tal stock of
$15,274,800 and a bonded indebtedness of $1,696,326.

Estimating the cost of the branches upon the same basis upon which we
have estimated that of the main line, we shall find that the total
original cost of the consolidated lines cannot have exceeded $8,000,000.
The Mohawk Valley road was put in at $2,000,000 and the Syracuse and
Utica direct at $600,000, though the roads only existed on paper and did
not represent any value whatever. The Schenectady and Troy road, which
went into the consolidation with $650,000 stock and $90,000 bonds, had
been bought for less than $100,000 two months previous to the
consolidation.

It will thus be seen that already nearly one-third of the stocks and
bonds of the consolidated companies was water. The consolidation
agreement fixed the capital stock of the New York Central at $23,085,600
and its funded debt at $11,564,033.62, increasing the stock over
$2,000,000, and the bonded debt over $9,000,000. The latter was more
than quadrupled, and $8,000,000 worth of bonds were, under the name of
consolidation certificates, given as a present to the stockholders of
the new road. The capital stock of the New York Central grew steadily up
to the time of its consolidation with the Hudson River road, when it was
$28,795,000. All improvements made during this time were paid for out of
its surplus earnings, with the single exception of the Athens branch,
for which the company issued $2,000,000 of its stock.

The gross earnings of the New York Central in 1854 were $5,000,000, and
its net earnings $2,830,000. In 1863 its gross earnings were in round
numbers $10,000,000, and in 1869 they reached $15,000,000. The dividends
paid during that year amounted to $4,300,000, and the interest to
$894,000. In view of the fact that the bonded indebtedness of the road
was from two to three million dollars more than the original cost, this
dividend of 15 per cent. upon a wholly fictitious capital must be
regarded as an unwarranted tribute levied upon the commerce of the
country. But we shall soon see that in railroad hydraulics, as well as
in other branches of human industry, success stimulates to still greater
energy.

The Hudson River Railroad Company was organized in 1847. It extended
from New York City to East Albany and was 144 miles long. There are no
data extant upon which could be based a reliable estimate of its
original cost. Estimating it upon the basis of that of the Utica and
Schenecta