The dividends on the common shares have been as follows: 1890, 8 p.c.; 1881, 6; 1882, nil; 1883, 5; 1884, 3; 1885 and 1886, nil; 1887, 1888 and 1889, 4; 1890, 5; 1891, 5 p.c.

It is not necessary to enter into details relating to any subsidiary company except the Canada Southern. This railway lies in Canadian territory, and was chartered in 1868 and opened in 1873. Soon after the completion of its lines the company defaulted, and the debt to the Government and others was readjusted under the auspices of the New York Central. It connects with the New York Central at Suspension Bridge, and with the Michigan Central at Windsor, Ontario, opposite Detroit. The company leases several branches, and its bonds are guaranteed for twenty years by the New York Central, the board of directors of which is almost exactly the same as that of the Canada Southern. The position of the company is sufficiently shown by the following extract from the annual reports for the last two years.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS RR.

The charter for this railway, which is to the Lake Shore what the West Shore is to the New York Central, was obtained in 1881, and construction was pushed forward so energetically that it was opened in October, 1882. A fierce rate war resulted, leading to the acquisition of control by the Lake Shore and to sale in foreclosure and reorganisation in 1887. The company now has the following stock outstanding:

First preferred $5,000,000 of which Lake Shore owns $2,503,000

If

-The bonds are gradually redeemed out of a sinking fund, for which $100,000 are reserved if the net earnings exceed $900,000, and if the bonds can be bought below 102. these two events do not coincide, the sinking fund requirements lapse for that year. The preferred stock is noncumulative.

The company owns 512 miles and operates a total of 523; its line has no feeders, and runs from Buffalo to Chicago, absolutely paralleling the Lake Shore as far as Cleveland; from there it runs straight to Chicago without touching Toledo, going via Fort Wayne. The road is in fair to good condition, but of course inferior to the Lake Shore; at the same time want of rolling stock is so keenly felt that the necessity of hiring cars reduces the company's earnings to the extent of

some $400,000. A thousand new cars are now being built, and will be paid for by instalments. The passen ger traffic amounts to very little, hardly one-tenth of the earnings being derived from this source; freight increases, but is carried at such very low rates that only about 20 per cent. of the total earnings are net.

The following table shows the extent of business and its growth during the last four years:

The Balance Sheets for the last two years show the position of the company to be as follows:

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE CLEVELAND, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS RAILWAY.

Presumably no other railway system in the Central States occupies such a prominent position in local traffic as the conglomeration of lines, generally known as the 'Big Four,' which forms the Vanderbilt connection with Cincinnati, Cairo, St. Louis, Peoria, and numerous other points. Indianapolis is the focus of the system, which embraces 2,233 miles of railway, and the junction of various lines the principal among which constitute direct through connections between St. Louis and Cleveland, Cincinnati and Cleveland, Cincinnati and Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis, etc.

The following is a summary of the lines operated by the company when the last report was issued.