New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-05-08
New Orleans and Mobile Ra,,roaa

Mr.. ditor-In my last Of yesterday had occasion IN
notice the bngbear raised By the inventive genius aC
out Of the provso in thu third section OF the act
thorzpg the city pass ordinance be submted tn
the voters IN aid Of this enterprise As the proyiso has
been msprntedn my last communication beg leave to
give you corrected copy together with the section third
of the above recited After provision for the issin
OF tne bonds OF the city payable in thirty years bearing
per cent interest it Is provided That no levy of tar
for the payment of interest said bonds shall be ad
after the payment Of dividends of six per centu per
num- on the stock of ead Pontcharrain Railroad Com
pany held BY e hereafter provided which dividends
shall be applied by the city the payment of the
and provided further whenever the dyidends of sad
airoad Stock oWned BY the city shall amount to more than
ak per centum annum the excess after the payment
Of interest aforesaid shall be applied by said Pont
Railroad Company to the purchase of city bonds
Issued under this Act 1t being understood that when i
Vdends Of less than six per per aunm are received
on the stock Of said Pontchartrain Railroad Company
oed by The CITY, tax for interest shall be levied for tho
difference only between the of said annual diy
dend and the amount of the annual interest provided
also that the earnings of the existing Poncarain Rail
road shall be divided heretofore among
holders until the completion of the extension of the Rail
By comparing the above with the proyiso as prned in
my last 1t will be that the eompany was erro
neousy added after the words Pontchartran Railroad
found IN the last proviso bearing in the view
have endeavored to set forth that it the intention of
proyiso to retain to the present stockholders ony the NET
OF the etsg Pontchartran Railroad and not of
the Company You will observe from careful reading of
the above several provisos that it contemplated that
dividends may be made of profits accrue from the e
es'o as from the eiSng road That stock
designated as the stock which SHIELD by the city and
1t is the dividends that stock which go towards
the payment Of the interest on the bonds and IN rf ~
the taxpayers And now having made this statement
In which am fully borne out by the law what becomes
Of the empty statements of this writer Citizen which
by singular obquity Of understanding he persists in
making that the intention of the proyiso to divide
the whole profits Of the extension we'll as Of the eTis
,s Railroad among the present stock
holders until the completion of the road Mobile have
no in saying that the Directors of the popt
chartran Company had made such proposition to their
fellow citizens hst might justly be considered as
parslled for its impudenee; and having said SO much
presume that otzen' may be induced to admit that
is not falling far short of an equal of 70
insist upon misrepresentng them to that extent
Let US consider for moment sir, how the proposed
OF capital by the company and subscription by
the city would operate if the dividends arising from the
eng road we're to be appropriated proportionay with
the new costockholders The effect clearly would he to
ee present pay either the interest
te city PONDS accepted as cash. or to contribute larger
sum to the construction of the than their share of
the capital stock Thus the road was in process of
construction for four to Mobile there would be paid
either OF interest towards the construction
annum by the stockholders the sum of $500 OOO while
the capital stock of the stockholders at the n f
that period counted S50O0u0 the original
This necessary distinction the stock OF and
new takes place in the i'm
possibility OF fusion upon equal terms until the srson
finished and until consolidation may take pIaee Tbs
case put by Citizenn is in way parallel He speaks
OF partnership where partner upon his sbare
inhe profits of the whole united capitals of the partners
and the profits arising from his individual stock
The distinction is 0bviousthe answer ready at hand
there IS no United capital stock until The completion Of me yoad
to Mobile and each party drawing separately the nrots
OF his share of the stock until that event takes mace
hen 1t does-when the road is completed to Mobile the
distinction Tt will be in vain for the nresent
stockholders to insist then that they must draw their shara
on the profits of the road. and the whole of the e,St
road. such claim, admit would involve as great an
absurdity as the which Czenn fancies he has now
discovered He loses sight of the important fact that The
city is drawing the profits they accrue on the stock
owned by the city during the progress Of this
that the present stockholders drawing no part th
profits from that entensiut N vac
What would then sCtzen' have? Does he wish IN
place himself In an equal absurdty while contandnp
with the company that they insisting upon SO gross
an absurdity as to claim the earnings their ROAD
exclusively and their proportion in that the extension
FOR TO this conclusion must at last that "a tha
city is under the proFisoa of the law quoted ented
IN ammunition OF the interest be taxes to the dy
dends upon the stock owned by the cy' exclusively
that to insist upon her of the profits of the rstng
road also would be to set in favor the c;ty the
principle which Citizen condemns so violently and
which In case to which it is justly applicable should
be loath to defend friend at my elbow suggests lima
from Horace to the consideration of Citizen which AZ
am not learned in the classics must beg him 10 have
translated: - W '-
"stulti, DUN vita vitant in contrara currunt >,
My time does not permit to dwell further Mt tbs
time upon the subject promising to come back to H. nr
rded that CIzenn has not been able to comprehend IL
In my next, shall have occasion show the
ments OF this writer in his preceding numbers as to the
Information charged as withheld by the company and IN
refute those statements by the documents he admits m
have had in his possession and together with
and statistics in regard to the road may be useful tn
the community. Ar RryaIa W