| Annual Report of the Atlantic & Gulf RR |
| as of January 1, 1864, |
| President's Report |
| |
| Office Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Co. |
| Savannah, January 1, 1864 |
| |
| The President and Directors,
composing the consolidated Boards of Directors of the late Savannah,
Albany & Gulf and Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Companies,
respectfully present to the Stockholders the following Report upon the
condition of the affairs of the new or consolidated Company during the
past eight months. In current series, it would be the Fifth Annual
Report of the latter and the Tenth of the former Company. As the
Reports of the Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company related chiefly
to the history of the construction of its Road, which was operated by
the trains of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company, as
the construction advanced, all accounts of receipts and earnings
passing through the records of the latter, this Report is, therefore,
considered as continuing the current series of the older Company, and
is styled the Tenth. |
| The fiscal year of the old
Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company terminated on the 31st of
January, that of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf on the 30th of April.
These periods having been doubtless fixed to suit the exigencies of
the Companies in their inception, have been found, as they have
advanced, to be productive of inconvenience, as the customary time for
closing all business is the beginning of the year, while it has been
also found that too little time had been before allowed for the
preparation of the Annual Report between the close of the year and the
Annual Meeting of the Stockholders. It is believed that the present
arrangement for the close of the fiscal year, on the 31st of December,
and for the Annual Meeting of the Stockholders on the second Wednesday
in February, will be found advantageous to the interests of the
Company and more convenient to the Trustees of its affairs. The
consolidation of the two Companies took effect on the 1st of
May, 1863. Hence the present Report is upon the affairs of the Company
for eight months, beginning on the 1st of May, and terminating on the
31st of December, 1863. |
|
The Treasurer's balance, and the Report of the
Superintendent appended hereto, will afford a correct view of the
operations of the Company during this period.
|
| The total cash receipts for
the past two-thirds of a year, amount to $630,106.85, or at the rate
of $78,763.35 per month. Of this $347,666.86 or 56 7/8 per cent. have
been paid out for the ordinary and extraordinary expenses of the Road.
After these disbursements, and the payment of $221,916.52 for
dividends, declared upon the consolidation of the Companies, and 8 per
cent. from earnings, declared in December last, there remains
reserved: |
| Cash |
$71,762.65 |
| Uncollected Bills |
30,930.52 |
| Due by Confederate States |
65,670.24 |
| Due by J. M. Potter, Agent |
6,022.18 |
| Bonds State of Georgia |
73,000.00 |
| Unpaid Installments, State of Georgia |
100,000.00 |
| Confederate 8 per cent Bonds |
11,300.00 |
| Augusta & Savannah Rail Road Stock |
700.00 |
|
$359,385.59 |
|
|
To which add the value of 2001 shares of Stock retired in
the consolidation of the old companies, and now the property of the
new corporation.
|
|
The condition of the financial affairs of the Company
should be satisfactory to its Stockholders. It is in the greatest
degree justly ascribable to the consolidation of the Stocks of the two
old Companies. Projected by the same authors, designed for the same
ends, and separated only from circumstances contingent to their early
condition, their final union has harmonized their common interests,
composed every cause of conflict, and joined them in an economy
promising certain benefit and success.
|
|
The income of the Company has been much reduced by the
well known disproportion between prices and freights, but chiefly by
the want of Rolling Stock, which it has been impossible to procure.
The establishment of the blockade, contemporaneous with the completion
of the Road to Thomasville, prevented the possibility of obtaining an
adequate equipment of Locomotives, or to furnish the Machine Shops of
the Company with the necessary tools for construction and repair.
Under these untoward circumstances, it has been the misfortune of the
Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company to operate the longest line of
Rail Road in the State of Georgia, the outlet of the products of
$40,000,000 of her taxable property, to which should be added a large
amount of the products of the State of Florida. (It is interesting to
know that the value of the principal articles of Freight, passing over
the Road in the last 8 months, amounts at Government rates for the
most part, to $21,000,000.) The whole number of Locomotives on the
Road in 1862 was ten, in January, 1863, this number was increased to
twelve, in November, 1863, to fourteen. Thus in 1862 the Road was
operated with one Locomotive to 20 miles -- in 1863, from November
last, with one Locomotive to 14 1/7 miles. The equipment of the
Central Rail Road in 1862 was one Locomotive to every 3 1/4 miles; of
the Macon & Western Rail Road one to 9 1/4 miles. The average
number of miles run to the Locomotive on these Roads in 1863 was
10854; on the Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road, 18993. In 1863, the
average mileage on the latter Road was 16727 for Ten Locomotives, the
remaining Engines being a Shifting Engine, and two others, placed on
the line as late as November last.
