The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

NEW YORK MARKETS.

;From the Correspondent of the Anglo-American Timm.)
NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 1867.

Although failures continue they have been less nume-
rous than during the preceding weeks. To the list among •
many respectable and old-established names are to be
added Goodridge and Co. and Goodridge and Walker, of
New York. Money is easier; indeed, it may be said to
be abundant at 6 per cent. on call, and 7i to 9 on first-
class paper, and 10 to 12 on second class. Commercial
paper is more easily negotiated, though great caution is
exercised, as the list of failures has givena warning people
do not seem inclined to neglect. At Cincinnati first-class
paper is done at 9 to 12 per cent., and in the open market
at 15 to 18 per cont. The demand for call loans is active.
Three million five hundred thousand dollars have been
disbursed in the pork trade, and a considerable sum will be
required before `the demand ceases. Money is tight at
Chicago, and at Boston loans are only obtainable at from
8 to 12 par cent. The action of Congress is considered
favourable, inasmuch as there appears no danger of hasty
financial legislation, and nothing will be done until after
the holiday recess. The speculators, who anticipated a
rise in gold from Congressional legislation, have found the
reverse to be the case, though it has been rather better,
closing yesterday at 1341, after selling at 134. The
clearings at the gold exchange Bank were $71,884,000.
The Government Securities due on the Ist of January
are the principal and interest on the loan of 1847
$6,860,100, and about $15,000,000 of interest on Five-
twenties of 1865-7, and $8,000,000 on the Sixes of 1881.
The Persia, which left last Wednesday, did not take out
the sum expected to be forwarded by her, as it amounted
only to $600,00.0. Bills at 60 days on London are quoted
at 1091 to 1091 for commercial ; 110 to 110/ for bankers' ;
do. at short sight, 1101 to 110 f ; Paris, at 60 days 5.15
to 5.121; do. at short sight, 5.121 to 5.10 ; Hamburg,
361 to 361; Amsterdam, 41 to 411; Frankfort, 41
to 411; Bremen, 79 to 791; Prussian thalers, 711 to 721.
Government stocks have been on the rise. Yesterday the
demand was active, the advance being greatest in Five-
Twenties of 1862. The rise in Europe tends to strengthen
these securities, as well as lower the price of gold, and it is
noticeable that real investors are on the increase, and the
orders from the country larger than have been known for a
considerable period. There is not much doing in Railway
Mortgages and State Bonds. But the Share Market is
steady, and has been advancing all last week, and a consi-
derable amount of business transacted. The New York
Central and Erie have been steadier than for many months.
The reform effected in these lines will prevent fluctua-
tions, and the prices may now be more surely relied on.
The revolution in the Erie, under Mr. Eldridge as presi-
dent, has had a good effect, and a similar result is looked
'or in the New York Central, under Commodore Vanderbilt.

The Kansas section of the Union Pacific; Railroad reports
$147,025 net profits for October, and the line is working
for 290 miles to Hayes city, while the other line is beyond
Cheyenne city, 525 miles west of Omaha, and before Ist
January will be at Evan's Pass. This company has an-
nounced paynient of the coupons on their first Mortgage
Bonds in gold on and after Jan. Ist at their office in New
York. Cleveland and Pittsburg rose to 861 on a report
that the present directors of the Cleveland and Toledo
Road will be elected in January to the Cleveland and Pitts-
burg board, and that a half-yearly dividend of 5 per cent.
will be declared. Michigan Southern is actively dealt in,

and the continued large traffic on the road tends to give
confidence both to holders and to buyers. Pacific Mail fell
to 122. Mining stocks are little inquired for. Petroleum
stocks are steady, and business good. The severe and un-
expected frost has stopped canal navigation, and sent up
the prices of flour and wheat. The dry goods market is
more hopeful. The prospects of the coming year are consi-
dered better, and many dry-goods houses have cleared the
market of their obligations, while payments have been
made by all with unexpected promptness. This has tended
to restore confidence after the disastrous failures in this
branch of business. Cotton is lower, and until Congress
decides the question of tariffs, there will be no improve-
ment in woollens nor in foreign goods, in which the sale is
limited to a few holiday novelties. The following were
yesterday's closing prices ; —Coupon Six per Cent., 1881,
1111 to 1111 : Coupon 5-20, 1862, 1081 to 1081; Coupon
5-20, 1861, 1011 to 1041 ; Coupon 5-20, 1865, 105 to 1051 ;
Coupon 5-20 new, 1865, 1071 to 1071 ; Coupon, new,
1867, 1071 to 107}; Coupon 10-40's, 1001 to 100$;
7-30 s, 2d, 1041 to 1041 ; 7.305, 3d, 1011 to 101/; Ten-
nessee 6 per cent. ex coupon, 651 to 651 ; Tennessee
6 per cent. ex coupon, now, 621 to 624; Missouri 6 per
cent. 961 to 971 ; Canton, 451
osa 46 ;Cumberland, 26 to 28 ;
Quicksilver, 191 to 20 ; Marip, 71 to 81 ; Mariposa Pre-
ferred, 141 to 151 ; Pacific Mail, 122 k to 1221 ; Atlantic
Mail, 1181 ; Boston Water Power 17/ to 171 ; New York
Central, 1171 to 1174; Erie, 721 to 724; Erio Preferred,
731 to 731; Hudson, 132/ to 133 ; Reading, 911 to 91i ;
Michigan Central, 110 to 112 ; Michigan Southern, 82 to
821; Illinois Central, 132 to 1321 ; Cleveland and Pitts-
burgh, 86 to 861; North-Western, 59/ to 591 ; North-
Western Preferred, 67 to 671 ; Rock Island, 971 to 971 ;
Cleveland and Toledo, 103 to 1031 ; St. Paul, 42 to 421;
St. Paul, Preferred, 62/ to 62}; Fort Wayne, 991 to 991;
Ohio and Mississippi, 261 to 261.

