New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-05-16
THE GALENA AND CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD co
To tie Editor Of The n. Tribune.


THE GALENA AND CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD co.
To tie Editor Of The N Y Tribune.
SIR Parties hostile to this prosperous Corporation
have Of late sought to depreciae It's stock by main
tanning that its finances badly and wasefuly man
aged-that the Fond du Lac road will take away much
of It's business, and that it cant pay in future more
than 10 y cent dividends. A brief examination into
facts will show all these charges to be unfounded.
First then, the finances of the road. From the I'M
deyatiDg puncuality with which its large dividends
and debts have always been paid, we should infer the
opposite of encouragement. This inference we find
fully confirmed by reading the last Annual Report.
clear statement is there given of the entire cost of con-
,truction the floating debt assets and materials on
hand, and all outstanding obligations The balance
,heet shows the floating debt to be $iS 237 besides
sl33 eco remaining due on the Litchield purchase
maturing 1857 and 1859. To discharge all this and
complete the double track to junction. and still hold in
ample surplus for repairs aud emergencies,
The Report announced that the residue of the Second
Mortgage bonds unsod would be issued and disposed of
when deemed expedent by the Directors. This sayors
rather Of wise foresight than of mis- management or
difficulty. With regard to the Eprice at which these
bonds are offered to the stockholders are free 70
admit that we consider it below their value.
The friends Of this measure in the Board however,
contend that il should be considered in the light of an
extra dividend 10 the stockholders, among whom II Is
divided Dro rat0 while at the time it enables the
directors to realize the whole at once without loss
by commission agencies.
As to all other sweeping charges of wastefuness and
eNtrav8 gance sufficient reply TO them Is the state
meut of this ngle fact, which any can verify for
himself by the last report Of June 1856 The total ex
pendture for construction account, and the Lchfeld
purchase and all other purposes, including the entire
Indebtedness of the company whether bonds stock or
floating debt, sums up in all about sS,7eO,OCO For
this they have to show 3Ol miles of track IN actual use,
viz: 249 miles direct road 10 miles double track to
College Hill and 80 miles of side track the extensive
depot grounds and granaries in Chicago-the large
real estate at Fulton, and the most complete equip
ment of any road at the West From this - IOO,OOO
must also be deducted about SoOOO0 "a per list fur-
nshed in the report for the bonds OF the BelOt aud
Fox River Valley Roads, various sums due from the
companies and large supplies of fuel and materials ON
hand leaving the whole cost of the roads depots aud
real estate of the company about being less
than 81 GEO per mile for the 30l miles of track laid
When it is Tecollected also that this SUM includes
$3.50 000 paid for the puchase of the formidable rival
line of the ST. Charles and Mississippi Air Line Com
pany think, the charge Of extravaganza Is efec-
tually extingushed.
Next cones the Fond du Lac story. As to any spe-
cal injury which be inflicted by this road, 1t Is the
purest fiction that was ever invented. For proof OF
this beyond all cav beg 10 refer the reader to the
details of the freight and passenger statistics OF the
Galena and Chicago Company in the report before
mentioned BY these tables il is shown that the way
UeBnt ana way passengers OF tiDls VI
nois trayersed or mtersected by the Galena roads
make mp the great bulk Of ts business 10 an extent
difficult 10 realize without careful examination. The
total amount received for freight for the year ending
seth April including the portion due other roads, was
81 $50 474. OF this large the only portion for the
illinois Central Railroad, both To and from Chicago
was s36l sS and this includes of course not only all
the through freight to or from the terminus al Dun
eiib but that for all the points beyond Freeport, at
which place the Galena road terminates, and also the
reght from the Southern line of the Illinois Central
road The through freight, therefore 10 the terminus
al Duneith On the Mississippi, it will be seen, Is but
a very small fraction OF the aggregate receipts and
were the Fond du Lac road to get the whole OF IT, il
woud be no great matter al present, and must be far
more than balanced by the natural increase of the Hi
nois way freight the country becomes more hckly
settled and by that Of the various feeders 20 the ga
lena ines The probability, however Is that the Ga
lena road VIII rather increase than diminish it, present
small amount If through freight 10 Dunle,h, there
is rich section Of country contiguous to that point
which will require than rs present supplies
and send more OF it, products 10 Chicago
The passenger stat, ties show similar result 10
those Of the freight. The total number of persons
carried over the road ior the same year was So OBS
different stations along the road nearly three quarters
Of the whole We thus find by the actual returns that
Of the freight income which is much the largest Of the
two than Fights. and OF the Passenger
ceipts about three quarters, come exclusively from
local way traffic, traffic naturally increasing with
the steady growth of the adjacent country the most
fertile in Illinois. We include in this local traffic the
branches feeding the line from Northern. Central and
Southern Illinois, an item continually increasing with
he largely expanding population of the State. The
Great Iowa and Nebraska Line Is yet TO be completed,
IL q