| Annual Report of the Southern (of
Mississippi) RR |
| as of September 1, 1861, |
| President's Report |
| |
| President's Report |
| Southern Railroad Company |
| Vicksburg, Sept. 1st, 1861 |
| |
| The last report to the
stockholders of this company was made on the 2d day of May, 1857, and
brought down the business and condition of the road to the
commencement of that year. More than two years have since elapsed,
during which many events of great moment to the company have occurred;
but it was deemed advisable by the Board of Managers not to make
another printed report until the road was finished in all its length,
and the exact condition of our affairs could be ascertained and
plainly stated. That event has been consummated. The cars ran through
to Meridian on the 3dd day of June of this year, and have ever since
then been making regular trips. |
|
Such facts in the history of the road as require mention
will be briefly stated, before I enter upon a statement of the present
condition and future prospects of the company.
|
| Mr. Geo. H. Hazlehurst, who
at the date of our last report was Chief Engineer and General
Superintendent -- the two offices having, for convenience and economy,
been united -- continued actively in the service of the company and
the work of construction, until the 25th of May, 1859, when he
resigned his office, and Mr. Wm. M. Wadley, late of the New Orleans,
Jackson & Great Northern Railroad, and formerly of the Georgia
Central Railroad, was appointed to succeed him. The work of
construction was prosecuted by Mr. Wadley as rapidly as our means
would allow, until October, 1860, when he resigned his post to take
control of the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas Railroad, in which he
had a large interest; and Mr. Robert C. Green, who had held the post
of Assistant Engineer under him, was promoted to that of Chief
Engineer and General Superintendent; which post he continued to hold
until the rails were laid to Meridian, and still holds. On the 1st of
August, 1861, Mr. Green, prompted by the highest impulses of
patriotism, organized a military company, of which he was chosen the
Captain, and soon after left for the seat of war, now raging between
the United States and the Confederate States, on the Virginia border.
Mr. Green's course met with the full sanction of the Board of
Managers, who granted to him leave of absence for three months, and
appointed Mr. B. L. Boulineau, Superintendent of Machinery, to act as
Superintendent of the road until the termination of his leave of
absence. And the details of the management of the road are now under
Mr. Boulineau, aided by the constant oversight of the President. |
| These repeated changes in the
management of the road have left me without a report from either of
the engineers, of the progress, construction and condition of the road
while under their control. But as no important steps have been taken
without the approval of the Board of Managers, this is the less to be
regretted. |
|
The entire cost of the road thus far, completed through
from Brandon to Meridian, has been $1,617,176, making for that
distance, being eighty miles, the sum of $20,214.70 per mile.
|
|
It will be borne in mind that this company had previously
purchased the Vicksburg & Jackson road, measuring between
forty-five and forty-six miles in length, and owned the road from
Jackson to Brandon, between thirteen and fourteen miles long, donated
to them by the State on condition that we finished by the first day of
March, 1862, the entire line to Meridian -- making, with the new road,
one hundred and forty miles the entire length of the road.
|
|
At the time of the publication of the last report, the
road was finished only to Morton, which an accurate admeasurement,
made under the direction of Mr. Wadley, showed to be but seventy-nine
miles from Vicksburg. During the year 1860 we gradually extended our
line of road eastwardly, until its completion, as stated. The
measurement of the road referred to discloses several erroneous
estimates as to the distances from point to point, on the road. From
Vicksburg to Jackson, instead of forty-six miles, the actual distance
proved but forty-five; and from Jackson to the site of the present
Brandon depot, but thirteen and a half miles; while the entire length
proved to be only one hundred and forty miles.
