| From the Wilmington Journal |
| |
| November 21, 1861 |
| |
| President and Director's Report |
| President's Office, W. & M. R. R. Co. {Wilmington
& Manchester RR} |
| Wilmington, N. C., 20th Nov., 1861 |
| |
| To the Stockholders: |
| The President and Board of Directors
submit for the consideration of the Stockholders the Fourteenth Annual
Report upon the affairs of the Company for the fiscal year closing on
the 30th September last. |
| It is with no small degree of satisfaction
that, in rendering to you an account of our charge for the past year,
we are enabled to do so in a manner gratifying to ourselves, and we
trust acceptable to you. Had circumstances so ordered it that we
should have been compelled to present your affairs in and aspect not
so prosperous as it has heretofore been our province to do, still
there might have been no cause for distrustfulness in the future
promise of the Road. But such is not the case. An examination of our
condition will inspire the most casual observer with renewed
confidence in the permanent merit of our Road. The means of testing
the accuracy of this assertion are afforded in the accompanying tables
setting forth the year's operations, having a due regard to the
circumstances under which the work has been done. In times of peace
and prosperity, when productions are constantly on the increase, and
exchangeable values are following their accustomed avenues of trade
and commerce, and all the industrial interests of the country are in
their normal condition, it would naturally be expected that with a
properly located Road its revenues should be not only maintained, but
every year bring with it a fair addition to its business. But when
these have been deranged by such causes as are at present existing, it
was to have been expected that Railroad interests would have greatly
suffered in a decline of their usual receipts. This, however, has not
been the case with us. Though the ordinary sources whence we have
heretofore derived our receipts have measurably failed under the
general depression in furnishing to us their accustomed contributions,
yet being in the line of connection between the extremes of the
country, our Road, by this position, has realized larger receipts than
heretofore. |
| Annexed will be found the Report of the
General Superintendent, together with the Account Current and Exhibit
of the Treasurer and the customary tabular statements showing the
amount of work accomplished during the year. These last will embrace
in detail the character of the work, the points to and from which it
has been done, and the sources whence spring the revenue of the Road.
To these you are referred as giving you a minute insight into the
operations of the Road. |
| From the Abstract of Receipts, it will be
seen that the total earnings for the year have been $473,463.85. From
the Abstract of Expenditures, that the cost of operating has been
$214,522.25 -- leaving the nett earnings amounting to $258,941.60. The
nett earnings have been 10.41 per cent. upon the entire cost of the
Road. After deducting interest paid, they have been 17.52 per cent.
upon the capital stock, and without making this deduction, they have
been 22.8 per cent. |
| A comparison of the business of the past
year with that of the preceding one will show the following results: |
| A |
loss |
upon |
Way Travel |
25,068.55 |
| " |
" |
" |
Freight and minor sources |
23,759.17 |
| " |
" |
" |
Mails |
6,432.87 |
|
|
|
|
$55,260.59 |
| A gain from Through
Travel |
$59,265.92 |
| Difference |
$4,005.33 |
|
| This difference, which is but the
difference between the aggregate receipts of last year and the
preceding, shows but a slight increase in the business of the Road for
the past year; but, in itself, does not present the proper and true
comparison between the two years. The correct comparison would be
between the nett earnings. The Superintendent's report shows that the
cost of operating has been less by $35,247.95 the last, than the
previous year. Every diminution in expenditures, as well as increase
in receipts, tending to enlarge the nett revenue, these two sums taken
together indicate the nett earnings for the year, in excess of those
for the year before. The nett earnings for the year preceding the last
were $219,688.32. Those for the year just closed $258,941.60. |
| The Treasurer's Exhibit will show that the
entire amount which has passed through his hands for the
fiscal year has been |
$553,257.85 |
| His disbursements have been |
329,700.24 |
| Assets in hand at the close of the year |
223,557.61 |
|
$553,257.85 |
| These disbursements are composed of
the following items: |
| Operating expenses of Road for the year |
$214,522.25 |
| Balance of interest and premium on Exchange |
60,041.82 |
| Amount of Debt reduced for the year |
5,168.69 |
| Interest on anticipated payments on Capital Stock paid in
Stock |
2,915.89 |
| Amount paid on account of Construction |
8,360.77 |
| Amount paid on account of filling Trestle |
6,517.63 |
