. > "iW. State Libr ; LETTEE, APRI7,9! ADDRESSED TO THOSE CAPITALISTS OF BOSTON MHO ARE INVITED TO TAKE STOCK m PURCHASING AND REVIVING THE PORTSMOUTH AND ROANOKE RAILROAD IN VIRGINIA, j I NOW CALLED THE SEA-BOARD AND ROANOKE RAILROAD, Showing the Tree Yalne of that Improvement. BY A VIRGINIAN BOSTON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL N. DICKINSON. 1847. LETTER, ADDRESSED TO THOSE CAPITALISTS OF BOSTON WHO ARE INVITED TO TAKE STOCK IN PURCHASING AND REVIVING THE PORTSMOUTH AND ROANOKE RAILROAD, IN VIRGINIA, NOW CALLED THE SEA-BOARD AND ROANOKE RAILROAD, Showing the True Value of that Improvement. BY A VIRGINIAN. BOSTON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL N. DICKINSON. 1847. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/letteraddressedtOOvirg LETTER, ETC. Petersburg, Virginia, July 7th, 1847. To the Editor of the Boston Post : — Sir, — The following letter was originally commenced with the intention of asking you to publish it, as it relates to a matter of some interest to many of your readers ; but, as I progressed, I found it impossible to condense it sufficiently for the columns of a newspaper. I have therefore thrown it in this form, and send you a copy, with the request that you will do me the favor to call the attention of your readers to it. It is currently reported, in this part of the country, that some of the capitalists of your city have purchased, or are about to purchase and revive the Portsmouth and Roanoke railroad. Now, I for one can scarcely credit this report; for I do not think your folks are quite so verdant as to come all the way here to invest their money in an improvement, in which two large communities, like Norfolk and Portsmouth, and I may add a considerable part of North Carolina, although the most, inter- ested, have so little confidence that they risk little or nothing. But the report is so generally believed, that it may have some foundation. Your monied men may have had fine representations made to them of the business that could be done on this railroad ; and it is probable they have had promises held out to them of advantageous connections with the lines north and south of it, for the purpose of carrying passengers. These things, and the abundance of capital at their com- mand, added to the confidence which the successful operation of nearly all the railroads in New England is calculated to inspire, may have induced some of your good people to turn their attention to the Portsmouth and Roanoke road, and perhaps they are now making the inquiries which sensible men always make before they embark in an important speculation. As the revival of the Portsmouth Railroad would injure, to some extent, the road through this place, and be of no benefit to those who take part in it; and as I happen to know a good deal concerning its past history and present prospects, I will give your readers some information about it, which will, I think, better enable them to judge of its real value than any thing they can learn in Portsmouth or North Carolina. And, Mr. Editor, as, I frankly confess, I am interested in seeing that road remain as it is, and may therefore be justly suspected of being prejudiced against it, I do not intend to make any statement of importance without furnishing evidence to sustain it. In the first place, I will give a short glance at the past history of the Portsmouth road. It is well known here, but not so well known in Boston, that the Petersburg railroad was the first road made to the Roanoke, and that the Portsmouth railroad was started in opposition to it. Opposition lines may do very well, or live in New England, where there is traffic sufficient to sup- port them; but here there is not, and the consequence was, that one of the roads could not be kept up. And that road was the Portsmouth road, as might have been expected; for the Peters- burg road, besides being on the main line of travel, was the shortest route to market for the produce of the Roanoke. If any of your folks doubt this, a glance at the map will convince them of the first, and a trip to Richmond and Petersburg of the second. But let us see what the trade was, that the Portsmouth road was made to compete for. To show this, I will give the amount of business done by the Petersburg railroad the year before the Portsmouth railroad was completed to TVeldon .* Statement of the Receipts and Expenses of the Petersburg Railroad, for the year ending January 31, 1838.1 Receipts. Amount received from freight - - $53,068 33 " " " passengers - 27,161 95 " mail - - - 15,026 41 Transportation on the Greensville railroad 8,498 85 Storage ------- 183 31 $103,938 85 Expenses. Officers' salaries $6,500 00 Expenses of depots ... - 11,759 15 Cost of running engines and cars - - 11,338 71 " " repairs " " " - - 8,504 79 " " repairs of railroad - - - 39,826 75 Contingencies .... - 2,806 88 $80,736 28 I appeal to any person in your community, at all conversant with railroad matters, to say if this was business enough to sup- port two roads, one sixty and the other eighty miles long? But the Portsmouth road was finished, and I will now show how the business was divided after that road entered the field to com- pete for it. Statement of the Receipts and Expenses of Transportation of the Petersburg Railroad, for the year ending Jan. 31, 1839.