|
|
The subjoined table of distances is an exact statement of
the different depot sites on the road, and of their distances from
each other, and from Vicksburg:
|
|
Table of Distances |
|
Stations |
Distance Between Stations |
Distances From Vicksburg |
Distances From Meridian |
| Vicksburg |
|
|
140 |
| Bovina |
10 |
10 |
130 |
| Edwards' |
8 |
18 |
122 |
| Bolton |
9 |
27 |
113 |
| Clinton |
8 |
35 |
105 |
| Jackson Junction |
9 |
44 |
96 |
| Jackson |
10 |
45 |
95 |
| Brandon |
13 1/2 |
58 1/2 |
81 1/2 |
| Pelahatchie |
11 1/2 |
70 |
70 |
| Morton |
9 |
79 |
61 |
| Forest |
11 |
90 |
50 |
| Lake |
9 |
99 |
41 |
| Newton* |
10 |
109 |
31 |
| Hickory |
7 |
116 |
24 |
| Chunkey** |
6 |
122 |
18 |
| Tunnel Hill |
10 |
132 |
8 |
| Meridian |
8 |
140 |
|
|
|
The receipts of the road from its legitimate sources for
the year 1859, as will appear by table No. 1 in the Appendix, were
$280,256.14, and the expenses for the same length of time, as appears
by table No. 2, were $188,497.72, leaving the net profits for 1859,
$91,758.42. The receipts of the road for 1860, as appears by the same
table, were $299,966.42, and the expenses for the same period,
$193,958.27; and the receipts for 1861, up to the first day of
September were $184,759.03, and the expenses to that time were
$119,953,28. The net receipts for these periods, amounting in the
aggregate to $262,545.32, have all been expended in the faithful
prosecution of the work of construction.
|
|
It must be borne in mind that the road, during 1859 and
part of 1860, was operated only to Morton, seventy-nine miles, and
during the rest of 1860 and the greater part of 1861, only to Newton,
a distance of one hundred and nine miles; and that the work of
construction was progressing at the same time, and of necessity
interfering with the regular working of the road. No through
connections were made, and the country being comparatively new and
unsettled, afforded but little local business.
|
|
At the date of the last report, it was estimated that the
sum of eight hundred thousand dollars would be required to complete
the road. The amount actually required has been not very largely in
advance of that sum.
|
|
It was then contemplated that the net income of the road
for the unexpired portion of 1859 would be $115,000, and the net
income of 1860 would be $135,000. This last estimate was based on the
supposition that the road would be completed and be doing business of
its full length by the first day of October, 1860; an expectation not
at all unreasonable, and which would have been to the letter realized
but for the unfaithfulness of a bridge contractor, who constructed one
of the bridges over Chunkey River in so unworkmanlike a manner, that
it was washed away by the first freshet.
|
|
It will also be recollected that to pay the estimated
cost of the road we counted on the sale of our ten per cent. income
bonds to a large extent. In effecting this sale we are indebted mainly
to Dr. F. T. Willis, in Georgia, R. M. Johnston Esq., President of the
Exchange Bank of Columbia, in South Carolina, and to our friends, O.
B. Graham and Robt. McDowell, Esqrs., of New Orleans, La. Through the
active agency of the two last named gentlemen we were enabled to
dispose of, at par, for cash, to friends of theirs in England, our
income bonds to the extent of fifty thousand pounds sterling -- with
the proceeds of which we purchased of Messrs. Bailey Bros. & Co.,
of Liverpool, the iron for the remaining thirty miles of our line.
|
|
As stated, the entire cost of the road from Brandon to
Meridian has been thus far one million six hundred and seventeen
thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars and seven cents. Of that
large sum there have been paid in cash derived from the income of the
road, and the two per cent. fund, the sum of $659,792.50; from the
sale of income bonds has been obtained the sum of $613,182.56; and the
company still owe, in the shape of bonds to contractors and bills
payable, the sum of $344,201.21.
|
|
The subjoined memorandum will show the items of the cost
of construction and the sources of payment. It will be seen by it that
we have charged to the account of construction but one half of the
contingent expenses incident to the management of the road, and but
one half of the general salaries during the period of the construction
of the road, viz: from the first of January, A. D. 1857. As we had a
completed road in operation during all that time, we have in
estimating the actual cost of the road, thought it proper to charge
the other half of contingent expenses and salaries to general account.
