| From the Raleigh State Journal |
| |
| January 29, 1862 |
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| Proceedings of the North Carolina Convention -- Second
Session |
| ***** |
| Fourth Day, Thursday, Jan. 23 |
| ***** |
| The Coalfields Railroad |
| The ordinance to amend the charter of the
Chatham & Coalfields Railroad was next taken up. [This ordinance
proposes to connect the coalfields by railroad with the North Carolina
road, at Raleigh, or at some point west of Raleigh, not exceeding
twelve miles. It further proposes to strike from the charter the
conditions on which the company was to receive State aid to the amount
of $500,000 -- to wit: that the iron for the road should be
manufactured at the mines of Chatham or Moore counties, and substitute
for this provision one requiring the public Treasurer to issue
treasury notes to an amount of $800,000, in exchange for the bonds of
solvent corporations, redeemable in six years, and bearing annual
interest at the rate of six per cent. -- said treasury notes not to
bear interest, and to be used for the construction of the road.] |
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| Fifth Day, Friday, Jan. 24 |
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| The ordinance to amend the charter of the
Coalfields Railroad was now considered on its second reading, section
by section. |
| After some discussion and suggestions of
amendments to the ordinance. |
| Mr. Strange moved its indefinite
postponement. |
| Mr. Manning resisted the motion in a
speech of considerable ability, in which he went fully into the
question of internal improvements as applied to the proposed road --
urging its immediate construction as a great military and State
necessity in view of the scarcity of iron, and the abundance of the
supply at the Coalfields. |
| Mr. Strange said he was actuated by no
feeling of hostility to the scheme. But this being the first of the
railroad scheme now before the Convention, he felt it his duty to
protest against it. This, he said, was not the body to build railroads
or to manufacture railroad iron. If it was the opinion of the
Convention that they were sent there to do such work, he wanted
delegates to say so. If not, then he desired to see such matters
abandoned, and not continue to waste the time which should be devoted
to other matters. It the proposition before the Convention would
contribute to the more efficient prosecution of the war, let us, said
he, go for it. But a charter had already been granted to the proposed
company by a Legislative body entrusted with such work and
representing in its several branches population and taxation. That
body had given a charter and State aid, and now the Convention was
called upon, while there was not a dollar in the Treasury, to grant
another charter and to give aid to the extent of $800,000, for the
purpose of building a road which might run parallel with that already
chartered, the State building both. To give this aid, it was proposed
to add to the issue of four millions of treasury notes already
provided for, the further sum of eight hundred thousand dollars,
which, in the opinion of able gentlemen on that floor, would cause a
depreciation of their value; and when the bonds for which it was
proposed to exchange the treasury notes became due, it was proposed to
redeem them with a depreciated currency, at a discount of perhaps
fifty per cent. He said a road was now in connection with the
Coalfields, and the coal transportation was not more than sufficient
to furnish two or three grates in Fayetteville. Where was the iron to
come from to build the road? It would take years to get it and to
equip the road, and then, he would ask, where was the relief to the
great military necessity so loudly talked of, or to the failing
rolling stock of existing roads. He, Mr. Strange, would vote against
all of these schemes. Delegates were sent here for other purposes --
for higher purposes -- to change the organic law of the State to the
altered circumstances of the people. |
| Mr. Battle, of Wake, agreed that ordinary
legislation was out of place in the Convention, but the question then
up for consideration was one which, in his opinion, affected the
prosecution of the war. He was satisfied that if nothing was done to
supply the demand for iron, in less than a year the existing roads
would be stopped, and the "people would be starving for
iron." Referring to the statement that there was already a road
connecting with the coal mines, he met it by saying that the enormous
cost of transportation and transshipment by way of Wilmington rendered
the road comparatively useless. He dwelt at length on the scarcity of
iron and upon the resources of the mineral region of the coalfields,
and upon the wants of the State and Confederacy. |
| Mr. Strange reminded the Convention that
there was now a charter in existence, with State aid to the amount of
$500,000, which enabled the friends of the scheme to connect at any
point with the N. C. road. Now it was proposed to add another
appropriation, which might result in two roads running parallel, both
being built by the State. |
| Mr. Gilmer said that in the present case
no appropriation was asked, but merely an exchange of bonds. With
regard to the two roads mentioned, one was intended to run West, the
other co come to Raleigh. The yield from iron in one year would
realize to the State more than the revenues of two cotton
States. |
| Mr. Leak, of Richmond, opposed the
postponement, and argued at length to show the necessities of the
agricultural interest in reference to the supply of iron. The war had
to be continued -- the end being "eternal separation or eternal
annihilation," and the supply of iron was exhausted. He agreed
with Mr. Strong that the Convention should not touch ordinary
legislation, but justified the present measure on the ground of
necessity. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Leak said he had traveled
East and West lately and had never heard any man utter a word against
the Convention. He urged the Coalfields road, and asked where the iron
for the Piedmont road was to be got without it. |
| Gov. Reid in reply to this interrogatory,
said there was no difficulty about the iron for the Piedmont road, for
that a sufficiency could be procured within thirty miles of the road.
