Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-10-24

" NAiNh NVhliAbAN iva
es which altogether were 1907 miles i
u extent, and for which he was TO r,
H. ceve sl26,OOO000. He set to work [
d. construct the roads with characters
T. tic energy, but the cost in many case
4. exceeded his estimates. and. on tb
K whole, his vast scheme turned out /
r. be q financial failure. both to himsel
Y and the government. Nearly all IN
n roads are, in fact, useless. They ru,
e through regions which furnish neithe
d passengers nor freight, and the re
It ceipts do not begin TO pay the runnin,
n expenses. On tho llo and Moguegu,
il road there is only one train week
n On the Arequipa aud Puno road ther,
a are usually but two trains a week
The Pacasmayo road is also a failure
n and the Chimbote road--which wa,
projected to open up what was sun
= posed to be rich mining region thai
T. has since been discovered to be of lit
I Tie value-remains unfinished.
s The most disastrous failure of al
was the Callao, Lima and 0roya road
! which is completed TO within about
l forty miles of Oroya. The entire
= length OF this road is 1870 miles. This
road was, of course, projected under
tho pretext that the grain and rich
product ofthe interior could be brought
over it to the coast at small cost for
transportation. The work of con.
structing the road was enormously
difficult and costly. The grades aver
ago four and half per cent, which
engineers say will preclude il from
ever being a paying road. The ex-
pense of constructing this road alb
sorbed the entire contract price. and.
in addition, Meigrs was Obliged TO
consume in the work of profits OF other
contracts and the advances made to
him by the government on agreement
for new roads.
In the latter part of 1874, British
capitalists VINO had lent the money to
Peru for all these enterprises, and the
British public that had bought Peru
wan bonds, began to feel great ankle
~ about their investments. This anx-
lety was stimulated and kept alive by
English engineers and travellers in
Iern, who began to write TO the
BRUSH papers about the real char
actor oil the roads, and their worth
lessnoss IN a financial point of view.
ms rendered 1t difficult for the agents
OF Peru IN London to sell their bonds,
tue price oil which, IN December, 1874,
ran down to % and 90. Meiggs had
taken these bonds IRON the govern
ment al IRON 20 to 50, which was the
original price oil issue, and had sent
them to London to be disposed OF at
tho best procurable rates. AS they
were Tor the most part notsold till 1873,
when the price had dropped very low,
ana as he had to pay heavy commits
sions, he lost enormously by the trans
actlon, The government then gave
pm large amount in engineers GER
tincates oil work done, which he hypo-
lneealed win bankers IN Lima at ex-
orpn.an' rates, ,s.,,. anere err, are no psnry laws
haI9 ~ rsru. % IN i91o 'nePr'co oI PERUVIAN
oonus III Houuon ieel 70 10, ana at
,ass ,'.; '"ey ~ oe's'ho u. un,aiaolo ,i AZ any
p''oe' in VII, "y,A oh % .no me'ggs roau was
srs'oaJaa WV" ay.u"''y' '"ous" "o' hon'naiiy'
''I'"Iio' ,h;s o,;.;s uo,.o,. ,,o;o,.,., :.
,,a, ~ - eu'o u,'sis A,IssS proJeo.ca lne
Inc Andes 10 the lannon's mines Of Cor
ro de pasco and to tnnneI ,be nom
tains for tbe nurnose Of dro,ning tho
Old mines which had been drownod
ont for ages uo rot n contract Win |
the government for This nurnose on
which he received nm advance of their
internal bonds oftbo nominal valno Of
So 600 900 IL is stated that he had |
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