Third, the Government might have consented to a refunding of the indebtedness to it at a lower rate of interest. This was most urgently pressed by representatives of the road. Mr. A. A. H. Boissevain, representing the Dutch bondholders, proposed to redeem the first mortgage by the securities in the sinking fund so far as possible, and to renew the rest at a lower rate of interest;—after which the Government was to be given a 100-year 2 per cent bond for the principal and interest of its claim.[503] Attorney-General Olney similarly suggested a renewal of the first mortgage bonds at a rate of not over 5 per cent, and an exchange of 100-year 2 per cent bonds for the government claim; though he differed somewhat from Mr. Boissevain as to the lien which these bonds should have.[504] Congress and the Government Directors in 1894 were inclined to insist on harder terms. The latter, in their annual report, proposed that the first mortgage bonds be paid off in cash, and that a 100-year 3 per cent instead of a 2 per cent bond be given to the Government, with elaborate provision for a sinking fund; and the former had before it in the Reilly Bill a very similar suggestion.[505] As a counter-proposition the railway company offered to pay off the first mortgage bonds in cash if the Government would take a 50-year 2 per cent instead of a 3 per cent bond for its claim. “The petitioners further represent,” it said, “that it will be utterly impossible to obtain the very large sums referred to from the stockholders unless it be possible to offer to them in satisfaction of their assessments reasonable security for the moneys so advanced. At a meeting recently held, at which were present representatives of a large amount of the stock of the said company, the conclusion was reached that if the debt to the Government could be funded substantially on the terms of the Reilly Bill, but at a rate of interest of 2 per cent per annum instead of 3 per cent, the said stockholders would endeavor to raise the funds needed for the purpose of meeting the requirements of the Reilly Bill.”[506] Finally, Mr. Pierce, on behalf of the Fitzgerald Reorganization Committee, proposed that the Government either take 4 per cent bonds for the principal of its debt, and preferred stock for the interest, carrying into the settlement with the Government the scheme which was found best adapted to the satisfaction of other creditors; or that it take a 3 per cent first mortgage bond for its principal, and a second mortgage non-interest-bearing bond for its interest; or that it accept a lump sum of money equal to the value of its lien, which he informally estimated as 50 per cent of the total amount due.[507] The plan of refunding was the most obvious as well as the most practicable of all suggestions. It had, however, the disadvantage from the point of view of the Government of surrendering some part of the government claim, and from that of the company of continuing the relations of the