clos. Open. High. Low. Close.
31
31
30% 30%
4
8%
3%
8% 3%
3%
3%
116
118
114% 115
118% 112
112
119
118
118
118
114% 116
318
114
108
108% 113
113
112% 112%
162
156
150
150
156
150
150
82%
79% 82
82% SO
82
... ss% 84
84% 87% 8 % 80%
... 88% 89% 8:1% 85
,. 110% 118% 109% 113% 113
114% 112% 1135*
17% 16% 17
16% 17%
... 21% 22
17%
103)* 110
104% 110
... 109% 110
193% 305
... 81% 84% 78% 79% 79% 80
78% 79%
108%
... 105
104% 1»5% 105
1063* 105
103%
102
102
n 10% 101% 100
107
... 107
100
24% 20% 21% 2 1 %
24% 21% 22%
— ai%
47
45
.. . 44% 44% 44% 44% 45
47
142
129
135
... 140
130% 132%
134% 135
103
110
108)* 106% 118%
107
.. . 118% 119
... 120.1* J20)* xl09)* 1151* 109% 113% 108% 112%
142
129
130% 131
136
131
336
90%
90% 90% 90 %
88% 91
90% 95% 68% 92
.. . 99% 102
19
19
19
20% 19
20% 20
120% 118
ns
118
1 i9
117%
119
591* 61% 58)* 60%
.. . 66% 67% 68% 60
.. . 81% 82% 74% 76% 75% 77% 75% 77%
68% 885* 89% 86% 89
.. . 89% 90% 88
115
135
120
.. . 319
114% 114% 114% 114%
ioo% 100J* 102% 100% 101%
... 109
109% 99
96% 90%
.. . 98% 100% 90% 93% 92%
94%
96% 85% 88% 88%
92% 85% 89%
144
155
145
150
... 155
150
144
150
146
140
140
143
140
... 146
140
143
86% 33
34% 33% 34% 32% 31
74
74% 74
106
80
85
85
. ... 106
85% 80
83
96% 92% 95
94% 95
92% 94
103
93% 97% 95% 97% 94% 96%
238
C O M M E R C IA L C H R O N IC L E A N D
Rom e, W . & 0 ....................
St. Louis & Icon M oun—
Sixth a ven u e........... ............
S ton icgton ............................
T oledo, W ab. & W estern ...
do
do
d o p ie f....
M iscellaneous—
Cumberland C o a l.................
Consolidated C oal...............
Maryland Coal C o ...............
Pennsylvania C oal...............
W ilkesbarre Coal................
D el. & Hud. Canal...............
Atlantic M ail........................
Pacific M a il..........................
B oston W ater P o w e r .........
C a n ton ...................................
Brunswick City Land.........
M a rip osa ..............................
do
1st pref................
do
p ref...............
do
10s certif. . . . . . .
Q uicksilver............................
do
p re f........................
W est. Union T elegrap h ...
Citizens Gas...............
Manhattan.............................
[ September,
R E V IE W ,
45
45
....
.. •
49%
....
.
48%
48%
..
58*
59
....
46*
30*
26*
26%
222 ’ 222
70
68
127 xllO
SO*
30
44*
37*
15*
16*
70
64
222”
70
119
31
40
15*
64
....
....
48
48**
4 i"
....
45
89*
48*
78*
90"
52*
78*
89*
47%
78*
90’ *
51*
78*
26*
....
....
68
118%
26*
26*
26*
68
121*
31
40%
68
118*
20
36
62
60
.. .
4%
39*
62
........
..
15%
7*
....
16
44*
7*
18*
35
44%
69
46%
16
2%
62
.—
4%
5*
5*
5*
6*
10%
44
10%
10*
5
5*
5*
....
4*
5
34%
83%
38*
33*
45*
69
47*
16*
2%
37%
10
39
4*
9
9*
34*
34
7
....
E xpress—
American M . U n ion ...................................
A d a m s ...................... ....................................
United States.................. ............................
W ells, Fargo & C o.......................................
do
do s crip .............................
....
68
121*
42%
04*
43%
13*
2*
42%
67
44
14
2%
8%
....
43
67
44
14
2%
44
69
44*
14%
2*
40
64*
40
12*
2%
40*
61*
41*
13*
2*
The chief interest has been in the gold market, in which there has been
considerable speculative movement.
the export o f specie.
