Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ...Railroad Manual shows that $973,000,000 of outstanding indebtedness exists on the railroads of the United States, bonded or outstanding indebtedness, most of which is for "watered stock." By the CHAIRMAN: Q. That is nearly a billion dollars 1-A. Yes, sir. Q. What is the whole amount of the property of those railroad companies 1--A. I understand it amounts to some five thousand millions. Q. Do you understand that to be its actual or its nominal value 1-A. That is the nominal value. I Now, upon this immense amount of capital the people of the country are obliged to pay from 5 to 10 per cent., and in some cases more, by way of dividends. Some favorite stocks pay more than that. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company's stock is not in the market. It is so profitable that a syndicate, a ring, holds that-stock and refuses to put it upon the market, so that it can hardly be got unless when an estate has to be closed out, and then it is immediately bought up by members of the ring. But upon all these hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars of" watered stock" the workingmen of the country--and by that I mean the fifteen million of wage-workers in the United States, not confining myself to one class of workingmen alone, but including the whole working people of the country--upon all this stock they are obliged to pay dividends. Probably one-half of all the stock of the railroads to-day is " watered " like the Western Union. "con1rsas " IN THE NEOESSARIES or LIFE. Now, how do they make us pay the dividends on this stock! They control the grain markets of the United States, and, in fact, of the world. They control the pork market, the lard market, the beef market; they control the market...