[543] To make possible the selection of indemnity lands.
[544] Josiah Perham was the prime mover at first and after him certain Boston capitalists were prominent.
[545] Ellis Paxsom Oberholtzer, Life of Jay Cooke. Philadelphia, George W. Jacobs & Company, 1907. See also Smalley, History of the Northern Pacific.
[546] The notes were put on the market at par, though sold to the syndicate at 88.
[547] Chron. 18:16, 1874.
[548] R. R. Gaz. 6:135, 1874. The indebtedness of the Northern Pacific to Jay Cooke & Co. amounted to about $1,500,000.
[549] R. R. Gaz. 6:496, 1874; Congressional Record, 43d Congress, 1st Session, May 11, 1874, pp. 3749, 3773.
[550] Net earnings “shall be construed to mean such surplus earnings of the said railroad as shall remain, after paying all expenses of operating the said railroad and carrying on all its business, including all taxes and assessments and payments on incumbrances, and including the interest and sinking fund on the first mortgage bonds, the expenses of repairing or replacing the said railroad, its appurtenances, equipments, or other property, so that the same shall be in high condition, and of providing such additional equipment as the said Company shall deem necessary for the business of said railroad.” Annual Report, 1876, p. 45.
[551] Annual Report, 1876; Chron. 20:522, 1875; Ibid. 21:15, 1875.
[552] Annual Report, 1876.