| From the Atlanta Intelligencer |
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| November 3, 1863 |
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| Superintendent's Report |
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Western & Atlantic Railroad
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Atlanta, October 20, 1863
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His Excellency Joseph E. Brown
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Sir,
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The duty of presenting you with the report of the
operations of this Road for the past fiscal year, closing with the
30th day of September, has devolved upon me by the demise of my
excellent predecessor, and in the performance of that duty, I shall be
as concise as may be consistent with the subject matter to be
embraced.
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| The gross income of the road has been |
$2,186,869.08 |
| Working expenses of all kinds, including Repairs
of Buildings and Right of Way |
688,171.38 |
| Showing a nett profit of |
$1,498,697.79 |
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By reference to the accompanying tables of the Principal
Book Keeper, and the Treasurer's Report, it will appear that the
payments made to the State Treasury exceeded this amount. This is
explained by the fact that the workings of the road from year to year
run necessarily more or less into each other, and that $151,302.30 of
the amount so paid in, was in fact the earnings of the previous year,
that could not be collected in time for last report. This satisfactory
amount has been realized by keeping our rolling stock almost
constantly in motion night and day, thereby taxing our employees
nearly to the utmost extent of human endurance.
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Over two thirds of the income from freights has been
derived from hauling for the Government at rates, it is believed, much
under what other Road's charge, and if this be true, something should
be done to have them equalized.
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The rolling stock is greatly run down, and our inability
to procure materials for repairs seriously felt. Without a supply can
be obtained, one third of our Engines will soon be numbered among the
things that were. The residue -- say twenty-five -- are in good
working order, and may be kept up for some years by our vigilant and
able Master Machinist. The government officials have impressed, from
time to time, our cars, and sent them on other roads, until we are
minus over one hundred and eighty. For this loss, now seriously felt,
we should be indemnified. Some are being built but the difficulty in
obtaining wheels, springs &c., may defeat our efforts to supply
the road with the requisite number. Owing to the repeated calls upon
your Excellency for troops, and the laudable spirit of our people
prompting them to volunteer, our road has been denuded of laborers,
until the track requires a large increase of force, and the same cause
led to a great scarcity of wood and cross ties. This difficulty,
however, will soon be remedied by the measures just adopted by your
Excellency to furnish a supply of each.
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I am not inclined to indulge any vague or hypothetical
calculations about the future of the road. Its business success
depends upon causes beyond my feeble ken. At present the prospects are
gloomy enough; heavy expenditures will have to be made to place and
keep it in safe running condition; everything on it has dilapidated or
run short; an increased force will have to be placed on it; and at
least sixty thousand cross ties, and over twenty thousand cords of
wood will be needed for the year, a large amount of lumber for car
shop, and repair of platforms, &c., and this at a time when the
cost of labor, materials and everything is nearly at quadruple prices
before the war. Since the enemy have cut off our connections West and
East, our income has exceeded expenses but little, and four-fifths of
what we do is for the government. I therefore promise nothing, save to
do the best I can under the circumstances by which I may be
surrounded.
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In closing this brief report it may not be amiss for me
to advert to the melancholy catastrophe that occurred on our Road
recently by a collision of our trains, and I do so to invite the
attention of the next General Assembly, soon to meet, to an important
question. I need say nothing about the terrific and death dealing
character of a collision by two engines at speed; every mind pictures
it correctly. The only question is, can they be prevented. I think
they can, and only in one way. Make the penalty death, by statute law,
if death results from a collision. Such a thing as a collision can
seldom ever take place, if Engine men and conductors follow the
printed rules and regulations of the road; each are required always to
have a copy of these rules with them, and to be governed by them. Let
them be compelled to do it at the forfeiture of life, if death results
from their disobedience.
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And here I would say one word to my railroad brethren.
This valuable class of men are not sufficiently paid, and are often
over-worked. Their life is one of great peril and vast responsibility,
and their remuneration should be commensurate. Give them more pay, and
more time for thought and reason, and you elevate their status and put
the money at high interest.
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Respectfully submitted,
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G. D. Phillips
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