San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-12-12

We are only now getting at a
few of the facts in connection with
Atchison, which sets down as as
sets tie "cost of franchises and
property" some forty or fifty mil
lions Of which represents discounts
on bonds and commissions to in
siders. Innocent people, who were
led to buy its securities through
President Remnants false reports,
overStating the income Of the road
by millions Of dollars, are in pen
ury, while Mr.. Reinhart and his as
sociates are not in Jail, but living
in luxury. Take Heading, Presi-
dent Mcleod, who borrowed three
millions and paid it out in "divid.
ends" on the income bonds only a
few days before the bankruptcy of
the company was revealed, and
securities in which the money of
widows and orphans had been in
vested turned out almost worth
less. President Mcleod, who spec
ulated with the resources Of the
company-where is he? Innocent
sufferers by the smash are strugg.
ling for bread, but Mr.. Mcleod is
gentleman Of leisure, reputed
millionaire, who occasionally crops
out in rumors at the prospective
president of another corporation.
Look at Northern Pacific, in
ruins, with a reorganization COM
mittee cropping in the debris for
scraps Of value. Thousands who
trustingly put their money into
property under Mr.. Henry Wizards
management are in beggary today,
but the arch conspirator, although
his shoulders were still smoking
from the branding iron applied by
Brayton Ives, retired unmolested
to Europe, and has been travelling
with the retinue of prince, while
those who were associated with
him are undisturbedly pursuing
their careers on this side Of the
Atlantic. Why is Erie a wreck
today? Because it never re-
covered from the robberies of the
Drew-Fisk-Gould era, and has since
been staggering along under the
burdens with which it was then
saddled, and only occasionally
making bluff at temporary SOL
vency. Why is the Union Pacific,
built with government money and
endowed with the landed area of a
principality, hopeless heap of
today? Read the history
of how Jay Gould made millions
out of it at single coup by the
Kansas Pacific deal, survey the list
of suckers, not feeders" which
were paid for out of the company's
resources under that regime and
we come back at the same ominous
word with which we started.
1t is true that the country can
scarcely be prosperous as whole
while It's greatest industry-the
transportation interests unprOs-
porous, and it is true that railways
should be permitted to earn fair
return on the capital invested, but
1T is the sheerest rubbish to attrib-
ute the prCstratiOn Of that industry
to legislative restrictions in view of
such facts as are above cited. Rail-
ways that have been honestly man.
aged are not in the hands Of re.
ceiVers. The Vanderbilt lines con-
tinue to pay dividends despite the
hard times. So, among western
properties, the shares of a road !
like the Chicago and Alton COM
mand an enormous premium over
their face value. If there are rot |
conspicuous instances
among the roads in the South it is
because they have ballooned and
issued scrip dividends OF 100 per
cent in good times or have been
like the Georgia Central, which |
stood so high for generation
captured by speculative cliques |
and "watered" to suit their pur-
poses.
1t may be that we need some
amendments to the Interstate
Commerce law, but we also need to
jreat the men who rob railways as
We do those who rob individuals,
Ind put them in jail. What is
needed to make "American rails"
/ safe investment and to restore
in them at home, as
veil as abroad, is honesty on the
,art of those who operate them and
boards OF real directors, not illus
rious figure heads. When we con-
'ince the foreign investor that we
rave entered upon a new era in
management we shall
gain become exporters of securi-
les, as we used to be, and instead
# scraping together gold for ship
nent to Europe the pactolean 7