| From the Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N. C.) |
| |
| September 5, 1864 |
| |
| The Southern Express Company |
| We
hardly think there is a necessity for the hue and cry that we hear, in
some quarters, against the Express Company. Much observation and some
experience satisfies us that the Railroad Companies never can and
never will transport packages and small articles with the same safety,
regularity and promptness that the Express Company does; and as to the
matter of charges, if that be the real cause of complaint, why do not
the companies who farm the privilege to the Express Company obligate
them to conform to a reasonable scale? But is not the advances made by
the Express Company caused, to a large extent, by the frequent
increase of the demands of the Railroad Companies on them? |
| Raleigh Progress |
| |
| This is one of the
"quarters" in which opposition has been made to the Southern
Express Company, and we are sure there is necessity for it. We showed,
a few days ago, abundant reason, as the people in this section
believe, why the Express Company should either be reformed or blowed
up entirely. We showed that they charged about nine hundred and
twenty-five dollars more freight on20 barrels of flour shipped
from this place to Petersburg than the Railroad freight for the same
shipment would have been. If this does not show a necessity for reform
then there is no occasion to complain of any thing. |
| Before the war, we
could send a barrel of flour to Petersburg for about two dollars; and
now, the Railroads only charge $3.10 from here to Raleigh and we
suppose five or six more from there to Petersburg. But just try it by
Express, and you are required to pay fifty dollars and twenty-five
cents per bbl., insurance included, but -- no war risks taken! |
| Now, what are the
expenses to justify this enormous charge. The Company have no engines,
cars, railroad tracks, bridges, depots, or any thing of the sort to
keep up. They are at no expense at all, except for the salaries of
their local agents, employees, messengers, &c., and the incidental
expenses of their offices here and there. We all know that as compared
with the Railroads which do their transporting, they are comparatively
at no expense. Well, then, here is a company, so far as we know an irresponsible
company, which has fastened itself upon our Railroads without becoming
a part of them, doing the very work for which those Roads were built,
expending nothing among the people and charging them more than five
times as much for the work which the Railroads ought to do, and do
as well as they. |
| But it is suggested
that the high charges of the Express Company is caused by the
increased demands on them by the Railroad Companies. |
| Does any one suppose
that the Railroad Companies charge the Express more than their published
rates? Why should they? Any body has a right to send freights on the
Railroad at the published rates, and it is hardly probable that so
good a customer as the Express would be required to pay more, even
if it were lawful to demand it. There is no just support in
that suggestion. If the Railroad officials are charging more than he
published rates, by what authority is it done, and what becomes of the
excess? If by proper authority, does the excess go into the Treasury
of the Companies? And if into the Treasury of the Companies, is that
not unfair, unjust dealing with the people, for whose benefit these
roads were guilt! The Railroad Companies, in that case, have become
corrupt. They profess, by their published rates, to work at a certain
price; but in reality make a corrupt bargain with a corrupt Company --
enter into a league with it -- by which it abstracts from the public more
than they profess to charge. And that Company, having secured the
whipshand of the Railroads make use of it with a vengeance, and
abstract from the people to their heart's content. They have manacled
the railroads -- become their masters -- subjecting them not only to
silence but to submission, and have nothing more to do but just to
make as much money as they please. They have monopolized almost all
the private freights that pass over the Roads, and also a large part
of the Government freight. The Railroad Companies have virtually
farmed out, and are no longer the public institution they were
designed to be. They take the form without the substance. They
are only a vast machine through which artful men are extorting and
grinding out the wealth of the people. We respectfully suggest to our
Representatives and Senators elected to the next Legislature, that
this is a fit subject to engage their most searching investigation. We
have heard of certain officials on the Railroads who have accumulated
large fortunes without any known means, since the war began; and if,
upon search, it shall be found that our Railroad Companies have done a
legitimate business with the Express, it may not be amiss to enquire
further as to the necessity of the latter to increase its rates so
enormously. It is in the power of Railroad officials to give
preference to freights, and eager speculators may have offered them
inducements to do so. It is human to err, and it would not be a
strange thing to find that the cupidity of men had instituted a system
of erring. At all events, we hope and believe that the Legislature
will probe this thing to the bottom. If, the Express Company, is
utterly without excuse for such enormous charges, it should be blown
up, and our Railroad Companies required so to organize their system of
transportation as fully to meet the public necessity, and at rates
duly proportioned to the service. |
|