BANCROFT LIBRAFY 
 
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 Southern Pacific Railroad Company (of California) 
 First Consolidated Mortgage Gold Bonds. 
 
 The Southern Pacific Railroad bonds, now offered on European 
 markets under the above name made their appearance in New York, 
 in the summer of 1893. On September 23rd of that year, the San 
 Francisco "Examiner" published an exposition of their character 
 and security, prepared by me, which was followed by their withdrawal 
 from the market. In the Autumn of 1898 a contract, supplemental 
 to the original mortgage and patching some of its defects, was put on 
 record in California, and the bonds were offered for sale in Europe. 
 A further examination of them as affected by that supplemental con- 
 tract was published in the Examiner of December 23rd, 1898. The 
 length of these papers, and the fact that without description of the 
 topography of the country traversed by the lines in question they 
 might not be readily understood out of California, has led me to recast 
 the matter of these two reports, condensing them in places, and adding 
 the topographical information referred to. 
 
 The name above displayed by which these bonds are designated is 
 misleading. The word FIRST is liable to cause people to believe that 
 the mortgage securing them is a first mortgage on the whole Southern 
 Pacific railroad, or at least on the main road. Such is not the fact. 
 It is only a first mortgage on fragments or sections of the road, most 
 of which are short and quite unimportant. The other parts of it are 
 subject to prior incumbrances of over thirty million dollars, as will 
 appear below. 
 
 The Company's charter, which is the result of numerous consoli- 
 dations of other roads, contemplates the construction of three lines of 
 railroad between the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, across 
 the Coast Range of mountains, and two between the latter city and 
 the Colorado River, which is the eastern boundary of the State. 
 These may be briefly described as follows: 
 
 A main stem from San Francisco, southwardly, 83 miles, to 
 Carnadero Junction, where the proposed routes to Los Angeles first 
 diverge from one another, and from which place they run as follows: 
 
 First. From Carnadero Junction via Hollister, Tres Pinos, San 
 Benito, and so across the Coast Range of mountains, by the Panoche 
 Pass (elevation 2,120 feet) to Alcalde, on Los Gatos Creek, in the San 
 Joaquin Valley; and thence, via Goshen and Bakersfield and across 
 the Tehachapi mountains to Mojave, and thence southwardly to 
 Los Angeles. 
 
 This line is all built except the mountain gap between Tres Pinos and 
 Alcalde, (68 miles, in an air line, but winding as it must over a moun- 
 tain pass, of unknown length). 
 
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Second. Also from Carnadero Junction, via Pajaro, Castroville, 
 Salinas and San Miguel, and thence across the Coast Range by the 
 Polonio Pass (elevation 1,734 feet) to Poso or thereabouts (say 90 miles 
 in an air line, but winding as it must, over the Pass, of unknown length.) 
 
 This has been built from Carnadero to San Miguel, at the foot of 
 the Pass, but at that point, recoiling from the ascent it turns towards 
 the west, and runs to Surf, on the Ocean shore. The gap across the 
 mountain pass (also unbuilt) is about 170 miles. 
 
 Third. From Surf a line has been projected substantially follow- 
 ing the shore line to Santa Barbara, whence there is a road to Los 
 Angeles, making the third projected line to that city; not one of which 
 is completed, for, in this instance, as in the other two, the mountain 
 chain interposes between the two members of the road, leaving a gap 
 of unknown length, to close which will require to either build across 
 or tunnel through the mountain. It is said that the Company has 
 spent considerable sums in making tunnels here, but the place is re- 
 mote and little frequented and I have not been able to learn what 
 work has been done, how much remains to be done, or whether it is 
 being prosecuted or has been, as some say, abandoned. 
 
 As to the character of the country through which these three routes 
 are laid out. The main stem from San Francisco to Carnadero 
 Junction traverses the rich and fertile Santa Clara Valley. At Car- 
 nadero begins the ascent of the Panoche Pass, and the train by the 
 time it reaches Hollister (12 miles) has attained an elevation of 284 
 feet, above sea level. The next six miles carry it to Tres Pinos (eleva- 
 tion 514 feet), and there it stops, in the heart of the mountains, at one 
 fourth of the elevation needed to cross them. 
 