| On account of Engine Rotunda and Foundations |
7,910.76 |
| Balance of Subscription to Stock of the Cape Fear and Ocean
Steamship Navigation Company |
5,250.00 |
| For building Wharf and foundations for Warehouse, including
materials furnished for same |
14,524.68 |
| Paid for insurance |
1,398.75 |
| Counterfeit money received |
89.00 |
| Aggregate disbursements for the year |
329,700.24 |
| To which add assets on hand |
228,557.61 |
| Total |
$553,257.85 |
|
| The capital stock of the Company has been
increased this year to the amount of $4,763.51. Of this, $2,915.89 has
been paid in accrued interest on anticipated payments on account of
Capital Stock. The remainder, $1,847.62, has been paid in cash or its
equivalent. |
| There has been about the same amount
absorbed in construction which there was for the last two or three
years. The amount paid for filling Trestle is considerably in excess
of what it was the year before. During that year there was a very
small force engaged in filling, hardly more than a mere nominal one,
but at the commencement of the past year it was determined to occupy a
much larger force than had been usually applied to this work, and to
undertake the embankment of some of the largest work of this character
on the Road. Consequently, the force organized for the year has been
chiefly engaged at the Trestle Work on the Great Pee Dee. Before
undertaking it ourselves several efforts were made to have the work
done by contract, but all these were unavailing. Either from the
magnitude of the work or fears of the effect of miasmatic fevers upon
the health of laborers remaining at the swamp through the summer
season, or from a diversity of opinion as to the compensation which
should be allowed, no contractor could be found to undertake it. Under
these circumstances, deeming it very desirable that a beginning should
be made upon a work of so much importance, one too which would
necessarily consume a good deal of time before its completion, it was
begun by the Company. The quantity of work done during the year has
been considerable, as stated in the Superintendent's Report. To what
extent it may with safety be continued cannot at this time be stated.
We are satisfied, however, that the larger portion of the distance
between the bank and the river may be filled. To do this will require
parts of several years, so that the inundations in the meantime, to
which this stream is so subject, will have afforded ample opportunity
for testing the propriety of prosecuting the work, and of marking out
the limit to which it may be extended. |
| In the last annual report it was stated
that the Board, feeling the urgent necessity for more extended
accommodations for the transportation business at this terminus of the
Road, had selected a site for the erection of a suitable warehouse.
The location selected rendered it necessary that before a commencement
had been made upon the warehouse, a wharf of proper dimensions should
be constructed. This has been done. We have a large and commodious
wharf, and the foundation piles driven and plans ready for going to
work on the warehouse, all adapted to what we consider the prospective
demands of our business, upon the return of an auspicious season for
entering upon it. This work, which we had hoped to have had very
nearly, if not entirely completed, by this time , has been postponed
from prudential considerations. It will not, however, be postponed
beyond a period when we shall feel justified in executing it. |
| The indebtedness of the Company is as
follows: |
| First Mortgage Bonds |
$596,000.00 |
| Second
"
" |
200,00.00 |
| Income
" |
174,000.00 |
| Bonds secured by hypothecation of Stock in
Wilmington & Weldon Rail Road Company |
75,000.00 |
| Bills Payable |
24,351.77 |
| Other liabilities (see Treasurer's acc't
current) |
21,779.80 |
|
$1,091,131.57 |
|
| As will be seen, the amount of
indebtedness reduced this year is $5,168.69. Upon the completion of
the Road, after exhausting all of our means which had been derived
from the negotiation of bonds and the subscriptions made by
individuals, we had incurred a very considerable debt which it was
found at the time impracticable to fund. Heretofore it has been our
constant aid and effort to liquidate this floating debt, and hence all
of the surplus available means of the Company have been directed to
that end, until now we may be said to have reduced it to an almost
nominal amount. We felt assured that so soon as this could be
effected, then being possessed of a great public enterprise such as
ours is, with a property costing some two and a half millions of
dollars, with a debt of about only one million, and this in a funded
shape, and having amongst our assets stock amounting to some two
hundred thousand dollars, we should then have placed our Road upon a
firm and solid footing. |
| At the last annual meeting it was declared
by the Stockholders that, from the condition of the Company as then
presented, they were entitled at some early day to receive some
