| Annual Report of the Central Southern RR |
| as of October 1, 1861 |
| President's Report |
| |
| Report |
| |
| To the Stockholders of the Central
Southern R. R. Company |
|
| In pursuance of the charter
of the Central Southern Railroad Company, making it the duty of the
President and Directors to submit a statement annually to the
Stockholders, of the condition and operation of the road, the
following expose is made. |
| It will be seen from the
report of the Secretary and Treasurer, that the total cost of the
road, including salaries of officers, and interest accounts, up to the
1st October, 1861, amounts to $1,169,967.68, or $24,589.50 per mile.
The original estimate of the Engineers from the preliminary surveys was
$1,141,209, exclusive of ballast -- this estimate, however, was
reduced by an increase of grade, and a decrease in the width of
cuttings and embankments, so that the last estimate of cost made by
the Engineers in October, 1858, after all the road had been let to
contract, was $1,088,203.14, inclusive of ballast; or $81,764.54 less
than the amounts charged to construction. |
| This discrepancy between the
last estimate and the actual cost, is easily reconciled by referring
to one item of the Treasurer's Report, charged under head of
"State Loan, Interest and Exchange", amounting to
$96,687.88, and which includes all losses sustained on State Bonds,
and the interest paid to the State, up to 1st July, 1861, inclusive.
This is an item of cost common to all roads in Tennessee, and although
never reckoned in the estimates of Engineers, and perhaps not always
so charged in the accounts of the Companies, should, nevertheless, be
charged to construction until the completion of the road. Deducting
this amount from that reported in the present instance, it makes the
cost of the road $1,073,279.80, showing the Engineers to have been
singularly correct in reducing the cost to $22,580 per mile, for which
few if any roads in this State have been built. |
|
It will be seen also, from the report of the Treasurer,
that the floating debt of the Company is $105,550.60, with means on
hand of $27,086.71, reducing the amount unprovided for to $78,443.89;
this is another item common to all roads in Tennessee, and arises in
most cases as in ours, not from any mismanagement or misapplication of
means, but want of capita. The original means of the Company were as
follows:
|
| Individual subscription, payable in cash |
$123,800.00 |
| Giles County |
275,000.00 |
| Corporation of Columbia |
30,000.00 |
| Contractors subscriptions, payable in work |
68,063.86 |
| State Loan |
534,000.00 |
| Making the whole amount |
$1,030,863.86 |
| Which deducted from the cost of the road |
1,169,967.68 |
| Leaves a deficit of |
$139,103.82 |
| Which has been reduced by transportation
receipts to 1st October, 1861 |
60,659.93 |
| Leaving a balance still in excess of means of |
$78,443.89 |
|
| The amount of means on hand
charged as $27,086.89, will not realize that sum by $7,000 or $8,000,
and there are still a few miles of ballast to be added to the cost of
the road, but the above statement is sufficient to show how deficient
the road has been in capital. Had there been $100,000 more subscribed
at the beginning it would now have been paying a dividend, but as it
is, stockholders will have to wait patiently until the debt we owe is
discharged from the receipts for transportation. |
| Another item in the report of
the Treasurer to which attention is called, is that of
"Scrip." This debt was originally $305,000, the amount of
Giles county and Columbia subscription, and is payable either in
transportation or in the capital stock of the Company, as the owner
may elect. A large portion of the Giles county tax payers have entered
into an obligation to commute it for stock, and $54,815.22 have
already been so commuted on the books of the Company; leaving a
balance of $250,184.78 still outstanding. The reasons are many why the
owners of the Scrip should promptly merge their claims in the capital
of the Company. First the road bed and rolling stock must be kept in
the most efficient condition, so as to dispose of all the business
which may accumulate along the line without delay, and in the most
economical manner. In the next place, the interest on the State Loan
must be promptly paid, or a receiver will be appointed to take charge
of the road, until the State claim for interest is paid; and in the
third place, the floating debt of the Company must be paid as soon as
possible. We might urge these positions at considerable length on the
consideration of Scrip holders; but it is confidently believed that
the citizens of Giles county, who have voluntarily taxed themselves to
build this great work of internal improvement, will not be found
wanting, nor deficient in apprehending their true interest, by at once
surrendering their tax receipts and receiving certificates of stock,
which in point of intrinsic value and convertibility are now and will
at all times be equal to the tax scrip. To the owners, the tax
receipts will be found on experiment difficult to use in payment of
transportation, and as they can only be used locally, local rates for
transportation will have to be paid; these on all roads are higher
than through rates, consequently the scrip can never be of equal value
in such payments, as those made with money. Let all holders of tax
receipts surrender them and receive in their place stock certificates,
and soon dividends will be paid on the entire investment. The citizens
of the counties of Giles and Maury have greatly honored themselves by
the construction of so important and valuable work of internal
improvement without the aid of one dollar contributed out of their
limits, and we feel sanguine that they will take the course herein
recommended with their tax receipts, and perfect the good work so
gloriously begun. |
| Much attention during the
current year has been paid to ballasting, to securing deeds to all the
real estate belonging to the Company, to keeping the road-bed in
order, and preparing to house the hands in its service, and we are
pleased to say, that before the close of the present year, the Company
in these respects will be well organized, and prepared further to
perfect its organization. Many of those subjects will be more
particularly explained by the report of D. J. Johns, who has had in
charge most of these subjects, and to whose intelligence and fidelity
a debt of gratitude is due from the stockholders. |
| Attention has been
particularly given to the adjustment of all questions in dispute
between the Company and the citizens through whose lands the road
passes -- to settle all claims for damages, and where it has been at
all advisable the parties have been approached and adjustments made.