|
|
This brief comparison, while it proves that the Rolling
Stock of the Company has not been idle, betrays its real inadequacy to
the work to be performed, and that the excessive employment, to which
it is subjected, must produce corresponding wear and tear. The want of
well furnished Machine Shops for construction and repairs is therefore
deeply felt. The Company has been dependent to a large extent upon
outside skill for repairs, which can only increase in amount with the
prolongation of the war. Thus, while the work is not always thoroughly
performed, its expensiveness is a serious and growing burthen on the
earnings of the Company. Indeed, the want of furnished workshops is
felt through the whole mechanical economy of the Road. It is proper
that these facts should be made known, as they explain, not merely
some of the most pressing difficulties of the trying period through
which the Road is now passing, but trace to their legitimate sources
the extraordinary expensiveness of this important department.
|
|
To such causes of an unusual disproportion between
earnings' and expenditures is to be added the constantly increasing
value of all Rail Road supplies. The increment of values has far more
than doubled wit in twelve months. Our rates of transportation have
not been proportionately augmented, for we have been unwilling to add,
without more evident necessity to the cost, especially, of food
supplies. But the time seems to be approaching, when the scarcity and
almost fabulous prices of material will force the rates of Rail Road
transportation to a point which can no longer be esteemed cheap. The
rates of Freight of this Company were advanced one hundred per cent.
during the past year, and a further increase of one hundred per cent.
has been directed to take effect this day. The rates of passage have
been recently advanced 33 1/3 per centum, or to 8 cents per mile. Thus
the tariff of Freight has been increased three hundred per centum, and
of passage 78 per centum, yearly. Railroad supplies have advanced in
price since January last from 1000 to 1500 per centum. The wages of
Rail Road mechanics have been raised in the same period 150 per
centum.
|
|
The usual condition of the finished portion of the Road
has been maintained without material change. During this year,
however, a very large expenditure will be necessary for the renewal of
Cross Ties and Bridges, especially upon those divisions of the line
lying East of the Altamah and West of the Withlacoochee Rivers. The
timber growing West of the latter River, being of recent origin, is
not of a durable character, and when used as Cross Ties, requires
renewal within three years after being laid. In consequence of this
fact the want of Ties upon the division West of the Withlacoochee is
seriously urgent. Some purchases of land have been made, during the
past year, for procuring Cross Ties, as the prices demanded by
contractors have been found inadmissible. Such supplies must not be
allowed to depend exclusively on the concerted action of monopolies
along the line of the Road.
|
|
The oldest rail on the Road, that nearest to Savannah, is
somewhat worn, but will bear the trail of two or three years more. The
Company has a sufficient supply of new rail to relay any small
portions of track that may become dangerous in that period.
|
|
The work of grading the unfinished portion of the line
beyond Thomasville is still being slowly carried on. The total amount
graded is 30 miles, reaching to a point about 5 miles from Bainbridge,
and leaving ungraded 133,423 cubic yards. Fifteen miles of the portion
next to Thomasville is completely bridged, and for the greater part
furnished with cross ties. There is much damage to all the unfinished
portions of the Road from unrepaired washes and slides, but it is
believed that the eventual pecuniary loss from those causes will not
be large.
|
|
The consolidation of the Stocks of the Savannah, Albany
& Gulf and Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Companies, forming a most
important feature in their common history, the general proceedings of
both companies, under their Charter of consolidation, are here
embodied as a matter of record as well as of general interest. The
proceedings will explain themselves, and are therefore introduced
without comment.
