DOC. No. LY.
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LETTER
FROM
THE PRESIDENT
*
OF THE
JA1ES RIVER ADD KANAWHA COMPANY
TO THE
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SENATE OF VIRGINIA.
4
10, I860.
Doc. No. 55
3
Office of the James River and Kanawha Co.,
Richmond, March 10, 1860.
To Robert L. Montague, Esq.,
President of the Senate:
Sir,
I respectfully ask the indulgence of the Senate, to make the following
representation:
•
It is kf own to the General Assembly that the affairs of the James river and Kanawha
company have been long in an embarrassed state, greatly impairing the public useful¬
ness of the completed portion of the company's improvement, and wholly preventing
progress in the work remaining to be finished.
The improvement is one in which many of the citizens of Virginia are deeply inter¬
ested, and which, it is generally conceded, would result in signal advantages to the
Commonwealth, if carried out according to the plan of its projectors.
At three successive sessions, the company has presented to the General Assembly an
earnest petition not only for relief, but for means to prosecute the undertaking.
There might seem to be ordinarily no special propriety in a company like this calling
upon the Legislature to appropriate funds, either for its relief or the prosecution of its
improvement; but the relations between the James river and Kanawha company and
the Commonwealth are peculiar. The investment of the Commonwealth in the improve¬
ment is very large; it is comparatively unproductive, but capable of being made im¬
mensely valuable; the commonest principles of interest would, therefore, seem to justify
the applications which have been made, and the appropriations whieh have been from
time to time so eagerly sought. <
In regard to the prosecution of the improvement, I do not propose now to address
the Senate; but my sense of official duty impels me to present a brief representation in
regard to the private indebtedness of the company, and the condition of some of its
works.
A number of the officers, agents and employees of the company have been without
pay for more than twelve months past; worthy, competent and diligent mechanics,
whose services are daily required, have been obliged reluctantly to leave the service,
because the company could neither pay the arrearages due them, nor promise prompt
payment of their wages in future. The known inability of the company to pay its
bonds for the hire of negroes, has prevented the hiring of the requisite force for the
current year; the credit of the company is so impaired, that it finds difficulty in pur¬
chasing clothing and provisions for the force actually employed; supplies and materials
for the line of the improvement are procured with equal difficulty, and of course at
enhanced prices. All work not essential to navigation has been suspended; yet some
of the suspended work is of the greatest importance, because involving the safety of
mechanical structures on which the maintenance of navigation depends.
4 Doc. No. 55.
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At a meeting of the stockholders held in January last, I laid before them a copy of a
bill which had been previously reported in the Senate, providing for the relief of the
company. This bill, with other documents, was referred to a select committee of
thirteen, and the committee, after a careful investigation of the financial condition of
the company, reported that in their opinion the sum of $400,000, proposed by the bill,
was inadequate, and they instructed me, therefore, to ask for $500,000.
In view of this state of facts, I now express the earnest hope that the General As¬
sembly will not adjourn without appropriating five hundred thousand dollars, to enable
the James river and Kanawha company to pay the most pressing portion of its floating
debt, to repair important works which are in a dilapidated condition, and to keep the
canal from Richmond to Buchanan in navigable order.
I have the honor to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
THOMAS H. ELLIS, President.
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