|
| Statement
of Cost of Constructing Road from Brandon to Meridian, brought
down to 31st of August, 1861 |
| Contingent Expenses, $12,260.01 |
One half |
|
$6,130.00 |
| General Salaries 54,408.78 |
" |
|
27,204.39 |
| Interest acc't |
|
|
54,674.27 |
| Rights of Way |
|
|
9,316.02 |
| Engineer Department |
|
$1,048.22 |
|
|
Incidental Expenses |
2,989.36 |
|
|
Expenses of Surveys |
2,584.00 |
|
|
Salaries |
14,479.37 |
|
|
Officers Expenses |
760.27 |
|
|
Advertising |
160.00 |
22,118.12 |
| Construction Acc't |
|
102,257.45 |
|
|
Clearing |
9,756.09 |
|
|
Graduation |
428,813.75 |
|
|
Trestling and Bridging |
53,865.59 |
|
|
Masonry |
712.20 |
|
|
Wooden Drains, &c |
267.64 |
|
|
Superstructure |
559,165.31 |
|
|
Road Crossings |
329.45 |
|
|
Track Laying |
49,123.59 |
|
|
Depot Buildings and Grounds |
16,401.64 |
|
|
Turntables |
603.61 |
|
|
Cattle Guards |
159.96 |
|
|
Water Stations |
867.19 |
|
|
Motive Power |
7,158.31 |
|
|
Maintenance of Way |
76,275.34 |
|
|
Stock and Material and Tools |
1,341.90 |
|
|
Trunking |
28,587.42 |
|
|
Section Houses |
404.96 |
|
|
Rolling Stock |
153,202.97 |
|
|
|
|
1,489,294.37 |
| Work done at Machine Shop |
|
|
8,438.90 |
|
|
|
$1,617,176.07 |
| Means By
Which The Payment Has Been Made |
| Railroad Receipts |
$1,364,663.13 |
|
|
| Less Railroad Expenses |
851,434.31 |
|
|
|
513,228.82 |
|
|
| Work at M. shop charged in R. R.
expenses |
|
$521,667.72 |
|
| Income Bonds |
|
613,182.56 |
|
| Bonds to Contractors |
|
130,292.57 |
|
| Two per cent. Fund |
|
138,124.58 |
|
| Three per cent. Fund |
|
20,949.07 |
|
| Bills Payable |
|
192,959.57 |
$1,617,176.07 |
|
|
It is proper to add that construction account has not yet
been closed on our books. The road, though completed through and
operated daily, still requires, in several of the deep cuts, and
especially those which disclosed that species of marl called by the
contractors, joint clay, a great deal of labor and expense before it
can be considered a first-class road. In the cuts referred to the
original soil will have to be entirely removed to a depth of perhaps
two feet, and a firmer and more tenacious earth substituted for it.
Some of these cuts will also have to be widened, and parts of the road
need better ballasting than could be supplied at the times the rails
were laid. In addition, several of the smaller bridges, built hastily
and unfaithfully, will have to be repaired. Several depots, including
that at Meridian, have also to be built, and a new bridge over Pearl
River constructed -- to authorize which, and a required change of the
alignment of the track, I procured authority from the Legislature.
Most of this work, however, we will be enabled to accomplish with the
force required to keep up the road; and the account of construction,
when finally closed, will not vary a great deal from that already
stated.
|
|
During the early part of the year 1860, it was found to
be almost impossible to obtain labor to lay the track of the road; and
it was thought indispensable by Mr. Wadley, in order to an early
completion, that we should organize a track-laying force of our own.
