| From the Wilmington Journal |
| October 17, 1861 |
| |
| Wilmington & Manchester Rail Road
Company |
| |
| As will be seen by the notice
of the Treasurer, in another column, the Directors of the above
Company have declared a dividend of nine per cent. upon its
capital stock, payable on and after the first day of November, of
which six per cent. is due to the present year and three per cent. to
the preceding year. |
| We may well congratulate the
holders of this stock upon their prosperity, especially as this
dividend is, to our knowledge, truly and fairly made out of the actual
earnings of the road, after providing for all liabilities and laying
aside a sum to be applied to the sinking fund. |
| The receipts of the road this
year have slightly exceeded those of the year before, say some two or
three thousand dollars, but at the same time, from causes easily
understood, the cost of operating has also been greater. |
| Had the war not occurred it is
more than likely that the business of the road would have increased in
a much greater degree than it has. Indeed last year the nett earnings
of the road fully justified a dividend, but it was deemed best to
defer it for the purpose of extinguishing a sufficient amount of debt
to place the credit of the Company beyond the reach of contingencies. |
| We think that this pleasing
point, which, after long waiting, has at length been reached in the
history of the W. & M. R. R., proves more conclusively than any
thing else that Southern railroads will in the end pay better than
those of any other section, and that their stockholders are willing to
postpone their immediate dividends to sustain intact their credit and
resources longer than the stockholders of any other railroads. |
| The President, Directors,
Superintendent, and other officers of the Road require no higher
encomium than this result of their labors under the trying
circumstances of these war times. |
|