THE ST. LOUIS SOUTH-WESTERN RY.

The lines of this system run from Bird's Point, Mo., to Texarkana, Fort Worth, and many other points in Texas and Arkansas, notably to stations of the Texas and Pacific; of this last system the St. Louis and Southwestern may be regarded as supplementary. The present company is a reorganisation of the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas, which was sold in foreclosure in 1890, after having gone through the same ordeal in 1885. To comply with the laws of Texas the corporation is divided into three parts, named respectively the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co., the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. of Texas, and the Tyler Southeastern Railway Co.; for all practical purposes, however, these three corporations are one. The last named operates the narrow gauge branch from Tyler to Lutkin, the Texas corporation the lines in Texas, and the St. L. & S. W. all other roads. The total mileage is 1,222 miles.

The following figures for the years ending December 30th, 1891, and June, 1892, have been published:

The capitalisation of the company now consists of $16,509,000 common stock, $20,000,000 preferred, $20,000,000, first mortgage bonds (6 p.c. gold), $8,000,000 ($10,000,000 authorised) 5 p.c. non-cumulative second mortgage incomes, and $577,497 car trusts. These securities are proportionately distributed over the three component corporations and replaced the old securities under the provisions of the reorganisation.

THE INTERNATIONAL AND GREAT NORTHERN RR.

The International Railroad, amalgamated in 1873 with the Houston and Great Northern, was the predecessor of the present corporation, which extended its lines to Austin in 1876. In 1878 the road went into the hands of a receiver, and in 1881 it was purchased by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, (q. v.) which gave two of its own shares in exchange for one of this corporation. When the M. K. T. was leased to the Missouri Pacific the road became part of Gould's Southwestern, and after the dissolution of that system the control of the road reverted to the M. K. T. This company, however, sold half its interest to the Missouri Pacific in 1891, and the other half in May, 1892, so that now the G. N. is entirely controlled by the Missouri Pacific, which owns all its stock. This sale was connected with the default and reorganisation of the Great Northern, and with litigation between the M. K. T. and Mo. Pac., caused by that and other events; the sale of stock, however, settled all disputes. Under the reorganisation 1 the (the Mo. Pac.) shareholders

1 The plan provided that the first mortgage should remain as it was, principal and interest, and receive for arrears of interest and interest on the interest to November, 1891, one-half cash and one-half funded interest bonds, secured by first mortgage coupons drawing 5 per cent. interest and payable one-sixth each year. The second mortgage bondholders received third mortgage thirty-year 4 per cent. bonds, with foreclosure penalties and rights after six years, for interest accrued and not paid u to Sept. 1, 1891, inclusive. The first mortgage bondholders received the coupons payable in May. 1892, in cash, and the second mortgage holders one-half of the September coupons and all of the March coupons of 1891 in cash. The second mortgage bonds, 1891, draw interest at 4 per cent. for six years from Sept. 1, until the first mortgage interest bonds are paid off, and 5 per cent. thereafter, until the end of the bond, provided the interest is paid promptly when due. If a legal default occurs the interest will return immediately to 6 per cent.

The stockholders were to furnish by assessments the money to meet the cash requirements of the proposed reorganisation, estimated at between $13 and $15 a share. The stockholders refusing or not paying the assessments were to be supplemented by other stockholders, who agreed in advance to furnish all money necessary for the reorganisation."

paid an assessment amounting to $1,026,863, in return for which they received the same amount in new third mortgage bonds created for this purpose and also for that of paying the interest due on second mortgage coupons ($1,136,910), a judgment obtained by Jay Gould ($537,383,) and of providing $271,843 for corporate uses. This third mortgage amounts to $3,000,000, and there is a second mortgage of $7,968,500 which bears 4 p.c. interest until 1st Sept., 1897, and 5 p.c. thereafter, and a first mortgage of $7,954,000 bearing 6 p.c. interest. The stock authorised is $25,000,000 of which $9,755,000 are issued and almost entirely owned by the Missouri Pacific. The third mortgage bears 4 p.c., but until 1897 no interest is payable unless earned. "Certificates of indebtedness" to the amount of $757,618 are in circulation, $126,267 of which must be redeemed annually. Subjoined are traffic statistics, statement of earnings and expenditure, etc.

Traffic Statistics relating to the Great Northern and International Railway.

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE MISSOURI, KANSAS AND TEXAS RY.

In September, 1865, 23 inhabitants of Coffey County, Kansas, founded the Union Pacific Southern Branch Ry., a corporation which was to build a line extending from Junction City in Kansas to Fort Smith, in the Indian Territory. The capital was to be $1,000,000, of which the counties through which the line was to run furnished $730,000, and in addition to this support the corporation received from the State of Kansas a land grant of 1,300,000 acres. Owing to lack of funds construction progressed very slowly, only 5 miles being completed and work on 35 more commenced by 1869. In that year, however, the company obtained new funds by means of the issue of bonds secured by a lien upon its land grant, and construction proceeded more rapidly, with the result that by December, 1871, the line was finished as far as the border of the Indian Territory, a distance of 179 miles from Junction City. In the same year the company acquired the charters of three other railway companies, and an amalgamation of the four corporations having been effected, the system received its present name. By virtue of the various charters it had powers to lay tracks across the Indian Territory as far as the Texas State Line, and by way of State aid for construction of roads through the unsettled Territory it was to receive land grants to the extent of 3,000,000 acres ; but as this 'land of promise'

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1 These were the Tebo and Neosho, the Labette and Sedalia and the Neosho Valley and Holden Railroads.

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was still occupied by the redskins the grant was made on condition that possession of nearly all lands is to be deferred until the Government buys' the Indian Territory from thereal Americans.' To this the company gladly assented, and after the successful issue of $14,000,000 consolidated first mortgage bonds, work on the road through the Indian Territory was begun. While it was in progress the company resolved not to confine itself to advancing its lines towards the South, but to extend them also in a Northern direction; and hence the St. Louis and Santa Fé, leading to Paola, and the Hannibal and Central Missouri, going to Hannibal, were purchased. In the meantime the directors had ventured to embark upon several enterprises and departures, the honesty of which, to say the least, was doubtful, and as a result the company became weakened to such an extent that it was unable to withstand the crisis of 1873, and in 1874 had to announce its inability to meet the coupons which fell due in those years. Ꭺ reorganisation was effected, according to which two coupons of the bonds as well as the floating debt were converted into preferred stock, but this proved insufficient to tide the company over its difficulties, and its affairs had to be placed in the hands of a receiver, where they remained until June 30th, 1876. By that time the bondholders had accepted. new proposals which stipulated that the preceding arrangement relating to the regulation of the debt should be cancelled, and that coupons when due should be paid partly in cash and partly in income bonds, while until the company was in a position to regularly meet its obligations trustees were to retain control of the property.

1 Among others there had been an issue of $1,756,000 bonds for which the company had received no value whatever. The bonds were given to a construction company composed of members of the Board, who refused either to execute the work in payment for which they received them or to return the bonds. The latter were simply kept for damage done,' and as the president of the construction company happened to be president of the M. K. T. no serious bjections were raised.