, 1873-12-10


only oonaolod thoso WHO had ta1son loana boloro
Tho chcok oamo, Without as yot having boon ahlo
to olfor tho,n to thopublo, hut induced not few
banks mud private firms to hccopt further
oors Of loanH Of thla clnsB. But their hopes woro
doomed to moroiloss disappointment, md thoro
has not boon day sinco tho tin,o mentioned
whom anything bnt Btoatly depression rolgnod at
all tho German DourHcH In American railway
bonds. For. long pcforo tho original ca,1so Of
tho unBnlablonoBa Of tho lattor waB removed by
tllo fina adjustment Of tho Alabama lmbroglio,
tho succession OF defaults In tic payment Of
inturcst bogaa, which laB Hinco wrought tho uttcr
dscrodit III tho Gorman market Of every kind Of
American railroad aud otlor security, excepting,
Oh already Btutod, tho Older tssuos Of Government
bontls,-from which thoro may not bo q recovery
III our generation.
TIE EXTENT OF THE DEPRECIATION
Of the sevoral lailroad-loana placed III Germany
partly from tho non-paymens Of coupons md
purity from tic lozs Of confidence In consequence
Of tho defaults, will 10 bost Boon from tho tab1os
subjoinc1, containing. nndor two soparato
hcads, FIRST lint of tho loa1ls on which no j1l-
torest is now paid tho prico at which they woro
offered to and taken by tho public, aud
thor rrosont quotntion at tho Frank
fort Doureo; and, noxt, list Of
| kuuSo 1unIlb ou HuICA Lu0 CuHpOtlH
have boon honorod 40 far which llavo suffered
grcat depreciation along with tho rost. Tho
quotations arc thoHo Of Nov. Ii. It will DO ad-
mittol by every ono familiar with tho stato of
tho case, TINT the proaout cagorness of tho Cor
man public to got rid Of nl American securities
and its willingness to mako largo sacriilccs il,
riddng itsolf of them, is duo quito as much, II
not more, to tie scaudaious. provoking rovela-
tons OF absolute bad faith and outright flaud in
connection with aovoral Of tho ral1road.lonnB
palmod OH upon 1t, to tho failure topay interest
itHolf. The history OF tho flratnortgage loa1B of
tho Rockford, Rock Island Il ST. LouH, aud tho
Oregon 4 California Railroads, aB brought ont
by tho Investigations of tho committees Of bond
holders, dlsctoaoh deliberate cheats Of the most
barefacod character, and on gigantic scale, I
ronturo to Say that the charge, neyor disprovod,
that ex-senator Latham, tho Trustee under tho
mortgage on tho Oregon l. California nailroad,
pockotod IN enormous commission lit is said to
have been 100000 in gold) for nelling
tic bonds in Europe, which, OF courBo,
was eventually pnid by tho bondholdors whcso
interest ho was appointed to protect has dono as
much aa tho Tweed Muir aud tho Erlo misman-
agomont to disgust tho suffering Germans will
everything American. Tho ropudiation. too, by
some Of tho Southern State Governments, Of
their guarantees Of bonds, has destroyed tho
faith iu American authorities, other than the
Federal Government, quito as thoroughly Us tint
III private individuals.
As will bo soon from the foregoing, thore arc
TWO KINDS OF LOVERS
III this country n connection with American rail-
road-lonus, viz: tho banks and ba1,liers who
took loans without as yot having boon ablo to
market them; md, secondly, the public at lnrgo.
tu 41tn for &t,ntp For.
among them hnd nlrcady made millions out of
tho conflding public before thoy wero cauglt by
doclniug market, antl TINT, as remarked before,
thoy had sharper oyo to tho expected profits
from, than 10 tho solidity Of, tho loans, makes
them appear as undoscrvlug Of much synlpa-
thy. Thore aro, however, among tho provincial
banlsols good many innocent sufferers, whom
tho standing OF tho 1attor induced to join,
all but b1ndly. tho respective Syndicatos It Is
estimated By competent authority that there nre
no less than $50, ,000,0 600 OF German capital thus
tied up in unpaool loans, which aro, Of coursu,
now uuaalablo eitlor side OF tho Atlantic, and
which, for all purposes Of actlye husncsB, arc no
better to tho holders than 20 much wGsto paper.
Owing to the Instability Of these securities, no
positive loss has as yet been realized on tho1n.
But on some Of tlom tho coupons hayo already
gono to protest. which makes thon practically
yaluoeBs. But for tho common practice Of ro-
quiring tho interest on negotiatod bonds to no
deposited for a year or two ahoad with trust
companies, default in tho payment Of interest on
most OF these unplaccd securities would hayo
probably been n1ado olo this. Il is vol for this
country that the $50, 900, 900 aio distributed
among scoroB, and perhaps hundreds, of differ
cnt firms.
Tho othor class OF 1oaors-tho subscribers to
loans among the general public-deserye, as a
rule,
THE GREATEST sYa1pATnY.
They arc worthy people OF tho middle classes, to
whom tho opportunity to increase their income
by Investing their savings at 4 higher interest
was most wolcomo III Wow Of tho constantly
increasing cost Of living. and WHO wore led not to
suspect any risk by tho ozaggcrations and fasc-
hoods Of flaming advertisements u tho public
pross, indorsod by banks and bankers, and, in
not fow cases, by purchased editorial notices.
Having been in communication with sovoral Of
tho committees of bondhodors, l can state as u
fact, that this class Of sufferers numbers tens Of
MousGnds,-tho loanH IL question having be-
como distributed almost as widely as any popu-
lar homo.loan. Among thom aro thousands Of
heads Of families, many OF whom invested tho
whole Of tloir means in those securities. It will
be secn from tho table following the aggregate
Of losaos from depreciation las boeu no loss
than
Thirty MILLIONS OF poLLARH.
General liHtrosB, and, in many caneB, complete
run, haH been tho result. Tic vast minority of
tic victims reside in Southern Germany, which
part Of this country has always bcon III closer
relationship to the United S.ates, owing to tic
larger emigration, than Northern Germany.
That there il intense bitterness OF fcoling
among tho holdorB Of American railroad-boudB
must appear natural Nor is 1t to DO wondered