Article Text
Increase in 1857 $1,739 60 The Company expect to have the breaks repaired and to pass boats by Saturday next. The Unadilla Bank, which is the only bank in the State which has made no redemption arrangements with the American Exchange or Metropolitan Banks, and will refuse to pay specie for its notes on a demand from the Metropolitan Bank, thus bringing itself under protest, has abandoned its position and paid the notes, with costs, &c. The Metropolitan had commenced a suit upon them with the purpose of testing the constitutionality of the act of 1851, authorizing a temporary suspension of specie payments. The earnings of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh road for May, it is stated, will be about $85,000. The Milwaukee and Mississippi are reported at about 78,000, and the La Crosse and Milwaukee at about $65,000. It is unofficially stated that the semi-annual report of the Erie road, which is nearly ready, will show about $250,000 decrease as compared with 1855-6, and an increase of extraordinary experses of about the same amount. The absconding French banker, M. Thurneyssen, is said to have irregularly disposed of considerable amounts of United States Government Stocks, and the bankers here have been telegraphed to hold on to certificates bearing his signature. A correspondent of the Department of State, Washington, writing from Frankfort on the 21st of April, enys! I have to state that the Stock Exchange continues in the same depressed condition as at the date of my last letter on the 18th inst., although sufficient cause for anxiety and alarm existed even here: yet the recent sudden decline was the consequence of the unexpected elevation of the rate of interest by the Bank of England. So very sensitive has become the condition of this market, that it is immediately affected by that of England. A further restriction there will be immediately felt here, although here Money is more abundant. "It is well known that the steady condition of the money market in France is sustained by artificial and expensive means, which, as temporary measures, may be judicious enough, but may, after all, prove insufficient to overcome the danger with which that country is threatened. "The creation of so many new banks all over Europe, although for a time they gave new life and activity, had a dark side, and that dark side is now almost the only feature perceptible. The constant calling in of installments on stocks-on stocks without sale, unless at fearful sacrifices-makes the condition of the holder disagreeable and unprofitable-disagreeable, because he is suspected of having embarked in a bad affair, and unprofitable because it is placing means in a sinking concern, beyond his own control. "The recent elevation of the rate of discount by the Bank of Frankfort from 4 cent to 5 cent was an act of self-protection. In America, the banks generally discount for neighbor customers. Here, the bank is the buyer of negotiable paper. When the rate of discount is lower at Frankfort than at other places their paper is sent to the brokers here to be sold to the Bank; therefore, in order to retain its means, the rate of discount here should correspond with the rates on other places. "The question is now often asked, when so early in the Spring the rate of interest is already so high, what will be the condition in Autumn, when Frankfort is always so pressed for money as to cause, for a time, a very considerable advance in the rate of interest? Surely this is one of those questions which can be answered only by time. "In the mean while the season keeps on favorable with a prospect of good crops in western and middle Europe, and this favorable prospect begins to be looked upon even now as a sure relief from threatened danger. "It is a question whether a good crop will or can do more than maintain the present condition, What, then, will be the state of affairs in case of a short crop or a failure? To add to embarrassments of the moment, it is now known that the Prussian Government has actually presented to the Chambers the threatened project of a law to prohibit, under the penalty of 50 thalers, the circulation, after the 1st October next, of the notes or obligations bearing no interest (paper money) of foreign banks or corporations. "There appears to be daily less confidence in the success of the recent enterprises, and a decrease of healthy confidence generally; possibly we are on the eve of hard times." The Newark Daily Advertiser says: "The Directors of the Morris and Essex Railroad, on Tuesday, made an excursion over their road to Hackettstown, and thence by carriages over the proposed extension to Phillipsburg. The proposed route passes down the Musconetcong Valley in a north-westerly direction to a point seven miles from Hackett, town, characterized by straightness and undulating grades. The line then diverges to the south side of the Morris Canal, leaving it at Port Colden, and crossing the Morristown and Easton Turnpike, passes out of the Musconetcong into Pohatcong Valley, reaching the village of Washington, ten miles from Hackettstown. It then follows the Eastern side of the Pohatcong Valley, a distance of seven miles, and passing north of Stewartsville, the line crosses the intervening ridge into the valley of the Hopatcong, and follows that stream to the junction with the Delaware River Railroad, near Cooper and Hewett's furnaces at Phillipsburg, making the entire distance 231 miles from Hackettstown, and requiring the use of 15 miles to the Delaware River Railroad to complete a connection with the bridge crossing to Easton. At Washington, it meets the Warren Railroad, by which a continuons route is furnished to the Water Gap, Scranton and Great Bend. One route contemplates using one and a third miles of the Delaware Road. The cost of this route will be $550,000, The other route is independent of the above road, and will cost $670,000. These estimates include everything to put the road in good running order. The Philadelphia Ledger of this morning says: There is considerable demand for money, both at bank and on the street more at both places than is accommodated. The banks, not only here, but all over the country, are endeavoring to reduce their business to come down as much and as fast as they can, consistently with their own and their customer's interests. This forces borrowers to the street, where exists considerable distrust, and only the very best paper meets with ready favor at about 10 cent discount. Inferior paper 12@20 cent discount. The following important decision of the Circuit Court of the United States, in regard to county subscriptions to Railroads, has been made by Judge McLean. We find it in The Indianapolis Journal: # CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES-IMPORTANT DECISION. David C. Wallace agt. The Commissioners of Knox County-This was one of the most important cases of the term, and was argued on a demurrer to the declaration, with signal ability, by Mr. Judah and Mr. N. C. McLean for the plaintiff, and Mr. McDonald and Mr. Hovey for the defendant. The facts of the case were substantially the following: The Board of Commissioners of Knox County, before the adoption of the constitution of 1851, in pursuance of the terms of a tatute authorizing the same, subscribed $200,000 to the capital stock of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, and after the constitation took effect, issued their bonds with coupons, for the payment of the stock, in the usual form. The county failed to pay the interest coupons when they became due, and this suit was brought to recover the amount of the coupons held by the plaintiff, as the bearer. The defense rested upon several grounds. 1. That the subscription was void, the county having no right to make it for railroad purposes. 2. That the bonds were void, having been issued after the taking effect of the Constitution of 1851. 3. That the coupons were void for the want of power to issue them, even if the bonds were valid. 4. That the law of the State submitting the question to the people of Knox County, whether the Commissioners shall subscribe the stock, was unconstitutional and void. We may have omitted some subordinate points, but