(From Messrs. Bowles, Drevet, and Co.'s Circular.)
Paris, Jan. 3, 1868.
We can do little more than repeat the substance of our
last circular. The market has continued inactive, with a
somewhat declining tendency.
United States Securities, with little business, aro re-
markably firm, influenced by the continued low gold rates
reported, from New York, and more favourable political
and financial news.
We quote :
For the issue of 1862
For the issue of 1864
For the issue of 1865
Our advices from New York are to the 31st ult.
Gold
United States Bonds, 1862 (currency) lOB2
The Bente closes at 6Bf. 400.
Tho Italian closes at
Exchange on London

(From E. F. Satterthwaite and Co.'s Weekly Circular, Dec. 31.)
Our advices from New York per China, to the 17th inst.,
are eleven days later than those noticed in our last ; during
that time the market for Government Stocks bad been
much depressed, but closed slightly firmer. The course of
the Railroad Market had been variable, but on the whole
was firm, with the exception of Chicago and North Wes-
tern, which had given way quite $5. Hudson River, on
the other hand, had advanced $6. Railroad Mortgages
were firm, but with few recorded transactions. Money
was in good supply, and gold continued to show a declining
tendency.
The diametrically opposite principle upon which Eng-
lish and American railways aro inaugurated and con-
structed has, during the last few months, been most strik-
ingly exemplified. This is in a large degree inevitable
from the different social and political state of the two
countries. In Americo, when it became de3irable to im-
prove the communication between any two cities, or any
two points of commercial importance, or as soon as auy
new tract of country was occupied by settlers, one of the
first objects considered imperative to accomplish was a
ready means of communication with other portions of the
State, and as the ordinary waggon roads are quite un-
suited for the transmission of heavy goods, the construc-
tion of a railroad:with as little work on it and as limited an
equipment as possible, has usually been the means adopted
to attain this end, leaving the requisite improvements of
the track, bridges, viaducts, &c., to be accomplished,
together with additional rolling stock to bo added as the
business of the road and the requirements of the commu-
nity might require, obtaining the necessary funds gene-
rally out of the earnings of the road, but sometimes partly
furnished by additional capital subscribed by the public.
In this country, on the contrary, especially during the
past few years, our railways have almost without excep
tion been built originally on the most expensive scale, and
the actual cost of laud and construction is far heavier
than in America, added to which, a new line is almost
invariably loaded with such heavy legal and other
preliminary expenses that, as a rule, it is years before it be-

comes remunerative, and as soon as it does extensions and
branches are constructed, burdening the line with increased
capital entirely disproportioned to the earnings ; of this
we have recently had several painful examples. As we
have said, the very reverse of this is the case with Am3ri-
can railroads, though many, if not most, of the best lines
have in their early existsnce had to contend with pecu-
niary embarrassments, but the elasticity and growth of
the country is such that a few years has been suffi-
cient to enable them to overcome all such difficulties.
Perhaps there is no more striking exemplification of this
than the Illinois Central ; ten years back that company was
compelled to issue a notice to share and bondholders—
" That the directors are under the painful necessity of an-
nouncing that, notwithstanding the most strenuous exer-
tions to avert such a result, the company is forced to sus-
pend payment." At that time, the shares, with $3O paid,
were worth only $2 or $3 in New York, and the Seven
per cent. Bonds were selling at 51; while now the shares
fully paid up are in steady demand for investment at about
133, and the bonds command a premium of 18 or 20 per
cent.

We are not unmindful that the Illinois Central Com-
pany have been largely indebted to the donation of land
for their present prosperous state ;. at the same time, it
must be remembered that the receipts from traffic have
more than doubled, and would of themselves make the
road a good dividend-paying property ; whilst in con-
trast to this, the Grand Trunk of Canada, which was
projected at about the same period, after a variety of crea-
tions of preference stocks and bonds, is in a state border-
ing on bankruptcy, many of the preference charges hav-
ing been for years unpaid.
That the Illinois Central is not an exceptional case, but
that all or nearly all the railroads in America show,
under good management, a very rapid development, a
comparison of prices in New York of some of the lead-
ing stocks in 1857, and the present quotations, will indi-
cate, and also prove how investors who had faith in reco-
very from a state of pecuniarypressure have been rewarded
for their confidence.

(From Messrs. Belding, Keith, and Co.'s Circular.)

FRIDAY, Jan. 3.

The market for American securities has been very quiet
during the past week on account of the holidays and the
settlements of the New Year, but the tendency has been
upwards, though gold quotationsat New York have varied
but little, the last, by cable, being, on the 2d January,
1331. Five-twenty Bonds, 1882, open this morning at
721 721, being an advance of 4 per cent. since last Friday,
while the 5-20 Bonds, 1885, are 71* 711, an advance of 1
per cent. Ten-forty Bonds, 1904, continue steady at 68
681. Illinois shares open at 89 90, an advance of 1i per
cent. Erie shares are steady at 48 49. Atlantic and
Great Western Debentures continue firm at 20 to 22, and
the Consolidated Mortgage Bonds, 18 to 19. There hag
been little business in other American securities, and prices
have varied but little.