Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-30

AND
One Seeks to Trick Uncle Sam, and
the Other German Visitors.

New YORK. Aug. 27.-In the course
of the remarks concerning affairs Sin and
out of Wall street," The Sun says this
morning: 1t is the general belief, as it is
the general talk, that Wall street is pass
ing through a period of liquidation, but
that is not SO. The process which it is
passing throu 5h is merely that of mark
ing down prices and selling out in some
instances below cost. Wall street is
nothing but a big shop of fancy and adul-
terated goods of which it is trying to get
rid of now. 1t is forced sale, but there
is no actual liquidation yet. Mr.. Willard
is trying to remedy the evil (at least as
far as his stocks are c%oncerned) by bring
ing over a cargo of Germans, whom he is
taxing out to the far northwest with a
view of Introducing them to the enex-
haustible resources of that wonderland.
But as he brought over mostly doctors,
professors, and journalists, there is not
much chance that the expedition will re-
suit in my influx of German money into
the blind pool treasury. The Germans
are very fond of free lunches, free ex-
cursions, and everything free, but they
are still more. found of the thalers and
marks, and the intellectual and dis
tinguished company now at Bismarck
does not represent any large amount of
this kind of coin. They will probably re-
ciprocate the courtesy of Mr.. Willard and
write glowing articles on the beauties of
American scenery, but they won't make
anybody buy a share of Wizards stock.
Several parties of intelligent Wall
street men have recently taken vacation
trips to the Northern Pacific region, and
all of them agree in the opinion that it
will take years and years to populate it
and give business to the road. AS one
of them remarked: There are too many
square acres to the inhabitants at pres
emit If Mr.. Willard is to leave New
York tomorrow lit would be very ap-
propriate on his part before leaving to
answer the question which has so often
been put to him, privately and publicly,
and which is said to be now in the pro-
cess of being put to him through the
courts. The question is a very simple
one: Are the bonds and stocks consti-
tuting the property of the Oregon &
Transcontinental company in the treasury
of that company, or are they pawned,
and if so, to what extent2'
"Goulds latest scheme may not succeed,
but it is. nevertheless, one of the smartest
he ever conceived. For the past two
years he has been working hard to start a
public discussion on the subject of the
government going into the telegraph bust
ness. j. q. Bennett, who hates Gould,
has fallen into the trap, and is now crying
that the government ought to build a
new system of lines. This is Just what
Gould wants, for he knows that while
Bennett is seeking to ruin the Western
Union, his cry, if successful, can result
only in the purchase of the existing
lines. Gould knows it would take
the government ten years to build
400, 900 miles of poles and. wires, for 40
900 miles a year would be fast building.
Then again, the government could not
make itself a party to a contiscation
scheme by placing itself in connection
with private or corporate enterprises.
Apart from Gould's interest in the West.
ern Union, there are probably over $780,
DOC, 900 invested all over the country in
telegraph enterprises, and that capital
could not be attacked by government
competition without a howl Of public in.
dignation. OF course the only complete
SyStSh NhiSh tho SoNoihihcut Cuulu
purchase and make any immediate
use of would DO Western
Union, and Gould appears to have a neat
little scheme ready to propose as soon as
the public discussion of the subject has
become ripe enough. He intends to offer
to give up to the government the whole
of the Western Union property upon the
basis of yearly payments of the surplus
earnings for twenty years to come. The
payment is TO be made in bonds or cash,
as the government prefers. This new
plan would give the immediate possession
of the lines for nothing, since the yearly
payments would consist only of the money
earned over and above the expenses of
running the concern upon the basis
of existing rates for messages. 1t is
by a similar arrangement that the British
government purchased the telegraphs,
and Gould sees there a very acceptable
precedent. The effort, il successful,
would give him and his associates in
twenty years something like $3.50, -O00,-
900, for the net earnings are estim-
ated at $780, 900 a year. 1t would