AR, CS 10/1/1861 P

Annual Report of the Central Southern RR
as of October 1, 1861
President's Report
 
Report
 
To the Stockholders of the Central Southern R. R. Company
   In pursuance of the charter of the Central Southern Railroad Company, making it the duty of the President and Directors to submit a statement annually to the Stockholders, of the condition and operation of the road, the following expose is made.
   It will be seen from the report of the Secretary and Treasurer, that the total cost of the road, including salaries of officers, and interest accounts, up to the 1st October, 1861, amounts to $1,169,967.68, or $24,589.50 per mile. The original estimate of the Engineers from the preliminary surveys was $1,141,209, exclusive of ballast -- this estimate, however, was reduced by an increase of grade, and a decrease in the width of cuttings and embankments, so that the last estimate of cost made by the Engineers in October, 1858, after all the road had been let to contract, was $1,088,203.14, inclusive of ballast; or $81,764.54 less than the amounts charged to construction.
   This discrepancy between the last estimate and the actual cost, is easily reconciled by referring to one item of the Treasurer's Report, charged under head of "State Loan, Interest and Exchange", amounting to $96,687.88, and which includes all losses sustained on State Bonds, and the interest paid to the State, up to 1st July, 1861, inclusive. This is an item of cost common to all roads in Tennessee, and although never reckoned in the estimates of Engineers, and perhaps not always so charged in the accounts of the Companies, should, nevertheless, be charged to construction until the completion of the road. Deducting this amount from that reported in the present instance, it makes the cost of the road $1,073,279.80, showing the Engineers to have been singularly correct in reducing the cost to $22,580 per mile, for which few if any roads in this State have been built.
   It will be seen also, from the report of the Treasurer, that the floating debt of the Company is $105,550.60, with means on hand of $27,086.71, reducing the amount unprovided for to $78,443.89; this is another item common to all roads in Tennessee, and arises in most cases as in ours, not from any mismanagement or misapplication of means, but want of capita. The original means of the Company were as follows:
Individual subscription, payable in cash $123,800.00
Giles County 275,000.00
Corporation of Columbia 30,000.00
Contractors subscriptions, payable in work 68,063.86
State Loan 534,000.00
Making the whole amount $1,030,863.86
Which deducted from the cost of the road 1,169,967.68
Leaves a deficit of $139,103.82
Which has been reduced by transportation receipts to 1st October, 1861 60,659.93
Leaving a balance still in excess of means of $78,443.89
   The amount of means on hand charged as $27,086.89, will not realize that sum by $7,000 or $8,000, and there are still a few miles of ballast to be added to the cost of the road, but the above statement is sufficient to show how deficient the road has been in capital. Had there been $100,000 more subscribed at the beginning it would now have been paying a dividend, but as it is, stockholders will have to wait patiently until the debt we owe is discharged from the receipts for transportation.
   Another item in the report of the Treasurer to which attention is called, is that of "Scrip." This debt was originally $305,000, the amount of Giles county and Columbia subscription, and is payable either in transportation or in the capital stock of the Company, as the owner may elect. A large portion of the Giles county tax payers have entered into an obligation to commute it for stock, and $54,815.22 have already been so commuted on the books of the Company; leaving a balance of $250,184.78 still outstanding. The reasons are many why the owners of the Scrip should promptly merge their claims in the capital of the Company. First the road bed and rolling stock must be kept in the most efficient condition, so as to dispose of all the business which may accumulate along the line without delay, and in the most economical manner. In the next place, the interest on the State Loan must be promptly paid, or a receiver will be appointed to take charge of the road, until the State claim for interest is paid; and in the third place, the floating debt of the Company must be paid as soon as possible. We might urge these positions at considerable length on the consideration of Scrip holders; but it is confidently believed that the citizens of Giles county, who have voluntarily taxed themselves to build this great work of internal improvement, will not be found wanting, nor deficient in apprehending their true interest, by at once surrendering their tax receipts and receiving certificates of stock, which in point of intrinsic value and convertibility are now and will at all times be equal to the tax scrip. To the owners, the tax receipts will be found on experiment difficult to use in payment of transportation, and as they can only be used locally, local rates for transportation will have to be paid; these on all roads are higher than through rates, consequently the scrip can never be of equal value in such payments, as those made with money. Let all holders of tax receipts surrender them and receive in their place stock certificates, and soon dividends will be paid on the entire investment. The citizens of the counties of Giles and Maury have greatly honored themselves by the construction of so important and valuable work of internal improvement without the aid of one dollar contributed out of their limits, and we feel sanguine that they will take the course herein recommended with their tax receipts, and perfect the good work so gloriously begun.
