Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-01-05

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country. They squandered millions Of
, their money TO "proteot" their Territorial
claims while expending other millions il
encroachment upon territory claimed by
; other companies. They constituted
themselves the srbiters of the trade
! They attempted TO dictate the chan
nels which the trade must follow and
: fixed rates of trans portation that were
extortionate. They charged all that the
traffic would bear, aud appropriated a
} share of the profits of every industry by
charging the greater part of the differ
ences between the actual cost of produc-
ton and the price of she article in the
market.
THEY Disseminated
between individuals, between localities
and between articles. They participated
in election contests, and it is charged
they even attempted TO influence the
courts and juries by the granting of free
transportation. BY secret cuts and
violent and rapid fluctuations in rates they
menaced business, paralyzed capital and
retardsd investment and development
During the five years from 1864 to 1869
upon proof that their roads were fully
completed, these companies obtained
| bonds from the government, but when
the government called upon them TO pay
| a percentage of their net earnings into
the treasury as was stipulated in
the original contract, they contended
that their roads were not com pleted till
1869 and refused TO make any payments
| to the government though one of them,
the Central Pacific had been declaring
dividends in the meantime. They resisted
the claims and demands of the govern
ment at every point, and resorted to
every device their ingenuity could invent
in their efforts TO
WADE TiE PLAIN REQUIREMENTS Oh LAW.
In the transportation of troops and
supplies for the government they violated
the contract obligation to charge reason
able rates, by charging more than they
charged to private shippers for the same
kind of service. The reports OF the
Union Pacific show that the average
rates paid by the government to that
corporation were higher than those re-
ceived by that company from other |
sources. The same is moro or less true
of other bond aided companies. The |
balance sheet of the Central Pacific for |
1856, should have shown deficit of |
over $l4,000,000 in the profit and |
loss account, but by emitting
from the debit side the accumulated in
terest which the government had advanc-
cd amounting to $3l, 500, 475 20. and by
making up its lands in the assets column
to S23,500,000, when the actual value was
$l2,50O,OU0, as appears from the testi-
mony OF the company's land agent, the
company made a showing of an apparent
surplus of over $2s,000,00O0. Had the
Pacific railroads been built and man
aged
UPON AN HONEST METHOD
had the government loan been properly
applied, these companies, regarded as a
whole, could have declared a dividend at
a rate of six per cent per annum for Is
years from the date OF actual com pletion
to the present time upon all the
monies they would have been required
to pay in to complete and equip the
roads. They could have repaid every
cent of principal aid interest advanced
by the government to date, and could
have redsced their charges to shippers to
the extent of $146,475,9 or more than
S8,000,OOO per year. But they chose
dishonest methods. At the outset
they divided $172,347,115 of fictitious
capital, and they taxed the shippers to
the extent of over 1926, 100000, or Sl4,-
100000 year, to pay for tn 10 imitation of
the capital of these companies, and
for the vicious practices that
crept into their management.
Because of the vicious methods p,
actually pursued by the bond-aded
the government has been de- l!
frauded of the bulk of its advances, ship
pers have been taxed TO the extent OF !
over $685. 100000, and liabilities to the
amount of S389,5lS,264 have been heaped
lpon the properties. :
THE ASSETS OF THE COMPANIES
o-day are insufficient to pay the present c
worth of the debt, and thsy will not be !
lble to pay it in 1895 except by assessing q
he stockholders, or by the recovery of '
arge sums of which the com I
oanies were defrauded Obiec c
ions to the extension of time
IF the payment of the debt of the Union Y
Pacific and of the other com panies are v
many and insuperable. The majority of z
he commission recommend an extension I
# time for the payment OF the debts of o
III the companies for fifty years on c
certain terms. The testimony shows that
kept the Union Pacific none Of these {
companies have agreed to, or will or can l.
ccept the terms recommended by the v
The fact is that f
3 TO all the companies excep il
ne Union Pacific their bankruptcy is so o
omplete and irretrievable that no part
# their Indebtedness can ever be recov-
red by the government except by imme
late compulsory legal process. Bonds
f the Union Pacific, provided for in the r
majority report, would sell for about o
fly cents on the dollar, and the bonds a
f other companies would not be negotia-
lie. il
Mr.. Pattison then proceeds y :,
10 ASK AND ANSWER The QUESTION 81
5 to what the government should do.
he government, he ssys, occupies a dual =
elation to the bond aided railroad-as u
Dvereign and as creditor Involving 9,
implications which would not otherwise 81
resent themselves. mere creditor
light assent to a compromise, or con Fl
one q fraud, but this the government u
anuot do. 1t cannot validate the iniqui- f.
= 81. | "a.