We accordingly purchased in New Orleans twenty-one negro men and two
women, for whom we paid in the aggregate the sum of $31,185. These
slaves have since done faithful work, and are still the property of
the company.
|
|
It became obvious in the fall of 1860, that it would be
impossible for the company to meet the $100,000 due to the Girard Bank
on the first day of January, A. D. 1861. The receipts of the road
yielded but little, even then, beyond its working expenditures, and it
had to be supplied with additional rolling stock of all descriptions
to enable it to do the business incident to its completion. Besides
this want of means, the Board of Managers were convinced that they had
agreed to pay to the original owners of the Vicksburg & Jackson
road, a sum far beyond the actual value of the road. It had required
such large outlays, in cash, to put the road-bed in proper repair, and
the completion of the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Road
had turned so large a portion of freight and travel from the Vicksburg
& Jackson road as to make it plain that the company had bound
itself too rigidly in the purchase, both as to amount and time of
payment.
|
|
The faithful expenditure by the company of every dollar
of its income and profits, and of the money raised by the pledge of
the individual credit of the Board of Managers, in the extension of
the road, had secured, beyond all question, the ultimate payment of
the obligations given to the creditors and stockholders of the
Vicksburg & Jackson road; and no doubt was entered that the Girard
Bank would, in consideration of these facts, cheerfully extend the
period of payment. Nor were these anticipations disappointed. By an
arrangement made by me with that bank, the payment of the one hundred
thousand dollars due on the first day of January, A. D. 1861, was
postponed until January 1, 1866; and the payment of the $100,000, due
January 1, 1863, postponed until the first day of January, A. D. 1868,
upon the agreement of this company to lodge, as collateral security
with the Bank, two hundred thousand dollars in amount of the first
mortgage bonds of the company, known as construction bonds. I had
under my control but 133 of those bonds, which I left with the Bank,
under the agreement, and gave the obligation of the company to furnish
the remainder before the first day of July, 1861. Through the kindness
of the Hon. Jno. P. King, President of the Georgia Railroad and
Banking Co., and R. R. Cuyler, Esq., President of the Georgia Cent. R.
R. and Banking Co., I was enabled to procure, from the former twenty,
and from the latter forty-seven of the first mortgage bonds required,
and thus had it in my power fully to comply to the letter with our
contract with the Girard Bank before July 1, 1861 -- of which fact I
notified the Bank; but the progress of political events had been so
rapid, and the division between the North and South had become so
complete, and the actual war raging with such violence that it would
not have been either prudent or patriotic to have attempted the
transmission of these Bonds to the Bank. I accordingly directed them
to be retained to abide the march of events.
|
|
In disposing of the first income bonds, it had been our
custom to pledge, as collateral, for their payment, a portion of the
first mortgage bonds of the company, already referred to, as
construction bonds. The entire amount of these bonds reached but five
hundred thousand dollars; and as they were pledged, in most instances,
at a less rate than par, it soon became obvious that we must intermit
altogether the sale of income bonds, or have additional mortgager
security created to pledge as collateral to them. To provide this the
Board of Managers, under the authority formerly conferred by the
stockholders, ordered an issue of third mortgage bonds, to the amount
of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars -- making a total issue of
mortgage bonds to the extent of $2,000,000, as follows, viz.
|
| Issued to Stockholders of Vicksburg &
Jackson Railroad |
$300,000 |
|
"
Creditors
"
"
"
"
" |
850,000 |
| First Mortgage to aid in construction |
500,000 |
| The issue referred to |
350,000 |
|
$2,000,000 |
|
|
A copy of the mortgage executed to secure these third
mortgage bonds will be found in Appendix A. And it was by substituting
the latter bonds, for the first mortgage that Judge King and Mr.
Cuyler consented to our withdrawal of the first mortgage bonds.
|
|
This is not the place nor is it my intention to speak at
large of the pending civil troubles and the existing revolution by
which the Southern States have separated from the Northern and
established an independent Government for themselves, under the style
of the Confederate States of America; yet a brief reference to these
startling events is necessary to explain the course and present
condition of the company.
|
|
It was soon evident after the election by sectional votes
of Mr. Abraham Lincoln to be President of the United States upon an
anti-slavery platform, that the Southern States would never consent to
submit to his government. His election was regarded everywhere
throughout the South as a public declaration of war against their
institutions; and it was impossible to mistake the fixed and universal
determination to separate from all further political connection with
the North. The effect of this embittered feeling was evidenced in a
general stagnation of business, and a preparation everywhere
throughout the South for extreme measures. This company was among the
first to feel the consequences of the general derangement of business.
