Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1852-04-30

ould place tne opk than 10 William Selden When
h. 90 hs statement of acs give Them Inuch cfco' -
10 b,d rhe testimony of my own observation. an.
y then il was best for the interest," VI .e a.e " d
~ ', agoiiaon all the bonds tnat were 10 DC soo
fired for sale for the required peli"n' T's. - no |
orr e.,imatcs for the Board 10 emolaIe , IS tho
'"f', n,d have embraced the lul cSuniaes VI .'e
nat tey soen for the remnant OF the then exist
no. ,;sci wear and for the present nseal yea,
Nil any gentleman here crhsu'c @ for thai
;no9 NV sir l., ma examine those estimates, and see II
oan Of four millions more Than was c'eu Statement
csses OF the occasion. hold IN my NUM- ih !, arrears
rom the office Of The Second AUDITOR BY whiSn T ?0,h
hal The cui payments from the first o april ~ w ch
semi ISL Jour fiscal year cluscs on the SUN SEPT ~ ,h
rearl amounted sl,32i,370. By the estimates .. w,
Sond Auditor in his report the Internal Improvement
md aoocars that the esllmuted payments 10 wonS
for The fiscal year terminating 30th Septeoei
,S3 ,l .mount 10 50 1883. Adding these together we
M hnI The payments for the remnant OF me ist ~
al year and The estimated payments Tor this hsca' year,
amount II S3ctU, 30. -; o,,n,,I
But the Auditors estimates arc necessarily co"JI'
nd h states himself that they only can DC expected 10 APP
rnx;m,i, the actual results. His estimates lot ih s
GEAR a. the document yesterday sent IN eA.o'
10 abou, 50 100 600, while the ac;2A pay aI @
81 1000 II the actual payments or lhis nseni ~!
80 nis estimates in the same ratio that the payments OF
last wear exceeded his estimates Tor mat year, We nt
s6O0OOU 10 the estimates, which WIN mah' .ic p Iesi .,
from the Internal improvement fund rom hp'l =,
he ermnat ton Of this fiscal year. amount TO ss'tiu.'
IN. n,oposjtions pending during the last year Tor county
sc p,ions had prevailed as II was conii1Ghuy nn1
wonLi Inc calls upon The Internal Improvement luiu
womb have been very largely increased wiz hu., .'
thai the Second Auditor informed me ms Inohins a w
actual payments for the first halt OF TINS sca year
far exceeded his estimates justify an increase on MS
Inmates 10 the which stated Just nov" my or
nc, 10 every unpreudced man in this hall me te'n'e "
far as they have been developed, co not iuty snpp
inmates Of that portion of the Board of Public "orNS "'o
hnuoh that the loan ought 10 be Tor four ml!onsi hut o'
the sales u The bonds the old form that under inc su
ating influence Of the rise OF our stocks 10 que, II,
have been effected here handsome premiums, the boara
wnuh a, this be engaged IN negotiating new
N f4aapE then having TO DC
the upon which the negotiation effected are such
Board ought have regarded jndicious and bench
cia TO the State The compensation which they agreed 10
give their contingent compensation OF all thaI
the agent could get par for the first million OF stocks
and over two cent premium for the other three millions
Had the Board just grounds 10 hope that they could do
better for the public by any other mode OF negotiating The
loan In the light Of the facts then before them their high
hopes could not have anticipated any thing better than
negotiation Of the loan n par without the aid OF the Ell,
cienl agency which they secured Virginia State stocks did
not at that time conmHn par In the market There was no
authority them for less than par public office
and consequently what were sold there sold II par
Blu, enough could be sold these the
increasing of the Board The price the Treasury
had been fixed par since the lth Of January Was
there hope that public advertisement would
bring offers TO the amount equlred The recent expert
ence of the Board sufficient exn.ish such hopes
In the of 1850 they had advertised for proposals for
loan Of 100000 At that time the price the rea
sury five per premium The advertisement brought
proposals only and only SS 900 Of that such
terms as the Board willing accept. In April 1851.
