The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-11-15
the directors. The Reading Railroad, every


lions Of dollars;-yet the whole sum preien.
dsd 10 be invested is about ninstesn millions
Of dollars. Their construction account is con-
s,aEt'y going on, and will probably never
end but if charged 10 transportation, as it
ought 10 have been ten years ago, there would
most probably be no exhibitions in the news
papers Of extraordinary profits Like Hud-
son, (who was termed the "Railway King,")
the Reading Railroad have their writer's also,
and nearly every paper that you meet with
has some interesting little paragraph extoll.
ing the road and its management, and setting
forth its wonderful business; bnt let The in
vesiigaticn once be made, and ten chances 10
one but il will be discovered 10 be, a la Hud.
son, bankrupt 10 The rery corei
There is another species OF speculation,
which has prevailed to some extent, though
not in The same organized plan, which is
equally as reprehensible as that of railway
shares. We allude TO land specula,ions.
These had their origin in the extensive distri-
button of railways over new and previously
uncuivated soil. Large bodies of land are
secured by few individuals, and legally
organized course of procedure is adopted A
respectable gentleman" with some high
sounding prefix or title, is selected for Presi.
dent and among the officers and Board of
Directors will usually be found associated
few modest business men, anxious TO turn
an honest penny outside Of their ordinary bu-
siness, with phalanx Of adventures and pro.
fessioua Aminidab Sleeks. Pamphlets are
printed; handsome Autographed charts are
exhibited; town lots and embryo cities are
laid out Tin perspeclive), and the newspapers
are filed with their statements and magnfi-
cent schemes. Land that cost the original
parties from two 10 ten dollars per acre, is
ultimately retained in town lots and small
farms, at from fifty 10 five hundred dollars
per acre; when everything sgoing on beau
lifully, momentary panic occurs, and the
poor, deluded purchasers find their invest
menls oozing out Of the small end ofno,hing!
An advertisement Of one Of these splendid
companies was sent US few days ago, but
as they proposed paying US in printing ink,
and feeling abundantly able 10 buy and pay
for tha, article as heretofore, we declined the
proposition. This company owns several
thousand acres Of wild mountain land in Pot
Ter and Elk counties in this State, and accor-
ding to their rrospectuses, it is one of the f.
nest opportunities for investment ever present.
ed II can be had in small parcels from them
at from twenty to forty dollars per acre bu,
it is more than probable that equally as noun.
tainous and sterile land in proximity 10 it,
could be bought in large and small quantities
for from five TO ten dollars per acre. Mr. Ole
Bull was induced few years ago, 10 try the
merits OF Potter county. He purchased o
large body OF land, built handsome village,
digni6ed with the appella,ion Of Oleana, run
up the American flag, from lofty staff n
the centre OF the village, and played away
with perfect happiness on his violin, sur
rounded by his Norwegian friends, when lo
after the expenditure Of some $50, 900, he
found that neither he nor those from whom
he purchased had The slightest title TO the land!
MIR. Bull retired from Potter wiser and a
better man. He had paid 100000 for his
frs, lesson in speculation! But the sbarpers
who deceived him are still at work. They
have thousands of acres of ''the same sort
left" and we fancy that we see them every
now and then, through The thin drapery that
covers these land companies