Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-09-24
Light for Stockholders.
To the Editor of the Courier.Journal.

To the Editor of the Courier Journal:
We see that the friends of Mr.. H. ID.
Newcomb have svsiled themselves of
your columns to eulogize him as the great
est man in the West. As he occupies a
public position and courts notice, he shall
have it. We do not intend to indulge in
any personalities about him, but to find
out whether the stock of the Louisville
and Nashville Railroad will be worth
forty cents on the dollar if his policy ia
pursued much longer. He has been held
up as great fnaDcier and manager, but
we will show that he has made errors
since being President of the road that a
youth of twenty would have avoided.
Why has the stock Of the road been so
depressed for the last yesr-down to ~
and 73-when it shows on the books of
the company to be worth I25 and over?
Because the stockholders money has been
squandered by incompetency and the
want of practical common sense.
Some time in June or July lsst, the
Louisville and Nashville rosd purchased
the Ohio and Memphis road. To meet
this and other expen' es the Louisville and
Nashville road issued its bonds for three
and half million dollars, bearing seven
CD per cent. interest, gold, morigaging
the Ohio and Memphis road and pledging
its own resources on the face of said
bonds. Mr.. Newcomb, the president of
the road at that time, was about to start
on pleasure trip and bridal tour to
Europe. He thought it would prove q
good opportunity to be sent there By the
company, and accordingly announced
that he would 60 over to negotiate the
sale of these three snd g half million
bonds and to purchase iron. Now mark
the brilliant success of his mission. He
starts off before the bonds are prepared.
arrives in England, and waits there until
they ara sent to him. When
those bonds reach England it
Is found that they are made
payable at an obscure brokers' office,
who is friend of Mr. Newcomb and his
New York bankers. The parties with
whom he has been negotiating thereupon
decline to purchase the bonds because
they are not made payable at a proper
place, and for other informalities; so they
al have TO be shipped back to this city.
Immediately, all the directors here are in
big stew and awfully troubled what to
do about this blunder. But at last they
get new bonds issued and prepared mort.
gagged and numbered as before, made ray.
able il EOgland, AMI these the trustees
take on to New York and send over to
MIR. Newcomb in England, who sells them
at a price that realizes in New York
ninety-one (91) cents on the dollar in
greenbacks. Think of that, ninety-one
cents for seven per cent. bonds, PRINCIPLE
AND INTEREST PAYABLE IN GOLDl
Who gains by this brilliant financial
achlyementi They pay the English pur-
chaser about 9 per cent currency interest,
exchange being in his favor. The stock
holders lose in a lump S315, ,OOO-(three
hundred and fifteen Thousand do,Isrsl-to
say nothing OF the expense of sending the
bonds TO Europe and having to send the
money over there for interest and pripci-
pal. There is not q first-clsss railroad
north of the Ohio river whose SeUel IN
per cent currency bonds are not worth
par In the market. But Mr.. Newcomb
sells the z per cent gold bonds of the
Louisville and Nashville and Memphis
and Ohio Railroads (msking the very best
and soundest bonds in The country at 81
per cent currency, made payable 10 the
convenience OF foreign market at the
cost OF the stockh llders, and goes to the
expense OF long journey to effect the
sale.
There is probably not another man
connected with the Louisville and Nash
will Railroad but what could have sold
these bonds at par in the city of New
YORK But unfortunately for the road
MIR. Newcomb is advised and controlled
BY few men whose interests are not
IDENTICAL with the Nashville Road, and
outside OF these parties he will not nego-
late He has sold the best bonds the
Nashville Road can ever issue st this great
sacrifice, and it is safe to say that the
unnecessary loss to the Stockholders can.
not be less than $3.50, 900. He has not
bought one dollars worth of iron since
ne has been gone. He ought not TO be
clothed with such authority. He is not
ne proper man to be entrusted with
grave responsibilities.
he is not 60 astute but what he Is over.
reached by his advisers, and if he buys
ron II Is almost dead certain that he will
give more tor it than any other ordinary
nan OF business could buy it for.
we all know that money has not been
20 plentiful and cheap for many years as
t has been for the last six months. High
n rates have been paid in New York for
4ne purchase of good securities than ever
before. Money Ras been Ioaaed al lower |
rates, and has been borrowed without |
1lfIicuity at from to per cent. on long |
Time. In England money has been even
cheaper, and has sought investment more |
eagerly. And yet our champion fnancier
csI ries over the pick of American securi-
hes and gives the English capitalists
per cent interest on them, (when they are
very glad to get or 6 per cent and |
submits to shave of nearly 10 per cent
Jn the principal. Mr. NeWcomb has all |
along been a drawback to the bus;- !
ness of the road. He has urfa7ora-
by impressed every outside individual |
I1d corporation that has had business 70
10 with his road since he has been presi- |
lent, and is personally unpopular with |
very merchant and shipper of this city |
his immediate clique. While |
lie has thus slienated the shippers, his
'oiicy has been damaging to the comps-
y. de never has sold any of the
bonds that have gone to his hands as
president Of the road within Eve percent. D