NP, CM 1/13/1864

From the Charleston Mercury
 
January 13, 1864
 
Railroad Transportation
   The principal railroads in the Confederacy are now sedulously engaged in endeavoring to increase their stocks, and to provide for the contingencies of future service or loss. Under the delusive expectation of an early termination of the war, the railroad companies have, heretofore, relied almost wholly on their existing stock, and made but few efforts ta supply or reparation. They scarcely husbanded their resources, which, under the exhausting demands made upon them, became greatly diminished. Of late, with more experience, a wiser prescience seems to guide their management. In different parts of the Confederacy iron is now being provided and rolled for machinery and the construction and repair of locomotives and rolling stock. The Secretary of War has recommended that skilled mechanics be furnished from the army for some of the more delicate machinery needed by the railroads. The railroad transportation is of incalculable importance to the Confederacy. Shut off from the sea, and with command of very few of its rivers, the Confederacy is dependent, almost wholly, on the railroads for communication and transportation.

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