Author: Stuart Daggett

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-25

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9781330872246

Excerpt from Railroad Reorganization It sometimes happens that experiences long since past seem to be repeated, and that knowledge apparently forgotten proves again of service. This is illustrated by the subject of railroad reorganization. In the years between 1893 and 1899 an imposing group of American railroads passed into receivers' hands. In 1893 alone more than 27,000 miles, with an aggregate capitalization of almost $2,000,000,000, were taken over by the courts, and in the following years the amount was largely increased. Foreclosure sales aggregated 10,446 miles in 1895, 12,355 in 1896, and 40,503 between 1894 and 1898. Among the more important failures were those of the Richmond & West Point Terminal, the Reading, the Erie, the Northern Pacific, the Atchison, and the Baltimore & Ohio; - to say nothing of the Norfolk & Western, the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago, the Ann Arbor, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, the Pecos Valley, and many other smaller lines. The railroads which failed between 1893 and 1898 were subsequently reorganized. In order to restore the equilibrium between income and outgo the companies turned to their creditors, and demanded the surrender of a part of the rights of which bondholders were then possessed. This demand the creditors were forced to concede. Some of them yielded without legal compulsion, assenting to "voluntary reorganizations"; some insisted upon the sale of the property securing their loans, but without escaping the loss which fell upon their more pliant associates. Much injustice to individuals came to light at this time. Men who had invested in good faith were obliged to sacrifice their holdings through no fault of their own. The savings of years were swept away. The demand of the railroads was one, nevertheless, which the courts supported, and rightly. The companies could not be operated unless the creditors were deprived of part of their legal rights. At the same time, these rights no longer had a material basis on which to rest, and their surrender meant but the recognition of a loss which had already taken place. Most of the reorganizations were completed by the year 1899. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.