| Confederate States of America |
| Quarter Master Generals Department |
| Richmond March 14, 1862 |
| |
| Hon J. P. Benjamin |
| Secretary of War |
| |
| Sir, |
| I respectfully submit, herewith, the
letter of Mr. W. H. Swinton, Treasurer of the Charleston & Savannah
Rail Road Company, with the remark that many similar cases of
complaint have been presented to this office. |
| By agreement with the rail road
companies, it was arranged that payment for public transportation
over their roads, should be made in the bonds of the Confederate
States. |
| In this case the payment was due on the
31st December 1861, but the bonds were not issued until the 24th
February 1862, from which date they bore interest; so that the
payment of the account due the company, was withheld during the
interval between those dates, and when at last made, a loss of
interest was entailed upon the company, in direct violation of the
contract made by the Government. |
| In addition, it is alleged, that the
Rail Road Companies, in order to make Confederate bonds available
for current purposes, are obliged to suffer loss of eight or ten per
cent upon them. |
| I submit, in view of the great injustice
which results to these companies, in such cases, that arrangements
be made with the Secretary of the Treasury, by which, bonds in
payment of transportation accounts of Rail Road Companies, may be
promptly issued, when such accounts become due; or, that they should
bear such date, that no loss of interest will be devolved upon the
recipients, if, for any reason the issue of the bonds must be
deferred. |
| Very Respectfully &c |
| A. C. Myers |
| Q. M. General |
|