| Office Petersburg R. R. Co |
|
Petersburg, April 21st 1863 |
|
|
|
Hon. Mr. Sparrow |
|
|
|
Sir, |
|
I observe in the Examiner of this morning that you
presented to the Senate on yesterday a number of letters from Quarter
Masters and others in North Carolina, in relation to transportation of
Government supplies by Rail Roads, in connection with which you are
reported to have made the following remarks. |
|
"These letters state that the Rail Roads, especially the
Petersburg Rail Road, were refusing Government freight and transporting
the goods of speculators, and that in many cases the Rail Road agents had
refused to transport supplies, for need of which the army was actually
starving, unless the Government would agree to pay a bonus over and
above the regular charge for freight" x x." Unhappily the same spirit of
greed which had seized upon many of our people, had extended to the Rail
Road Companies. They would not transport any supplies unless Government
agreed to enter into competition with and pay the prices of the
speculators." |
|
As this Company's road, extending from Petersburg to Weldon
with a branch to Gaston, is properly known as the "Petersburg Railroad,"
though the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad is sometimes designated by
that name, and as this Company's road has its Southern terminus in North
Carolina from whence the complaints seem to proceed, I am constrained to
assume that it is the road alluded to in your remarks. |
|
Regarding this matter as one of very grave importance to
the Company as well as to the Government, I take the first moment after
reading your remarks to say, that if any officer or agent of this
Company has, in any instance, given preference to the "goods of
speculators," or of other persons, over "Government freight," or if any
such officer or agent has in any instance refused to transport
"supplies," or other freight for the Government, unless the Government
would "pay a bonus over and above the regular charges for freight," or
has in any way required the Government to "enter into competition with
and pay the prices of the speculators," if any of these things has been
done, it has never come to my knowledge, and was altogether without
authority from the Board of Directors or myself, or, as I believe, of
the General Superintendent, and was, moreover, in contravention of the
well known and uniform rules of the Company. It has been my constant
effort to give to the business of the Government the preference to which
it is entitled by the laws of the State, and which is entitled by the
laws of the State, and which is demanded by the necessities of the
Country, if the orders which have been given to secure this object have
been disregarded, it is due to the Company as well as to the Government,
that the instances should be made known to me, so that I may take
whatever steps may be necessary to prevent the recurrences of similar
abuses. I therefore, respectfully request, unless the matter should be
deemed worthy of a special investigation by Congress, that you will put
me in possession of any specific facts which are contained in the
letters referred to, or which have in any other way, come to your
knowledge, that I may make them the subject of investigation, and of
such action as the result may demand. |
|
I will add, that while every effort has been made, as I
believe, to perform the work of the Government upon this road with
satisfactory dispatch, the greatest difficulty in doing so has been
found in the fact that large numbers of our cars have, from time to
time, been carried off our road in the service of the Government and
greatly delayed in their return, while many of them have never been
returned at all. To such an extent has this grievance been felt, that
for may months past, this Company has not been in possession, at an one
time, of more probably than one half of its freight cars, and very often
it has been in possession of much less than half. |
|
It may perhaps explain some of the apparent grounds of
complaint against this Company to say, that, in some instances, while
this Company in consequence of being engrossed by Government business,
was carrying no private freight at all, parties have made arrangements
with Companies south of us to run the cars and sometimes the engines and
cars of those Companies through to Petersburg, under Special Contract.
Whenever we could do so without interference with Government freight, we
have brought such cars through, but it is obvious that our doing so did
not injure the Government, because the cars thus run through could not
have been used by us for Government transportation. And in no such
instance has this Company received any extra compensation, or even
ordinary rates of freight, the arrangement being that we gave a share of
the regular rates, generally one half, to the Company that sent its cars
trough. Any extra compensation that may have been paid, was paid wholly
to such other Company. The instances however in which these Special
arrangements have been made have not been frequent. I will thank you to
have this letter read to the Senate. |
|
I have the honor to be, |
|
Your most Obt Svt |
|
Wm. T. Joyner {President, Petersburg RR} |
|