remuneration upon their investment in the way of dividends. Though
this declaration was true in view of the profits which had been
realized for that year, yet, in consideration of the fact that these
profits had been disposed of by applying them towards a reduction of
the debt, a portion towards meeting a balance of the debt for which
stock had been hypothecated, and a larger portion towards removing
floating debt, it was not deemed prudent to make a dividend at that
time, though the Board felt extremely desirous of doing so at the
earliest moment; but better a little longer to await events, and when
done, it could be done with safety and without incurring any risk of
embarrassment to our finances. It was consequently postponed until the
month of October, when the Board declared a dividend of nine per
cent., payable to Stockholders on and after the 1st of November, three
per cent. of which was due to the Stockholders in compliance with
their expressed wish, and six per cent. for the current year. Though a
large dividend for the first one ever declared by the Company, an
inspection of the revenue of the Road for the year's business will
fully vindicate the propriety of it. The receipts for the fiscal year
have been larger than they have ever been before. The expenditures for
operating have been below what they have been for several years. After
paying this dividend there will then remain a surplus on hand to
provide for any future contingency. |
| The Stockholders, at the same meeting,
passed a resolution instructing the Board to take steps for raising a
sinking fund to provide for the debt of the Company. The Board, in
compliance with this resolution, have appropriated twenty-five
($25,000) Confederate Bonds for this purpose. |
| The double daily mail service which has
been performed by the Road for some years past has been discontinued.
Upon the organization of the new Government the Department determined,
with a view to retrenching the expenditures requisite for maintaining
service of this class, as well as because it was not deemed absolutely
necessary to the wants of the country to continue the mails with as
great frequency as has heretofore been the case, to enter into
contracts for the carriage of but a single daily mail. Under this new
arrangement a contract was made with the Department to commence on the
1st July, and continue for two years. The compensation to be allowed
was divided into three classes, according to the importance of the
mails to be transported. Forming a link in the main route, our line
was assigned to the first class. For this service we receive one
hundred and fifty dollars per mile, with twenty-five per cent.
additional for night service, so long as we continue to perform that
service, which is now being performed under a schedule ordered by the
Department. The absence of the former daily mail trains rendered it
necessary that some provision should be made in accommodating the
local travel of the Road, which, from considerations of comfort and
convenience, had been chiefly done by those trains. To meet this
requirement, it was regarded as most economical and expedient to unite
the two classes of service, and daily through freight trains, with
passenger coaches attached, running upon schedule, have been put into
operation. Though not running at so great a speed as the former
trains, we think that they will be found to answer the purposes of
this travel. |
| At the invitation of the Post Master
General a Convention of the representatives of the various Rail Road
Companies assembled in Montgomery, in April last, to confer upon the
change which was about to be inaugurated in the postal system. The
Secretary of War, availing himself of the presence of the Convention
in that city, addressed to them a communication asking their
assistance in arranging some plan for the conveyance of troops and
materials of war. Their deliberations resulted in their agreeing to
receive for this service to the new government payment in Bonds or
Treasury Notes of the Confederate States, at the rate of two cents per
mile for troops and half the regular local rates for munitions,
provisions and materials. This portion of the business for the year
has been done subject to these rates, and consequently the actual
amount of work done by the Road for the year has greatly exceeded what
it would have been, under ordinary circumstances, to have earned the
same amount of revenue. This concession on the part of the Rail Road
corporations was prompted by motives of patriotism, to aid the
Government in the great cause in which it is involved and with which
the destiny of us all is identified. Had there been no disturbing
cause in the affairs of the country, we think that our revenue would
have been much larger than it is, and we feel well assured that upon a
return of peace and a resumption of their wonted avocations by our
people, our Road must continue to thrive, and participate in the
renewed prosperity of the country. |
| Respectfully submitted, |
| Thos. D. Walker, President |
|