The price has sympathized closely with
A b ou t the middle of August, however, the shipments
fell off very materially, with the result o f checking a foiward tendency in the
price.
The Gold R oom has very generally acted upon the assumption that the
successes o f Prussia were favorable to peace, and hence the course o f victory
has also aided the downward tendency in the premium. Toward the close
of the month, however, the course o f the premium was less in sympathy with
this ru le; which possibly may be accounted for on the generally believed sup
position that a clique have been large buyers o f gold, with a view to putting up
the premium.
M on d a y...................... 1 120%
T uesday...................... 2 121%
W ednesday............... 3 121%
Thursday........... .........4 121%
F r id a y ........................ 5,121%
Saturday...................... 6; 121%
M on d a y....................... 8|119
T uesday.........................9,118%
W e d n e sd a y ................10 118
T h u rsd a y....................11 116%
F r id a y ..........................121117%
Saturday...................... 13:117%
M onday.. ................... 15[ll7%
T u esd a y...................... 16 116%
W ednesday..................16,117%
Thursday.................... 181116%
F r id a y ............. ..
19 116%
Saturday..................... 20 115%
M on d a y .......................221115%
120%
121%
121*
121*
121*
120%
118%
117%
116*
11 %
117%
117%
116%
116%
117*
116*
116
114%
115%
121%
121%
121%
121*
121*
121*
118
117%
116%
116%
118
in * 117%
u , * 117*
117* 116%
m * 117*
117% 116%
121%
122
121%
122
121*
121*
119%
118%
118
117%
118
110*1116*
'3
0
04
O
Date.
T u e s d iy ..................
W ednesday.............
Thursday.............
F r id a y ....................
Saturday..................
M onday...................
Tue«d >y..................
W ednesday.............
Aug.
1870.............
“
1869.............
14
1868.............
“
1867.............
“
1866.............
“
1865............
“
1864 ...........
“
1863...........
“
1862............
1 1 5 * 4 ,6
115*1115% S’ ce
J a n 1 , 1 8 ‘ 0.
.23
.24
.25
- 26
.27
.29
30
.31
Lowest.
3
1
H igh’ st.
Xl
bO
Closing.
Date.
Lowest.
C O U R S E O P G O LD A T N E W Y O R K .
115*
116%
116%
116*
116%
116%
116
116%
114%
131%
145% 143%
139% ,139%
149 146*
144*| 146*
255 231%
124*11*2*
115% 112%
116* ns%
117* 117%
118 in
116% U6*
116% 1163*
116% 116*
116* 116%
147% m
122 m
ISO * 138%
150 144%
142* 141*
152% 147%
145* 144*
261 % 534
129% 147*
116% 115*
12 * | 1 1 0 *
123%
116
116*
117%
116%
116%
116%
116*
116%
120%
1870]
JO U R N A L
O F B A N K IN G , C U R R E N C Y , A N D
F IN A N C E .
239
The following have been the quotations of Foreign E xch ange:
C O U R S E o r F O R E IG N E X C H A N G E (6 0 D A T S ) A T N E W T O R E .
Days.
L on d on .
Paris.
cents for
54 pence.
centimes
for dollar.
............................... 109%@109% 613%©512%
............................... 109%@109% 513%@512%
3
.....................
109%@109% 513%@512%
4
............................... 109%@109% 513%@5’ 2%
5
.............................10S%@109% 613%@512%
6
............................ 109%@109% 513%@513%
8
............................ !09% @ . . . .
513%®513%
9
............................ 109% @ . . . .
513%©513%
10
............................ 109%@109% 513%@512%
11 ................................. 10.l%@109% 513%@512%
12
............................ Iu9%@109% 513%©512%
13
............................ 109%@109% 520 @515
15
............................ 109%@ . . . .
520 @515
16
............................ 109%@109% 520 @515
17 ............................ 109%@109% 520 @515
IS ................................. 109%@109% 520 @515
9 . . . , .......................... 109%@109% 520 @515
20...................................109%@109% 513%@519%
22 ................................109%xtl09% 513%@512%
23 ..............
109%@109% 513%@512%
24 ................................109%@109% 515 @513%
2 5 ............................... 109%@109% 615 @513%
2 6 ........................... 10!iM@109% 515 @513%
27
..........
109%@109% 515 @513%
29 ........................................ @109% 515 @512%
30 ........................................ @10974 515 @512%
31
...............................10»%@ll)9% 515 @513%.