|
|
|
|
Savannah, June 15, 1863
|
|
To the Stockholders of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf and Atlantic
& Gulf Rail Road Companies
|
|
The General Assembly, at its late extra session, having
passed an Act assented to on the 18th of April last, "
authorizing and empowering the Savannah, Albany & Gulf, and the
Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Companies to consolidate their Stocks
upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the Directors
and ratified by a majority of the Stockholders there," the
President and Directors respectfully report to the Stockholders that
they have taken this important subject into full consideration, and
after a conference between the Boards of Directors through their joint
committee, present the following Report embodying a plan of
consolidation unanimously adopted by the Board of Directors of each
Company, and which is recommended for the ratification of the
Stockholders:
|
|
|
|
Report of the Joint Committee
|
|
The undersigned, joint committee appointed by the
Directors of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company, and
the Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company, recommend the following
plan of consolidation, to wit: that the actual cost of each Road and
its appurtenances shall be the basis upon which the two Roads shall be
consolidated, that the amount of such cost over and above the issue of
Bonds and Stock shall be represented by an issue of new Stock, to be
divided rateably to the Stockholders in each Company, and that the two
Companies shall be thus consolidated.
|
|
That to settle on the above basis, the Secretary shall be
instructed to prepare tables exhibiting the actual cost of each Road
and its appurtenances on the 30th of April, 1863, and also the amount
of scrip to be issued to the Stockholders in each Company, the object
of this mode of settlement being to leave each Stockholder in the new
Company in the same relative situation as to property in the Company,
as he occupied in the old Companies.
|
|
And we further recommend that the two Boards of Directors
of said Companies shall remain in office and act jointly until the
second Monday in February next, on which day there shall be an
election for Directors of the consolidated Company.
|
|
And that the fiscal year of the consolidated Company
shall terminate on the 31st of December of each year.
|
| Solomon Cohen |
Committee of Sav. A.
& G. R. R. Co. |
| John Stoddard |
| Henry D. Weed |
| A. T. Macintyre |
Committee of Atlantic
& G. R. R. Co. |
| C. J. Munnerlyn |
| Wm. B. Hodgson |
|
|
|
|
It will be observed that the report of the joint
committee directs the statement of the Secretary to be based upon the
actual cost of the Road and its appurtenances on the 30th of April,
1863, but as it was found necessary to include the assets of each
Company, in order to make a just basis of consolidation, the Secretary
has drawn his statement from the financial status of each Company on
the 1st of May, 1863, the date upon which the accounts of the fiscal
year of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company are finally
closed. By this means the total indebtedness of that Company to the
Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company in their adjustment of earnings
is made to appear in its proper relations of assets and liability.
|
| The statement of the
Secretary is as follows: |
| Savannah,
Albany & Gulf Rail Road |
| Construction Account |
$1,348,495.28 |
|
| Less Discount on Bonds |
73,395.62 |
1,274,899.66 |
| Right of Way |
|
16,387.77 |
| Rolling Stock |
|
202,703.52 |
| Savannah Depot |
|
63,667.95 |
| Screven Depot |
|
558.33 |
| Florida Branch Rail Road |
|
75,726.28 |
| Interest paid on Bonds for do |
|
2,107.58 |
| Improvements in Savannah Depot |
|
52,698.72 |
| Connecting Line to Central Rail Road |
|
4,677.47 |
| Branch to Lamar's Canal |
|
3,025.00 |
| Machine Shop at Thomasville |
|
8,000.00 |
| Cost of Road and
Appurtenances |
1,704,452.28 |
|
Assets |
|
|
| Stock Shares in A. & G. R. R.
Co. |
200,100.00 |
|
|
" Augusta & W. R. R. Co. |
700.00 |
|
| Confederate Bonds |
4,500.00 |
|
| L. M. Hamilton, Agent |
15,914.79 |
|
| Confederate States |
66,614.83 |
|
| Cash in Merchants & Planters
Bank |
31,334.76 |
319,164.38 |
|
Road and Assets |
|
2,023,616.66 |
|
Liabilities |
|
|
| Capital Stock |
1,371,300.00 |
|
| 7 per cent. Guaranteed Stock for
Florida Branch |
76,400.00 |
|
| Company's Bonds |
341,200.00 |
|
| Due the Atlantic & Gulf R. R.