 The other branch, to avoid the mountain pass turns first to the 
 west, and then to the south, following the Salinas Valley, gradually 
 ascending till it reaches San Miguel, where a height of 616 feet is 
 attained. This portion of the route extends through the very narrow 
 valley of the Salinas River, the business of which can scarce be expect- 
 ed to pay more than running expenses, if so much. As far as Salinas 
 (34 miles) it is used by the Monterey trains, which pass twice daily 
 each way. But between Salinas and San Miguel, one daily slow (18 
 miles an hour) passenger train suffices. Between San Miguel and 
 Surf the road overcomes a summit of 996 feet, and then descends to 
 the sea level in the last 67 miles of its course. Over this portion of 
 the road, trains are advertised to run three times per week, each way. 
 It will be seen that the prospect of lucrative traffic over the 215 miles 
 of the coast line road, lying south of Salinas (more than two-thirds of 
 the whole) are scant, or Nil. 
 
 All of this road south of San Miguel was commenced by a company 
 called the Southern Pacific Branch Railway Company, which issued a 
 large amount of bonds on it, whereof $3,578,000 were still outstanding 
 at last report. 
 
 THE LINES EAST OF THE COAST RANGE. 
 
 The lines between Los Angeles and the Colorado River are made 
 up of, First: a road from Mojave across the desert, 242 miles to the 
 river, at a point called the Needles; and, second, one from Los Angeles 
 eastward via Colton to the same stream at Fort Yuma. 
 
 It will be inferred from the above that no one of the three routes 
 described between the two cities is continuous, between its declared 
 termini; and such is indeed the fact. The property consists of three 
 connected roads on the west side of the Coast Range of mountains, and 
 
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 two separate ones of the east side of the same chain, between which no 
 connection has been built.* 
 
 Now as to the mortgages and the companies' bonds now offered for 
 sale. 
 
 The Southern Pacific Railroad Company's first mortgage is dated 
 April 1st, 1875, and covers property of which the following is an 
 abbreviated description : 
 
 The railroad and telegraph line, running from San Francisco in a 
 southerly and southeasterly direction via Carnadero junction, Salinas 
 valley and Polonio pass to the Colorado River at or near the Needles. 
 Also, from Carnadero junction to San Benito. \ Also, from Los Gatos 
 creek, via Goshen, to the junction with the first mentioned line, some- 
 where between Poso creek and Kern river. Also, from the junction 
 near Tehachapi, via Los Angeles, to the Texas Pacific road at Fort 
 Yuma. Also, from Los Angeles to Wilmington on San Pedro bay 
 aggregating 1,150 miles. 
 
 This mortgage was made largely in advance of construction, and 
 it is assumed to attach to, and become a lien on the road, as fast as 
 constructed, so far as the location of the latter comes within the gen- 
 eral words of description in the mortgage. The road having been 
 built from San Francisco, via Carnadero junction, to Tres Pinos (27 
 miles short of San Benito), and from Carnadero junction to San 
 Miguel, the mortgage becomes a lien on that much of the road, being 
 the northerly 224 miles of the part west of the Coast Range. And 
 should the gap between Hollister and Alcalde be closed by this com- 
 pany (which is quite improbable) the first section of it viz.: from 
 Tres Pinos to San Benito will also become subject to the same lien. 
 
 The road is also built from Alcalde to Goshen (61 miles); thence, 
 via Poso and Bakersfield, to Mojave (141 miles), and from that place 
 both to the Needles direct, and, via Los Angeles, to Yuma (356 miles), 
 and from Los Angeles to Wilmington (20 miles more). These make 
 an aggregate east and west of the Coast Range of 802 miles, besides 
 the 242 between Mojave and the Needles, which are sold to another 
 company. On these portions of the road, aggregating 802 miles, the 
 mortgage of 1875 is also a first lien. 
 
 According to the latest report of the company giving such particu- 
 lars, there was due on this first mortgage $30,577,500, a sum far 
 beyond the value of the property mortgaged. It is manifest that a 
 second mortgage on the same property is of no value as security for a 
 loan. 
 
