The morning call., 1893-08-18

month; and considerably reduced earnings
:. for the first week in August are given In
the dispatches as the causes for COMPEL
$ ing great national enterprise to go into
the hands of a receiver. That statement
is literally true, but it is equally true tnat
there has been no time III: the past three
years when the Northern PACING was able
TO supp port itself.under a short season OF
adversely. " It's means have been frittered
away lit has loaded itself with crushing
bonded Indebtedness; it has acquired by
purchase. and. by lease let of railroad
properties. intended to be feeders to the
main lire, but which have sucked its HE
blood and / t has built branch lines where
there was NO traffic. presenter prospective,
In order that its officers might line their
pockets with proceeds from The sale OF;
town lots. =
In 1892, the gross earnings of the North
ern Pacific were S24, 66l, 457 its operating
expenses, S14, 577, $40; net earnings. Sl0,-
O84, los. Out Of its ret earnings 1t. had to
pay sc, 901. 1856 interest on bonded indebt-
edness, 1890. ia for rentals, 81 .0S6, 9oS for
guarantees and 1894. 600 payments TO other
lines. This was .high-water mark. The
net earnings in 1890 were $976o; 548. in 1891
S9.146.727 Thus, it is clear that a falling
off offs per cent in gross. earnings would
have thrown. the road into bankruptcy
during its most prosperous period; Tor IL
must be remembered that 1890. 1881 ana
1892 were boom" years in the Ppget
Sound basin. = =. - -
The Northern Pacific has never pFonteu .
byits own. mistakes. Ia 1S73:lt went eoWn /
with Jay Cooke in. the general wreck
Rehabifitated six years later. the company
undertook to close :thAgsp OF lu0o mlieS
between its then western terminus anu TIE
Pacific: This Would, have falled eut Ibr
Henry Willard, who sustained the North-
ern Pacific by appr onfisting to ITS use TIE
money belonging legt imately to the III
fated Oregon and Transcontlnental. COM
pany. Then came the crash of 1888, one
month after the road was completed, and
from that time to this Northern Paclne
stock has been a football for Wall street.
Willard retired. and for the. next SIX
years, the company, under the manage
ment OF Thomas E. Cakes. husbanded Its
resources, and by extensive advertising
and energetic immigration work peepleu.
the fertile country tributary to It's lines +.
and built up:a large local traffic. But it
could not stand prosperity. IT must have
its own. lire TO Chicago, and leased the /
Wisconsin Central, thus mourning the |
opposition of five older and stronger
Chicago lines. which for sef-protection
directed what traffic they could control
to the Union Pacific: Then it went
into extensive and expensive termin al ar
rangements in Chicago. Ia order TO head
off opposition 1t bought thecontrQf of the
Seattle. Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad
(256 miles of raid, whose deficit last year
was S467, 70I. It built a hundred miles of
costly road from Tacoma TO an impossible:
townsite on. Grays Harbor. 1t put a. line;
of steamboats, on Puget Sound which lost /
money from the. start, and are now a
heavy burden. Every one OF these VEN
lures increased the already large account
of fixed charges, plunged the company
deeper into debt and took from the profits !
of the main line more than two nillians
year TO make good the deficits. Except
in the most prosperoHs times the com pany p.
could not. stand up under the load. :. &: !:
As an instance of modern railroad fnatl-
cleriag it is interesting TO note that the to- I
tai sum Of moneg paid in by the promot-:
ers Of the enterprise was S175. COO which
is yepreserted by the equalization of
SIS. 1885,, Funds for ehe building of the
road were raised lp9n bonds. WHICH now
smannt TO $3.50, loo, o30, not Including the
lAst issue OF collateral trust notes to: the
mount Of $4,000, 900. of which So. GO0,000.
have been issued Tie refaR ader are now
to be mad at bargsib. 81: 4 Is
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