$ Receipts. Freight $68,410 47 Passengers 38,692 46 Mail 12,768 10 Sundries 1,569 48 Total receipts .... $121,440 51 Expenses 92,744 06 * The Portsmouth road 'was finished to Weldon, in November, 1837. t Report of Board of Public Works of Virginia, for 1S3S, page 84. } Report of Board of Public Works, for 1839, p. 66. 1# Statement of the Receipts and Expenditures of the Portsmouth and Roanoke llailroad, for the year ending October 31, 1838.* Balance of money on hand - Tolls (passengers and transportation) Sundry articles sold and work done in shop Five per cent. State scrip sold Money borrowed, .... Disbursements. For improvements, repairs, and interest Officers' salaries, agents, depots, &c. Debts paid off ... - Balance on hand - - - - Take another twelve months : Receipts and Disbursements of the Petersburg Railroad Com- pany, for twelve months, ending Sept. 30, 1839.1 Receipts. Cash on hand per last Report - - $4,116 66 Gross amount of transportation - - 136,239 72 Balance of State loan - - - 61,754 00 Increase of debt 12,062 67 $3,768 01 - 51,216 16 p 7,678 96 90,000 00 - 44.15S 83 $196,821 96 $97,000 78 14,354 00 84,166 14 1,301 04 $196,821 96 114,173 05 Disbursements. Purchase of engines and cars - - $38,809 80 Charges on transportation, including ex- penses of all kinds, and interest - 104,551 78 Dividend, seven per cent. - - - 42,385 00 Cash on hand 28,426 47 !14,173 05 * Report of Board of Public Works, for 1838, p. 90. f lb. for 1839, p. 72. Receipts and Disbursements of the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad, for the twelve months ending Sept. 30, 1839.* Balance on hand per last Report, - $1,301 04 State of Virginia, for quota of additional subscription ..... 16,650 00 For tolls from 1st November, 1838, to 1st October, 1839, .... 59,140 45 For $60,000, five per cent. State stock - 59,421 49 From H. Wilson, for stock sold - - 4,000 00 For interest on stock .... 382 63 For salt and other articles sold - - 359 34 From P. O. Depart., under mail contract 4,589 37 For money borrowed .... 16,000 00 $161,844 32 Disbursements. For improvements, repairs, and transporta- tion expenses .... $47,09271 For engines, coaches, and cars - - 27,158 54 " officers' salaries .... 3,672 10 " expenses collecting tolls - - - 2,897 07 " salt damaged - - - - 246 82 " wood purchased, per steamboats - 1,908 98 " debt paid off at Farmers' Bank - 33,850 00 " other debts paid off - 694 51 " amt of old debts and interest paid off 42,352 62 Balance of money on hand - - - 1,970 97 Total, ..... $161,844 32 In order to carry out this comparison, and make the proof com- plete that there was not business enough to support two roads, and that the Petersburg road received the greatest portion of it, I have inserted in the Appendix (A) a table, giving a compara- tive view of the receipts and disbursements and financial condi- tion of the two roads, up to the time the Portsmouth cars stopped running. This table will, I think, convince the most skeptical. The fact was, — and it is well known here, — that the freight business (principally tobacco and cotton) sought the Richmond * Report of Board of Public Works, for 1S39, p. 85. 8 and Petersburg markets, over the Petersburg railroad ; and the merchandise, and nearly all the local travel, was of course con- veyed by the same channel. If your folks will make the proper inquiries, they will ascertain that when any tobacco happened to be carried to Norfolk or Portsmouth, it had to be sent to Rich- mond to be sold, and the cotton, generally, was sent to Peters- burg for the same purpose, or bought on Petersburg account. In further connection with the freight business, as the trade of the Roanoke Navigation Company has doubtless been held up to your merchants as one of great importance, I have added to the Appendix (B) an extract from the report of that company for 1839, containing a detailed statement of all the items carried on their work during that year. This is the only report in which I can find such a statement ; but it is sufficient to show the kind of business done on the canal, and also to give some idea of the amount of it at present ; for, comparing the receipts from tolls of last year* with those of 1839, they show that the ton- nage had not increased over twenty to twenty -five per cent, in the whole of seven years.f This is not a very encouraging prospect, in regard