| From the Upson Pilot (Thomaston, Ga.) |
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| April 20, 1861 |
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| Upson County Rail Road Company |
| When the concern, whose name stands a the
head of this article, passed into the hands of its present officials,
the people, whose favor and patronage were relied on to give
prosperity to the Company, had a right to expect that its affairs
would be managed with due regard for their interests. They had built
the Road, and had not failed to draw their purse-strings, when the
interests required. The citizens of Upson County especially, who
looked upon the Road, as in a large measure their own work, made heavy
sacrifices to sustain it. The well known business capacity, and large
experience of the head of the Company, were relied on, as a guarantee
that the capital invested, would be made profitable to the share
holders, and that the rights and feelings of the people would be
respected. It may not be considered amiss, to attempt to ascertain,
how far events have answered these reasonable expectations... |
| Why has not some exhibit of receipts and
disbursements been made accessible to stockholders, who desire to know
what use is being made of their money? The Presidents and Treasurer
offices we learn, are no longer kept at Thomaston, where, and in the
vicinity of which, most of the small stockholders of the Company
reside. These stockholders have not the time or money to spend, in traveling
up and down in the land, in search of a vagrant treasury; and if they
had, we have yet to learn that the first of them has been notified, in
whose breeches pocket, the treasury is to be fount... The Company
commenced its operations nearly twelve months ago, all the light given
to some of the stockholders is, that in the last of December, there
was about one hundred dollars in the treasury. Well, the stockholders,
would like to know how that was spent. |
| The present year as is well known, has been
a season of great scarcity among all classes; and the poor especially
have had great difficulty, in procuring money, wherewith to purchase
subsistence. A large portion, of the counties of Upson and Talbot,
have received their supplies at Thomaston, and over the Upson County
Rail Road... So soon as it became apparent, that the destitution of
the parts which receive their supplies at Thomaston, would lead to
large shipments of grain over the Road, the tariff of freights was
increased. Six cents on the bushel is the charge for transporting corn
over the Road, a distance of seventeen miles. Other freights were
increased, a due regard being observed at all times, as it would seem,
to the rule, that a man ought to pay more, just in proportion as he is
less able to pay anything. In fact, a glance at the published rates of
the Company, will impress the mind with the conviction that, the
question attempted to be solved in fixing the tariff on each article
was not, how little can be charged, and yet the Company do
well; but how much can be squeezed out of the people. The
Thomaston merchants and their customers are the principal sufferers
from this ruinous system... |
| One dollar and twenty five cents must be
paid, for the pleasure of a passage over the road -- a pleasure, we
will remark, rendered piquant by the reflection, ever uppermost in the
mid of the passenger, that there are many chances of his neck being
broken by a "run off," and his wife left a widower, and his
children fatherless... |
| In conclusion, we ... think that the
assumption, that the public are obliged to patronize the Road,
is unsafe for the interests of the Company. In these revolutionary
times, the powers of the Upson County Rail Road Company even, may be
brought into question. |
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Stockholder
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