The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-11-06


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How long viii it take to build your
| largest edifces, when your blocks of
marble weigh nothing? Oh, gentlemen,
when you have considered this subject
as have done, you will stand ovePpow-
cred w1th the magnitude of the results
that are TO follow. Think of it's effects
upon means of transportation. When
there is no weight to carry, may not
even the air be navigated % Z
Do you object to informing us how
you happene1 TO discover this mighty
and mysterious secret of nature?"
Mysterious Why, it is so simple
that any child-ca understand 1t. I
stumbled upon it. Since I have discov-
cred it, I wonder that it is not found
out a thousand times every day. But,
gentlemen, are Won aware that I doubt
whether am really a pioneer in this
field ? There are books, written thou
sands of years ago, which read when
a boy, which have led me to believe
that this is one of the lost arts, though
it was known perhaps only to favored
few. feel saFe-very sure-that the
simple law by which the attraction Of
gravitation is suspended was known In
ancient Peru, Arabia, and perhaps in
Egypt also, and went down into oblivion
with other lost arts, in some general
catastrophe The same law rediscoV-I
cred while working in silver mine,
1000 feet under ground, and my knOwl-
edge am ready to communicate, under
the conditions that I have named. ''--t
"But should you die in the mean
time, would not yeuFdiscovery be again
lost, and the world be deprived of its
benefits % ssl-r aesF sl lz5es--B "
ss Oh, not at ell. I have taken care
of that. Whether I live Or die, or
whatever may happen to me, Within ten
years from the present time the world
will be fully informed upon the sub
ject. - SEQ eis7 g %
After some further consultation, a
select committee was appointed, to meet
in three days, to fully. investigate the
secret, and take some action upon the
proposition of the stranger, who, after
reminding all present of their promise
of secrecy, departed-and was never
seen again. azset -
sa a7 western Railways. @
The Nation, in valuable article on
railroad manuals, has the following in
regard to western railroads
Not dividend is paid by any road IN
Michigan, and but one In Indiana. Hi
nois boasts fve=dividend-paying compa-
nies, Wisconsin one, and Iowa three
but Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and
almost all the southern states, are 8
dreary, hopeless blank.
I,deed, it requires some study of fig
ures to enable us to realize how all
frya
ment of the last six years really was.
Ii was a simple craze. Under fhe stim-
ulus of the land-grant system, it swept
through the country like a hUst-claSs
epidemic, and is probably in its effects
to-day occasioning not less quiet suffer
ing. Kansas was the very hot-bed of
the disease, and a very few figures,
drawn from these manuals, viii illus
trate the madness which prevailed as
regards that region, which differed only
in degree from others. Ten years ago,
Kansas had no railroad at all 1T now
has little less than $500 miles, about
SO per cent. more than Massachusetts,
with one-third of her population IN
other words, Massachusetts, has seven
times the population of Kansas IN COM
parison with It's railroad mileage. But
The Kansas railroads were built on the
sale of their bonds, not on their stock
capital accordingly. we find them
loaded dow with over $40, 600, 600 of
indebtedness. The interest on none of
this is now paid, but as long as money
could be borrowed with which to pay 1t,
it did not average less than 8 per cent,
or s., 500, GOO per annum. All that the
Kansas roads in their best condition
ever pretended to earn was about
SO. 400, COO, or less than five per cent. on
their bonded indebtedness. Nor indeed
did they ever earn that amount or any
thing which approached to it. The
claim was that in business which aver
aged but s., 800 per mile IN gross re-
ceipts, the net receipts wereno less than
40 per cent. of that amount. To one
accustomed to dealing with railroad. as
counts. such a claim is simply prepos-
ferrous. To produce such result, the
operatinC and construction would be
muddIed beyond all comprehension.
This is the time for liquidation the day
for doctored balance-sheebs is, for the
time being, gone. Kansas, like many
other of the western states, is poor and
sparsely settled. To it's railroad system
it can contribute but very sparingly
even for its population. It is probably
safe to say that the cost of operating
and maintaining the Kan as railroad sys-
tenn will consume for years to come %
per cent. of its gross receipts. The
problem viii then be how to make at
most s., COO, 900 per annum pay 8 per
cent. interest on so, 0OO, GOO OF princl-
pal. besides 8 large amount of accrued
and unpaid coupons which ARE covered
by the mortgages. Tf
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