Co. |
192,377.68 |
1,981,277.68 |
| Balance due Stockholders |
|
42,338.98 |
| Add 2 1/4 per cent. dividend on 2001
shares Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road |
|
4,502.25 |
|
|
46,841.23 |
| A dividend of 3 3/8 per cent. on
13713 shares of Stock will amount to |
|
46,381.37 |
| Leaving undivided |
|
$459.86 |
| Atlantic
& Gulf Rail Road Company |
| Construction Account |
|
$1,104,328.91 |
| Surveying and Engineering |
|
48,295.14 |
| Screven Depot |
|
525.00 |
| Right of Way |
|
81,154.87 |
| Extended Surveys |
|
6,141.53 |
| Iron Rails, Chairs and Spikes |
|
577,396.59 |
| Freight, Wharfage and Drayage |
|
38,424.82 |
|
|
1,856,266.86 |
|
Assets |
|
|
| D. W. Orr, Contractor |
553.01 |
|
| Bonds of the State |
73,000.00 |
|
| Confederate Bonds |
6,800.00 |
|
| Due by S., A. & G. R. R. |
192,377.68 |
|
| Cash |
35,290.70 |
308,021.39 |
|
Value of the Road |
|
2,164,288.25 |
|
Liabilities |
|
|
| Capital Stock |
$1,626,720.00 |
|
| Company's Bonds |
500,000.00 |
2,126,720.00 |
| Balance due Stockholders |
|
37,568.25 |
| A dividend of 2 1/4 per cent. on
16267 1/5 shares will require |
|
36,601.20 |
| Leaving Undivided |
|
$967.05 |
|
|
The amount to be divided to the Stockholders of the
Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road is 3 3/8 per cent. on $1,317,300
of Capital Stock, making the sum total to be divided by the
consolidated or new Company $82,982. 57. It is proposed in the Report
of the Joint Committee, not, however, intending it as an absolute
recommendation, to cause this sum to be issued in Script, but as this
mode of distribution will involve, without necessity, an extension of
Capital Stock, it is advised that this dividend be paid in cash. The
amount of Capital Stock will thus remain unchanged, and two thousand
and one (2001) shares of the Stock of the Atlantic & Gulf Rail
Road, belonging to the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company,
becomes the property of the new Company, and may be disposed of at any
time without increasing the amount of Capital Stock now belonging to
both Companies.
|
|
The consolidation of the two Companies places their
financial affairs in the condition shown in the following united
balance:
|
|
The affairs of the Consolidated Company will stand as
follows, if the consolidation takes place to date the 1st day of May,
1863
|
| CR |
| Retired Stock Atlantic & Gulf R. R. Co. |
|
200,100.00 |
| Stock Augusta & Waynesboro' Rail Road |
|
700.00 |
| Construction Account |
|
3,123,082.27 |
| Right of Way |
|
97,542.64 |
| Rolling Stock |
|
202,703.52 |
| Savannah Depot |
|
63,667.95 |
| Screven Depot |
|
1,083.33 |
| L. M. Hamilton, Agent |
|
15,914.79 |
| Florida Branch Rail Road |
|
75,726.28 |
| Improvements Savannah Depot |
|
52,698.72 |
| Confederate Bonds |
|
11,158.13 |
| Connecting Line to Central Rail Road |
|
4,677.47 |
| Branch to Lamar's Canal |
|
3,025.00 |
| Machine Shop at Thomasville |
|
8,000.00 |
| Confederate States |
|
66,614.83 |
| D. W. Orr |
|
553.01 |
| Bonds of the State of Georgia |
|
73,000.00 |
| Cash |
|
66,625.46 |
|
|
$4,066,873.40 |
| DR |
| Capital Stock |
|
$2,998,020.00 |
| Special Guaranteed 7 per cent Stock |
|
76,400.00 |
| Company's Bonds |
|
841,200.00 |
| Profit and Loss; A. & W. R. R. |
|
147,648.90 |
| Suspense Account |
|
3,604.50 |
|
|
$4,066,873.40 |
| In reviewing this
statement it is found that the property and liabilities of the
new Company are as follows: |
| Property |
| Value of Road, Depots, Buildings and other
permanent property |
$3,429,503.66 |
|
| Cash and personal property, including Rolling
Stock and $200,100 Retired Stock |
637,369.74 |
$4,066,873.40 |
| Liabilities |
| Capital Stock |
$2,998,020 |
|
| Special Guaranteed Stock |
76,400 |
|
| Company's Bonds |
841,200 |
3,915,620.00 |
| Assets remaining over and above all
Liabilities |
$151,253.40 |
|
|
The Joint Committee has further recommended that the
present Boards of Directors of the old Companies serve as a
consolidated Board for the new Company until the second Wednesday in
February next. This recommendation becomes the more forcible, as the
meetings of the Stockholders of each Company must, of necessity, be
separate until consolidation is effected, and a new Board cannot be
chosen without again calling together the Stockholders of the new
Company.
