National Republican., 1884-01-16
HAPPY YANpERpILT.
Free from Caro- lie Discoursos Upon His
Rivals Mistakes and Praises the Wise
publIc.
MierVie,0 IN NcW YORK. Times.


Rivals Mistakes and Praises the Wise
Public.
Interview IN NcW York Times.
"I have not put dollar in West Shore and
do not propose to-" said Mr.. Vanderbilt;
certainly not at anything like the present
prices Who in tho world wants to buy
road without terminals. l SEQ it stated that
the bonded indebtedness of the West Shore is
only ono-quartor that Of the New York Cen
trail. That's tho kind of stories people are
asked to believe. The New York Central has
one bond of $i0,000,000 and another extern
sion of an old issue of $1200O,000. Tho two
make $52,0O0,000. and that is all. Tho
West Shores first mortgage is $5O,00O, 900; it
put up $l0,000,000 of its income bonds with
the North River Construction company, and
then there is the $l2,000000 terminal mort
gage, which is spoutod with the Equitable
Life Assurance company for $6,000000, which
! guess the insurance company wishes it had
back. That makes S72,000,000 out now,
doesn't ii, to say nothing of anything else"
What do you regard as the object of the
building Of the West Shore ?"
ITO blackmail the Now York Central
| There was no need of the road. A four track
road through the state was enough for the
business. Beside the Central there is the
| Lackawanna responsible road, and tho Erie
i
has been established for forty years, and it
will do a fair proportion of the business no
matter what comes. 1t does its business
systematically and as any prudent business
man would control his affairs. 1t will not do
business at less than cost for the sake Of
doing it. The West Shore will have to take
| all the New York Centrals business in this
state to earn the $ll,000,000 necessary to pay
the operating expenses and interest on the
| bonds.
"If the West Shore is as good a thing as it
| is claimed to be, the New York Central is
worth four times what is claimed for it. Now
York Central people were advised to get hold
of the West Shore, if they had to pay 175.
People were told by those mon Porter and
Winslow that the stock was purchase at
100. If | had done that my house would be
| surrounded now, and the newspapers would
be shouting about my trickery. Men who
bought the bonds haver been coming to my
house all day asking me what to do. / tell
you it made my blood run cold to sec what
had been done. 1t will take ten years to put
the West Shore on q sound basis. There are
100000 people on its line. How are they
going to support it? Willard, who squirted
up and then squirted down, was in the West
Shore Ho might better have devoted his
attentions moro exclusively to his own prop
critics"
zone thing is certain, the New York Central
will pay the interest on its bonds and some
thing on its stock anyway. 1t has earned
per cent. on its stock and is earning now.
No promise is made to the stockholders, but
nothing can prevent their getting something.
They will receive a satisfactory dividend in
any event. We sold tho North River Con-
struction company forty miles of road from
Athens to Schenectady, for 100000. The
construction company, | am told, turned il
over to the West Shore Railway company for
100000 mile. The grades are eighty and
ninety feet the mile. and our best engines
couldn't haul fifteen ears up them | had to
laugh when | saw it proclaimed that the
West Shore was such fine freight road. The
Waikiki Valley road, l believe, was turned
over at the same price. 1t is outrageous
The trouble is men who knew no more about
railroads than that chair bought the West
Shore bonds. Supposing the West Shore
terminals are taken away, what then? The
New York Central has forty miles Of track In
New York city and 100 acres of land il
Buffalo ii has 500 or 600 acres, in Rochester
100, and in Syracuse 100 more. My father did
not own the control of tho New York Cen
tral when he was put in. lie bought contro
aftcrward because he saw it was good thing.
How does the extent of the railroad system
of the United States strike yOu?"
There are railroads enough for the bust
ness of the country and probably more thar
enough. People run wild on speculation
They are not satisfied with making money il
the legitimate way as they used to be. The
losses in the heavy depression seem to have
fallen mostly on rich men. Things will
brighten up Md come out all right in time
Reputation is worth more than money.
find | have to be watchful to keep up the
confidence of people. After get confidence
want to keep it. Suppose l had induced
people to put $50,0O000O or $60,000000 into
railroad, only to find it was not half done
then never would hear the last of it. These
things make me think more than ever tina
no one does or thinks oftener right than the
general public. Public opinion hastily formed
is often incorrect, but give 1t time and it vii
work out all right. There is one thing l dc
not like to see and that is government bond
selling at 125. They draw 4 per cent, bu
the premium reduces it TO 3. There are not
securities enough which the people have con.
fidence in to go around. There is talk about
getting up government = per cent
How many such bonds would a man have Il
possess to live on? The government is pay
ing OFF the debt too fast. | was in France
when loan was taken. saw people sitting OF
the walk eating bread and cheese while wait
ing for a chance to invest their money. Sucl
Investments mako people lovers of their coun
try. The United States acquires great strength
from tho mixed nationalities, one of which
curbs the other, and this state of things serve
to preserve peace. The politicians are dema
gogues, and they control too many newspa
pers. The newspapers ought to exert thu
powers they possess to a greater extent thar
they do, l have been thinking about Ameri
cans. They are a people of great elasticity
When things let up they bound up and every
thing is all right again. There are no people
like them. They are shrewd. Show al
American where 10 cents is TO be made and hC
is up after it, and he usually gets it, too. ,
regret to SEQ the hue and cry about capita
against labor. Capital can't get along with
out labor, and labor can't get along withou
capital. 1t is wrong to excite strife between
them"
The Probabilities.
IL was stated last night by member Of the