 The mortgage of 1893 is such second mortgage on the greater part 
 of the route. It includes the same premises as those described in that 
 of 1875, except the road from Mojave to the Needles, under the fol- 
 lowing description (also abbreviated) : BflDCToft Library 
 
 * A reader unacquainted with Southern Pacific ways may perhaps wonder on 
 reading this statement how the journey between San Francisco and Los Angeles is 
 made by rail, as described in advertisements and guide books. The answer is that it 
 is not made, over any of these routes, west of the Coast Range, but over another 
 route, owned, controlled and managed by the same parties. The last mentioned 
 route runs around the bay shore via San Pablo, Martinez, Lathrop, and so up the 
 San Joaquin Valley to Goshen, Bakersfield, Tehachapi and Los Angeles. No one of 
 the three lines described west of the Coast Eange mountains and south of Carnadero 
 Junction has an earning capacity sufficient to pay more than running expenses, if 
 that much. Yet they are expected to carry a mortgage of $30,000 per mile ! 
 
 t San Benito is on the projected line across the Panoche Pass. 
 
From San Francisco, via San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Benito, 
 Monterey, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern, to Mojave. 
 
 Also from near Tehachapi, via Los Angeles to the Colorado River, 
 at Yuma, 356 miles. 
 
 Also from Gilroy to Salinas City, 33-1/2 miles. Also from Salinas 
 City to a point in Kern County, south of Tulare Lake, intersecting 
 the San Joaquin division of the Southern Pacific Road (200 miles) and 
 
 Also from Los Angeles to San Pedro, 24 miles. 
 
 It will be observed that this description excludes the road between 
 Mojave and the Needles, and includes so much of the unbuilt road 
 across the Panoche Pass as lies between San Benito and Alcalde, and 
 the four miles of road between Wilmington and San Pedro. With 
 these unimportant exceptions, the two mortgages cover the same 
 premises, and that of 1875 has priority, and preference. 
 
 But besides being a second mortgage on the roads above described, 
 the instrument under examination includes the following roads, and 
 parts of roads (disjecta membra) scattered up and down the State, for 
 the location of which I must refer the reader to the best map that he 
 can obtain, as detailed description would occupy too much space. I 
 add to the name of each town mentioned its population, if given in 
 the last census, and to each road named, mention of the extent to 
 which it is built or otherwise. 
 
 2. Hillsdale to New Almaden, 7 miles (built). 
 
 3. Pajaro to Santa Cruz (population 5,496), Aptos and head of 
 Aptos Creek, 27 miles (built). 
 
 4. San Miguel (population 458) to the Southern Pacific Railroad 
 near Saugus, 250 miles; this has been built and operated as far as 
 Surf, 97 miles. It is also built from Saugus westward to Santa Bar- 
 bara, 78 miles, between which and Elwood there is a narrow-guage 
 road. This road however is subject to a prior mortgage made by the 
 branch company that built it, on which $3,578,000 were due, according 
 to the latest report of the company which imparts such details. 
 
 5. Castroville (population 641) to Monterey (population 1,662), 
 Pacific Grove (population 1,336), etc., 16 miles (built). 
 
 6. Martinez (population 1,600) to Tracy, and thence to S. P. road 
 near Pampa (260 miles,). It is built to Goshen, 149 miles. 
 
 7. Avon to Pleasanton, 25 miles. (It is built to San Ramon), 20 
 miles. 
 
 8. Stockton (population 14,424) to Milton, 25 miles (built), thence 
 to Big Trees and Altaville, 80 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 9. Peters to Poso, 218 miles, with branch to Modesto, 16 miles 
 more; built to Merced (population 2,000), 59 miles, remainder unbuilt. 
 Branches projected to Sycamore, Fresno and Tulare (all unbuilt). 
 
 10. Berenda to Perry's Ranch, 25 miles, built to Raymond (21 
 miles), rest unbuilt. 
 
 11. Los Angeles to San Diego (with branches), estimated 140 
 miles. This road belongs to the Southern California Railroad Com- 
 pany, as shown in the railroad commissioners' map of the State. 
 
 12. Los Angeles (population 50,395) to Santa Monica (population 
 1,580), 18 miles (built). 
 
 13. Southern Pacific Junction to Point Firmin, 5 miles (built). 
 
 14. Long Beach (population 564) to Whittier (population 525), 
 Ramona, etc., 60 miles." (About 15 miles built that might come 
 within the description; rest unbuilt.) 
 
 15. Long Beach, easterly 4 miles (unbuilt). 
 
16. Ramona to Crafton, 71 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 17. San Francisco to San Bruno, 11 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 18. Kings City to Lewis Creek, 15 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 19. Paso Robles to Carissa Plains, 56 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 20. San Luis Obispo to Santa Ynez Mission, 35 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 21. Santa Ynez River to Lompoc and S. Y. Mission, 35 miles 
 (unbuilt). 
 