to the business to be derived from the Roanoke navigation. The fact is, that work is of a most imperfect kind, and is only adapted to boats carrying five or six tons, and the trade on it can never increase materially until the work is improved. Estimating the amount of tonnage for last year by the receipts from tolls, the whole of it could not have exceeded 8,000 tons. How much of this would have gone over the Portsmouth road if the cars had been running? The comparison of the receipts of the two companies would give a good idea of it ; but the extract in the appendix, showing the business of the canal in 1839, gives a better. It is stated there that the amount of tolls received at Weldon, the termination of the Portsmouth road, was only * Eeport of Board of Public Works for 1846, p. 279. t Tolls in 1S39 - $8,620 19 " 1S46 ----- 12,926 56 Deducting from the tolls of 1846 the amount of increase in the rates (which were twenty-five per cent, higher than in 1839), it shows that the increase in the tonnage could not have exceeded what is above stated. twenty per cent, of the whole amount, while the remaining eighty per cent, was received at Gaston, the termination of the branch of the Petersburg line. But what was the greatest amount of freight ever carried on the Portsmouth road ? The most money they ever received from it was in 1842, and it only paid them $28,850,* from which I make the tonnage less than 5,000 tons. The next year (1843) the receipts from freight fell off to $16,8S2.f JNow let us see what are the prospects of the new road, in regard to the travel. The whole of the travel to and from Weldon is carried on the Wilmington and Weldon railroad ; and the following extract from the last report of the company owning that road, will show how much it and their other busi- ness paid them.t Amount of Receipts from Railroad for the year ending October 1, 1846. From freight $44,756 11 " passengers .... 103,469 60 " mail 37,060 94 $185,286 65 Expenditures 191,854 49 Now nearly all the freight of the Wilmington road goes to Wilmington and the mail to Petersburg ; and if the company, with the whole of this business added to the travel, loses money on a road 160 miles long, is it at all probable, that a road of half the length could make money out of the passengers alone ? . But would the new road get all the passengers ? If it should, it will do what the old road never did. During the palmiest times of that road it never carried over half the travel ; the Petersburg road always carried a large part of it. It is well known, that the line through the Petersburg is the shortest, safest, and most expeditious, and that it has always carried the * Eeport of Board of Public Works, for 1842, page 443. Note — the average rate of transportation from Weldon this year was between 86 and $7 per ton, which would make the tonnage 4,400 tons. f Eeport of Board of Public Works, for 1S43, page 92. J Eeport of Wilmington and Ealeigh Eailroad Company, for 1S46, page 13. 10 great mail. These are attractions that will always secure travel. Besides this, the Petersburg line leads through Wash- ington city, an important point in the journey of most persons, especially when Congress is in session. There is every proba- bility, therefore, that the Petersburg road would continue to enjoy as great a part of this travel as they did before. But suppose the new road should get the larger portion of it ? They can only get the through travel, and for that they will have to compete with the sea-steamers. This competition is becoming every day more serious, as a proof of which, the Wilmington and Raleigh Company, owning nearly half the inland line be- tween Charleston and New York, are now endeavoring to in- duce the other companies to reduce their fare to half price. Boston capitalists must not expect to see the amount of travel on the southern railroads which they see on their own roads,*' or that a low rate of fare will greatly increase it. We have not the population to travel. The through travel — to wit, that between the north and south — has been almost stationary for several years. The truth is, it will never increase materially until the railroads between North and South Carolina are con- nected, and the line is finished to Mobile or New Orleans; for it is limited by the necessity of carrying it a large part of the way in stages. A good deal of it also will always be drawn off by vessels at Savannah and Charleston, as long as a part of the route is by sea. But perhaps the parties in your city who think favorably of reviving the Portsmouth road, expect to make advantageous or exclusive arrangements with the lines connecting with it. Be- fore they count too much upon this, it would be well for them to read and reflect upon the act incorporating the road they are asked to purchase. Section sixth of this act says : " That it shall be the duty of the Board of Public Works of Virginia, and they are hereby required, so to regulate, from time * The travel on the Wilmington road, as shown above, paid $103,469. Their travel is nearly all through, and at their fare ($6 per passenger) this would give only 17,200 passengers. The through travel was actually less than 15,000 passengers. 