The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1872-03-09
IntOIcrabIc Extravaganza.


be General Assembly, at its recent
most disgraccful session, plcdging the
State to take stock in the North Louisi-
ana and Texas Railroad to the fright
full extent ofSi ,l22, 900. The virtuous
indignation ofevery good citizen will
be visited upon this act Of wastcful
legislation, and will, doubtless, not be
appeascd until the movers and bcncli-
iaries themselves will be made to feel
its weight. We are surprised, almost
out of propriety, when we consider,
even with the most dispassionate
judgement, the provisions OF tho bill,
in connection with the present legal
attitude of the Company and the past
aid and favor shown this road by the
State connection With the fur
Their fact that the State is made to issue
her bonds, amounting 70 81 ,122, 900, for
stock in Il road owned by Il company
whose title is seriously litiyatcd, with
out one particle of security or any
guarantee whatever being given or re-
quircd for the protection of the State!
! In short, there is so much that is
wrong, so much that is downright
ubiquitous, one can scarcely conceive
how the N. l.. 4 II. Railroad Company
ever obtained the consent Of its mem
bcrs to ask any such action by the leg
isIature. . ..
In 1868 the legislature granted Judge
Ludeling and Associates, the purcha-
sers of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Texas Railroad, a new charter. One
section of the Act provided that the
State should loan her bonds to the Com
pany at the rate Of $4,000 per mile,
whenever five miles of road should be
in running order from the Mississippi
river west. For this loan, secured by a
second mortgage, the Company was to
pay and agreed to pay, per cent inter-
est annually. Under this Act, the
Company obtained bonds amounting
to $54G,0O0. This was, we believe, in
1865. -Four years, interest, therefore,
is about due, amounting to $174,72O,
which with the loan, makes q debt
due the State by the Company-no i'll
terest having ever been paid-of s72O,-
72O.
BY the Act we have copied, this
debt of nearly three quarters of Il mill
lion is wiped out, in effect, by the State
taking $546,O0O in stock in the road,
the value of which is fixed in the Act
at $4,000, 900! The interest is gencr-
ously donated to the Company, and
the mortgage is released.
| The Act further requires the State
to double her gratuity, by taking stock
for s57G, 200 additional; and the bonds
therefor are to be issued by the Gov
ernor, SO soon rs the stock issued for
the original loan, is delivered TO him
by the Company. The original act (of
1863 provided only for Il loan, at $ per
cent, ut the rate of $4,000 per mile, to
be loaned only as each mile ofroad was
completed ; and to secure the State the
Company gavca second mortgage on
! the road.
| This last Act changes the loan into a
subscription, relieves the Company of
interest, surrender thcs States mort
gage, requires the rcmaininY $4,000 per
mile of the original loan to be issued as
stock, all ut one time, and expressly
omits to require any security whatever,
except the poor privilege Of choosing
one director i'll nine, whcu the State
was entitled to two!
We should like to ask what this last
| iSS NC of bonds will be WOrtho Cam thc
lcgislaturcdo away with the mortgage
upon VIII ch the first bonds were in
part prcdicatcd Is this last Act
| worth tho cost of prontutgating it:
Hear Il Good Man