 22. San Buenaventura to Los Angeles. (Built from Los Angeles 
 to Chattsworth, 30 miles; rest unbuilt.) 
 
 23. Santa Monica to Wharf, 3 miles (built). 
 
 24. Ontario to Elsinore, 41 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 25. San Bernardino to Riverside, 28 miles (belongs to another 
 company). 
 
 26. Declezville to Declez, 3 miles (built). 
 
 27. Redlands to Yucaipa Valley, 15 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 28. San Bernardino to Motor Junction, 8 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 29. Collis to Fresno, 16 miles (built). 
 
 30. Mendota to Lokern, 100 miles (built from Collis to Armona, 
 26 miles). 
 
 31. Lokern to Rio Bravo, 16 miles (built). 
 
 32. Stevens to Bakersfield, 15 miles (built). 
 
 33. Lokern to Asphalto, 10 miles (built). 
 
 Whether these last three are subject to the first mortgage, queref 
 
 34. Stevens to Pampa, 56 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 35. Fresno to headwaters San Joaquin river, 75 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 36. Montpelier to Yosemite Valley, 92 miles (unbuilt). 
 
 37. Such other or further branch roads as the company may pur- 
 chase or acquire. These are practically in the moon. This is perhaps 
 the earliest attempt to mortgage property not yet defined even in the 
 mind of the mortgagor. But it is quite natural, as these parties would 
 not have a road without a mortgage on it of $30,000 per mile. 
 
 With these facts before him, the reader will recognize that the 
 mortgage of 1875 being a first lien on the existing road from San 
 Francisco via Carnadero junction to Tres Pinos and San Miguel, on 
 the west side of the Coast range, as well as from Alcalde to Goshen, 
 and thence to the Colorado River both at the Needles and Fort Yuma, 
 and the short road from Los Angeles to Wilmington, and there being 
 more than thirty million dollars due on it, a second mortgage, such 
 as this of 1893, on the same property, affords no security to the 
 holders of bonds under it. 
 
 The road from San Miguel via Surf, and Santa Barbara to Los 
 Angeles, was commenced by another company (now consolidated with 
 the Southern Pacific), and its first owners made a mortgage on it, which 
 also takes precedence of that of the Southern Pacific's of 1893. The 
 amount reported due on this encumbrance is $3,578,000. Hence this 
 portion of the road affords no security to the present mortgage. There 
 is also the consolidated mortgage of 1888 on the whole of the prop- 
 erty, on which is due, per latest report, $524,000. 
 
 A portion of the road running out of Stockton to Milton, etc., was 
 built by the Stockton and Copperopolis Company, and stands mort- 
 gaged by that company for $500,000, which is also a prior lien to the 
 mortgage under consideration. The company's mortgage of 1888 
 (one of those which that of 1893 is designed to replace) recites among 
 other things the existence of the following mortgages, viz: 
 
On the Pajaro and Santa Cruz road, on which was due. . . .$ 530,000 
 
 " " Monterey road 220,000 
 
 " " Los Angeles and San Diego 556,000 
 
 " " San Pablo and Tulare 1,023,000 
 
 and the intention of the company to retire the same and cause these 
 mortgages to be satisfied, and also to retire and cancel certain unissued 
 bonds, viz: 
 
 Of the Los Angeles and San Diego road for $2,224,000 
 
 San Pablo and Tulare 2,727,000 
 
 and cause those mortgages to be satisfied; and, as soon as can be done on 
 satisfactory terms, to arrange for the redemption of the mortgage bonds 
 issued by the S. P. Branch Railway Company, and when arrangements 
 have been made for the redemption of all thereof, to cause the same to be 
 canceled, and that mortgage to be satisfied of record. 
 