11 to time, the fare for passengers on each railroad between Wel- don and Portsmouth, and between Weldon and Petersburg, as to prevent an injurious competition, by reducing the fare on or by either of the said roads, either by a direct levying of such fare, or by any combination or arrangement with any other rail- road or stage line, or with any line of steamboats on tbe Chesa- peake Bay, for such reduction of fare ; and in reference to the fact of such combination, or any injurious reduction of fare as aforesaid, the Board of Public "Works shall be the sole judge ; and their order shall be obligatory on either or both of the said companies. Provided, The stockholders of the Petersburg Rail- road Company, in general meeting, agree to this section." Now let us see what interest the Board of Public Works has in seeing this act complied with, in case the owners of the new road should endeavor to combine with the other lines, to the injury of the Petersburg road, or rather to the injury of all the roads on the Petersburg line. That Board now owns in stock : In the Petersburg Railroad - $323,500 Bonds of do. 16,000 Stock in the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, 385,000 Bonds of do. 11,136 Stock in the Richmond and Fredericksburg Rail- road Company, - 275,200 Bonds of do. S2,560 $1,093,396 This investment is now paying them annually, in dividends and interest, $60,040. Is there a man in Boston who thinks that the Board of Public Works would submit to any " combina- tion or arrangement," that would jeopardize this great inter- est, and particularly among works owned out of the State, and by one of which the State has already lost about half a million ? I think this is a matter well worthy of the consideration of your capitalists, if any of them have been led to believe that money might be made in this way out of the purchase of the Ports- 12 mouth road. And while they are considering it, I would advise them to look into all the legislation of the State on the subject of reviving that road. For although it was an easy matter to induce the Legislature to pass an act to give away a valueless railroad, — yet, if that railroad should ever be the cause of dimin- ishing the revenue of the State from those works in which she has such a large interest, and thereby making it necessary for the Legislature to resort to additional taxation, they would be very apt to review the whole subject again. I invite the atten- tion of your capitalists particularly to the fact that the act incor- porating the new company subjects it " in all respects and in every thing to all the duties, regulations, and penalties required, prescribed and enjoined by any law or laws now in force re- specting the present company, and subject to the provisions of the act of the General Assembly, entitled ' An act prescribing certain general regulations for the incorporation of Railroad Companies,' passed March 11, 1837." One provision of this act is, " that any part of any charter or act of incorporation granted agreeably to the provisions of this act, shall be subject to be altered, amended, or modified by any future Legislature, as to them shall seem proper." * But if the Board of Public Works and the Legislature will not interfere to protect their own companies from the competi- tion of companies out of the State, — as your capitalists may be led to believe they will not, on the ground that they never inter- fered between the Petersburg and Portsmouth Companies, dur- ing the height of their competition, — and leave them to protect themselves, let us see how this was done, and examine into their ability to do so again. The following extracts from the reports of the Portsmouth Company will give a specimen of the kind of competition the new company may have to expect, if the Legislature should suffer the companies to "fight it out." I quote from the reports of the old company, in order to show how sensibly they felt the competition they had provoked. * Acts of the General Assembly for 1S37, p. 112. 