I
II
August, 1870............ 109%@109% 520 @512%
Aagust, 1869............. 109%@U0)s 617%@518%
Amsterdam. Brem en.
cents for
florin.
41%@42
42 @42%
42 @12%
42 @42%
42 @42%
42 @ 12%
42 @42%
42 @42%
41%@41%
41%@41%
41%@41%
41%@41%
41%@41%
41%@41%
41%@41%
411t @41%'
41%@41%
41 @41%
41 <,.41%
41 @41%
41%@11%
41%@41%
41%@41%
41% @ U %
41%@41%
41%.W.41%
41 @41%
41 @42%
4O%@40%
H am burg.
3T @38
37%@3S
37%@33
37%@3S
37 @38
37 @38
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @ 3 7 *
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @37%
37 @37%
36%@36%
36%@36%
36%@3S%
36%@37
36%@37
36%@37
36%@37
3b%@36%
36%@36%
36%@8b%
Berlin
cents for
thalers,
76 @77
75 @77
75 @77
75 @77
75 @77
75 @77
73 @74
73 @74
75 @76
75 @76
75 @76
71 @74%
74 @74%
74 @74%
74 @74%
74 @74%
74 @14%
72 @ 72%
72 @72%
72 @72%
73%@73%
73%@73%
73% @?3%
73%@73%
721» @73*i
72% @74%
72% @72%
36%@3S
35%@36
72 @77
71 @71%
cents for cents for
rixdaler. M. banco.
81 @81%
81 @82
81 @82
81 @82
81 @82
81 @82
81 @82
81 @82
81 @81%
81 @S1%
81 @81%
81 @S1%
81 @ s l %
81 @81%
81 @81%
81 @81%
81 @81%
f(l% @81
80% @ 8l
30%@S1
SH%@81%
80%@81%
SU%@S1%
80%@81%
80%@81
50%@81
80 @80%
80 @82
7S%@79%
JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE
Returns o f the N ew Y ork , Philadelphia and B oston Banks.
B e l o w w e g i v e t h e re tu r n s o f th e B a n k s o f th e th r e e c it ie s s in c e J a n . 1 :
NEW TORE CITT BANK RETURNS.
Date.
•Tan. 8 .........
Jan. 15 .........
Jan. 22 .......
Jan. 29 .........
F eb. 5 .........
Feb. 12 .........
Feb. 19.........
Feb. 2 7 . . . .
Mar. 5 .........
Mar. 12 .........
Mar. 19 ........
Mar. 26 .........
A pr. 2 .........
A pr. 9 .........
Apr. 16 .........
Apr. 23 .........
Apr. 3 l.........
M ay 7. . . .
May 14 . . . .
May 21.........
M ay 28.........
June 4 ..........
June 11.........
June 13 .........
June 25 .........
July 2 . . . .
July 9 .........
July 16 .........
July 23 .........
July 30.........
A ug. 6.........
A u g. 13 .........
A ug 10.........
Aug. 2 9 .........
Loans.
specie.
Circulation.
253,475,45)
35,664,830 34,132,280
259,101,106
87,510,467 38,966,823
259,592 756
19,454,003 33,806 721
260,324,271
40,475,714 13,712,282
264,514,119
33,997,246 33,746,481
26.5,864,652
38,072.184 33,703,572
267,327,368
37,264,367 33,694,371
268,435,642
25,094,239 33,820,905
68,634,212
35,893,493 33,783 942
268,140,601
33,390,135 33,835,739
270,003,632
32,014,747 33,699,565
270,807,763
72,271,252 33,674,394
271,756,871
29,837,183 33,676,564
272,171,388
28,787,692 33,754,263
269,981,721
26,879,513 33,698,258
269.016,279
25,310,322 33,616,928
269,504,285
23,817,596 33,506,393
275,246,471 31,498,999
83,444,641
273,383,314
32,453,906 83,293,930
280,261,077
84,116,935 33,191,648
279,550,743
33,729,035 33,249,818
279,485,734
30,949 490 31,295,083
276,419,576
28,523,819 33,142,188
276,639,004
28,895,971 33.012,613
277,017,367
28.228,985 33,094,113
276,496,503 31,611,330
33,070,365
277,783,427
35,734,431 33,100,357
285,377,318
41,135,688 82,027,786
286,090,793
34,258,613 32,999,337
281,939,843
30,263,890 33,005.5:3
>81,182,144
26,472,592 32,943,144
278,647,619
34,104,802 82,909,166
275,722,982
80,733,346 32,839,667
273,956,97419,639,38 i
32,904,906
D eposits.
