The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-08-09
EARNINGS OF THE suez CANA,
AN Average Divident of Over IL Per Cent
to the shareholders.

an average Divident OF Over IL Per Cent
to the Shareholders
Annually there comes To tho M
tlce ~ the public the fact that the
oueZ canal is earning an immense
mount OF money, and the com.
panYs report for 1893 is now befo.e
the public. The profits which the
shareholders of this corporation are
making were last year as large A.,
usual, says the Providence Journal.
and they again present, to Ameri.
cans especially, the strongest argu.
ment that perhaps will ever lie
o1ered for the revival Of the Cen.
tral American venture. The diyi.
dends paid by the Suez corporation
Tor the last four years have been
1890, IL per cent: 1891, q Der cent:
1892, lS per cent 1893, IS Der cent.
rms was on a capitalization of 1877.
i25, 900 francs, at 500 francs a share.
inclusive of a reservation OF 5 per
cent interest or the 1854, $50 shares.
WIN this D per cent. interest the
yearly payments are made on the
company's redeemable obligations.
the total amount of which was origi.
nally 202, 764, l79 francs. Reduced
10 our own currency terms these
figures show that the canal cost in
round figures the sum of $50, 900, 900,
or which the shareholders contrib
uted One-half, at 500 a share. This
investment is now returning any.
where from $21 a share, as in 1891,
TO ST., in 1890. The company's
exact revenue in 1893 was Is, SIS. 992
francs. The expense amounted to
80, 964. 445 francs, or a little less than
Se, OOO, 600. This is equal to a dIvl-
demo of y francs per share, or with
the D per cent. interest on the share,
~ francs. The shares in our money
thus netted their owners about $l4
each, or with the bond reservation,
sls. No objection!can be made to
calling the figure the real net,
since it represents the gradual wip.
ing out of the company's bonded OBJ
legations, a process which is steadily
going on. II these obligations were
paid oil as soon as possible, or when
convenience permitted, the share
holders might still receive over 10
per cent. and $40 per share, and yet
pay off the Indebtedness in twenty
five years.
The practical question in applying
this lesson OF SucZ, as we may call it,,
to the Central American project, is
whether the shipping business Of the
eastern waterway is at all analogous
and similar to the business which
would be done at Panama or in Mic.
aragua. Is Sucz in a position which
oilers it a chance of larger usefulness
to patrons than a channel across
Central America would provide? The
man who would say that it is would
risk any reputation ne might have as
an economist Of stable caliber in
the same way the f1nancier who does
not appreciate the value of the pro-
posed route from the Atlantic to the
Pacific is risking his good name as a
Spectator and capitalist. How the
English to-day laugh at the fore
sight of the late khedive OF Egypt
for selling his shares in the Suez
Canal in 1875 for $40, 600, 600. The
same shares are worth $50, 900. 0G0
to-day. Yet the German. Paris, and
other bourses Of Europe, together
with the most farseeing bankers in
the world, permitted Disraeli, a man
who was not a tiIancier as VIC Ordi-
narily understand the word, to buy
up these shares. The future will
bring ridicule upon United States
capitalists and flnanciers if they per-
nit any one else to build the Pan.
anna or Nicaragua Canal and W it.
Every year shows how much n or
the other OF these routes is demanded
by commerce. The new movement
is the requirement and development
of the Australian world, with the
utilization of the Pacific islands as
coaling stations and depots, Is at this
very moment increasing the pros
pective and potential value of the
work enormously.