Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-01-09
THE WILLARD BUBBLE.
Work CT Reorganizing After It's Col
lapse---Names Of Winners and
Losers by the Big Drop.

New YORK, January 2.-The new
president Of the Northern Pacific Rail.
way may be named Friday. The resig.
nation of Mr. Willard, already rendered
by him, will be presented to the board
of directors that day for action. The
statement that Frederick Billings would
succeed Mr.. Willard is by no means
authoritative. 1t is said to be the gen.
eral desire OF the board of directors that
Mr.. Billings be made president, but the
condition of the gentleman's health may
make it unwise for him to again
accept the cares and confinement of the
place. Mr.. Billings is credited with
saying: cit is time that the Northern
Pacific should be separated In the public
mind from the Oregon and Transconti-
mental and from the general reputation
of Willard stocks. / believe it On easy
matter for the Northern Pacific to carry
all it's burdens, and with careful and
economical management it will soon be
reinstated in public favor.
THE OREGON INVESTIGATION.
The executive committee is still in
Vestigating the condition of the Oregon
and Transcontinental Company, Mr..
Willard has, up to this time at least,
made no assignment of property to the
company. 1t is now openly charged
that while he held the presidency of the
three roads he maintained the greatest
reticence as to the interior workings of
the companies while he was quietly un-
loading his stocks, and left his associates
sadly in the lurch. Mr.. Wizards friends
insist, however, that he was an equal suf-
ferer with his partners in the various
enterprises, and sustained total losses
by the 1000, 900 depreciation in the
securities of the Northern Pacific prop
critics since the decline of last summer.
amounting to SIS, 600, 900, and that he
was compelled to put heavy mortgages
on his Madison Avenue palace and Hud-
son River lands. This places them be-
yond the reach of Judgment or attach
ment should suit be brought against
him.
The report already made is analysed
by some operators as showing that the
stock OF the company was worth from
so to next to nothing. The former esti-
mate was obtained by computing all of
the securities listed on the stock ex-
change at the closing quotations of Mon
day, the unlisted securities at nominal
figure, and the other assets at the values
given in the report. On the
other hand, attention was called
to what was characterized as important
omissions in the statement, and the lack
of definite and detailed information.
Among other things, it was said that
the capital stock and bonded debt of
the company should have been classed
among it's liabilities. The bonded debt,
which consists of collateral trust bonds,
is secured by the deposit in trust of
bonds on branch roads of the North
ern Pacific, which the company
has received for building the same.
The value of these branch-line bonds
is practically unknown to the public.
They have never been quoted, and the
question is raised whether they are suf-
fcient to meet the interest, to say moth
ing of the principal of the bonds against
which they are held. None of the
branch roads upon which they have
been issued are completed, and work has
been suspended upon nearly all of them.
In these circumstances it is con-
sidered possible that a part of
the reported assets of the Oregon and
Transcontinental Company may have to
be used to protect its collateral trust
bonds. Another liability of the COM
pany that does not appear in the report
is its guarantee of the interest upon
81, 400, 900 bonds of the uncompleted
Oregon and California Railroad Com
pany and Of q per cent. dividend
~ 91Q
ital stock for three years from January
1, 1888. It is argued that these..facts
and the doubtful earning power Of the
securities held by the Oregon and Trans
continental Company ought to be taken
into consideration in forming fair esti-
mate of the value of the stock of the
company.
WINNERS AND LOSERS.
"Who made all the money under the
Willard regimen" was asked of broker
at the Windsor, and he said: Well,
Clews came SO close to a million that he
gave the difference between a million
and his profits to his clerks as Christmas
presents. Woerishoefer & Co. made as
much as Mr.. Travers out of the stocks, and
have their eyes on Clews, Watching to see
the next move of the Wall Street oracle.
Ithas been a prevalentrumor on the street
for some months that many Judicial per-
sonages lost money when the star of the
Northern Pacific sank. Judge Law
renee, it is said, lost neat little sum
through his relatives in the stock ex-
change. Judge Westbrook, it is also
said, has dropped money on Wall Street,
and Judge Donohue, the oracle of the
supreme court chambers, it is alleged,
has lost and won money IN various spec
ulations. Judge Haight, it is said,
does not think that Wall Street is the
little fairy-land painted by the magma
tive crier in the stock exchange. The
impression is gaining ground that Mr..
Willard has suffered as much as his as
sociates and following, if not more, by
the collapse of the enterprises of which
he was the head. Persons who profess
knowledge of the facts say that he re-
tires from the companies with which he
has been identified much poorer than
when he went into them.
WILLARD DEFENDED.