New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-19
THREE RAILROAD DEFIJLIS.

Three railroad, have gone into the hands OF
receivers this year, having aggregate Liabilities
of about $3.50. 100000. Their stocks ana
handed debts aggregate about 500 600,
hut the aggregate stocks and bonds OF all the
railroads which dcfaultcd in any one of the
wears ls72-1s75. inclusive were about $50
0OO 900 in the year 1874 The capital STOCKS
Of the Ere. Reading and Northern Pacllic az
grcgatc S2l1 35s.212, but the stocks OF all
railroads which defaultcd III 1874 amounted 10
ONLY Sl9s.G596s2. The bonds OF the three
great railroads. not including car trusts or con-
tingcnt obligations land mortgages and the
like. certainly exceed by about S46,O0O,Voo
the bonds of all the companies which dctaul'cu
in 1874, that amount being 2Sl,39oS-?.
Including Obligations not properly known is
floating debts, the three great companies o"ed
S3s4.3OO. 900, or SOB ,000,00 more than the
total bonded debt of all the railroads when
dcfaulted in 1874 What the floating debt OF
the three great companies now is the various
receivers would Ike t. discover. The aggrc-
gate j. varously stated from 5000, 900 to
so OOO. 600. which would make the aggrc-
cate of stock and Indebtedness of which there
was record some months ago ut least S632.
OOO. 600 for the three companies. 1t may be
presumed that the disclosures made by rccciV-
crS and the operations Of the last year VIII
raise the aggregate To about 5000, OOO.O 900,
which compare, with about S4s0,O0o.OOO for
all the railroads that dcfaued III 1874.
There have been other railroad defaults dur
inc thi, wear besides the three mentioned. ana
several of them nave been of some lmpor-
lance, but no account OF these Is needed To
show that. in this particular. the disasters al
1898 have already surpassed within lew
months those which occurred IN any entire
wear between 1871 and 1876. The fruits al
4 change" have this year been more serious
already than those Of the most extensive iinan-
cial reverse the country has ever seen. Nor is
this surprising when II Is remembered that
the immediate cause of disaster this year. alike
TO railroads and to bankers, was the profound
,listru>t with which foreign investors came u
regard the financial future of this country after
il was known that the party OF cheap money
and Free Trade had prevailed. Sales of stock
On foreign account speedily raised the exports
of cold f. more than SIS 900, 900 in the month
Of April and the outgo of the precious metal
soon forced contraction of loans and credits,
and produced alarm among American holders
of securities and dcpO>ltorS IN banks The be-
ginning of evil was the conviction that the
policies which had made this country mar
ycllollsly prosperous for thirty Years were to
be abandoned.
The financial miSfortuneS of great railroads
do not usually change materially the condition
Of large bodies OF working people. The rail
road, continue to run. whether bankrupt or
r. ,I,, find
labor and (, draw wages. even though their
wage, may be reduced. But If manufacturing
establishments having SGjO,O00 600 invested
should become lnSolyent, vast army OF work
crs would be thrown entirely out of employ
mcnt Probably there Is no other investment
Of capital Of like amount which could be thus
thrown into the charge of receivers without
producing vastly greater disorder OF industry
than that which has followed the default OF
the three railroads. \ few hundred men, at
most, ceased work because OF the ml>fOrtuncS
of the Reading and the Erie. \ far greater
number have been thrown out of employ mcnt
by the failure of single manufacturing cstab
lishmcnts having not more than l,OOO,OO
capital.
Hence it i that the public rightly consider
tnc lHuuStlIdl mi>IDlHHtN HipIt
impouInt than these Of the great transporting
But the same threatened change |
OF National policy has also brought about in
dustral disasters III great number, and thrown |
out of employ ment Il vast army OF workers. |
II is stated that 93. 600 looms and 1900 900 |
,pndcs are now idle in New England alone,
and that 100, 900 hands have thus been de- |
privcd of their means of support. Such a |
change rs this is not to be regarded with in
difference by men of either party.