13 Extract from the Report of the Portsmouth and 'Roanoke Rail- road Company, in Report of Board of Public Works, for 1839, page 77. " In the second place, an unfortunate collision arose between our company and the companies interested in the route from Baltimore, through Washington, Richmond, and Petersburg, to Weldon, in consequence of which the fare through from the one point to the other was reduced to the extremely low rate of $5, making a corresponding reduction on our part absolutely necessary. This misunderstanding having been adjusted be- tween the parties, it is not deemed to be a matter of sufficient importance to detail the circumstances which led to it, even if certainly known." Extract from Report of Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad Company, in the Report of Board of Public Works, for 1840, page 371. " At your special meeting, on the third Tuesday in August last, the committee appointed by you to negotiate with the Petersburg Railroad Company, for the sale of one half of the bridge and one half of the road between Garysburg and Wel- don, made its report, accompanied by the following preamble and resolution, which you adopted : " ' Wliereas this company, in good faith, have offered to the Petersburg Railroad Company to sell them one half the bridge across the Roanoke, and one half the road south of Gary's, at a sum very considerably less than one half the cost of said bridge and road, thereby giving to the said company an oppor- tunity of placing itself upon a fair equality with this company at Weldon, which the Petersburg Company have declined to accept ; and whereas this company and its agents have been much annoyed by the turbulent and insulting conduct of the 2 14 Petersburg agents, not only at Weldon, upon the undivided grounds belonging to the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad Company and this company, but even in our trains passing from Weldon to Gary's, over our bridge and road, a course of conduct which this company cannot longer submit to ; and whereas this company is still willing to accommodate the trav- elling public between Garysburgand Weldon, provided it can be done without subjecting it to the wrongs and insults heretofore received from the agents of the Petersburg Company: There- fore, Resolved, That if the Petersburg Company will withdraw their agents from Weldon, that this company will continue to put down and take up passengers at Garysburg, on the arrival of our trains at that place, going and returning from Weldon.' "As to the attempts now made the second time to break down your road, by the suicidal policy of carrying passengers through the State for a fraction of a fair price, and for a frac- tion of what citizens of the State living on the line of the roads have to pay, your Board believe it will be as abortive as the first attempt. But the failure to accomplish the end in nowise justifies the rash and desperate means used. How long this state of things is to exist, the Board cannot say decisively ; but it may hazard the opinion, that, as the State of Virginia owns two-fifths of the stock in each of these roads, its next legisla- ture will interpose its authority, and put an end to this warring of interests." Extract from the Report of the Portsmouth Company, in Report of Board of Public Works, for XSM^age 129. " This deficiency is mainly attributable to the desperate means used by the several railroad companies, combined along the route between the Roanoke and Potomac rivers, to break down your road at all hazards, not by a fair and praiseworthy competition, such as would redound to the credit of those con- 15 cerned, and be beneficial to the citizens of this State, but by a ruinous system of reduced rates, suicidal to the interests of stockholders, disreputable to the parties concerned, and only advantageous to those who avail themselves of these roads to pass rapidly through the State. For instance, a traveller from the south takes a ticket at the Roanoke for Baltimore, for which he pays only $5 (and the fare has been as low as $2,50) ; he travels on to Petersburg, sixty miles ; and there a citizen of that place gets up for Baltimore, paying $11, if he has not been wise enough to have, the day before, sent out to the Roanoke, and procured a ticket at $5. " Proceeding onward to Richmond, twenty two miles farther, and there gets up a citizen of that place for Baltimore, paying $10. Continuing onward to Fredericksburg, seventy miles further, and there gets up a citizen of that place also for Balti- more, paying $G ; so that a stranger passes through the State, over one hundred and fifty miles of railroads (which cost about $3,000,000), free; while Ihe citizen, who may be an individual stockholder, and who has paid his proportion of the State sub- scription, two-fifths, supports the road ; and this wretched policy is to break down another road in which the State is two-fifths stockholder, and in which a large number of her citizens are deeply interested. It will be remembered, that at the close of the last annual report, when referring to this subject, your board says, ' How long this state of things is to exist, the Board can- not say decisively ; but it may hazard the opinion, that, as the State of Virginia owns two-fifths of the stock in each of these roads, its