will pretty effectually use up the national banking system. It has taken about four years to build it up, and within three years it will be so far destroyed as to make it no object for stockholders that can organize into private banking companies to remain in the emasculated and restricted condition in which they will be placed. What security can men have for investing their money and basing their business calculations under a national law? The insecurity and scandal that will attach to such hasty and inconsiderate legislation will deter all prudent men from placing too much reliance upon a law of Congress passed at one session, organizing a great system of national policy, to be emasculated or repealed before it gets fairly into operation. It looks too much like confiscating the property of individuals under the pretence of creating a sinking fund to pay off the national debt. I hope the Senate and House will carefully consider this measure in all its bearings before they pass a law involving such important consequences in regard to its breach of faith in destroying the acquired rights of the stockholders in these banks, and the disastrous consequences likely to follow the issue of Government paper money as a permanent policy. Yours very truly, E. G. SPAULDING. To HON. H. R. HUBBARD, Comptroller of the National Currency, Washington. BUFFALO, Jan. 23, 1867. RAILROAD EARNINGS FOR DECEMBER AND THE YEAR. The gross earnings of the specified railroads for the month of December 1865 and 1866 comparatively, and the difference (increase or decrease) between two periods, are exhibited in the following statement: With exception of the Illinois Central and the Ohio & Mississippi, the above figures are official; for the two excepted roads the earnings for 1866, are only approximate, but based on semi-official information. The results for 1866 as compared with 1865 show an aggregate decrease to an unusual amount, and compared with the figures for November as follows: November..... December.. Decrease........ 1866. Difference. 1865. Decrease.. $211,453 Decrease.... 545,234 This decrease is larger than was anticipated, and can only be attributed to the usual dulness that characterized the business of the country throughout the last month of the year. The gross earnings of the same railroads for the twelve months ending Dec. 31, 1866, are shown in the following table: Here also is an unlooked-for result, and one that will surprise the most accurate observer. The de rease from 1865, which year certainly had a considerable amount of government or military business, is only $2,270,514, or 3 per cent. But it must be kept in mind that several of the above named roads (those marked thus *) have operated an increased mileage in 1866, and through this increase much of the military traffic of 1865 has been counterbalanced in the aggregate of the year 1866. On the whole, we may say that the railroad interest generally has not been unprosperous, and the business done on railroads, being a reflex of the business of the country, the returns above given are, to say the least, satisfactory. NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD. The earnings and expenses of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad for the year ending November 30, 1866, sum up as follows: Earnings: Passenser, $426,760 49; freight, $1,090,953 02, and mails, $15,329 02. Expenses: Maintenance of way, $510,020 35; conducting transportation, $260,473 Earnings, less expenses of operating.. $1,533,042 53 $1,146,774 64 $386,267 89 The New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad extends from New Orleans, La., to Canton, Miss., a distance of 206 miles. At Jackson it connects with the Mississippi Central and Tennessee Railroad, and through that line with the railroads to Memphis, Nashville and the North generally. It is to New Orleans what the Mobile and Ohio Railroad is to Mobile, the great carrier across the paralells north and south-a link in the chain which connects the region of grain and beef with the land of cotton and the sugar cane. This road was badly, damaged during the late war and its rolling stock carried off to other roads. Since the close of hostilities, however, and especially during the past fiscal year, the work of restoration and re-stocking has progressed steadily and satisfactorily. The rotten cross-ties are said to have been removed, and the road bed made sufficiently firm and level to make travel perfectly safe, and passenger trains are running the distance between New Orleans and Canton in 134 hours. The rolling stock on the 1st December, 1865 and 1866, compared as follows: and since December 1, 1866, there have been added-4 pissenger and 30 freight (flat) cars. These figures are exclusive of working cars. The repairs of the road and renewal of its rolling stock have been ade entirely from earnings. The following statement shows the receipts and expenditures of the company on all accounts for the last RECEIPTS. year: EXPENDITURE. Stock subscriptions.. 