 I do not know whether any of these good intentions have been ful- 
 filled (all of them certainly have not), but persons proposing to pur- 
 chase the issue now offered for sale would do well to inform themselves 
 on the question. Even if they all have, the liens admitted in the 
 company's report above referred to, as prior to the mortgage of 1893, 
 on the property affected by them, as above, amount to $35,179,500. 
 The portions of roads designated in the above enumeration by the 
 numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14 are included in the 
 $38,000,000 mortgage of 1888, while that designated by the number 8 
 is in the Stockton and Copperopolis mortgage, so that the only roads 
 on which this instrument of 1893 can be a first mortgage are, Peters 
 to Oakdale (17 miles), part of No. 9; Los Angeles to Chatsworth Park 
 (30 miles), part of No. 22; Santa Monica to the wharf (2 miles), part 
 of No. 23; No. 9; Declez to Declezville (3 miles); Collis to Armona 
 
 (26 miles), part of No. 30; Long Beach to (15 miles), part of 
 
 No. 14, and Bakersfield to Asphalto (41 miles), comprising the three 
 Nos. 31, 32 and 33. These make, in all, 134 miles of road on which 
 the mortgage is a first lien, and on the strength of this fact the bonds, 
 amounting now to over nineteen million dollars, are offered for sale 
 as " FIRST consolidated mortgage gold bonds"! 
 
 Only one of these has a continuous length of over forty miles, 
 while the other six average but 15^ miles each, and are disconnected 
 with one another. Profit from them (should they be bought by the 
 bondholders, at foreclosure sale) is obviously out of the question; 
 scattered as they are, they would require seven different equipments 
 (cars, locomotives, etc.), as many sets of train hands, conductors and 
 local superintendents, and other separate employees. Only one of 
 them reaches a place of considerable importance; the other places 
 named appear too insignificant to be noticed in the census. 
 
 The aggregate of bonds already issued under this precious " first 
 consolidated gold mortgage of 1893 " is, according to the latest report 
 of the company, which gives such trifling details, $19,669,000 (vide 
 report of S. P. Company for the year ending June, 1897, page 65), 
 and this for roads, without terminals or equipment, and only capable 
 of use as feeders to the Southern Pacific road! 
 
 After what has been said it seems scarce necessary to pursue 
 further an enquiry as to the value of these bonds. But as the parties 
 have attempted to make them attractive by the new contract above 
 mentioned between the mortgagors, the mortgagees and the Southern 
 Pacific Company of Kentucky, lessees of the roads, dated August 18th, 
 1898, it becomes necessary to examine them in the light of that 
 
instrument, with the following results. This supplemental contract 
 of August, 1898, does indeed remedy one gross defect in the mortgage 
 of 1893, which I formerly pointed out, but it discloses and emphasises 
 others of nearly equal importance and fatal to the bonds under con- 
 sideration. Two of these may be briefly explained as follows: 
 
 1. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company of California, whose 
 " first consolidated mortgage gold bonds " are now offered for sale, is 
 not the present company of that name, but one which was formed in 
 May, 1888, by the consolidation of eighteen different companies, 
 formerly existing, each of which was swallowed up by it, in that con- 
 solidation, just as it was in turn swallowed up on the 12th of April, 
 1898, when, by articles of that date, it was consolidated with the 
 Northern Railway Company, the Northern California Railway Com- 
 pany, and the California Pacific Railroad Company. These consoli- 
 dations are permitted by our law, but its provisions on the subject are 
 only general, permitting consolidation of assets, stock property, etc., 
 without any provisions for details. It is recognized, and the supple- 
 mental contract proceeds directly on the assumption that the several 
 companies entering into the consolidation thereby pass out of existence, 
 and that a new corporation is created by it, which succeeds to the 
 property, rights, and duties of the several constituent companies*- 
 