next legislature will interpose its authority, and put an end to this warring of its interests.' " "Unfortunately, this reasonable expectation of the Board has not been realized, although a full and forcible exposition was made to that legislature by the delegates from Norfolk borough and county, and the inevitable results which would follow such conduct, demonstrated ; yet no action was had on the ground, it is believed, that any would infringe upon chartered rights ; and hence has been continued for the third summer, in succession, 16 a policy, which, if unchecked, must certainly lead to the de- struction of one or all of these State improvements. " Indeed, already are they so crippled, that at each returning session of the legislature they are found humble supplicants for further pecuniary aid. To show to what extent the determina- tion to ruin your road has gone, it is only to be mentioned, that, when a petition from one of the combined companies was before the legislature, and pending the progress of the bill granting the relief prayed for, efforts were made by those rep- resenting your interest, to have a minimum rate per mile estab- lished, as well as a maximum rate, thus to prevent a recurrence to reduce fare ; but this was promptly and strenuously objected to by those having in charge that bill, for reasons too obvious to be doubted, and the bill itself was finally rejected by the House. " Your Board, however, still cherishes the hope, that the legis- lature will, early in its next session, take some decisive step to arrest this wantonness of expenditure of both public and private resources — that it will feel it to be its duty to discoun- tenance a course of conduct which not only jeopardizes the one million of stock owned by the State, and the heavy sums which she has loaned to these works, but also perils the large sums invested by her citizens for the construction and maintenance of these works. Another cause which has operated during the past summer considerably to lessen their receipts from travel, is the desire that travellers have manifested to go through Wash- ington city during the extra session of Congress ; this was then sensibly felt; but since the adjournment of that body, the preference for your route is evidently increasing, as may be seen by referring to the increased receipts for the month of Sep- tember. " The same causes, however, have not operated upon and kept down the revenue arising from freight. The falling-ofTin this source is mostly the consequence of the continued de- pressed state of the country in all its commercial relations ; and so long as this be the case, so long will your interests be injuri- ously affected. 17 But there is another cause for this deficiency of freight, which need not be disguised. It is the peculiar energy which so dis- tinguishes those conducting the commercial operations of both Richmond and Petersburg, and which directs the trade from Norfolk and Portsmouth to those places. This can no way be made clearer to you, than to state the fact, that most of the heavy productions of the Roanoke valley and its banks are invited over your road at much less charge than the same goes to Petersburg ; and on no article is more charged over your road, eighty miles long, than is charged for the same to Petersburg, sixty miles ; and yet, although most of them ultimately pass out the capes of Virginia, within one hour's sail of Norfolk harbor, they first go to Petersburg or Richmond for a market." Extract from Report of Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad Com- pany, in Report of Board of Public Works, for 1844, page 342. " The small increase in the receipts during the past year is made up entirely on the travel, which exceeds that of the present year, S4.226.18, and is occasioned by the falling-off of the transportation, caused by the great inequality and discrimina- tion in freight made by the Petersburg Railroad Company on commodities which seek a market and more convenient outlet to foreign ports at Norfolk and Portsmouth. This policy, so ruinous to the interests of both companies, has been in vain remonstrated against by the Board, as also the instability of the charge upon passengers. " It is to be hoped that the legislature, which has hitherto refrained from interposing its authority, will find it within its constitutional power to prescribe some restrictions to the bound- less and destructive rivalry between two works in which the Commonwealth has so deep an interest." 