Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1869-05-06
The Union Pacific Railroad
C0mDamV

The Union Pacific Railroad
Company.
A meeting of the Union Pacific
Railroad Company was held vester-
day noon, in the Office of Nessrs. Gid
den a. Williams, No. ia State street.
About twenty of the prominent stock
holders were present. Hon. Oakes
Ames presided, and Mr.. f. Gardner
Dexter acted as Secretary.
Hon. James Brooks Of New York,
one of the government directors ofthe
company, addressed the meeting. He
spoke somewhat in detail OF the early
efforts for beginning the great enter
prise now so near completion; the diff
1cnlties revealed by the first survey,
and the hesitation of moneyed men to
invest their capital in the work. 1t
was, he said, noteworthy fact that
but two of the original eorDorators
chartered by Congress in 1862, now
held on, and for long time the whole
capital and energy Invested in the
work came from two gentlemen, one
of the original coFporators alluded TO,
and another not an original cOrpOratOr
in the city of New York. When these
gentlemen had expended their means:
acter seeking in vain for essential
help in New York, Albany, Philadel-
phia and elsewhere, one of them came
to Boston, and was successful in Sc
curing at first only small investments.
Fortunately for the few men who had
invested in the road, their engineer
discovered other routes over and
through the Rocky Mountains less
frightful than the government engin-
eers had marked out; and the diseov-
cry of these routes alone saved the
company from bankruptcy, and all
concerned in it from ruin. There en-
gineers found no more serious difficult
ties in passing or threading the Rocky
Mountains, than they had in passing
the Alleghanies. When these discOv-
cries were made, capital freely flowed
in, and, alas to say, envy and cupid
ity too, on the part of some, who had
let slip their opportunity to become
cO-OperatOrs or stockholders.
In conclusion Mr.. Brooks said
Congress, in the charter of 1854,
asked only that the road be completed
in 1875, but it is substantially compile
ted while I speak. Fourteen years
work has been really done (since 1854
in five years. The car that leaves
Boston, a few days hence, can be Ian
ded on one continuous track over 5000
miles off, on the shores of the Pacific.
The work, then, and the excellence Of
it too, considering the obstacles it has
surmOunted, is the most wonderful
work of civilization, and, despite a
few unjust attacks at home, it chal-
lenges the admiration of mankind.n
The meeting was next addressed by
Rowland G.. Hazard, of Rhode Island,
in explanation of the necessity for en-
ploying the agency Of the Credit Mo-
biller, or contracting company. The
charter of the Union Pacific Company,
he said, required that the books be
kept open foFsubscriptiOn till 500, ,00O,-
600 of stock should be subscribed at
par. Under this it was impossible to
get money to build the road. Capital
lists could not be found to take the
whole amount, and if they put in $20,-
600, 900 then, if the enterprise proved
unsuccessful, they might lose the
whole while if successful, other par
ties who had not participated in the
risk of loss could come in as subseFi-
DE10 W gLC EOUgUVyfOQO cAANA
take four-fifths of the profit earned by
the capital and at the risk of the first
investors. Tt was necessary that the
chance of profit to the builders should
be at least commensurate with the risk
incurred. To effect this object the
Credit Mobiller, whose business it was
to furnish capital and take such risks,
and subsequently other capitalists
were introduced. In view of the risks
it was important to the contractors 10
be protected from personal liability,
and hence thEttheE slIOgldFh6 incOr-
porated. 1t was asserted that they OBJ
tained an excessive premium for as
suming the labor and risk Of eoHstrue- |
tion; but this should beestimated by
the then existing conditions, and the
chances of success or failure The
general belief then was that the eX-
pense of the Rocky Mountain section
of the work might be ruinOus to the /
contractors. Further, any profit to
the builders must consist mainly of
stock in the road, and the opinion
then prevailed that the road would
not for the first ten years pay the eX-
penses of operating it. That In the
estimation of the public the price paid
to the Credit Mobilier did not more
than compensate for the use of its cap
ital and the risk incurred was evinced |
by the facethat the stock of this COM
pany, when its sole interest was in the
building of this road, was offered at
$50 for 500 cash actually paid in, and
without finding buyers at that. |
Those who took what were thus deem
ed extraordinary risks of failure were |
upon commercial principles entitled
to extra profits as a result of success.
It appeared, however, that though the
chances had turned most signally In
their favor, they got only about II or
Is per cent. profit on the amount of
business done, and some of the parties
interested, in view of the risks and
perplexities which they had been sub
jected, unhesitatingly declined to en-
gage in other similar and quite as
promising enterprises.