Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-07
RAILWAY RECE|v ERSH|PS
Statistics of Roads Financially
 Involved Last Year.
JACK w. JOHNSON RETURNS
The Georgia and Alabama AboIishes Its Bir- mingham 0ffice-NeW Line of Pull
 man SIeepers Established.

The Railway Age of January 3 pub fishes carefully compiled table of rail- roads in the United States that were placed in the hands of receivers during the year 1895, and also for the two pre- ceding years. The Railway Age says:
 Although 1895 was by no means a prosperous year for the railways, yet it was much less disastrous than it's two immediate predecessors, and the number of companies which were compelled to default on their obligations, as well as the mileage and capital involved, indi- cate improved financial conditions. Com pared with the terrible year, 1893, when seventy-four roads, aggregating 29,34o miles, became insolvent. involving s1,7S1 100000 of securities, the totals for 1895 appear small; and yet they repre- sent vast properties and manifold inter- ests, for even in this year of good har- vests and increased traffic thirty-one railways were placed in the hands of re- ceivers, covering 40S9 miles of road and $3690 900 of bonds and stocks.
 Two companies out Of the thirty-one contributed 53 per cent of the mileage and IT per cent of the capitalization in this list, which otherwise would not have been especially significant of present con ditions, as for most of the roads named bankruptcy has long been inevitable The failure in February of the Norfolk and Western, with nearly 1600 miles or road and almost $115,000,000 of securi- ties, was great disaster, the results or which are still undetermined, no reorgan- ization plan having been adopted. But the transfer near the close of the year into the hands of court of the New York. Pennsylvania and Ohio, with GOD miles of operated lines and the enormous capitalization of nearly $170,OO0,00O, can not be regarded as a calamity, as It was in pursuance of the long pending plan for the reorganization of the property and it's complete consolidation into the Erie railway system. This is the fourth time that the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio and its predecessor, the Allan tic and Great Western, has been placed in the hands of receivers. It IS to De hoped that it is also the last time.
 Of the other large companies in the list the St Joseph and rGand Island and its leased line, the Kansas City and Omaha, representing together 445 miles and $23, GOO of securities, were part or the Union Pacific system when It failed in 1893. but their interest obligations were met for time, and 1t was not until late in this year that separate receivers were appointed for them. Four of the roads, the Columbia and Puget Sound Seattle and Northern, Port Townsend ana Southern and Pacific Coast, aggregatlng ZIO miles, are OWHeu ny tHc oiVSoli iii' provement company, which confessed bankruptcy in October last. The Wich- ita and Western and Alma, Manhattan and Burlngame are part of the wreck age of the Atchison, Topeka and santa Fe system. The other important lines, including the Columbus, Sandusky ana Hocking Ohio Southern, HumeSton and Shenandoah and Bellaire, Zanesville and Cincinnati, were independent, legitimate enterprises whose failure cannot be charged to the falling in pieces of great systems.
 So large share of the railway compa- nieS of this country have now gone through the process of reorganization, or are awaiting 1t In the hands Of the courts that the record of new receiver ships will undoubtedly show steady an nual decrease for some years at least. About 150 roads are at present being op- erated by receivers, but the sales and reorganizations are outnumbering the failures, and the profitable occupation of managing railways taken out or the hands of their owners by the courts promises to become much less common than now.
 Tn respect to railway foreclosure sales the record of 1895 is extraordinary. In only two years in the last twenty-1S79 and 1S77---has the number of roads sold been as large. while in mileage and capi- fal involved the figures for last year are liar greater tnan tDOSe loI any o'iier wear in the history of the country. Fore closure sales represent the work of re- lbuilding the wrecked crafts and setting them afloat, free from legal entangle- Iments and generally with plenty of money on board to provide for new voyage in better circumstances. That /the year 1895 witnessed an immense clearing out of old wreckage is seen In the fact that the sales numbered fifty 1.-two, representing 12,Ss1 miles of road. $S26, 2S1, ,00O of bonded debt and $435, ,560. 900 of capital stocks, or total capitalization of almost $762. .000,000.
 The fact that in twenty years 645 roads. representing 75 757 miles Of line and near ly $4 290, GOO, 900 of capitalization, or 42 per cent of the present mileage and 40 per cent of the present railway capitali- cation of the country, have been sold out, with great sacrifice of securities, Is rather appalling to contemplate, even when 1t Is remembered that In many cases the same roads have been sold more than once and that the capitalization repre- sents numerous Implications of securi- ties There are many foreclosure sales in sight for 1896, but the number and amount will not equal those Of 1895. The elimination of two such enormous fac tors as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and Erie from the possibilities is alone a great relief to the situation, although the Union Pacific, Northern Pacific Reading and other great bankrupts are yet awaiting the auction block.
 New Mileage in the South.
 For several years past two journals, credited with being authorities on rail- roads, have published annually what purported to be the new mileage in the several states. The papers we refer to are the Railroad Gazette and Railway Age. The disparity between these re- ports has been so noticeable that the question of their accuracy has arisen In their records for 1895 they are so wide ly apart in their calculations as to lead the reader to wonder if either is right. For purposes of comparison the Manu- faeturers' Record publishes the estimates of new mileage in the south as follows
 Railroad Railway
 Gazette. Age Alabama ........ ............ 225 53.i. ArkanSuS ..s'.''.s. % I'lorida ,...... ..... ......... 3S5 H.7; Georgia .... ....... ..,...,.... 677 S1.7i