Moreover,  there  is  another  large  fund  slowly  but  surely  accumulating  in
connection  with  the  1907  bond  distribution.  This  1907  gift  to  the  shareholders
was  in  the  form  of  a  bond  issue  secured  by  the  deposit  of  stocks  and  bonds  of
other  corporations  formerly  owned  by  the  company  itself.  The  deed  of  trust
provides  that  if  the  income  from  these  stocks  and  bonds  is  more  than  enough  to
pay  interest  of  4%  a  year  on  the  $24,000,000  of  Adams  Express  bonds,  the  surplus
shall  accure  and  be  distributed  in  1947  among  the  holders  of  the  Adams  Express
bonds.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  a  computed  excess  income  derived  in  this  way
of  $151,517.50  a  year  and  by  1947  this  will  have  mounted  up  to  more  than  $6,000,-
000,  not  allowing  for  compound  interest.  Here  is  a  50%  extra  dividend  being
nourished  along  toward  maturity.  If  there  is  any  better  example  of  being  able
to  eat  one's  cake  and  have  it  too,  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  it.
At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  the  Adams  Express  Company  turned  its
routes  in  the  Southern  States,  in  which  it  had  enjoyed  a  complete  monopoly,
over  to  the  Adams-Southern  Express  Company,  created  by  the  Georgia  courts  for  the
purpose  of  assuming  this  business.  The  property  of  the  association  was  to  be
represented  by  5,000  shares,  of  which  558  were  then  issued.  The  Adams  Express
Company  has  held  to  the  present  day  a  dominant  interest  in  this  association,
which  it  created  to  facilitate  business  during  the  war.  After  hostilities  ceased,  it
resumed  some  of  its  Southern  routes  by  agreement  with  the  A.da.ms-Southern
Express  Company,  whose  name  had  meanwhile  been  changed  to  the  Southern


262  POSTAL  RIDERS  AND  RAIDERS.
