| From the Vicksburg Whig |
| |
| February 18, 1863 |
| |
| {Proceeding of the Confederate
House of Representatives} |
| Mr. Foote -- of Tennessee, offered the
following Resolution: |
| Resolved; That a Special Committee of Five
be instructed to inquire particularly into the existing conditions of
the Transportation service on the Line of rail Road extending from
Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama {the
Southern (of Mississippi) RR and the Mobile & Ohio RR}, and
report to the House the facts of the case, in order that the proper
remedy herein may be promptly applied; And also to inquire into the
same subject in reference to the Line of the Mobile & Ohio Rail
Road from Meridian, to Okolona, in the state of Mississippi, and the
line of Rail roads from Richmond, Virginia, to Charleston, South
Carolina. |
| Mr. Foote introduced, as a portion of his
remarks, the following extracts from a letter from Rev. C. K.
Marshall, of Mississippi, to a Confederate Quarter-Master: |
| Colonel Brent |
| Esteemed Sir, |
| You will probably see Colonel Myers, our
active and successful Quarter-Master-General, and if you do, and have
any regard for the economy or honor of our local interest in this
particular latitude, just give him a few items on the improvidence and
waste, neglect, and mismanagement daily observable all about these
parts. The City (Richmond), with all its Hospitals, is destitute for
wood. Corn in the shuck, and peas by the Thousands of Bushels, and
meal, more precious than gold, are permitted to lie out doors in
several successive rain storms, while all the intervals of good
weather are employed by the Government drays and teams in hauling
sugar and Molasses. Goods are allowed to waste and spoil all about the
country; And yet God only knows how we are to get along for want of
supplies. How is it accounted for that there is no energy displayed
except for connection with sugar and molasses, said to belong to the
Government. The fact is, if the Yankees ever take the City of
Richmond, it will owe its fall to the mismanagement of Government
Officers. |
| C. K. Marshall |
| Mr. Foote said he had learned that, on the
Line of Rail Road from Vicksburg to Mobile, there were private parties
who were allowed Six, Seven or Eight Cars, for the transportation of
their commodities, while the Stores of the Government were allowed to
be exposed to the pelting of the elements. He had been informed that
the wretches engaged in this speculative use of the Rail Roads boasted
that a single One of those expeditions had realized Thirty Thousand
Dollars profit. |
| Mr. Miles -- of South Carolina, took
occasion to remark upon the shortcomings and irregularity of the
Transportation from Richmond to Charleston. The Transportation was so
little to be relied upon for the public service that he could name
instances where guns, shipped from here for the defense of Charleston,
had not reached their destination within Two weeks from the time they
were put on the Cars in Richmond. |
| The Resolution was adopted. |
|