 This being so, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, created by 
 the consolidation of May, 1888, succeeded thereby to the responsibili- 
 ties and rights of each one of the eighteen companies which were 
 absorbed in it, and similarly the present company of the same name 
 has succeeded to its rights as well as to those of the three other com- 
 panies which entered into consolidation with it in April, 1898. Now 
 several, if not all, of these various constituent companies had made 
 large mortgages on their separate roads, to secure an issue of bonds, 
 and these bonds they had the right to issue and sell, up to the gross 
 amount expressed in the respective mortgages. In like manner the 
 Southern Pacific R. R. Company, of May, 1888, itself made a mortgage 
 for $38,000,000 on all the same roads on which some $13,000,000 or 
 so only were issued, leaving about $25,000,000 still issuable. All 
 these various mortgages were and are prior in time and in right to 
 that of 1893, and, if the power to issue bonds under them still contin- 
 ues in the existing Southern Pacific R. R. Company, the bonds so 
 issued will become a prior lien to those issued under this mortgage of 
 1803: a result to be contemplated by the confiding public who are 
 invited to buy them in Berlin or Frankfort-on-the-Main at a little 
 above par. Strange to say, this monstrous power to destroy the value 
 of the bonds offered for sale, by the issue of others which will take 
 precedence of them, is not only claimed by the Southern Pacific R. R. 
 Company, but the claim is put forward in this very supplemental 
 contract, and assented to, by acceptance, by the New York Central 
 Trust Company, as trustee for the bondholders; so that when done 
 it can be claimed to have been done with the assent of the latter 
 through their trustee and representative! This result is attained 
 under the covenant marked D in the paper I have designated as a 
 supplemental contract, which expressly provides that the Southern 
 Pacific Railroad Company covenants that it will not increase its 
 mortgage indebtedness under any of the mortgages of the Northern Rail- 
 way Company or the California Pacific Railroad Company. This cov- 
 enant is a clear and explicit claim of the right and power to continue 
 to issue further bonds under the mortgages of the companies named, 
 
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 which right and power it agrees not to exercise. Acceptance by the 
 mortgagee of this covenant not to exercise the right is a clear admis- 
 sion by the latter of its existence, just as explicit as the payment of a 
 debt is an admission of indebtedness and liability to pay. Now the 
 right to continue to issue bonds of any one of these constituent com- 
 panies, can only exist by virtue of the consolidation, and if it exists as 
 to one company, it must exist as to all! There remains then the 
 power to complete the issue of the forty-six millions contemplated by 
 the first mortage of April 1st, 1875, the thirty-eight millions provided 
 for by that of 1888, the unknown millions of the Southern Pacific 
 Branch Railway Company, to say nothing of the unissued bonds of 
 the San Pablo and Tnlare Company, the San Pablo and Tulare Ex- 
 tension Company, and any other constituent companies of the present 
 S. P. R. R. Co.! 
 
 Let it not be supposed that I am putting on this instrument any 
 construction not designed by the authors. The claim of authority by 
 the present company to continue to issue bonds under the mortgages 
 of companies, which ceased to exist by the same act that called it into 
 existence, is made throughout the document, and in the most distinct 
 and explicit manner. Ex. gr. under the letter A. The company cov- 
 enants for a limitation of its further issues under the Southern Pacific 
 mortgage of 1893, so that the total issue of bonds under it to be made 
 for the purpose of replacing (dollar for dollar) the earlier mortgages 
 of the S. P. R. R. Co. and the S. P. Branch Railway Company, etc., 
 shall not exceed $30,000,000,* and there are others of similar import 
 under the heads E and F. 
 
 2. As a railroad, without an equipment of locomotives, cars, etc., 
 is incapable of use, the absence of a valid mortgage on the rolling stock 
 of the road is a fatal objection to these bonds. The mortgage indeed 
 purports to include the rolling stock, equipment and machinery 
 (present or hereafter acquired), but the law of California requires 
 mortgages of personal property to be recorded in the county, a require- 
 ment which imports the necessity of description of the property 
 sufficient for identification. No description whatever of the rolling 
 stock of this road is contained in the mortgage, nor is it even alleged 
 that it owns any, and the letters S. P. generally inscribed on the loco- 
 motives, cars, etc., in use, may stand for any one of the four companies 
 with those initials. The supplemental contract attempts to overcome 
 this objection by a covenant to keep a list of the mortgaged rolling 
 stock on file in the office of the Central Trust Company in New York; 
 but this covenant, even if fulfilled, is ineffectual as a compliance with 
 the legal requirements to record. 
 
 It seems needless to go further in the examination of these bonds, 
 though much remains unsaid. It appears to me that the objections 
 to them suggested by the most ordinary prudence are quite insuper- 
 able. 
 
 JOHN T. DOYLE. 
 
 * Just here is presented a curious arithmetical difficulty which the reader will 
 solve for himself. The aggregate of these old bonds outstanding is over $36,000,000. 
 They are to be replaced by and issue of the present bonds, "dollar for dollar," and 
 yet the amount of the latter to be issued for the purpose is limited to $30,000,000! 
 How this miracle of linance is to be effected we are not told; yet unless taken up and 
 discharged they remain a prior lien on the property affected.