|
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The recommendation that the fiscal year of the new
Company shall terminate on the 31st of December, of each year, is of
importance. It is the period, when it is universally customary to
close annual business of every nature, and we can now discover no good
reason for continuing to observe the present rule of either Company
terminating the fiscal year either on the 31st of January or the 30th
of April.
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Respectfully submitted,
|
|
John Screven
|
|
President A. & G. and S., A. & G. R. R. Cos.
|
|
|
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The foregoing Report was submitted to a called meeting of
the Stockholders of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company,
on the 17th of June, 1863, 11,180 Shares of Stock being represented.
The action of the Board of Directors was ratified by the passage
unanimously of the following resolution:
|
|
"Resolved, That an Act of the General
Assembly, entitles "An Act to authorize the consolidation of the
Stock of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company and the
Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company, and for other purposes,
assented to April 18thy, 1863," is accepted by the Stockholders
of this Company, and that they hereby approve and ratify the terms and
conditions of consolidation agreed upon by the Boards of Directors of
this and of the Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road Company."
|
|
On the 30th of June, 1863, the terms and conditions of
consolidation, recommended by the Board of Directors of the two
Companies, were also ratified by the Stockholders of the Atlantic
& Gulf Rail Road Company by the following resolution:
|
|
"Resolved, That the Act of the General
Assembly, assented to on the 18th of April, 1863, granting authority
to consolidate the Stocks of this Company and that of the Savannah,
Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company, (13,486 Shares out of 16,218
being represented in this meeting,) is hereby accepted, and that the
terms and conditions of consolidation agreed upon by the Directors,
and embodied in the Report of the President and Directors to this
meeting, are hereby accepted and ratified; said consolidation to begin
and take effect from the 1st day of May, 1863, and that the Directors
have authority to divide the surplus and distribute it among the
Stockholders, either in Stock, Script or Cash as the Directors may
select."
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Thus, the consolidation of the two Companies was in
conformity with the Act of the Legislature by which it was authorized.
The terms and conditions of the consolidation were not, however,
complete, as it was deemed most expedient to allow time to develop
such details as would be found necessary to perfect the union of the
Companies, and to reconcile any antagonistic differences in the
provisions of their Charters. The board of Directors has recently had
this subject under consideration, and has agreed upon the following
terms and conditions as being necessary to complete and perfect the
consolidation of the two Companies, and recommend the same for the
ratification of the Stockholders:
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1. That the office of the Company shall be kept in the
City of Savannah, and the Annual Meeting of Stockholders for the
general transaction of business, the reception of the Annual Report of
the President and Directors, and the election of Directors, shall be
held in the same City on the Second Wednesday in February of each
year.
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2. That, at any meeting of the Stockholders, a majority
of all the Stock shall be represented in person, or by proxy, to
authorize the transaction of any business, except the reception of the
Annual Report, examination of the affairs of the Company, and the
election of Directors.
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3. That all Stockholders attending the Annual Meeting of
the Stockholders, shall be entitled to a free ticket on the Road,
coming and returning.
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4. That the Board of Directors, for the present, shall
consist of Fifteen Members, each of whom shall hold in his own name
Twenty-Five Shares of the Capital Stock of the Company, and shall
continue in office for one year, and until their successors are
elected.
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5. That the scale of voting in the consolidated Company
shall be according to the Charter of the Atlantic & Gulf Rail Road
Company, viz: that each Share shall be entitled to one vote.
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6. That the provision of the Charter of the Savannah,
Albany & Gulf Rail Road Company, making Five Directors with the
President or President pro tem., a quorum for the transaction
of business, be adopted by this Company.
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It would prolong this Report to great length to enter
into a full explanation of the reasons of the provisions thus agreed
upon by the Joint Board of Directors, but they are respectfully
recommended to the consideration and adoption of the Stockholders as
being either judicious in themselves, or necessary to the
reconciliation of conflicting franchises of the two Companies.
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John Screven
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President
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