18 These extracts, and one in the Appendix (C),from the report of the Board of Public Works, show that the conflict between the companies was a serious one. Now, Mr. Editor, this con- flict was thrust upon the Petersburg Company. They never sought it : on the contrary, they earnestly deprecated it. When the legislature of Virginia was first asked to incorporate this Portsmouth road, they were warned that there was not business enough to support two works, and that the instinct of self- preservation would alone engender a conflict that would end in the destruction of one or the other. Whether the legislature, having witnessed such a termination of this conflict, will suffer it to be carried on in the same way again, remains to be seen. I believe they will not ; but if they do, the Petersburg Company is now out of debt, and has a good road, and their ability to contend with any opposition is tenfold greater than it ever was. Table A shows this well enough, without further comment. I take it for granted, that, if any of your capitalists are dis- posed to take stock in the Portsmouth road, their object is dividends ; and this perhaps was the great inducement held out to them by those interested in having that road revived. But the Portsmouth people did not always promise dividends to those they wished to interest in sustaining the old road. Let us see what they said on this subject at one time. Extract from Report of Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad Com' pany, in Report of Board of Public Works, for 1844, page 380. " The policy of Virginia, whatever else may be said of our good old commonwealth, has been wise and liberal in her sys- tem of internal improvement ; nor can we believe, that, having contributed to build up this important ' State work ' upon the broad and enlightened principles of national wealth, she can 19 now be influenced to destroy it by the cold and selfish princi- ple of ' dividend paying,' by whomsoever and under whatever imposing authority revived and introduced to operate to its prejudice in favor of ' the State companies ' by Richmond, some of which never have, and probably will not sooner add to the coffers of the State than will yours. Higher aims and nobler objects animated the advocates of this great work. Its tendency to increase the wealth of the State, to stimulate indus- try, and to encourage moral improvement, were the arguments successfully urged by them to combat these narrow views. Under the influence of these considerations (which the sta- tistics of the State will show has to a great extent been real- ized), the corner-stone was laid, and, with the liberal aid of the State, the work erected ; and shall it be pulled down because it is only one half the length of the ' route by way of Richmond and Washington city,' and because it does not pay a dividend ? How many works in the State are there that pay dividends ? If the work of destruction is to commence, why not strike the first blow at some of the ' State companies,' on the route pass- ing through Richmond ? Do they pay dividends ? " If, according to their own reasoning, we were to invert the case, and that line should be broken up, would not ' the through travel be engrossed by the route by' the Portsmouth and Ro- anoke railroad, and would it not ' soon be enabled to make some remuneration to the treasury in dividends ? No, we cannot believe that our ' good old mother,' with any such miserly feel- ings, will exact of us cent per centum ; that she will stand by with folded arms, and see us struggling and tugging with our shoulders at the wheel, and not lend us a helping hand. All we ask is legislative aid, and this we feel confident she will not ' deny us." Mr. Editor, if your capitalists are so patriotic as to spend their money on the Portsmouth road, without looking for any other return than is indicated by this extract, I, for one, although I may suffer by it, have nothing to say against it. But if, like 20 myself, they are influenced by this same ' cold and selfish prin- ciple of dividend paying, — which, bad as it is, I have no doubt did more to cover your State with railroads than all the patri- otism in it, and is now sending your capitalists out of it to seek investments elsewhere, — if, I say, in plain English, they want to make money, let them come down here and purchase the Raleigh and Gaston railroad, and extend it to join the South Carolina road, or assist the "Wilmington and Manchester Com- pany to construct their road, and they will certainly do it. But if this is too great an undertaking, and they wish to real- ize returns at once, stock can be purchased below, in both the Richmond, and Fredericksburg, and Petersburg railroads ; and these companies are each paying seven per cent, per annum, and likely to pay more. But, apart from these considerations, I really think it would be much more sensible and business-like to take an interest in the improvements which were successful, than in the one which was unable to compete with them. A VIRGINIAN. N. B. Any gentleman wishing to see the documents above referred to, is informed that they can be found at the office of William Brigham, Esq., No. 35 Court Street. 