Running from East to West, and not constituting at that time any part
of the through line of travel to the North and East, both travel and
freight greatly decreased on the road, and of course its income
steadily diminished. This falling off in freights was also increased
by the fact of the general drouth and almost total destruction of both
corn and cotton crops throughout East Mississippi in the summer of
1860, which placed it out of the power of the people of that portion
of the State, even if a revolution had not been imminent, to do more
than purchase the absolute necessaries of life.
|
|
It became painfully apparent in the spring of this year,
before hostilities had actually broken out, that it would not be
possible for the company to meet their large indebtedness falling due
on the first day of January, 1862, to the trustees of the United
States Bank, even if we should be successful in meeting the interest
due in July upon the bonds given for the purchase of the Vicksburg
& Jackson Road. And in order to lay the condition of the road
fully before these bond-holders, most of whom were residents of
Europe, it was thought best by the Board of Managers that I should
proceed at once to England and the continent and procure such an
extension of the debt as our necessities required on our part, and as
reason and justice render due on their part. This company had
purchased their property at fully thirty per cent. above its actual
value; had with energy and self-sacrifice devoted itself to the
completion of the work they had undertaken, and had faithfully
appropriated to that end the entire income of the whole road, and
nearly a half million of dollars of their private means; and they
could not doubt but their creditors would meet them in liberal spirit.
Accordingly I engaged a berth on the steamship Persia to leave New
York on the 24th of April; but before the day of sailing arrived the
indications of the speedy occurring of open war, precluded my
departure. About this time I was summoned by the Postmaster General of
the Confederate States to the capital at Montgomery to make
arrangements for the carrying of the mails. One of the largest
railroad conventions that ever assembled in the South met at that city
on the 29th of April, and unanimously agreed to undertake the
transport of the mails, and also of troops and munitions of war for
the Confederate Government, at prices far below those ordinarily
charged for similar purposes -- the convention agreeing to carry
soldiers at two cents per mile, and freight for the Government at
one-half the local rates. I presided over this convention, and, though
without instructions from the Board of Managers, did not hesitate to
pledge this road to the agreement, entirely to their subsequent
approval. At this convention it was agreed on the part of the roads to
receive the Treasury notes of the Confederate Government in payment of
sums due by the Government, and subsequently at a convention held at
Chattanooga on the 4th of July, it was agreed to take these notes in
payment of all dues for freight and travel.
|
|
The breaking out of hostilities, and the bitter spirit in
which they were waged by the United States, now made it evident that
it would be impossible for us to pay the interest upon our six per
cent. bonds, all of which was payable at the Bank of America, New
York, except what was due the Girard Bank, at Philadelphia. Our
receipts were rapidly diminishing, and it was impossible to obtain
money at any price or upon any securities; while even if we had had
the money we were forbidden by law and by patriotism from making the
payment at New York. Thus far we had regularly paid the interest upon
all of our bonds, and were in hopes it would still be in our power to
do so; but we were without choice and were forced, for the first time
since we made the purchase, in December, 1857, to fail to meet our
coupons of interest.
|
|
Before this necessity, we had reduced our expenses in
every possible way, and had decreased the salary of every officer of
the road, beginning with my own. In this connection it is just, also,
to mention that, in view of the fact of my repeated absence and to
relieve me of the discharge of many onerous duties connected with the
details of the road, the Board of Managers, on the 8th day of Feb.,
1861, directed that the Vice President should receive an annual salary
of two thousand dollars, and besides attending to the affairs of the
company during my absence, should also attend to such duties as I
might indicate. The Vice President, at the time of the reduction of
salaries referred to, cheerfully remitted the entire salary due and to
become due to him, declaring at the same time his willingness to
perform any duty that might be required at his hands.