190,169,262
202.396,331
297,479,823
210,150,913
214,739.170
213,192,740
212,188,882
211,132,943
213,078,341
209,831,225
208,816,823
203,910,713
206,412,430
201,752,434
202,913,989
203,583,375
208,789,350
217,362,213
222.442,319
226,552,926
228,039,315
2:6,191,797
220,699,21:0
219,932,852
217,522,555
219,083,428
2:9,725,468
234,332,365
233,965,513
227,555,701
220,819,300
215,074,494
205,531,318
201,906,700
L. Tend’s. A g. Clear’ gs
48,531,735
693,170,114
52,248,475
596,733,681
54,619,433 550,665,911
66,782,168
649,133,565
58,318,384
541,240,204
56,603,000
610,842,824
55,134,066
511,151,875
53,771,824
459.684,815
54,063,933
003,182,507
53,302,004
548,015,727
52,774,420
525,079,551
62,685,063
481,253,035
50,011,793
516,052,093
47,570,633
476,845,358
50,180,0)0
429,468.971
63,119,646
444,605,30.4
54,944,865
653.515,115
66,108,922
701.060,925
57.947,005
650,260,661
59,023,306
625 678,321
61,618,676
576,625,521
61,290,310
613,452,663
6 <.159,170
57 (,132,050
68,120,211
498,872,684
57,215,555
637,223,270
56,815,254
562,736,404
53,348,970
490,180,962
53,461,341
623,349,499
53,978,7 1
759,349,499
64.837,951
502,709 742
52,287,188
446,059,042
51,276,262
442,693,645
50,353,286
408,195,377
48,959,713
419,420,650
240
J O U R N A L O F B A N K IN G , C U R R E N C Y , A N D F I N A N C E .
[September,
PHILADELPHIA BANK RETURNS.
Loans.
51,662,662
5',472,570
52,090,611
51,635,095
51,709,658
51, f 28,563
51.373.296
51,289,931
51,523,024
51,400,381
51,417,645
51,587,837
51,454,623
51,898.135
52, 41.533
51,928,431
52,019.535
52,243,057
52.413,398
52,234,603
52,500,343
52,320 224
53,098,534
53.583.296
53,647,408
54,283,879
55,037,866
54,667,170
54,294,723
53,942,152
53,725,888
53,742,364
53,399,190
52,895,350
52,163,288
Date.
Jan. 3 ..
Jan. 10 ..
Jan, 17 -Jan. 24 ..
Jan. 31 ..
Feb. 7 ..
F eb. 14 ..
F eb. 21..
F eb. 2 8 ...
Mar. 7 ...
Mar. 1 4 ...
Mar. 2 1 ...
Mar. 2 8 ...
A pr. 4 ...
Apr. 1 1 ...
Apr. 1 8 ...
A pr. 2 5 ...
M ay 2 ...
May 9 ...
May 1 6 ...
May 2 3 ...
May 8 0 ...
June 6 ...
June 13...
June SO...
June 27...
July 4 ...
July 11..
July IS ....
July 25...
A ug. 1 ..
A u g. 8 ..,
A ug. 35..
A ug. 2 2 ...
A ug. 2 9 ...
Specie. Legal Tenders. Deposits.
1,290,096
12,670,198
38,990,i 01
1,358.919
12,992,812
38,877,139
1,258,772
12,994,924
39,855,433
1,063,406
39.504.793
13,327,515
995,463
13,752,537
39,530,011
957,5.0
13,741,867
39,512,149
1,090,955
13,339,610
38.834.794
1,202,456
13,236,144
89, 55,165
1,343,173
13.406.658
39,279,859
1,429,807
18,192,282
39,085,042
1,677,218
12,704,279
39,382,352
2.58 i,372
13.125.658
39.781.153
1,599,517
13,094,295
39.781.153
12.769 911
1,530,747
88,771,237
1,499,429
13,052.827
39,279,143
1,814,127
13,882,761
41,033,306
1,063,741
14,827,013
41,677,500
1,247,820
15,441,522
42,997,076
1,222,629
15,851,265
43,429,347
1,164,012
16,244,785
44,938,042
1,049,943
16,450,837
44,233,016
923,948
16,789,102
45.117.172
869,597
16.926,682
45,122,720
841,569
16,702,115
44,957,979
743,285
16,309,340
44,398,340
728,844
15,805,568
44,351,747
917.270
15.401.749
44,609,623
1,320,947
14,595,069
44.024.172
3,266,800
14,229,980
43,835,846
1,214,046
14.007.749
42,639,473
2,162,567
13,472,647
43,943,366
1,064,368
13,119,176
41,178,654
781,537
12,365.681
39,428.357
677,934
12,082,008
88,762,424
511,676
12,304,802
38,160,671
Circulation.
