Morning journal and courier., 1889-10-01
FROM ALL QUARTERS. THE SUBSIDIZED ROADS. Report of the Railroad Con-
 missioner. ATTACHMENTS ATTACHMENTS M ISTFRKE FIFE HACK CASE. An Editor and a Sheriff
 Kill Each Other. COLLAPSE OF THE COTTON CORNER A Preliminary Conference
 At Washington.
COLLAPSE OF THE COTTON CORNER
THE SUBSIDIZED ROADS.

Annual Report of the Com.aissioner
 Regarding Their Condition.
 WASHINGTON, Sept 30.-Commissioner of railroads, Horace A. Taylor, has filed with the Secretary of the Interior the annual re- port of the operations of his bureau for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889. In the re- port he discusses the railroad situation in the West and Northwest, and makes sug- gestions as to the existing evils and their remedies, and also some recommendations as to necessary legislations for the better pro- lection of the interests of the government so as to render the operations of his bureau of more practical importance. He says: "Sev- eral of the railroad companies which have received grants of public lands to aid in the construction of their roads, decline to report to this office, for the reason that such grants were made by the respective States in which the roads are located, and not by the United come within the language of the act of Con- gress creating this bureau and defining it's powers. The point made is, that grant to a state for a railroad is not grant to the railroad company. The position taken by these companies would seem to be technical and evasive. The lands were owned by the United States, and were granted by acts of Congress to the states for the sole purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads. The companies received the full benefits of the grants. The certificates issued by the gen. eral land office for the land granted name the railroads to whose use it is to be applied, and in some cases do not even name the state.
 The commissioners construction of this clause of the act is that such grant is sub- sidy as contemplated by the act. He has therefore referred the matter to the Secretary of the Interior for judicial action. The com missioner says that there had been no inspec- tions and no examinations of the books and accounts of the railroads subject to the su- pervision of his bureau, made by the current year covered by this report, previous to his appointment as commissioner, July IT, 1859. He is therefore unable to make the report as full and complete as it otherwise might have been. Since his appointment, however, an examination of the several railroads in which the government has pecuniary interest has been made. The following statement shows the condition of each, the cents in every case being omitted:
 The subsidy bonds issued to the Union Pa oific company to aid in the construction of its road amount to $33, 539, ,512, and the in- terest paid thereon by the United States to $4S, 1s1 ,407, aggregating the sum of $76.- 7OO.919. There has been repaid by the com pany in transportation services and cash payments as shown by the books of the Treasury department the sum of $25 ,431, ,137, which makes its liability to the government on June 30, 1889, amounting to $51 ,269, 792. The excess of interest paid by the United States over all credits amounts to $17,73O,- 23O. The debt of the company on June 30, 1889, was s165, ,657, ,659, and the capital stock $60. .e6o. 300. mak- ok of assets amounted to $275, ,3O4, 72S. The amounts found due from the company under the acts of July 1, 1862, and May 2, 1878, for the year ending December 31. 1888, were as followe: Union division-Total earnings, SIS, SEQ, ,5s4; total expenses, SIG, ,035 339; net earnings, 8, ,7S5, ,255. Twenty five per cent. of the net earnings under the act of May T. Total earnings, '$3,328 ,576; total expenses, | S1 ,9S7, ,192; net earnings, $1 ,341 1888. Five per cent. of net earnings and one-half gov ernment transportation, Silt, 5,219, making e total of $1 ,061 ,533.
 The subsidy bonds issued to aid in the construction of the Central Pacific railroad amount to $27, ,855, ,6S0, and the interest paid thereon by the United States to $35, 148. .849, aggregating the sum of $63, 004, ,529. There
 has been repaid by the company in transpor- | tation services and cash payments, as shown | by the books of the Treasury department, the sum of SIC, TAT, 794, which makes it's liability to the government on June 30, 1889, amount | to $52, ,256, 734. The excess of interest paid
 by the United States over all credits
 amounts to $24,401, ,054. The total debt
 of the company on June 30, 1889, was $l25,' | 296, ,165, and the capital stock $6S, ,000, ,000 l The assets amounted to $222, 757, 1862. Dur. | ing the year the liabilities increased g, ,029, 1 S35, and the assets $1 ,297, ,001, making a net
 decrease in assets of $732, ,s35. The funded
 debt amounted to sS7, ,614 ,6S0. The amount
 found due from the company under tht
 acts of July l. 1869, and May 1878, for thu
 year ending December 3l, 1888, was as fol
 lows: Total earnings, $9,17S, 2S6; total ex
 penses, $7, ,6S3, ,915; net earnings, $1 ,544 ,331
 s77, ,als; whole government Transportation
 $3S9, ,999; total due, $467,217. The sinking
 funds of the Union and Central Paci6
 companies held by the Secretary of tn
 Treasury on June 80. 1889, amount to SIS.
 514, ,604, the Union Pacific having to it
 credit $9.2eS, ,s52, and the Central Paei6
 $4,215,752 The premium paid on bonds flo
 the sinking fund of the Union Pacih
 amounts to that date to $1,752, ,726, and tn
 interest received from investments to $1 ,216,
 573. For the Central Pacific the premium
 paid amounted to s99s, ,9s8, and the interes l raceived on investments to S6h7 6S6