|
|
The Confederate Government undertook on the first of June
the carrying of the mails on its own account; and in the month of
August, I made a contract with the Postmaster General to carry the
mails for one hundred and twenty-five dollars per mile -- the
Government to pay, in addition, the sum of fifty dollars per month for
our receiving and delivering the mails at the Postoffice at Vicksburg
and Jackson -- making the entire receipts per annum from mail service
for our whole line of road, $18,100, payable quarterly.
|
|
The balance sheet from the general ledger, which will be
found in table No. 3, will show the amount of our indebtedness, except
a few items of accounts outstanding that have not yet been reduced to
bills payable, that do not, however, amount to ten thousand dollars.
|
|
It presents the following state of indebtedness, viz:
|
| Bonds given in the purchase of the Vicksburg
& Jackson Road |
$1,350,000.00 |
| Income bonds |
613,182.56 |
| Bills payable |
276,773.04 |
| Bonds to Contractors |
130,292.57 |
| Bonds for Three per cent. Fund |
29,949.07 |
| Amount due Robert McDowell |
12,144.69 |
| Cash due Brown & Johnston, and others |
40,010.86 |
|
$2,443,351.63 |
|
|
A debt which would not have been so large by over one
hundred thousand dollars, had the receipts of the company been as
great during the past year as, in a period of ordinary prosperity,
they would be.
|
|
A considerable portion of this indebtedness has been
created for the purchase of rolling stock, including Engines,
passenger and burthen cars. The tables subjoined will show how many
each description are owned by the company.
|
|
The company was, moreover, put to a large expense to
change the guage of the seventy-nine miles, from Vicksburg to Morton,
from four feet ten inches to five feet, and in changing all of our old
rolling stock to correspond to the new guage. The importance of this
will be apparent from the fact that every other road in the State is
of the five feet guage, and the connecting roads in Alabama are also
of that guage. We were enabled to effect this change of track and
rolling stock at much less expense, and with scarcely any interruption
to the regular business of the road, by an ingenious contrivance of
Mr. Wadley's, by which we were enabled to run with the same cars over
both guages.
|
|
Another large item of expenditure was the change of our
track at Jackson to enable us to run parallel with the track of the
New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern road, so as to have a common
depot and more conveniently to interchange business.
|
|
This indebtedness, increasing as it is by the
accumulation of unpaid interest, is not much larger than we had
supposed would be the indebtedness of the company when the road was
finished. In a time of peace and ordinary prosperity it would not be
at all alarming. With a net income of three hundred thousand dollars,
upon which we could have relied with absolute certainty, we could have
paid the interest and annually extinguished a portion of the
principal; while our lands, daily becoming more valuable, and in
demand, would have enabled us more rapidly to diminish the principal.
At present there is no demand for lands, and no surplus income over
actual expenses; indeed the latter exceed the former; and we do not
see what else can be done than quietly to await the issue of these
momentous events, upon which hands not merely the destiny of this
company, but that of many nations, and the welfare of millions of
human beings. Our confidence in the intrinsic value of our road, our
lands and our other property, has not diminished. The one hundred and
forty miles of road, equipped and in order for business, are certainly
worth four millions of dollars, in any period of ordinary prosperity;
and each day adds to the value of our lands, in the development daily
going on, and already visible in a marked degree, in the lands
belonging to others, along the line of our road. Any one familiar with
this region of country two years ago would not recognize it now, and
would be amazed at its rapid progress.