10,568,681
10,5^6,029
10,583,506
10,577,215
10,513,468
10,568,081
10,573,383
10,572,973
10.508,905
10.576.852
10,565,909
10,578,484
10,586,611
10,575.771
10,571,749
10,571,794
10,575,120
10,571,535
10,563,357
K',562 404
10,564,075
10,560,378
10,561,684
10,567,356
10.569.852
10,562,889
10,556,277
10,556,100
10,553,981
10,548,456
10,563,291
10.562.197
10,564,548
10.562.197
10,569,755
BOSTON BANK RETURNS.
Loans.
Date.
Jan. 1 0 .................
Jan. 2 4 .................
F eb . '7 .................
F eb. 1 4 ................
F eb. 2 1 ........... .....
F eb . 2 8 ........... .
Mar. 7 .................
Mar. 1 4 .................
Mar. 2 1 .................
Mar. 2 8 .................
A pr, 25 - ..............
May 2 ..................
May 9 ..................
May 16...............
May 23..................
July 11..................
July 18..................
July 2 5 .................
A ug. 29..................
.. 109 683,0*1
.. 108,905,389
.. 108,367,431
..
.
..
,.
107.884,867
107,043,309
106,722,659
106,156,094
..
.
..
..
106,245,609
107,001,304
106,949,539
106.840,256
..
..
..
..
106,454,436
1(16,416,987
106,839,304
106,997,278
..
.
..
..
..
..
107,714,221
107,935,376
108,138,260
109,096,614
108,500,573
107,106,644
S pecie. Legal Tenders.
11,374,559
3,765,348
4,977,254
10,941,125
5,418.001
10,794,881
5,542,674
10,962.102
5,231,785
10,992,962
5,085,00:1
10,433,107
4,884,147
9,386,266
4,634,776
9,386,266
8,918,129
4,457,113
8,765,874
4,929,867
5,024,691
8,510,573
5,170,700
8,352,261
8,499,444
5,190,348
5,163,494
8,470,455
8,162.080
5,057,341
4,851,954
8,216,721
4,536 884
8,872,670
10,081,661
4,551,701
4,792,968
9,814,428
4,545,690
9,584,703
9,684,654
4,058,744
9,721,70S
3,875,717
9,776,281
3,475,528
3,534,343
9,560,009
9,186,082
3,397,873
9,332,858
3,177,413
4,298,219
8,816,494
5,494,539
7,897,616
8,362,919
5,411,963
8,958,724
4,841,322
8,883,528
4.439,523
8,831,499
4,019,987
3,564,721
7,983,088
7,564,362
3,153,323
2,864,348
8,385,215
D ep osits.
40,007,225
42,177,6(0
42,377,002
41.593/58
40,696,016
40,003,823
39,918,414
38,475,853
37,088.842
37,681,983
37,708,082
37,093,533
37,123,211
38,851,613
39,504,080
89,532,827
39,920,142
41,042,250
41,205,597
41,675,369
41,160,009
40,056,344
40,218,620
38,901,202
38,647,292
38,899,529
40,360,389
40,723,035
40,225,979
29,722,321
38,537,730
39,267,033
38,271,247
36,972,703
35,957,745
C irculation.
25,260,893
25,298,365
25,191,545
25.255,818
25,206,094
25,160,604
25.212,614
24,230,866
25,225,629
55,260,80S
25,280,027
25,270,437
25,265,004
25,278.442
58,285,003
25,29.1.805
25,231,8 >7
25,509,619
2% 207,4 64
25,203,203
25,199,719
25,150,808
‘ 5,139,278
25,146,390
25,175,753
25,135,659
25,130,686
2',189,796
25,178,208
25,149,754
25,156,724
25,119,411
25,059,111
25,150,653
25,088,616
@FedFRASER