| Annual Report of the Charlotte & South
Carolina RR |
| as of January 1, 1863, |
| President's Report |
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| To the Stockholders of the Charlotte
& South Carolina Railroad Company: |
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| Your President and Directors
respectfully submit the following Annual Report: |
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With the close of the 31st day of December, terminated
the 15th fiscal year of your Company. During the past year, the
business of the Road has been unusually heavy. It more than exceeds,
in gross income, double the amount of any preceding year. From the
Treasurer's Report, the earnings from all sources amount to the sum of
six hundred and forty-one thousand five hundred and twenty dollars and
seventy-six cents ($641,520.76). The expenses for the same period are
one hundred and eighty-nine thousand three hundred and thirty-four
dollars and twenty-one cents ($189,334.21) -- leaving a net income of
four hundred and fifty-two thousand one hundred and eighty-six dollars
and fifty-five cents ($452,186.55). This sum is chargeable with two
dividends, payable in July last and January, 1863, the payment of
interest on the funded debt, the redemption of $30,000 of bonds due
January 1st, 1863. From it is also to be deducted the cost of about
1000 bales of cotton and 40 slaves, purchased for the use and benefit
of the Company, the accounts for which are not entirely closed --
leaving a balance of about $15,000 to liquidate outstanding accounts
and claims against the Company.
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| It has long been the settled
policy of this Company to own a considerable portion of the labor
necessary to the maintenance of the Road. The cotton is held as a
medium of exchange and basis of credit abroad after the blockade of
our ports is relieved. Should the war, wantonly and wickedly forced
upon the Confederacy by the Federal Government, terminate immediately,
your Company will require the expenditure in foreign countries of not
less than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to restore its
property to the same condition it maintained at the beginning of the
revolution. Upon the return of peace, the necessities of the Road will
be urgent, the currency of the country depreciated, and sterling
exchange will for some time rule high; with the cotton, supplies can
be then imported at the lowest rates. |
| The Stockholders should
realize the facts, that while their income has been greater, the
deterioration, wear and tear of their property has been in a
corresponding ration. The rails in the track have been much worn; the
engines are without their usual efficiency; notwithstanding many cars
have been built in the shops during the war, the number on hand is
reduced fifty per centum below the average supply. This was the
result, to some extent, in yielding to the urgent appeals of the
Government to expedite all munitions of war to their destination. The
threatened interruption of the East Tennessee and Virginia roads by
the enemy, and the inconvenient transfer across the Cape Fear River,
at Wilmington, caused much of the heavy ordnance and other munitions
for the defence of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well as the Valley
of the Mississippi, to pass over your Road. Owing to the difference in
the gauge of tracks at Charlotte, these heavy guns and other munitions
were received by your cars, and without transfer sent to Charleston,
Savannah, West Point, Corinth, Mobile, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and
Columbus. As was anticipated, many of these cars were never returned.
A number of them were west of Huntsville, Alabama, when it was
captured by the enemy. These losses are referred to only in
explanation of the present condition of your property. In the then
defenceless condition of our country, the causes which led to them
were cheerfully submitted to, and would be again under similar
circumstances. Such urgent demands have not been made upon your
transportation for the past few months, and it is hoped that such
necessity will not occur in future. |
| According to the authority
vested in the Board of Directors at your annual meeting two years
since, a stock dividend of 33 1/3 per centum was directed to be issued
on the entire capital stock, to each stockholder in proportion to his
shares. This issue, when completed, will increase the capital stock to
about one million five hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars. This
amount will be somewhat varied by the number of fractions of shares
purchased from or sold to the Company, the holder in all cases having
the election to buy or sell at par value. To this time 3,676 1/3
additional shares have been issued; in which $9,700 were paid for
fractions, and $8,633.33 received for fractions of shares, leaving a
difference between cash received and disbursed on this account only
$1,066.67, reducing the dividend of stock that much less than 33 1/3
per centum on the amount issued. There are yet outstanding about 442
shares entitled to receive the stock dividend. It is desirable to have
this account closed as early as possible; and for this reason the rule
was adopted to pay no dividend upon the new stock until the old
certificate was surrendered and a new one issued including the stock
dividend. The equipment of your road was not ample at the beginning of
the war for its then limited business, and in addition to doing more
than double its usual transportation, it has furnished the engines and
cars to the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad, with which it has
been operated. The greater portion of your income is from freight, the
passenger account including the transportation of soldiers. All
Government freights, with slight exceptions, have been conveyed at
rates much below the average charges in time of peace, to wit: 20
cents per hundred pounds per hundred miles, and the soldiers at 2
cents per mile. The ordinary charges on the Government business would
have given you an income of about $200,000 more than it has yielded.
In addition much freight has been transported free of charge for
benevolent and patriotic purposes. This has been accomplished too
while the prices of every element which enters into the operating
expenses of railroads have advanced from 50 to 1,000 per cent, and yet
it is gratifying to state that your expenses are not 30 per cent. on
the gross income of the road. Such results are not often attained by
corporations under similar circumstances, no can such be expected by
the stockholders in the future. At the beginning of the past year the
Company had a fair quantity of material and supplies on hand,
purchased at peace prices. These have all been consumed, and the
Company is now paying for many essential articles ten times their
former rates. |
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Notwithstanding the advancing prices of the country, your
charges for transportation of passengers and freights were not changed
until October last, when they were increased on passengers about 20
per centum, and on freights an average of 30 per centum. While the
railroads generally have contributed, in a high degree, to maintain
the Government, it is manifest that their advances upon other
interests have not been commensurate with the increasing prices of the
country.
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The Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad will be
completed to Statesville by the 20th of February. This will become an
important auxiliary to your road when finished. The progress of the
work has been delayed by the difficulties in procuring materials for
the completion of the bridge across 3d creek, two miles from
Statesville. This bridge is 93 feet above the surface water of the
creek, and 550 feet long, with about 600 feet of trestle connected
thereto, making no ordinary structure. The income of the road for the
past year in its incomplete condition, running only four trips per
week, will amount to nearly $24,000. To this time it has only been
necessary for this Company to endorse $151,000 of its 6 per centum
bonds; and the opinion is entertained that it will not require much
more aid from any extraneous source. With this important tributary
complete, and an assurance that the Greensboro and Danville connection
{the Piedmont RR}
will be made during the ensuing year, you have every reason to rely
upon a permanent and increasing business. Only one more important link
is necessary to place your property on the principal highway of the
Confederacy. This is the Columbia and Augusta connection. Let this
work of only 70 miles be constructed, and you annihilate 70 miles
between these two cities -- just one-half the present distance by
rail. To this work your Company and the City of Columbia have for
years been pledged to do their duty, and whenever the Cities of
Augusta and Hamburg and the Georgia Railroad Company, and the planters
along the line will unite with them, the road can be built without any
foreign aid or capital. Should concert of action between the
respective parties identified in interest be secured, the graduation
of the road would be placed under contract at once. Should Savannah or
Charleston fall into the hands of the enemy, this proposed road might
become of vital importance to the Confederacy, a greater military
necessity than the Piedmont connection.
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The trains have been run with much
regularity, considering the difficulties of the times and the pressure
of business upon them, and it is cause of gratitude that no serious
accident has occurred. More than 90,000 passengers have been
transported over the road without injury to any one. Your former
Superintendent left the road in August last, and early in September E.
Hulbert, Esq., of Georgia, was selected to fill the position. His
report, with that of the Treasurer, including the various tabular
statements, are submitted, and your attention is invited to them for
the more detailed statements and accounts of the business of the road.
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Respectfully submitted
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Wm. Johnston
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President
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