The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-19

Ioen better to have permitted the road to have
been sold, and thus divested it of the compl-
cations surrounding it, and which now render
euob n sale essential to ascertain the relation
# its creditors. There is much work still to
he done to complete this road in manner
That will enable it to meet the demands of its
traffic.
The Marietta line, which had enlisted the
EARNEST support from the shareholders and
he merchants of this city, of either of the
lines mentioned, become so hopelessly in
Tolyed that the funds advanced by this Com,
oanv for the construction of that part of the
road between Marietta and Wheeling, were
taken. without our assent, to meet its debts
incurred upon the line west of that point. In
consequence of this misapplication of the
means furnished by this Company, and the
io,,onse sums that would have been absorbed
in carving out the original plan, it was not
deemed prudent to make any attempt to save
tbe amount invested in the enterprise under
1,our instructions. This amount was accord
;nclv charged to profit and loss, and its stock
no longer appears among your assets
The interest of the Company in the Chicago
line has nearly all been disposed of, at profit
to this Company fully equal to its loss upon
the Marietta line. But for the timely aid
afforded by this Company, it would have
proved as an investment, nearly as unproduc-
tive.
The completion of the Columbus route
having in consequence of want of legal autho-
rity in Virginia, been thrown into period of
inflated prices, its cost has so far exceeded our
authorizations that it will require long time
for it to repay this Company in direct returns
for the outlays incurred. For these expendi-
lures it has received various securities, some
of which have been disposed of, and on the re-
mainder there will probably be no loss except
a few years of interest, for which the indirect
advantages gained by the Company must be
its compensation
The shareholders will perceive, from this
resume of the operations of the Company, the
extent of the means required, and the labor
and responsibility incurred to save the original
investments made under your instructions, to
build up lines to connect yours with the trade
centres of the West-eXpenditures that were
necessary to the success of your own work, but
which few years earlier commencement of it
would have rendered unnecessary, as the ten
dency of the Western lines would probably
then have been towards Pittsburg.
These expenditures have frequently been
referred to by shareholders as unwise, without
rejecting that they were the result of their
eWn action, and that the officers of the Com
pany are really the parties to complain of the
immense unrequited labor and responsibility
they have had to assume to save the
object the Company had in view in making
these investments, and in providing the means
necessary to effect them. That they have re-
quired outlays to secure the original objects
far exceeding any just expectation at the time
they were entered into, is quite true; but this
has arisen from the inadequate stock basis
furnished by their shareholders for the COM
pleton of these works, and the subsequent in
creased cost of building railways. The result
however, we think will justify the policy of
this Company.
These extraordinary outlays were COM
menced while the traffic of this line was COM
paratively small, and burdened by heavy
impost duty levied by the State and assessed
upon no other competing line, greatly dimin-
ishing it's ability to meet these necessary eX.
penditures to insure the prosperity of the
State; and from which burden it was only
released upon condition that the Company
would apply the unpaid instalment towards
the construction of the Mifin and Centre
county, Bedford, Bald Eagle Valley,
Tyrone and Clearfeld, Ebensburg and
CressOn, Western Pennsylvania, and the
Pittsburg and Steubenville Railroads.&c.
improvements within the Commonwealth.
The effect of this mandate was the same
as that which followed the appropriations
made by the stockholders to western lines,
already stated, entailing upon this Company
either the loss of the whole investment directed
to be made, or advances of the additional
amounts required to complete these works. The
Board saw no Otn6r alternative DuJ 10 meet JlllS
difficulty by the adoption of liberal and active
policy, and thus bring all of these lines into
productive use as speedily as practicable. The
Outlays necessary to secure this object from
the causes already referred to, have been very
large, but the results have proved much more
satisfactory than if the original expenditures
had been suffered to remain unproductive, as
would have been the case if they had simply
fulfilled the requirements of the law. The
,VTl nNytAn Of cNT1 nf will
still be necessary, to enable them to become
productive, and meet the wants of the districts
they were built to accommodate.
We have thus presented to you the extent
and the causes for the unusually heavy ex-
penditures made by this Company on account
of its tributaries Their magnitude has made
it necessary not only to protect the invest
ments made in them, but also to secure the
control of other lines important to their sue
cess. This policy has eventuated in a system
which includes the Philadelphia and Erie anC
Northern Central Railroads, by which the
Company's cars find their way over continuous
and unbroken lines, under one control, from
Columbus, Erie, and Pittsburg to Philadelphia
and Baltimore.
To meet the expenditures, but PARTIAL,
enumerated, without financial sacrifices, an,
still preserve the relation between the shar
capital and debts of the Company, as alread
indicated as the settled policy of this Company
has been attended with some difficulties. Blu
the rule is one that should not be exceeded b.
any prudent railway corporation.
To preserve this relation, and place you
financial system upon basis that may b
easily understood while it is at the same tim
sufficiently comprehensVe for the future want