He assured Mr. Leak that the iron would be ready before the road was
graded. |
| Mr. Leak asked if there was any antagonism
between the two roads. |
| Gov. Reid replied that the gentleman was
using an argument against the Piedmont road in saying there was no
iron to build it till the coalfields iron was developed. He further
reminded Mr. Leak that the Piedmont road would probably run through a
region in which there was both coal and iron. |
| Mr. Leak said he did not intend his
remarks to have an adverse effect upon the Piedmont scheme. |
| Gov. Reid asked him if he thought the iron
could be procured at the Chatham mines in time for the military
necessity existing in the Piedmont road? |
| Mr. Leak did not think the necessity so
pressing but that it might. |
| Mr. Manning replied at considerable length
to the remarks of Mr. Strange, and showed great familiarity with the
resources of the Deep River region. |
| Mr. Headen addressed the Convention in
favor of the ordinance and against the postponement. He disapproved of
ordinary legislation by the Convention, but considered this
improvement as a war measure. |
| Mr. Strong opposed the measure out and
out, and denied it was a military necessity. A charter already
existed, with an appropriation of $200,000, besides that of the
Fayetteville & Western road, which gave power to connect with the
N. C. road, with $500,000 more. If the Convention was going to
legislate, it would be better to give the additional $300,000 asked to
one of these roads. He asked if the country was about to starve for
this iron? If so, was there a farmer, was there any man in the State,
that would not give his last dollar to the work? They cry of a
"military necessity," he said, was too convenient for
delegates. This great necessity could not be built in two years. Where
was the iron to build it? And what was to become of the present roads,
for this iron was said to be indispensable to them? He had no fear for
any of their interest. The war could not last long -- the commercial
convulsions at the North were beginning to shake the Northern
Government. He believed the blockade would be raised long before these
improvements could be completed. If this connection was to be made
with N. C. road, he thought it should go to the shops where there were
the means of producing something from iron. He opposed the scheme on
another ground. If the road was a military necessity, let it be built;
but by passing charters for such purposes the Convention was usurping
a power not delegated to them. He protested against it, in the name of
his constituents and of the freemen of the State. The people, in a
spirit of generosity, in sending to that Convention, had placed no
restriction upon them, even with reference to the Constitution. They
were impelled by a necessity that admitted of no delay in sending us
here, he continued, but they had confidence in us. But in all this
there was an implied understanding, that only the business for which
we were sent here was to be transacted -- that business was, to take
the State out of the old Union and put her into the new Government and
to make such alterations in the organic law as were necessary to
complete that work. He uttered his solemn protest against this
indiscriminate legislation. It was true, he said, the Convention had
the power, and so they had the power to upset the present State
government; but should it therefore be exercised. In conclusion he
declared that, by embarking in this system of legislation the
Convention were trampling upon the rights of the people. |
| The question now was taken on the motion
to postpone. |
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| The vote resulted against the
postponement, *** |
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