they 81 900 000 and the price stocks five per
l"wer Than when the experiment 10 obtain loan -,
$500 600 by advertisement had failed Woald the Board ut
Public Works have been faithful the duties OF the highly
important position which they held that moment if they
had ventured on any such attcmptl
Surely Mr.. Speaker tine gentlemen from Richmond had
REQUIRED the serious and disastrous results that would
cnsued this hopeless expedent had been tried and
failed evident result the difficulties procuring
cess market for bonds would have null
tped and all prospect OF eecting oan par would have
been postponed for considerable time Newbod Apn-
nnf fNIhia
press hope might prove successful for million and pos
siby for two, but certainly for moe) expressly
Governor Floyd Of Tie consequences Of failure ION the
other hand must not overlook the taci that this mode
Of Offering the bonds for sale should be adopted and should
not successful the result would be very preudca tho
interests of the State and might prevent the sale the bonds
ogehe least during the exsn. limits" have AREA
dy referred the rpordbe effects which failure TO obtain
this loan AZ par would produce on The internal
and the bus interests generally in the States. With
these results staring them in the face would have been
rational in tha Board have hazarded experiment which
the firm who advised it only encouraged them 10 expect ID
be successful for inon and which they expressly
warned could be hoped produce the needed by
them Sir il the gentleman from Richmond under
takes control of these large financial operations,
he acts on the principles which has nculcaed here
predict that he will be Knocked by his achievements
anticipate the reply that will be made TO tho force of the
precedent which have referred. II will be argued that
the coupon bonds are much more valuable than the old form
of bonds, and that the experiment in the of 1850
was radc with the old registered bonds No will pre-
tend that this difference in value IS equal five per
the difference between the price OF stocks in the
'SSR nsToraIed. The only difference between the two
forms Of bonds is Tint the coupon bond more easily
signabe than the other aud thus heller suited for the
stock markets. Tho engagements of the Stale precisely
the sane in both aad as permanent domestic investment
the old registered bond Is as good The coupon bond The
only advantage OF the coupon bond s that il better
ketable article and when the holder desires dispose o.
he obtain the market price for it, But this new vau
had mol been attached 10 these bonds until they had obtained
position in tile stock markets. and their price in those mar
kets had been avoraby established This had not been V,
accomplished in April, 1851 and this value had YET
been asccrancd and attached them This The prea,
and important purpose TO be accomplished by The agency
which the Board employ and success or failure
ct this first effort to introduce stocks into the great
stock markets of the world, be felt in lis results on
subsequent loans IL favoraby established there il was
reasonable TO expect that these bonds would come 10 bear
premium over the old form of bonds but this premium was
10 be The result OIL the superior value of these bonds in the
stock markets. and would be expected until that value
established and made known This could not OF
have been done in April 1851 before the experiment to in
troducc them into the stock markets had been made
But propose TO go yet further in this enquiry and show
by the evidence directly applicable TO the value of these
inde ntical coupon bonds difficult not impossible il
was Tor the Board 10 sell them par BY any other means
than the employment Of this other equally efficient
agency. Aspnwul IL Newbnld upon whose letter the gen.
tlcman from Richmond (l Robnson) much relied thus
emphaticaly expressed The opinion that the loan could
be negotiated at par:"Wc tEk that four millions of bonds
could not now be disposed of in this market New York; oil
their par value The uncertainty how they NAV b,estimu
led BY tie public FOR perman investment present
and future prospect Of monetary alaira induce
believe that capitalists would venture TO pur-
IL
suit Of Mr. Scldcn's uborous and interesting observations
frOm the careful and enquiries which have been
ab" In make lately in Baltimore, Philadelphia and n York
am led 10 believe that it will be difficult not mpacca5rc
obtain more than par for the stocks which Virginia pro-
poses 10 ISSUE owing 10 the Ignorance Of capitalists as to
the finances OF Virginia. The value of her resources the
extent Of her Indebtedness, and the belief tina, size viii
al no distant day Issue more stocks" And sir
there ls an important iact disclosed TO which
proves the sincerity of the opinion expressed in
this letter. Now, sir suppose that it will be admitted
that this banking firm, whose business is partly to deal in
Stocks with all their facilities could obtain better prices for
the stocks than Board of Public Works could hone to
do BY the terms Of the they have ali over
par that they could obtain for the first million which they
could SELL They would pocket every dollar over par tina,
they could get and yet They glad get this million OFF
par. If the bonds could have sold nj that time a,
than plr il is reasonable suppose they would
have failed 10 obtain it. Yet they actually hailed il az
triumph In their operations, when they succeeded closing
contract with The Department Of the Interior at nar
hold this sale OF The first million at par the strongest evil
dence that at that time this banking agency with their
Efforts and all their facilities could effect sale al more
than par How much less ought we TO expect such sale
to be effected by The Board Of Public Works!
This being the condition Of things AT the time did the
Board act nudciously in allowing this contingent compen
saion TO Selden, Witers IL Co.? sale par was the best
hat they could hope from any quarter By ,hy contract
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