30,552 93 Redemptions, Interests, Dis 66 bills rec. for 8,789 11 counts, Commissions, Taxes, &c., &c... 462,212 97 Cotton sold. 28,894 70 Sundries debited.. 142,978 25 Foreign Road Balances. Real Estate.. 76.171 54 Road expenses.. 1,146,774 64 .1,533,042 53 Cash on hand, Nov. 30, '66..... 31,243 03 Total..... $2,197,440 41 Total....... ..$2197,440 41 Road earnings.. The financial condition of the company at the close of the year, as per general balance sheet, is exhibited in the statement of accounts, of which the following is an abstract; The following shows the disposition of the mortgage bonds, of which 3,000 of each class were authoriznd : This shows outstanding of the first mortgage bonds $2,941,000, and of the second $309,000. The floating debt amounted Nov. 30, to $724,390.18, accounted for as follows: Of this sum $28,7 4 61 has been paid since date on account of bills payable and interest on the same, and the further sum of $268,000 is included in the mortgage debt as we have stated above. The total debt, therefore, exclusive of accrued interest, would be as follows: Floating debt, per report, $724,390 18, less $268,000 out bonds pledged for, $2,941,000 309,000 428,390 $3,678,390 The accrued interest on the 1st mortgage bonds amounted, on the 30th November, to $1,017,160. This amount is in process of being funded in the second series of mortgage bonds; and at date $100,000 of first mortgage coupons had been funded in New Orleans, and the signatures of bondholders to the amount of over $460,000 more had been obtained for funding in London. In relation to this funding process the President of the Company, Gen. G. T. Beauregard, remarks as follows: During the month of May last the President and two of the directors of the road were appointed commissioners to confer with the Northern and European first mortgage bondholders, relative to the outstanding coupons and interest due them, and which the company was unable to meet, owing to the troubles which prevailed in this country, and which left the road in a most dilapidated condition. The commissioners repaired immediately via New York and Liverpool to London, where they met and conferred with some of the most prominent bondholders, who received them with great kindness and liberality, and entered into the following agreement to be submitted to the acceptance of the other bondholders: "To deposit with trustees the matured coupons held by them of the first mortgage bonds of the company, including the coupons due 1st July last, and to receive in lieu thereof the second mortgage bonds of the company at par. In case of failure on the part of the company to meet their new obligations in the payment of interest on the second mortgage bonds thus issued, or on the first mortgage bonds (commencing with the coupons due 1st January 1867,) the bondholders to reclaim their first mortgage coupons and surrender the second mortgage bonds which were issued for them, thus placing them in their original position with their first mortgage lien on the road." The holders of our bonds in the United States are also coming under this arrangement, and we have already funded 2,500 coupons, or $100,000 in this city (to 1st Dec.) and the trustees in London have obtained the signatures of the bondholders in that city to the extent of 11,501 coupons, or $460,000-the total amount being about 50 per cent. of the entire amount outstanding. DEBT AND FINANCES OF INDIANA. The funded debt of the State of Indiana on the 1st November, 1865 and 1866, compared as follows: The whole amount of the 2 and 5 per cents became redeemable in 1866, and will be paid by the sinking fund. The valuation of real and personal property subject to taxation in 1865 and 1866, compared as follows: -which the Board of Equalization revised and alloted, thus: This shows an increase for the year 1866 of $14,149,429 in the valua tion of taxable property, and 30,607 in the number of polls. The debt divided among the polls registered in 1865 was $44 67 per poll; divided among the polls of 1866, it was $23 58 per poll-being a proport tionate reduction of the State debt to nearly one-half its amount. Compared with the tax able value of property, the debt of 1865 was 1.55 per cent.; but the debt of 1866 was only 0.92 per cent. It is evident from this showing that the financial condition of the State has improved, and that if the same rate of taxation and disbursement be kept up for a few years longer, the whole debt will be erased from the State ledger. The levy for taxes for the year 1866 was as exhibited in the annexed table: |