New-York tribune., 1893-12-24
ATCHISON GOES UNDER.
Continued from First Page

Railroad This small road was ABSORBED ui'uel -
larger charter obtained in 1855. The ente'pii'c va"
the result of the stimulus given to the ue'e'op''eA
of the railroad system beyond the MISSISSIPPI ,''.
Ay the establishment Of the Union Pachlc anu e''0
success of the war to preserve the Union III De-
cember 1872, the line between Topeka anu A.o"i
son was opened and the line from Topeka 10 NAN
sas City was leased in perpetuity three years
In 1881 the NewMexico division was opencu W
Deming where connection was maze VII" ''''
Southern Pacific road. So.
The ST. Louis and San Francisco road II 1910
bought under foreclosure the charter OF the A'd''
and Pacific Railroad. AMI a half interest was taken
in the purchase by the Atchison Managers II peS
proposed to carry the Atlantic ana lacNc tiou,'
to the Pacific seaboard. The attempt 10 eNt'E'e
this enterprise imposed the first burden upon '"'
original Atchison scheme and helped to give !, an
impulse which led TO an expansion tha, 2Iousn5S 5
COLLAPSE. Tae commltmer;s N we & no,""s, ia,or on
Pacific enterprise compelled the Atchison I'cr "a
to absorb the St Louis and san FranciSeS o rD@r. .
The Atchison. In May. 1850 issuet SZ'VVoou n,n I'm
sS s,Nff preerred tTe ai socR Of the St. and san Fran
cisco Railroad. The lastnamed road mas 'leN,L ar,.
abe to earn more than the interest on It's prnary
oSieatIons There are some railroad men who say
that the purchase of the ST. Louis ana Sall M
cisco was forced upon the Atchison by eoPolha na
ton OF capitalists Interested In Western 1 racinc
Railroad extensions, with NlaW 10 ttfnr DhC @ ,ras
forced in 1850 to purchase the control OF The Colo
rado Midland Railroad: which has pee" a"0'"''
,sS Tho Atchlson made extensive constructions
~ branch roads in Kansas. building up the create
ynileage owned In that State by a single rahoda
corporat ton While adding Immensely 10 the re-
ceipts OF the Atchison when the Kansas crops Were
eafisfactorv these made the company
peculiarly susceptible TO crop failures in tnat Sae
as unhapDily, recorded this year. lsut III
1855 the Atchison added TO its obligations by PACK
ing a line from Kansas CITY to Chicago ior me
purpose of securing an independent entrance 10
Chicaeo. In this respect The Atchison again showed
aparalel TO the Northern Pdccs amDltloh 10 ii Gun
troll Chicago entrance The Chicago iihe was Dun,
under the charter of the Chicago, santa re ilIi i
California Railroad The Atchison secured cChNol
of Chicago terminals only by immense eXpenCliuIts,
which were connected by sinister rumors Win Inc
nriyate fortunes of some Of its managers o.,
The expansion of the Atchison system pi1uems ns
with only large mileage but an eti9r,i,"rS ,,
addition to the capitalization ana ponncd hlucutcu
ness BY the lasi annual report the ats'cSsile
mileage operated by the company was 95H miles.
The capital stock amounted TO Slt2W'lvm Inc
funded debt aggregated S33O,N2Ml The conlpdn!
was threatened with receivership IN NV Dut
Barring Brothers. of London were so deeply inter
ested that their financial power was strained to
prevent that The prestige OF the arm hepSu
to carry through a reorganization in 1sss but tne
strain was SO great that II helped TO precpthte tne
big collapse of November 1880 The next step IN
the inancing of the AtchsOn taken in May isy-
when the company exchanged its income bonds
gradually ascending scale OF interest from -2 10
per cent. 1t was also provided that &luNi"r sec
ond mortgage bonds should be issued at the rate OF
S. 900 900 a year and that this issue should pc eN-
handed to 50O000yD at lower rate OF annual issue
Of bonds This conversion of income bonds into a
security bearing a fixed rate Of interest was crit
tciseti at the time a dangerous experiment in
fnances and 1t added the difficulty Of the com
pany carrying itself through exceptional times ike
the present.