Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-10-04

eniber fst, 1873, 77s, ,5fS.22 acres, at an
average price OF $4.45 per acre, amount
ing.D %, ass, ,4S9 ~ And yet this COM
pany, which enriched its members by
fraud, refuses to pay the interest on the
bonds it obtained from the government,
and the people are to be perpetually
taxed for the same-for which they may
blame their congressman whose votes
were purchased by Oakes Ames & Co.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC FAILURE.
) Daring the financial furry of the past
two weeks, we have heard some sensi-
BILE people assert that the cause of the
failure of Jay Cooke & Co., and their
Northern Pacific Road, was the West
ern Farmers Movement creating dis
trustsin the rail road bonds which pre-
vented their sale. There may possibly
be some truth in this, but whether it
stohldebe regarded a. a matter Of regret
or congratulation, will depend on the
character OF the defeated Genterprise.-
Our own opinion is that this and vari-
GUS other schemes of the sort, by which
the government and the people have
been defrauded on a most gigantic scale,
shonld have been crushed long ago.
The editor of the Prairie Farmer is we'll
posted in regard to these railroad swim
dies, and speaks of this one as follows: !:
The failure of Jay Cooke & Co., would
seem to be the death blow to the North
<.~.~ ~. n-s n.-r 81 -
ciples few will care that this is so.-
From its inception till the present time
it has been one of the most gigantic
frauds ever perpetrated. Giving away
to an association of capitalists SO, ,OOO! 900
acres of our national domain-an area
of land more than eleyen times the size
of Massach hasetts-w which WIFI sometime
be wanted by settlers, was an outrage
on this and a future generation. The
location of one terminus Of the road at
Duluth, and the other at an obscure
hamlet on Puget Sound, too insignifi-
can't to be laid down on our maps, was
an evidence of fraud and wish to BEN
eft SPECTATORS, at the expense of the
country. It is admitted on NIL hands
that the company had paid up stock only
to the amount of 5000, ,0O0-about enough
to build six miles of road, instead of a
road almost 2, 900 miles long.
1t raised all the money to. build the
road already completed. about 600 miles
In length, by the sale Of bonds. for
which about S25, ,000, 600 have been re-
allied. A large portion Of this sum has
Cooke & Co., for the sale of the bonds
and in advertising them; and another
large portion has been spent in paying
the interest on the bonds themselves =
Money was obtained, on. the principle,
lf you don Z .buyjbonds How do yon sex-
peet we can pay you interest? Accord
ingly more bonds were sold to build the
road fur. .her into the wilderness, to pay
the running expenses of the portion in
operation. to pay interest on bonds and
to pay Jay Cooke & Co., tor selling
them. There are now about 200 miles
of road to be built, which will cost, at
least, $36, ,O0O, 900. About $1,000, 900 a
year will be required to pay the interest
on the bonds in the hands Of the own
ers, and as the road does not pay run
ming expenses, as the lands along the
rote are unstable, and so no more
bonds can be sold, it is plain the inter-
est cannot be paid.
The question is frequently heard,
"Who is to complete the load ?" Al
IeiVy kilere ~ SiAo*culStsts~t1StAa tAaeCc
Econgress, at rs nex6session, 20 make an
appropriation to finish 1t. To this pro-
ject we trust there will be protest on
the part OF the taxpayers of the coun-
try. In our opinion the road should
stop where it is.- alfseompleted but
suggestiye nonlimenf Of the fslly of our
age and the unfitness of our public SER
wants. There was not, and is not. any
demand for this road outside the specu-
lators who expect private gain from its
building. In justice to innocent bond
holders, it would seem right for them to
receive portion of the land along the
part completed, since their money built
the road. AS for the remainder of the
land, it should revert to government to
be kept for the use and occupancy of an
other generation. The people whose al
lotted time is in another century, may
inhabit the land now occupied by wild
beasts and Indians, and need a railroad
from Puget Sound to Lake Superior, and
then there will be time enough TO COM
plete the work that has SO unceremoui-
ouSlv stopped.