The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1875-11-24
MORE CONTRACTION.
GENERAL MA HOME UNABLE TO
PAY THE INTEREST DUE HIS
BONDHOLDERS.

/ 4
PAY THE INTEREST DUE HIS
BONDHOLDER8.
The following letter from General
Malone we extract from a circular
issued by John Collinson. the agent
in London, England, of the Atlantic,
Mississippi and Ohio railroad COM
pany, to the European bondholders
of that Company, because it shows
the tendency of the times. The Ohio.
Atlantic and Mississippi railroad,
extending from Bristol to Norfolk,
was. a few years ago, one of the
most prosperous roads in the coun-
try, and under the consummate man
agement of General Malone, had
started oct on career Of genuine
prosperity. But under the "gold
basis theory it has at last been com
PEELED to succumb and acknowledge
its inability to meet its obligations.
Stagnation in business in the coun-
try TO which it looked for its patron
age, and a consequent want of pat
ronage, has driven it, with many
other important enterprises to the
wall. How soon this important line
Of road will pass from under the con-
troll of Yirginfans, and into the hands
Of foreigners, we cannot tell, but ao-
cording to General Malone it must
remain embarrassed and at their
mercy until business revives in the
country sustaining the road.
But still the contraction mill runs
on! Enterprise after enterprise
languishes and dies for. the want of
a sufficieney of currency in the eoun
try; and the wages Of labor are re-
duced and then entirely stopped.
High rates of interest continue to
cramp the enterprising, who would
give employment to labor, and swell
the productions of the country, in
their plans and efforts. = So
And still the mill runs ont The
party in power seem determined to
try the experiment of returning to
specie payment. be the result what
it may. Like the man who determ-
ined to teach his horse to live with
out eating. they seem determined TO
leave the country to do without mo-
uey. But as in the former expert
ment the horse died before the 1ex-
pertinent was completed, SO, in the
latter, all that is needed to utterly
ruin the business of the country is a
continuation of the experiment..
General Malone writes TO the
English agent as follows:
ATLANTIC, MISSISSIPPI AND OHIO R. "a COL
PErERsBUsG, Va, September Is, 1875.
DEAR SIR.-Our Board has just adj
iourned, and after full examination in
to the affairs of the company we have
been unable to see how even 0ne half
interest with you can be paid ON the list
of October next. Indeed with the most
earnest desire to do that mueh,i in the
face of the company's financial status,
our judgement is-taken in the best in
terest of all, and especially in that of the
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Bond
holders-that this cannot be done-that
our duty in the premises, and particular
ly to the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio
is TO ask their forbearance.
The ability of the road to pay interest
depends in the main upon its business,
and its business upon the enterprise, the
production and trade of the country
whose transportationit commands. This
had been, previous to the panic of '7S,
sufficient for the purpose, and yet there
was much room for It's enlargement. The.
gross revenue of the road had now gone
up te nearly two and quarter millions,