The New York Herald

Subscriptions for The Erie Railroad.—We had a number of very excellent speeches at the late meeting at the Tabernacle, stating the advantages which the completion of this road would confer on the city of New York, and proving mathematically, arithmetically, syllogistically, and every other way, that the stock would pay a very handsome dividend, when the work would be finished.

All these speeches are very good—these public meetings are very good—the names of the officers of the meetings are very good—but how does the subscription go on? Why do not the men of wealth, who give the help of their great names, show that they believe in the representations made by large subscriptions to the work. How much have Wm. B. Astor, or Stephen Whitney, or George Griswold, or any of these great capitalists subscribed? We are persuaded that if Wm. B. Astor would put down his name for $100,000, that that little line would do more towards completing the work, than the longest and most powerful speech ever made in the Tabernacle. And rightly so.

That would be acting on the practical common sense principle of a gentleman who once subscribed to some Irish subscription list, at a meeting in Philadelphia, at which we were ourselves present. Several excellent speeches had been made in favor of the charitable movement, in all of which the speakers spoke of the amount of their sympathy. At last a tall, six-foot, gentlemanly-looking man, stepped up, and said—“Let's come to work—I sympathize to the amount of $100!—there's the money!” This is the way to go to work in earnest.

Let this system be at once adopted in relation to the Erie Railroad.