The Placer herald., 1858-05-29
From the Baltimore American.
Railroad Securities.

been estimated at about forty thousand dol
lars per mile, making the aggregate invest
ment in this description of property amount
to the enormous total of sl,O40OOO ,0oo
OF this cost about 100000. 900 is represent
ed by subscribed stock, and on this amount
the whole profit or dividend paid to the
stockholders during the past year has not
exceeded $lO,o00,o0O or an average of two
per cent. on their investment. 1t is further
estimated that the interest On over $l45, ,O0O,-
900 of railroad bonds has not been paid dur
ing the past year, and on a considerable por-
ton of this amount the probability is that
no interest will ever be paid These results
have had their appropriate effect in checking
the establishment of new railroads through
out the country, and of removing all uneas-
ness that much additional capital will flow
into that channel This complete change in
the tendency OF affairs was necessary for the
security of the country in financial matters,
and would perhaps only have been effected
by shock of the severe character through
which we have passed. So sudden and great
change in the habits Of the country with
respect to the investments could not be es
tabIished without tie unfortunate result of
powerfully communicating the distrust which
occasioncd it to other interests which are
eminently entitled to the public confidence.
The Railroads in the United States in actual
operation amount, according to a close COM
putaton, to over twenty four thousand miles,
constructed at the enormous expenditure
estimated above, with about three thousand
miles actually commenced but yet unfinished.
Vast however, as has been this cost, and
pressing as are the embarrassments which its
expenditure has occasoned, it cannot be
doubted that these roads have added more
than this sum to the productive power OF
the country AN to the value of lis property.
They constitute the main instruments of the
internal transportation of nearly every State
in the Union, and such is the extent Of their
usefulness that they enter not merely into
our business relations, but have an important
connection with our social, moral, and poll
tica concerns, in all of which they perform
high service. They cement communities
and States together, and lave a powerful i'll
tluence in defeating all attempts to disturb
the harmony of The country. They unite
us bv iron links as one family, ano; also pro-
mote agriculture, commerce, manufactures
and population In time of trouble from
stitute great arm of self-defence, rendering
us invncible against foreign attack. 1t must
be admitted that such interests are entitled
to protection, and that distrust cannot be
extended to what is so vast, widespread,
and valuable without manifest wrong or in
jury.
Although, viewed by itself, tie amount Of
capital we have invested in railroads appears
extraordinary large. it becomes far less inn
posing when compared with other important
interests The amount Of capital invested
in live stock appears, by the last census, to
have exceeded that then invested in railroads
nearly fifty millions of dollars. The capital
invested in manufactures producing over five
hundred dollars per AMMAN exceeded that
invested in railroads ofer thirty millions Of
dollars. Our investments in railroads, how
ever have doubled since the taking of that
census, whilst the increase in other produc
tive investments has been at a more mode
late ratio. Yet, when considered in refer
ence with the aggregate wealth of the coun-
fry, and especially with reference TO their
ability as means of increasing the wealth
producing power of the nation, the aNsorp
ton of capital by railroad enterprises is ne
ther extraordinary nor calculated in the end
to affect the prosperity of our people. The
product of the mines of California during
ihe last ten years has alone added to our
wealth total very nearly equal to what has,
during the same period, been devoted to
building the roads which. though now appa-
rentlv in excess Of our wants, must, in very
few years, prove imperative necessities.
Such considerations as these, legitimate
and pertinent to the subject, present ourrai
read investments in much more favorable
light than would be imagined by those who
listen only to their own fears or the interest
ed repinings of others over the alleged dis
proportion of our investments of this char
acer beyond what is justfabe or eXpedient.
Whilst it is right to apply check to the
creation Of new DIS, it is wi oily unjust
and wrong and damaging to the great in
terests of the country to make an ndiscrmi
nate warfare upon all enterprises of this de-
scripton. The check which has now been
applied to the unwarranted extension of the
railroad system and to the uncaled for CON
struction of rival lines, must, in very short
time, when the country returns to It's nor
NAL condition of prosperity and progress,
make those which already exist more safe
and secure The depression, with respect to
roads heretofore profitable or to those which
are we'll devised and likely to become, can
only be of a temporary character. Railroad
securities partake of the nature and solidty
of real estate, and where they are not wasted
ly fraud or injured by gross mismanagement,
must rapidly recover from reverses that have
neither weakened their usefulness nor de-
stroyed permanently the demand for their
powerful agency
good deacon making an official visit
to dying neighbor, wlo was very unpopu-