   Much attention during the current year has been paid to ballasting, to securing deeds to all the real estate belonging to the Company, to keeping the road-bed in order, and preparing to house the hands in its service, and we are pleased to say, that before the close of the present year, the Company in these respects will be well organized, and prepared further to perfect its organization. Many of those subjects will be more particularly explained by the report of D. J. Johns, who has had in charge most of these subjects, and to whose intelligence and fidelity a debt of gratitude is due from the stockholders.
   Attention has been particularly given to the adjustment of all questions in dispute between the Company and the citizens through whose lands the road passes -- to settle all claims for damages, and where it has been at all advisable the parties have been approached and adjustments made. On this subject there are but a few questions of a vexatious character to be settled, and now that the act of limitation shields the Company, all apprehensions of losses or claims from this fruitful source of trouble to corporations may not further be apprehended.
   A renewal of the agreement between the Tennessee & Alabama Railroad, and the Alabama & Tennessee Central, has been agreed on to extend from the 1st July, 1861, to the 1st July, 1862. Trains continue to pass over the line from Nashville to Decatur, under this understanding, which has not yet been consummated by the signature of the President of the Tennessee & Alabama Railroad, but we presume it will be given at the next monthly meeting of the Executive Committee. There is much to be said in favor of this arrangement. It certainly secures a larger amount of through transportation than could be obtained without it, and it is a great relief to passengers to be freed from the trouble of exchanging cars and in looking after their baggage. I however will advance the thought, that the independent organization of the Central Southern Railroad under its own superintendent, whose sole business it shall be to look after its interest, and promote more fully facilities to the way of local travel, to the establishment of a first class machine shop on the line of the road, is indispensable to making provisions to supply the wants of the Company. We can manufacture all of our rolling stock as well as we can have it done elsewhere, if we will only prepare to have the work done. We already have at Columbia preparation to some extent to accomplish this object, and under the care of C. B. Knowls, Esq., our chief mechanic, we have repaired our locomotives and cars, as well and as cheaply as we could have had done elsewhere. And I must not fail to bring to your notice the claims and character of Mr. Knowls; in all respects he has filled his position to the satisfaction of the directors, and is entitled to the most ample compensation the Company can pay to any one in his position.
   A contract was made with Zachariah Parker to cover with tin the bridges over Richland Creek and Robertson Fork, and to have them boarded up in the exact manner of the bridge over Elk River. The present political difficulties of the country have rendered it almost impossible to procure tin, with which to cover the bridges, and this contract will have to lay over until a more propitious season.
   Application has been made by J. W. Sloss, President of the Alabama & Tennessee Central Railroad, for a subscription on the part of this road, of twelve hundred dollars, payable in monthly installments, in order to enable the Mountain Railroad {Construction?} Company to maintain its forces on the road during the next twelve months, dating from the 1st Jany., 1862. The stockholders have the operatives engaged and they ask this assistance to aid them in securing supplies for their subsistence. The Mountain Railroad when finished, will connect with this line of roads at Decatur, and with the view of placing the stockholders more fully in possession of the arguments in favor of this subscription, I request the Secretary to read the letter addressed to him by Mr. Sloss, when they can determine this question understandingly.
   At Decatur we are daily experiencing losses and inconveniences for the want of a more perfect and valuable Southern outlet, which will in a great measure be overcome by the extension of this line of railways to Montgomery, Alabama. When this is done, we will not so materially feel the effects of the interest of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, in preferring to have freights to pass over their road, via. Stevenson to Nashville.
   The report of W. O'N. Perkins, Superintendent of the Nashville & Decatur Railroad Line, will show the operation of the transportation department, and which presents an encouraging view of its business and progress. Had this line of roads possessed a more ample supply of rolling stock, the business of the last ten months would have been still more gratifying. This difficulty we have found impossible to overcome although efforts to do so have been faithfully tried.
   It affords us great pleasure to acknowledge the high appreciation we entertain of the services of Nr. Jno. Baird, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Company. It would be difficult to find a more efficient officer, and we feel sure that the business of no Railroad Company in the State has been more accurately and scientifically kept, and we take additional pleasure in ascribing to him much of the staple of the present Annual Report.
Thomas Martin
President.

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