| Annual Report of the East Tennessee &
Georgia RR |
| as of July 1, 1865, |
| President's Report |
| |
| East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad
Company |
| Athens, Georgia, June 23, 1865 |
| |
|
Thomas H. Callaway, Esq.
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| |
| Dear Sir, |
| I have paid to the Sinking Fund
Commissioners, State of Tennessee, six per cent. Internal
Improvement Bonds, and have the proper vouchers on file |
$125,000 |
| Also State endorsed Bonds |
35,000 |
| Liabilities of the State reduced |
$160,000 |
| I have also paid one hundred and fifty-seven
Company Mortgage Bonds |
157,000 |
| Funded Debt reduced |
$317,000 |
| I have paid of the old Floating Debt of the
Company |
285,000 |
| Total |
$602,000 |
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|
Of this old Floating Debt there remains $14,000 to
$15,000 to be paid, and there are good debts, due in good funds,
enough to pay about one-half of the balance, making some six hundred
thousand dollars of these old debts of the Company paid and cancelled.
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Interest
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| The entire accumulation of interest
since beginning of the war, is |
|
$517,072.55 |
| Paid on this, in good funds |
|
241,582.55 |
| Balance will be due 1st July, 1865 |
|
$275,490.00 |
| As follows: |
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| On State Loan |
$155,550.00 |
|
| On Endorsed Bonds |
21,030.00 |
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|
|
$176,580.00 |
| On Mortgage Bonds |
|
98,910.00 |
| Total due 1st July, 1865 |
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$275,490.00 |
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The interest on State loan has been paid up to the 1st
January, 1863, and the balance of $155,550.00 is for 1863-1864 to 1st
July, 1865.
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| We have paid during the war |
|
| For 1 Passenger Car |
$1,800.00 |
| " 12 Box and 8
Flat Cars |
20,800.00 |
| " 4 Engines |
61,000.00 |
| " 32 Negroes |
36,374.60 |
|
$119,974.60 |
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|
We have paid for new Car Wheels to keep our trucks in
good order, about one hundred thousand dollars, and you will find all
the trucks of Cars, Engines and Tenders in the very best condition.
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|
The amount due from the Confederate States on bonds,
certificates and audited accounts, is about seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars.
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Dividends
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| Dividends declared during the war, payable in
Confederate Funds or Bonds, amounts to the full sum of the
entire capital stock, say |
$1,287,000.00 |
| Of this I have paid to the stockholders, with
proper receipts and vouchers on file |
987,420.00 |
| Leaving a balance of |
$299,580.00 |
|
|
And the funds in kind, received for earnings, are on hand to pay this
balance. Due notice of these dividends have been given on each
occasion, and stockholders urged to call and receive and receipt for
their money.
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|
During the progress of the building of the Chattanooga
& Cleveland Road, the Directors authorized the issuance of three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars of Income Bonds having ten years to
run. I thought it to the interest of the Company not to sell, but hypothecate
the Bonds, and they were pledged for the payment of our floating debt.
The last one of these bonds have been redeemed during the war, and
were cancelled and burned by three of the Directors of the Company,
and their certificate on file.
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Just before the evacuation of East Tennessee, it was
deemed prudent to remove the shops, &c., of the Company South of
the Tennessee River. With that in view, a few acres of land were
purchased of Messrs. McKinney & Dobson, at Riceville, and the
Company's note given for twenty-five hundred dollars in gold, and
title bond taken. This transaction does not appear on the books of the
Company, for the reason that the condition of the belligerents in East
Tennessee changed so rapidly that I have always supposed it would be
desirable to both parties to cancel the trade.
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Last winter we ordered from J. R. Anderson & Co., of
Richmond, 48 car wheels fitted on the axles. They were shipped, and
the bill amounted to about $45,000 in Confederate money. Mr. Sherman
interposed so suddenly between the contracting parties that the wheels
did not reach Augusta, nor the funds Richmond. The wheels and axles
are now at Charlotte, N. C., and the Company can either pay their
value in good funds, or Messrs. Anderson & Co. will, no doubt, if
desired, cancel the contract. The wheels are 33 inches, and desirable.
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Failing, after using every effort, to collect the
earnings due from the Confederate States, with which to meet the
urgent demands of the Company, to make repairs, (which they will now
reap the benefit of,) and also to sustain their operations, I have
used the funds of the officers and of individuals on deposit with the
Company, to the extent of about one hundred thousand dollars, which,
no doubt, can be paid in good funds with a comparatively trifling sum.
The use of the funds at the time was of vital importance to the
Company.
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I hand you with this a statement of the number, and kind,
and condition of the rolling-stock. The Company's affairs are not
excessively deplorable. We have one more engine than we commenced the
war with, and near about as many cars, with a heavy reduction in our
indebtedness, and one hundred per cent. of dividends, seventy per
cent. of which was paid in what might have been considered equal to
any funds usual in circulation, except gold and silver, and we shall
return to the road the same number of engines, and only one less in
cars than the military sent out, and in as good, if not better
condition.
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The very short time you have allowed yourself to remain
at the "Circle," and no means of giving you details until
the books are balanced at the end of the fiscal year, I do not pretend
to hand you this as a report, but desiring to give the Stockholders
all the information I can on so short notice, I have extended this
memorandum much beyond your request. The earnings and expenses during
the war would have been added, but for reasons above given.
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Truly and respectfully
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Campbell Wallace
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