National Republican., 1883-03-08
on TIE AYENuE.
small Talk About Men and Neasures.

lOr ono thing" he added, the benefits of this
developmentwoud bespeedily f,lt and widely
dilused, and that one thing is tho mania of a
few men TO become enormously rich The
history Of railway building in the west and
northwest will be repeated in the south, and
the result will be period of great apparent
prosperity and inflated values, followed by a
crash, season Of prostration, and a slow
recovery to permanent healthfuness No
sooner do parties get control Of Il railway than
they prospect with view to building
aud extending their lines and their power.
They send out surveyors, get subsidies from
people along the proposed line, issue stock,
which is taken up largely by the residents of
the towns and districts which expect to be
benefited by the line. Then tho managers
bond the road for $4,000 or S3j 600 n mile.
The money raised on bonds, from sale of stock
and from donations will average anywhere
from $25,O0) to $4,000 q mile. The road
could be built for half the amount, but as the
contracts are given to construction companies
composed of tho officers of the railway COM
pany, or men Of straw representing them, It
is all expended, and as much more as can be
borrowed, begged, or stolen. A new
venture seldom pays from the start.
Tho company's credit is exhausted, and
the credit of the parent stem is so seriously
crippled that the stockholders and bond
owners hasten to unload, thus creating q
panicsy market. Meantime the members
of the construction company take the money
they have made and buy in deprecated
bonds, wreck the road, throw IL into the
hands Of receiver if necessary, and in the
] ,,e tIa.. mt.
value of the mineral or agricultural lands
| which have been opened up by tho new lines
becomes understood by the time the wreck.
ing is complete, and general diffusion of
the knowledge aids the work Of recon-
struction, and the property gets to be enor-
mously valuable. Tho small fish have all
been eaten up, however, long before this and
everything is in the hands of the men who
engineered the deal. The people who paid
| for tho development of the country have
nothing to show for their investment except
the increased general prosperity, having been
frozen out or squeezed dry in the early stages
of the operations; but the shareholders in the
construction company have grown fat and
wealthy. Dozens Of these construction com.
panies are at work in the SOUTH They are
are sucking the life blood from the railway
companies whose interests they are supposed
to be guarding.
The moral of this primer lesson in finan-
ciering have given you is obvious. Go and
organize construction company"
a@e
Mr. Jay A. Hubbell has been Joined by his
family, and the first of next week the party
will start on trip to California, to be absent
two or three months Mr.. Hubbell halls from
a tempestuous region, and the next storm may
watt him back into congress as the last storm
waited him out Of congress.
90
When Tom ochltree gave up the office of
United States marshal in Texas he was sew
eral thousand dollars short in his accounts.
The deficit, according to all reports, was moro
apparent than real and grew out of defective
bookkeeping, but it was n shortage neverthc-
less, and when he was elected to congress last
fall the treasurer was advised to
withhold the colonel's pay as con-
gresham until the amount is made good.
The question was referred to First Comptroller
Lawrence, who has decided against Ochiltree
greatly to that gentleman's disgust. Accord
ing to this ruling his whole salary as con-
gressman will be absorbed in the liquidation
of the claim that is held against him by the
government. The colonel says ho will appeal
to tho President to have the claim cancelled
on a showing that the government never
actually lost dollar through him, and that
the deficiency existed only on paper He
thinks the administration ought to give nour-
ishment to political independence in Texas
an idea he is said to represent in congress.
a7a
Another good man in Texas has gone
wrong. This time II is John L. Haines, col
lector of customs in Brownsville. Charges OF
irregularities in tho administration Of his
Office were preferred against him by reputa-
BILE citizens somo time ago, and Special Agents
Nevins and Barney, of tho Treasury de-
partment were sent TO Texas to make an
investigation They have returned, and on
the strength of their report the secretary OF
the treasury has asked Mr. Haines for his
resignation. 1t does not appear that the coll
lector is short, but that he was lax in his ad-
ministration and failed to take adequate pre-
caution to prevent smuggling, which is said
to have been carried on openly under his
very nose
80
The clerks of the senate have made ex.
Senator David Davis present in testimony
Of their regard for him. and another testi.
monial is due him from the sergeant-at-
department. "While he was president of the
senate" said one of Col. Bright's assistants
"Judge Davis was very kind to the senate
employees, He was man nobody would
think of being fresh or familiar with, not
even his associates in the senate, yet he is one
OF the easiest men to approach in the
world He is not without his vanity
in fact he is very vain; but you
never saw man so quick to resent
fattory or any thing that savored of it, and
the surest way to gain his i'll will was TO at.
tempt to give him taay. Nobody ever tried
that dodge second time. He had holy
horror of being worked as the boys say
and his suspicious were so easily aroused that
nobody who knew him ventured upon the
delicately coated compliments that are gen
orally relished by the best of men. No ono
about the senate ever did him favor he did no
seem grateful to for ii, and in consequence he
was liked and respected by everybody TIL,
boys would not have dared tell him what W.
thought of him while he was president Of thu
senate, but now that he is n private citizel
there is no mpropriety in making him
present He can't suspcCt us of trynn "a