Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-05-30
Railroads.

A writer in the Portland Argus is discussing
the propriety of cities and towns loaning their
credit to Railroads. In series of articles,
he is laboriny. in the frs, place to define when
a city or town would be justified in loan
irg its credit and secondly, when the Legis-
lature would be justified in granting permission
to such cities and towns to loan such credit
We have perused three Of his articles-and
must say VIC agree with him in his conclusions
In one Of his communications he says
No town or city, in its corporate capacity
can be justified, in jeopardi1ing the property OF
its individual inhabitants. The solvency Of
the Railroad company, therefore-the state OF
its financial affairs--the condltlon OF its stoeN
are all questions to be carefully looked into.
To this end, it becomes necessary to inquire,
What security can the Railroad company give,
to take care of the credit homeland see that
the town or city is never called upon for prln-
cipal or interest. Is the Railroad already I'M
der mortgage, or has it any lien upon it in the
nature of a mortgage-and to what extent =
What is the value of shares in the Capt. al
stock of the company, as tested by actual sales
in the market. Has any stock been sold or
issued by the Directors, under par II so.
any .p,eferred" stock been issued--it so, how
many shares. and on Whist terms. How much
extra interest has the company already paid Tor
borrowed money-how much is it new paying,
and ut what discounts were the bonds OF the
company sold or taken up How many shares
do the individual Directors and superinten-
dents each own in the capital stock OF the COM
pany-and how many of those, originally sub
scribed for by them, have they soid' In
procuring money for the company. or IN selling
its bonds, did any of the Directors act as agents
and did they receive a commission on the
bonds sold, or money obtained. and how much
in amount, and what per cent I: Have any in
dividual Directors, acting as agents for the
company, been feathering their own nests, and
subscribing their own private purposes, at the
expense Of the company These are matters,
which ought all to be carefully examined and
1nvestigated-not in a carping, fault finding
spirit, but with candid and manly indepen-
dence of character-for every Board of Dircc-
tors is entitled TO reasonable degree of conf
dence. Such an examination and investigation
is the more important, since there have been so
many frauds perpetrated by SO many agents
and Directors of Railroad companies. Such an
examination and investigation, moreover, is
particularly desirable in order to enable the in
habitants Of town or city when called upon
to vote on the question of lending their credit,
to act understandingly.
The above we believe, in the main, to be the
correct ground. and we doubt no, our Lesis-
lature, when called upon. as it is about to be,
to give to towns and cities power to pledge
their credit, to aid the Rail Road, will careful
ly investigate the affairs of the Road thus to
be assisted. 1t is in duty bound so to do
both as regards the safety of town or city, in
its corporate capacity, and also for the welfare
and security of the individual stockholders in
the Road, and the general interest the public
at large has in the final success of each and
every such undertaking.
We deem it not improper here to statc-that
from what we know of the affairs of the Ken
nebec and Portland Rairoad,-and from our
knowledge of the ability and honesty of the
gentlemen who have the control of its affairs
we hazard nothing in saying that this Road
shrinks from no investigation, by the public or
by the Legislature, as to its safety, and as to
the prospect Of its meeting all its liabilities and
becoming, in seasonable time, a profitable in
vcstment for all owning stock in it. No I'M
prejudiced person can doubt this statement
1t can be satisfactorily shown that for every
dollar Of credit it obtains, it can give ample Sc
curity. Assuming the Argus writer to be cor
rect in his reasoning, we are confident our road
will stand his test. The Directors have made
fair and full statement of its affairs-and with
this statement made public-(all the towns,
which have voted on the question: have voted
to lend their credit to the Road for the amount
asked. This decision on the part of the several
towns and cities, has been made after long and
patient investigation, and We believe has been
correctly made. We doubt not the Legislature
will comply readily with the request of the pc
titioners.