Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-15

or Lavish Expen0AturSAs
Tohe Associated Stockholders Of the Central
Railroad: Ny friend and companion in mis-
fortune who had the floor at our first con-
ference closed by saying that we "no doubt
would prefer to hear from some other stock
holder" In this, know, he was In error,
because all he said was Of the deepest inter
est to his hearers, who were eager to hear
further touching the matters Of which he
spoke. For instance. he told Us that out of
the net earnings OF the load for the year
ending 3lst August, 1881, there were
Expended in improvements or bet
termentS ............. ...-...- S1of sOUJ W
And out Of the net earnings of the
ships there were expended for like
purposes. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. &o5,OVo W
Making expenditures from net earn
ings for betterments. .......-......S7l OOOe OF
But he did not state the amounts that had
been applied out Of the earnings in the con-
struction of the grain elevator, the ware
house and the enlargement OF the wharf
facilities. To supply the omissions | have
made diligent inquiry and searched the re-
cords as far as practicable, with the follow
ing approximate results, viz:
IabouI NATURALIZATION. ' $500 IS $4,000 90
1sbou f5 y '1sY WV :, $1,000 90
wharf, say..'..........-....... 5000 90
Making an aggregate Of.......... sl65,OCO co
To which add expenditures from net
earnings ---.---.--.-.- -.--..- flU'OUo w
And we have the following .Ss75, OO8 OF
which may be considered a very liberal sum
(being over 1l% per cent. on the whole
capital OF the company, to be applied to
the Improvement and extension of the road
and enlargement of the property Of the
Steamship Company, and this, after all the
ordinary or current expenses, the fixed
charges and eight per cent. to We hungry
stockholders had been paid in
| had almost forgotten, is the item OF
$4,000 paid, exclusively by the Central,
for bonds of the Western Road of Alabama.
In which the Georgia Railroad is Jointly
interested, the said bonds being "held for
future adjustment" with that company. H.
Guiding this item, the sum-applied TO bet
terments, extension and reduction OF obH-
gations-becomes 81, 144,008 OF. MusiDg
over these figures, | began ito lay the fat
teriug JUNCTION to my soul' that the Central
Railroad Company could not be on the de-
cline, and that our shares were probably
worth what was written on the face Of our
scrp-$l00 per share-and possibly more.
In the midst Of this pleasing reverie | was
acc jsted by a quick voice that proceeded
from an eager, hungry individual that I
took for one OF our NUMBER stockh older.
My impression proved to be correct in
certain sense-that is he was one who
bought Central stock at the lowest, If he
knew it, and sold at the highest. When he
disturbed my pleasant thought he was
wishing to buy. He said: "Don't
fatter yourself that your shares are
worth par, or anything like 1t. The large
sums you mention as having been paid out
of the earnings of the company for better
ments, taken by themselves, do certainly
indicate prosperity, but you have not seen
all. Other extensions and improvements
have been made and paid for out Of borrow
ed money, and they were made principally
during the same year that terminated 3lst
OF August, 1881; part ofthe extensions W est
ward were made In previous years. While
the cash payments, that pleased you so
much, amount TO $1,144,0 0S 02-the addi-
tionsl improve nents and extensions in
other direction, for which money was Dor
rowed, cost BE- little sum Of l,782, 000 |
will give you 50 for your stock!n This lib
eral offer stunned me so terribly that | was
impolite enough to make no answer to the
proposition. After some quiet reflection, |
truth in the statement of my hungry friend,
that the floating debt" OF which we have
heard so much, must have been contracted
to make the purchases of property and to
extend the connections of our line. l lost
no time In my Investigations OF the subject,
and TO nv great relief found that for every
borrowed dollar our company had Sc
cured valuable additions and exten-
sions to our roads connections and
to our ocean facilities. But the sums paid
were certainly large; does the company still
owe so large floating debt? Again, TO my
great relief, | found, on further research,
that nearly all the debt had been paid by
using certain stocks and BONDS owned by
the Central, and that these stocks and bonds
had been taken Ia payment of debts due our
company by other railroad companies; also,
that a part of the proceeds of said stocks
and bonds had to be used to refund enough
Of the earnings, applied in the ways already
described, to pay US small dividend of four
per cent. on our shares.
At this point of the investigation | began
to take comfort, but to be sure that all was
right, | inquired If the additional properly
purchased and the extension of lines on
land and water that had been made with the
proceeds of the sales, were of equal value,
Ia conducting the operations of our COM
pany, to the stocks and bonds sole? and to
my delight, | was assured that they were
even more valuable. Here, my anxious
friends, ended my inquiry, as l saw clearly
that the floating debt was paid, and that
the whole matter was an exchange of
properties for other properties and extern
sions of more practical value to the Central
Railroad Company than the securities sold.
Excuse my long talk.
ANOTHER STOCKHOLDERS.