The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-02-11

Total. $50 Sl55 23g 900 s. 1S3 S22S. 1919. 0OC
These statistics show that the number o.
insolvences this year is larger than in 1873
but their amount is smaller. The causes OF
this discrepancy are obvious and need scarcely
be pointed out. Prominent among them is
the conservative habit of business which the
panic has fostered among our trading classes.
Men are not so ready to accept great risks,
and capital is more timid than it was, more
scrutinizing, and less disposed to prefer the
promise Of high retes Of interest to certain
ty that the principal is safe. Hence, adven-
turous traders, having no capital of their own,
have found it increasingly difficult to obtain
the loan of other peoples capital Many OF
the characteristic features Of our money mar
Set have their origin in this fastidiousness Of
capital, which is rather increasing of late.
Another reason why the amount of the fail
ures was less in 1874 than in the previous
year may be found in the fact that the panic
of September, 1873, struck down its chief
victims at blow while a multitude Of
SIN .ller sufferers, though receiving fatal in
5uries, continued to drag on for months in
hope, and some of them are even yet strug-
Cling to avert the inevitable catastrophe.
The Sinking Fund.
The sinking fund of the National Govern
ment is said to be some S30,O00.000 short.
by the act OF February Is, 1862, it was or
-dained that all duties should be paid in coin,
tor in notes of the Government payable in
coin on demand, and that the coin thus OBJ
tanned should be set apart, after paying the
interest on the gold-bearing bonds, for the
purchase each year of one per cent of the en-
tire public debt, and that the interest on the
bonds SO purchased should each year be added
ITO the amount invested in the following year
No attention whatever was paid to this law
until seven years had elapsed, when Secre-
-tary Boutwell, revived the matter, and for
about four years Mr.. Boutwell, kept ND his
sinking fund, having a surplus revenue of
sone hundred millions year during most of
the time, but since September, 1873, the fund
has been completely neglected. Not bond
has been bought for it in sixteen months, and
the customs receipts, instead of being set
aside as required by the act Of 1862, have
been exchanged for greenbacks at discount.
Notwithstanding the monthly debt statement
Indicates surplus last year OF nearly II mil
lions of dollars, it has been proposed to raise
IS millions more by an increase Of taxes,
equal to 81 millions excess on last years ex-
penditures. What necessity for more Gov
eminent expenditures in 1875 than in 1874,
and if none why more taxes?
The Southern Pacific Railroad.
The New York Tribune acknowledges the
receipt of private note from Col. Thomas A.
Scott, in which he assures the editor OF that
paper that over 80 per cent Of the obligations
incurred by himself and his associates for the
construction and equipment of the part OF
Southern Pacific Railroad now in operation
mas been paid, and that all the remainder will
be promptly protected as it natures. The
essential point Of this statement is that, in
view of these facts, the grant of a subsidy to
his Southern Railroad is not necessary to pro-
tect him from bankruptcy, as has been widely |
believed, and as has been stated in the Iri-
'5,aae and other newspapers. The Tribune says
it takes great pleasure in giving Col SCOTS
statement to the public.
Certified Checks-lmpOrtant Decision.
In the Court of Common Pleas, New York,
on the 9TH Instant, the suit of the National
Park Bank against the German American
Bank was concluded. The Mutual Bank Of
Troy, correspondent of the Park Bank,
drew q check or draft on it for SAG Is, in
favor of one P. F. Gill The name Of the
payee was altered to B. Gay, and the amount
raised to $40 rs. The draft was Endorsed to
B. Allen, depositor in the Equitable Savings
Institution. Allen deposited it in that hank. |