Inasmuch as Mr. Little had discovered annual deficits of
| 1891 | $1,964,285 | |
| 1892 | 60,938 | |
| 1893 | 134,825 | |
| 1894 | 3,008,242 |
it was very evident that a reduction in interest charges was called for. As in 1889 the salvation of the company was sought in the substitution of securities on which payment was optional for securities bearing an obligatory charge.
Soon after Mr. Little’s final report in November three of the existing committees, namely, the General Reorganization Committee, the London Committee, and Messrs. Hope & Co. of Amsterdam, joined in a Joint Executive Reorganization Committee, with Edward King as chairman.[442] With these now worked a committee chosen by the directors themselves. The result was a reorganization plan under date of March 14, 1895. The purposes announced were:
(a) To reduce fixed charges to a safe limit;
(b) To make adequate provision for future capital requirements, subject to proper restrictions as to issue of bonds for this purpose;
(c) To liquidate the floating debt, and to make adequate provision for existing prior lien indebtedness shortly to mature;
(d) To reinstate existing securities upon equitable terms in their order of priority;
(e) To consolidate and unify the system (so far as practicable) and thus to save large annual expense.
It was proposed to foreclose the Atchison general mortgage ... and to vest in a railway company the bonds, stocks, and other properties of the existing company, acquired at foreclosure sale or otherwise. The new company was to issue: