, 1873-09-26

kAAk kuS -4GA6ul4 VI ku9 NUf0Iuluulk HuiuGupH
backed II up, wss to got tho cons,,ro and aus-
sho and picayano nt proeet e ed iobbed trongh
tho Highest Legislature with q nn,ne apparently
firm which bad soid all tic loans Of tho aroat
War. uonco tho saying grow, that tho tirtu
could noyor got abovo itn origin, and It wRs cor
rurting public Hontinont. Iu do anything 1lli-
dignltied In public life, is generally bud lnveRt-
mont.
TIE NATIONAL LIFE 1NaunANcE COMPANY, =,
howeyer, wns no H'tccosa cotnmens,,tato with
energy Of tho firm, assistod by tho ,groat
natonai % aobt psa was a national biossng@a sweet
boon. AmaBa Walker nlade short work of this
piece Of ddautics whom 1t camo out, showing
Tint then, If the Rebellion Ind lasted tofi-fold
available capital" Ho also disposed Of tho idea
that public debt giyos stability to government:
by showing nations like Franco royolutiontzod
tino aud again without disturbing the Bocnrity
Of renteH. No wonder that orshudox oosoryera
wero getting In finance, aud whether John Law
iad really died ia tho reign Of Louis XIV.
From National Lite Insurance tho groat firm
turned about and fell In will tho groatost pas
sion and dissipation Of tho day:
An IMPERtAL RAILROAD.
It passed through Congress-, with great pnius
and expense, O charter and land-grant bill Of
q moro extensive ohAractor than had yet boon
ElFGnf AHus tO OOtAlu tnG TlEut 10 mortgage ltb
laude. pasBod also All expensive amendment.
Tho usual ologanccs Of deception were applied
to tho posBession, and Tie enterprise waB clothed
with all the summer tropcs OF romance. Nature
drew up her isothernal lne just there, md
pinned i with q star, to lot tho great caravan
pass. Tho Siour Duluth was reserved for tho
historical collection, and bestowed upon tho
Zonish City Of the UnBaltea soas." Bathoa aid
Tupperism stood as supporters on the great
seal Of this railway, and many believing and
jt,yn nd ftH hnf,fiu. hnt
probably destined to fail from tho beginning, for
theHo reaaDuB:
First-Tho period had already boon put to
the railroad-fover, md tho oyldenco to show how
cd our highest public men WAS in the bank of
Jay Cooke l. Co. at Washington. A brlef careor
waH to opou before this railroad, and it WINS then
to DO oyortakon BY the general glut and stagna-
performance, however, to sell s250O0.O0o Of
thcse bonde, from tue fact:
second-1hat all tho financial authority in tho
country took poAition at tho outset against tho
sncees5 Of the railway, and 1t WIS almost ut the
peril of reputation that any banker OF note
negotiated tho bonds. The opposition, at first
morely deprccatnry, grew really misohfeyous TO-,
ward tic Inst, and Mali street WAS flooded with
caricatures aud pasquinadcH against the doomed
Iht,.d-It wns out Of tho power OF any house
in America to carry bolt-huo Of rail across the
Continent, uuasrlBtel by foreign capital or
Government. But tho management Of tho
Northern Pacific Rairoad, ~ addition to this
fnct, pBrtook OF all tho 1nllr0ad looaeness OF
the times. It had Its land-colnpantoa mud its
Crodt- A1obilicr; aud that it 1eacAed tho Mis-
souri River at all, III q wolder.
Tho above appear to mo to be
THE TRUE CAUSES or THE FAILURE
Of the railroad, aud not tue goodness or bad
moss Of tho lands along tue llne. AZ it was Jay
Cooke Il Co.'s mistako, it wns also the error Of
The Republican Congress- which sot the eystam
going and took part OF the punder. The Worth
ern acic Railroad was al Individual iniposBlbili-
ty, discouraged by tie financial world, and begun
too lnte In the day Of land-grant ext1avagauco.
Qrant could do it no good with lia al1uslon to
Tho strong boz Of gold in tho mountains; for It
WAS tho strong boxeu Of gold in tho Golfers which
cry railway based upon roal-estate speculation,
instead OF traffic. will have hard tinlo'to hoo
this winter. Think, for example, OF roads like
tho Atchson, Topeka Il Santa re, the St. Paul
to solitude for hundreds Of miles, mud expecting
to pay interest on their bonds. severnl Of these
roads, particularly tho three which halt on Tic
brink Of tho Indian Territory have no
earthly hope except in, tho LOBBY boz
tions of the Government Il thoy cau pay r,in-
ming expenses under Receiver, aud keep the
prairie-grasH from growing. over the ties, they
will do we'll. In the past throo years we have
built az 900 mies Of road, or milo 10 ovory 800
nhablsations. At go, ,o00 per mills, every human
being IN the country, including Indians not
taxed, ia in debt $40 On thoBe railways; or thoy
bear, At per cont, over $iG Goo0 0o0 interest, Or
$27, ,000, QUO moro sreco than there was IN allthe
! banks OF New York City last Saturday. No Won
der thnt spectators in gold lead tho street, and
that Jay Gould riscs to prominence, while Jay
Cooke disappears from tho vista. But tho cash Of
our railroads iH put down at $50. 600 the mile,
which IL the cost Of tho Northern Pacific Railroad
and this will make, at per oout gold intelostt,
977, 900, D60 OF mere Interest every year. 1t ls
timo for Gen. Grants strong box in tho molln-
tains to 10 hoard from. Had the Northora Ia
ciilc nai'road been continued at the rate It had
cost for 500 miles, t would have consumed not
less than l50, ,000,0 900, or three times the great
est fortune III tho country.
JAZZ COOKE 1 HIS RIVALS.
The growth Of private banking g-houses IN
A'norica bears cose relation to the rise of sinl-
bankers have Ieon British, Frouch, and Cor
mans, who, fol. sone reason, combine
responsibility mud penugiousness in about
equal degrees shylock is ntill the truest
nature and tie liberal hand loast of all
was M Englishman by birth; Stephen Glrard,
French and they probably saw each other oftcn,
doing business within ono square of each other.
Six Years afteE Norris DEATH, Girard bought tho
First United States bauk-building, next door to
tho late Jay Cooke l. Co.; aud there this ex-
sutlor and liquor.grocor took Governments
70 GUut t0uU loans, anu died, possessed OF F9U0U
006, IN the year 1857. Az Girard forbade cer-
gy1nan or ecclosiaB.ic Of any kind to enter lis
college, Joy Cooke has boen the Knight-Hospi-
taller to tho clergy. He told mo, some time ago,
that his villa at Putin Bay had boon source Of
great imposition, and that men wealthier than
| himself wore constantly sending their clergy to
him to be housed aud transported FREQ on rail-
roads. The stature OF Gi1ard atant1s out typical
aud clcar Of the true banking clasa /:
exact, soyoro, successful, careless OF Ill things
| but his creditors; aud. whether wo like him Or
no, he is consistent and recognizable. Ar.
| Cooke has attempted to humatize banking too
much; but not all tho poetry Of tho banker
| Rogers can get the clink ont Of tho business.
| THE FOREMOST AMERICAN BANKERS
Of our day are brown BlotAers aud August Bel
! mont, who Ia N0thschildB' correspondent. These
three tirtnB-Browns, BaringB, aud nothschilds
present tho came lesson on tho greatest scale,
Of small beginnings, patient savings, and acra-
pulous banking basod upon tho fullest knowl-
| edge Of merchant-commorco. It ii not necessary
| to SHOW who the RothscAilds arc; they began Ii,