| From the Des Arc Citizen (Des Arc, Ark.) |
| |
| May 31, 1861 |
| |
| Southern Pacific Railroad Company |
| One Thousand Slaves Wanted By Hire Or
Purchase |
| We will purchase or hire, for
a term of five years, Five Hundred or a thousand Slave Laborers, to
work on the Southern Pacific Railroad, in Texas, immediately west of
Shreveport, La., in a region secure and protected from invasion or
molestation during the conflict which shall exist between the two
sections of this country. The country through which the road passes is
entirely healthy, and for the distance of some 400 or 500 miles west
of Shreveport, it penetrates one of the finest agricultural countries
on the continent of America. |
| This company has a magnificent
land grant from Texas, ie, 10,240 acres for every mile of road the
company constructs, for the distance of 800 miles from Shreveport on
the eastern, to El Paso on the western boundary of Texas. In times
like the present, the company cannot command cash to pay for labor
essential to the rapid development of the company's interest; but for
a term of years, by hire or by the actual purchase, this company will
make the most liberal and advantageous arrangements with salve-owners
in Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, or
elsewhere, for the hire or purchase, with payments in the most
undoubted securities, of 500 or 1000 slaves. Families entire will be
taken, either by hire or purchase. The company is enabled to propose
liberal terms, because of the munificent land grants by Texas, and its
ability purchase the iron and rolling stock for the entire road across
Texas, with the construction bonds of the company, at rates almost
equal to cash. All the rights of this company are fixed and vested by
the laws of Texas. The company has secured the sympathy and the route
on the 32d degree of parallel of latitude, has the sanction of several
of the most powerful European Governments -- amongst them are France,
Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland -- as well as of large
capitalists, commercial men and contractors of those countries. The
late Congress of the States passed a bill, at its last session,
donating to this company, through Arizona, New Mexico and California
some 13,000,000 acres of land, and a loan of thirty-six millions of
dollars, to be repaid in postal or other public services. This bill
passed the House of Representatives, was amended in the Senate, and
only failed to become law, for the want of time and the startling
political events familiar to the nation. |
| No company in the world has a
larger basis for its successful prosecution, and no company has
attracted and secured to itself the approbation of so many American
States and European Governments -- promising so much benefit to its
stockholders, and to the world such stupendous results -- bringing
inevitably with its completion across this continent, the trade of
China, Japan, Australia, and the whole Pacific coast -- distributing
the treasures derivable from the trade, travel, etc, of each to every
city from the Gulf of Mexico to the most Northern harbor on our
Atlantic coast -- giving each its due and natural share -- a commerce
which has never failed to enrich every nation on earth that has ever
controlled it in the past, and as it is annually increasing, it will
still more enrich those who shall control it in the future. |
| We want the labor, to progress
with the work, for most unquestionable securities; and for it, the
most liberal arrangements will be made for slave-owners -- giving them
terms which must, we think, be satisfactory -- without endangering by
position, employment or terms of contract, the safety of the slaves
themselves, or admitting the slightest uncertainty of ultimate
payment. |
| All applications will be made
to Hon. V. K. Stevenson, President, Nashville, Tenn.; Col. Samuel
Tate, President Memphis & Charleston Railroad Company, Memphis;
Col. J. R. McDaniel, Lynchburg, Va., or to myself,, Memphis. |
| Jeptha Fowlkes |
| General and Financial Agent of Southern
Pacific Railroad Company of Texas |
|