St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-09-06
Increase of Fictitious Capital,
n. o. Picayune:


Increase of Fictitious Capital.
NO Picayune.
The Northern papers are just bringing
to us the first installment Of figures
from the annual midsummer publica-
tiOn by Henry Y. Poor, the only rail
road annual of value. The principal
salient point of the years progress is
the continued increase of fictitious capi-
| tain other words, the continued in
crease Of stocks and other Indebtedness
in excess of cost of construction. This
cheap method Of acquiring riches, in
| vOlving no greater labor than the print
+! ing and marketing of the paper tokens
of Indebtedness, was never heard of in
American railroading prior to the hal
cy0n days Of famous Credit Mobilier;
| but it isnOw so familiar that no effort is
made to conceal the processes of finance
| which our simple minded grandfathers
would have nnhesitatingly character
| lied as swind!ing, and the very term
water is universally heard. AS Dray
! ton says:
Then came the halcyOn, Whom the sea obeys
! When she her nest upon the water lays.
| 1t is now well known that railroads
can be built and equipped for an aver
/ dRC III tESUyOUp pGL LlAlG5 anu LliftG CNGA
the mountains the cost does not exceed
$25,O00 to S28, 900; yet the G091 miles Of
| new line built in the United States i'll
1883 is represented by a liability (stock
and debit of $47S, 721 ,902. This is more
than $78,594 per mile.
/ The increase is all the more disastrous
because the evil is all the while being
exaggerated. The average per mile for
the whole country, large as it is, is not
so large as that for the new cOnstruc-
ton, Where this exaggeration is to
stop, no man can guesS-prObably Where
the fools stop buying stocks and bonds.
1t shows US place where fOrceFul legls-
lation is sadly needed, and enfOrces that
demand for congressional action for the
regulation OF railroads which has been
growing louder every year since the
evil of OvercdpitalizatiOn first began to
bear it's legitimate fruit in thu squeezing g
of the people in the matter OF frelShts
land fares.
The entire mileage of the country at
the close of the fiscal year 1888, which
we suppose means the various periods
of the year at which the several Gompa-
MES close their accounts, which ought
to be uniform, was 120,559 miles, repre-
sented by the following enormous in
debtedness
EShare capital. SO, ,7O8, ,06O, ,5SG
Funded debt. 3,455, ,040, ,38f
Floating debt ,34d
Total indebtedness. --.S7, ,495, All ,314
This is an average of S62, ,17G per emile
for the entire country, or more than
double the cost of the entire roads, even
if allowance be made for some bad man
agement, and three times the cost of the
roads which the millionaires have been
building for several years past-for
whatever tricks they put on the public
concerning the cost, they allow none tC
be put on themselves. The substantial
support supplied to the railroad system
by fourishing country is shown by the
: astonishing exhibit Of gross earnings
} from operation. These earnings have
literally increased by bounds and leaps
Look at the figures for the respective
fiscal years of the companies ending a
various dates during the following cal
endar years:
1879. s------ sSoSo'OSU'o0
L