National Republican., 1875-06-02
THE ERIE RAILWAY.

THE ERIE RAILWAY.
This piece of extravagant magnifcence
is once more PROSTATE before the robbers of
Wall street. We hardly dare hazard q
guess as to how many times during its ex-
istence it has stood confessedly insolvent.
That this is somewhere between the third
and sixth we feel tolerably certain. But it
has always been the sport of the fancy men
at the Board Of Brokers and the easy prey
of sharp and unscrupulous managers.
1t was conceived by the merchants of
New York as a short cut to the lake trade
and an offset to the Western railway pro-
ject of Bostonians. The latter threatened
to tap the Erie canal trade at Albany and
divert it over the Western line to Boston.
The New York merchants were not to be
outdone by the capitalists of New England.
They would instigate the people of the
southern tier of counties to demand of the
State some improvement which would as
sist in the development of their section of
the Commonwealth which was not directly
benefited by the canals. The Legislature,
in response to these memorials, granted q
loan of its credit for So, 900, 900 to the Erie
railway. This was then large sum. 1t
was about one fourth of the estimated cost
of the line from New York to Dunkirk.
Twelve millions was the estimate of Edwin
F. johnson and John B. Jervis, the first
engineers of the work. This loan by the
State was afterward enacted into q
free gift at the pitiful prayer
Of the capitalist merchants OF New York.
And it was paid from the earnings of the
despised Erie canal, which they had con-
temptuously turned over to Boston when
they dreamed of their magnificent six foot
gauge railway.
From that day to this the Erie railway
has been a suppliant mendicant at every
body's door for assistance. And each time
that its organization has been rehabilitated
and its treasury replenished it has again
become the sport of the street, and its fair
fame has been prostrated by the bulls and
the bears of that locality for the purpose of
getting up or breaking down corners, re-
gardless of the intrinsic value of the stock
or the ability of the company to pay its in
terest from the net earnings of the road. 1t
was first robbed by its contractors, and next
by its managers. The stock of the COM
pany has probably never had,,any intrinsic
value during the last quarter of century.
1t has been quoted by the Board all the
way from y to 90. through interested infiu-
ences. Cooked reports of earnings, pay
ments Of dividends never earned, the
money having been borrowed on the street
and charged to construction, and many
other devices have been resorted to by the
managers at various periods for the purpose
of boosting the stock upon the market.
In 1854 Ramsdell gave place to Moran as
president, and the stock, which had sold
down to y, advanced rapidly to 80. No
ran represented the interests of the foreign
bondholders at that time, and had an idea
that he could bring order out of chaos and
coin money for the stockholders. He had
a salary of $25, 900, against $40, 900, which
had been paid to Homer Ramsdell, and
though brilliant financier and aided by
the practical industry and mechanical ge-
MUS ofD. C. McCallum as superintendent he
proved an utter and stupendous impracti-
cable, and soon stepped down and out.
From that time to the present the Erie
line has been a speculative experiment.
1t has never seen "a solvent day. Ii was
started originally upon false premises, and
has been for thirty-five years continuous
failure. 1t has been the bottle imp of its
managers. 1t has enriched engineers, con.
tractors and officers without number at the
expense of the stock and bondholders.
Fisk and Gould and Daniel Drew, fast
freight and express lines, little credit mo-
biliers, ETC., have manipulated its earnings,
watered its stock and hypothecated its
bonds until it is the veriest lame duck on
the street 1t now stands forth thoroughly
plucked, with none but poor old Mr.. Jew
EFT to cover its nakedness. 1t was started
to show to the world what New York
money could do in the way of cheaper
ing transportation. Its objective point
was the demonstration of the practi-
cability Of hauling Western products
cheaper and quicker by rail over land
than they could be fioated over water.
This was then characterized as an utter
absurdity by almost everybody except the
merchants and press of New York. They
have ever insisted upon its pracucability.
When it first failed the trouble was charged
upon the bad location of its eastern and
western termini The former, at Dunkirk,
was then changed to Buffalo by an expensive
independent line from Hornellsville, and the
latter from Piermont, first to Newburgh
and then through Paterson to Jersey City.
These expensive devises operated no bet |
ter, and the Bergen tunnel was resorted to |
at the eastern end, and connection with |
the Atlantic and Western broad-gauge at
the west connected with Cincinnati. But
all these devices have been failures |
Through mismanagement and extra cost |
the broad gauge has everywhere proved |
disastrous.
And now, as receiver, Mr.. Il. J. Jewett
is q railway king, through the intervention
of the court, of the first magnitude. He is
clothed with arbitrary powers If he has
the genius and application to manage sue
cessfully q magnifcen railway property
valued at one hundred and thirty millions,
and is let alone for ten years, the Erie rail-
way may yet become paying property;
but this is almost too much to hope for in
New York. The Detective press will at
tack and malign him if he cannot find some
means of procuring its silence. His only
true course is to devote his energies to the
transaction of the carrying trade at paying
rates. He should cherish, foster and pro-
tect his local traffic at all points, regardless
Of through traffic. 1t is the local trade
that pays. And it increases just in proper