On this subject there are but a few questions of a vexatious character
to be settled, and now that the act of limitation shields the Company,
all apprehensions of losses or claims from this fruitful source of
trouble to corporations may not further be apprehended. |
| A renewal of the agreement
between the Tennessee & Alabama Railroad, and the Alabama &
Tennessee Central, has been agreed on to extend from the 1st July,
1861, to the 1st July, 1862. Trains continue to pass over the line
from Nashville to Decatur, under this understanding, which has not yet
been consummated by the signature of the President of the Tennessee
& Alabama Railroad, but we presume it will be given at the next
monthly meeting of the Executive Committee. There is much to be said
in favor of this arrangement. It certainly secures a larger amount of
through transportation than could be obtained without it, and it is a
great relief to passengers to be freed from the trouble of exchanging
cars and in looking after their baggage. I however will advance the
thought, that the independent organization of the Central Southern
Railroad under its own superintendent, whose sole business it shall be
to look after its interest, and promote more fully facilities to the
way of local travel, to the establishment of a first class machine
shop on the line of the road, is indispensable to making provisions to
supply the wants of the Company. We can manufacture all of our rolling
stock as well as we can have it done elsewhere, if we will only
prepare to have the work done. We already have at Columbia preparation
to some extent to accomplish this object, and under the care of C. B.
Knowls, Esq., our chief mechanic, we have repaired our locomotives and
cars, as well and as cheaply as we could have had done elsewhere. And
I must not fail to bring to your notice the claims and character of
Mr. Knowls; in all respects he has filled his position to the
satisfaction of the directors, and is entitled to the most ample
compensation the Company can pay to any one in his position. |
| A contract was made with Zachariah
Parker to cover with tin the bridges over Richland Creek and Robertson
Fork, and to have them boarded up in the exact manner of the bridge
over Elk River. The present political difficulties of the country have
rendered it almost impossible to procure tin, with which to cover the
bridges, and this contract will have to lay over until a more
propitious season. |
| Application has been made by
J. W. Sloss, President of the Alabama & Tennessee Central
Railroad, for a subscription on the part of this road, of twelve
hundred dollars, payable in monthly installments, in order to enable
the Mountain Railroad {Construction?} Company to maintain its forces on the road
during the next twelve months, dating from the 1st Jany., 1862. The
stockholders have the operatives engaged and they ask this assistance
to aid them in securing supplies for their subsistence. The Mountain
Railroad when finished, will connect with this line of roads at
Decatur, and with the view of placing the stockholders more fully in
possession of the arguments in favor of this subscription, I request
the Secretary to read the letter addressed to him by Mr. Sloss, when
they can determine this question understandingly. |
| At Decatur we are daily
experiencing losses and inconveniences for the want of a more perfect
and valuable Southern outlet, which will in a great measure be
overcome by the extension of this line of railways to Montgomery,
Alabama. When this is done, we will not so materially feel the effects
of the interest of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, in preferring
to have freights to pass over their road, via. Stevenson to Nashville. |
| The report of W. O'N.
Perkins, Superintendent of the Nashville & Decatur Railroad Line,
will show the operation of the transportation department, and which
presents an encouraging view of its business and progress. Had this
line of roads possessed a more ample supply of rolling stock, the
business of the last ten months would have been still more gratifying.
This difficulty we have found impossible to overcome although efforts
to do so have been faithfully tried. |
| It affords us great pleasure
to acknowledge the high appreciation we entertain of the services of
Nr. Jno. Baird, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Company. It would
be difficult to find a more efficient officer, and we feel sure that
the business of no Railroad Company in the State has been more
accurately and scientifically kept, and we take additional pleasure in
ascribing to him much of the staple of the present Annual Report. |
| Thomas Martin |
| President. |
|