|
|
Injurious as the immediate effects of this revolution
have been upon our pecuniary position, it has not been without its
countervailing advantages, and must ultimately prove of lasting
benefit. It has stimulated the roads in Alabama to renewed and earnest
efforts to effect a junction between the Mississippi and Alabama
rivers, as well as to open the new and shortline of travel from
Meridian to Chattanooga, by way of the North East and S. W. A. R. R. {Northeast
& Southwest Alabama RR} This latter company has procured a
portion of its rails and expects daily to commence track-laying from
Meridian; and the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers railroad is also
laying its track from Uniontown, West; and it is confidently expected
that by next July the entire line from Selma to Meridian will be
completed.
|
|
One of the effects of the separation between the North
and South, and the exasperation consequent upon the action of the
former, must be to greatly enlarge the business of the East and
West roads. Connected with Charleston and Chattanooga on the North
East and East, and with the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas road on
the West, which will by this fall have bridged the Ouachita river, and
with our Northern and Southern connections at Vicksburg, Jackson and
Meridian, this road cannot fail, whenever trade resumes its wonted
prosperity, to realize a prosperous and ever increasing business.
|
|
I must not omit to mention the Act of the Congress of the
Confederate States, called the "Sequestration Act," passed
in retaliation to Northern confiscation laws. By its express
provisions, it is made the duty of every citizen of the Confederate
States speedily to give information to the officers charged with the
execution of the law, of all lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods,
chattels, rights and credits within the Confederacy, and of every
right and interest therein, held, owned, possessed or enjoyed by or
for any alien enemy. And it is further provided that if any person
holding or controlling such property or interest shall willfully fail
to give such information, he shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor,
for which he shall be subject to indictment, and on conviction may be
fined to the extent of five thousand dollars and imprisoned for six
months, besides being subjected to pay double the value of the estate
or interest held by him or subject to his control. These provisions
make it imperative upon this company to report to the proper tribunal
the amount of indebtedness by the Company to the different parties
residing in the United States. This indebtedness will exceed six
hundred thousand dollars, and will include the debts due to the Girard
Bank, the great body of the bonds issued to the stockholders of the
Vicksburg & Jackson Railroad Company, a part of the debt due to
the trustees of the United States Bank, a debt to Messrs. Kirkland
& Co., and to Trowbridge, Dwight & Co., the debts due to
Messrs. M. W. Baldwin & Co., of Philadelphia, for engines
purchased, to Messts. Whitney & Sons, for car wheels and axles; to
Messrs. Jeffries & Sons, Messrs. Hoopes & Townsend, and
Messrs, Fairbanks & Co., all for railroad supplies furnished to
the company, and which, under ordinary circumstances, the company
would have paid with cheerfulness and punctuality. I append a list of
these debts, marked B, with the amounts as accurately given as Mr.
Bryson has been enabled to make it out. The act has been so recent
that the company has as yet made no report to the Court.
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Before closing this report I can not omit calling
attention to the fact that our trains have run with a regularity and
certainty, and with a total freedom from accident that must commend
our road to the confidence of the public, and is a sure proof of its
careful management. It is but a just meed of praise to state that this
result is mainly due to the skillful supervision of Mr. B. L.
Boulineau, the Master of Machinery, and the present temporary
superintendent.
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In conclusion, for myself and the other Managers of the
road, I can only state that we will endeavor faithfully to guard the
interests entrusted to us, so long as they remain in our hands. Each
of us has a deep personal interest in the road and its success, and I
have devoted to it my entire time and thoughts, to the exclusion of
all other matters. The unexpected necessity for the vindication by an
appeal to arms of the right of self-government, and to own unmolested
our personal property, has temporarily thrown a cloud upon our
prospects; but it must soon be dispersed, and the sun of peach and
prosperity shine again. Until that happy period we shall preserve with
care the large property of the company, and will hold it as a sacred
trust, first for the payment of its debts, and after they are paid,
for the benefit of the Stockholders. With a liberal spirit on the part
of the creditors, and we do not doubt its exhibition at the proper
time, there is ample property to pay every debt of the company, and
interest, and to reward, also, the patient labors and public-spirited,
but hitherto profitless investments of the stockholders.
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Wm. C. Smedes
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Prest. Southern Railroad Co.
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