| From the Chattanooga Rebel |
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| December 9, 1862 |
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We congratulate the country that there is at length a
prospect for some improvement in the management of our present system
of transportation by railroad through-out the Confederacy. The
following dispatch, giving notice to Railroad Presidents and
Superintendents in the Confederate States, to meet at Augusta, on the
15th, has been received from Richmond:
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Richmond, Dec. 4, 1862
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Having been appointed Assistant Adjutant General, and
assigned to the special duty of superintending and directing
Government transportation by railroads, I desire a conference with the
Presidents and Superintendents of all the railroads in the Confederate
States at Augusta, Georgia, on the 15th day of December, inst.
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Wm. M. Wadley
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A. A. G., P. A. C. S.
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We sincerely hope the railroad managers everywhere in the
South will be punctual in attending this meeting at the time
specified. We are exceeding glad that the Government has at last hit
upon a system through which the outrageous delays and shameful
failures in the transportation of necessaries to the army, which has
characterized the management of our Southern railroads, since the war
began, may be remedied. It is full time that some steps should be
taken in this matter. The Press has neglected heretofore to make
complaint, and has forborne to condemn the mismanagement of our
transportation system, until "forbearance has ceased to be a
virtue." The railroad companies are amassing fortunes from the
public and the Government, and their success seems to have made them
indifferent as to whether the trains are put in motion or not.
Schedules seem to have become obsolete, and "irregularity"
appears to be the chief end and object and the watchword of a
latter-day railroad corporation.
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In the general confusion attending the movement of our
armies, and amid the bustle and tumult of revolution, when every one
connected with so important a department should redouble his energies
and tax his brain to the utmost to further the ends of our cause, the
railroad officials, from President to engine stoker, seem to have
grown apathetic and aggravatingly "slow." A thousand
frivolous excuses are put forward, and the cry of "no more
trains" and "scarcity of transportation facilities,"
are known to be much exaggerated.
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We reiterate our congratulations to the community at
large, and especially to the suffering troops of our armies, that an
energetic agent of the Government has been appointed to superintend
and direct our transportation, and it is the duty of all the railroad
authorities to lend him every assistance in their power. In no other
way can they so well contribute to the triumph of our arms and to the
relief and comfort of their fellow-citizens.
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