21 is 8 1 Oh e »H ^ CJ g e ►2 ^ ^3 «■> ~~~ j 51 © s B gft? S cs Ul CD 00 CO O C! ro O O s 'S O OS -f o co os LO oos as CS CI os O CO LOr-l o ro o CO OS, CD CO CD LO I 3 ^co as — r-T C) — 9S-* t- LO '0 Hp -H oo H * m m co s—^—-*, in cq as c> lo oo ^ LO OS CO O CO 3 O LO & co lo m o o o o t> oo 00 f- ° ■^ CO CO OS CC'O CQ O O CO L0 o CQ r~ CO LO *~ H - o co lo r~ co lo T( os MJIOO oo m CQ TT CO LO LO O CQ O 00 iS« HOl' -* os co lO OS o — i HO o os co 9&C) o = LO C! 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Tt<00 00 00 -* LO CO O O LO T* c- CD C) 00 00 O T-i C! CQ co r^ t--,i>. co. i 00 LO O C) LO LO T-H »I — "r-*~ lo~ o O t-h -cf h CQ h/h CQ LO l> H O = O CO 8©-H CQ t» CQ CD CQ h lt> o CO \~ ■* T-. LO ^ . OO C5 CS CQ co co CQ 3 ^3 _ ,_ a o t>oo 00 co Cl CO CO 00 r- CO ~f r~ LOOS O CQ 00 CD H os r- t-. t-H O OM h©C- Ph \ CQ OS OS OS h CO e h oo r-t m\\ t& m CDCQ 1 ^_ -. N to t- 1— 1 GO LO OS OS CO 01 T: OOS S"s H -* GO !>• t> t> O O LO GO OH COLO <— < LO LO LO O O -H< ,_H O CQ 2S CQ CD OS O LO CO O CO CD O CS h I> hh co .ro t> LO O &« COCO l> CD «C!?!Oth t~ Oo" CQ CO -H tH tH COrH - O O SlfH m\ 9& S O CQ o as h. hrH to 9 Receipts. on hand 3 rpts. of trans rials sold O OtM | ° 1st3 O O o l> C c3 g cs 0) ° -a as Total [SBURSEMENT mses of transr, J interest Works paid off the Company lends tal stock unt of debt .a to as £2^ o a) 3 Sh « B o o P-- rt ciC OOrt CS c ki isaoao o<< ?f 'CD i* 13 22 (B.) Account of Tolls received on produce, goods, wares, and merchandise, at Weldon, through the Roanoke Canal, from 1st November, 1838, to the 31st October, 1839, inclusive. 11,517 barrels flour, 467,750 pounds of manufactured tobacco, 711 sacks salt, 10,173 1,917 44 pounds coffee, gallons domestic spirits, hogsheads sugar, 14 hogsheads molasses, 11 hogsheads stems, 12 barrels sugar, 966 32,716 pounds loaf sugar, goods at 5s. per 100, 11 % tons gypsum, 2,059 bushels corn, 45 900 137 gallons foreign spirits, pounds nails, hogsheads tobacco, 10,334 463 pounds dry goods, gallons wine, 215^ barrels fish, 27 barrels tar, 109 casks lime, 9 boxes tallow candles, 4,553 Producing in pounds bacon, tolls Deduct for month of October, $1,860 26 14 67 $,1845 59 Signed, T. T. Wyatt, Collector. Aggregate of Tariff collected at Gaston during the year ending 31st Octo- ber, 1839, on produce, goods, wares, and merchandise : 3,958 hogsheads tobacco, 483 " stems, 709,459 pounds of manufactured tobacco, 6,918)^ barrels flour, 340,292 "goods at 5 c. per 100, 400,863 " at 10c. per 100, 5,593 sacks salt, 670 casks lime, 65,200 pounds nails, 23 210 gallons vinegar, l^T^TT tons castings, 15,517 y, domestic spirits, 2,960^" 3 bushels wheat. 338 / " corn, 255 fish, 50 casks cheese, 756 gallons oil, 22,165 pounds bacon, 26 boxes sperm candles, 162 " tallow candles, 1,510 foreign spirits, 1,930 gallons wine, 200)< hogsheads sugar, 227 bushels flaxseed, 78> 2 hogsheads molasses, 32 T 7 (jV tons iron, 149 gallons spirits turpentine, 16 barrels tar, 1 7;t£ tons plaster, 4,866 goods at 8c, 23 diameter mill stones, 5 barrels cider, 9,000 pounds grindstones, 9 boxes soap, 269 gallons oil, 5 bales cotton, 372 pounds beeswax, 2 tons pig iron, \% " copper, 5 barrels ale, 1 cask porter, 2 barrels molasses, Producing in tolls - Deduct for month of October, 86,797 59 22 99 $6,774 60 Signed, Saml. W. Pugh, Agent for the Roanoke Navigation Company, at Gaston, N. C Extract from Report of Board of Public Works, for 1843, page 10 " It appears evident, on an investigation of the subject of the differences heretofore noticed between the Petersburg and the Portsmouth and Roanoke Companies, that nothing less than the acquisition of a monopoly of the whole transportation from the Roanoke country, and of the through travel between 24 Weldon and Baltimore, is aimed at by each company. Indeed it is perfectly natural that this disposition should exist on their parts ; for it seems almost beyond a doubt that all the revenue which has heretofore been derived from those sources of profit, has not reached an amount more than sufficient for the legitimate and proper wants and purposes of either one of the companies. It is, therefore, upon the principle of self-preservation, that the contest for ultimate success in the attainment of their mutual object will be continued under every disadvantage, until it is arrested by the absence of means to keep it alive, as it regards one or the other of the parties, or by the interference of a com- petent power. Such a state of things ought not, however, to excite great surprise, or to visit unlimited censure upon the parties. The great error (if error it was) must be attributed to the policy which sanctioned the establishment of two improvements of such magnitude, to contend at the same point for a trade which has proven itself, so far, to be inadequate to the purposes of both. It is to be feared, however, that the exertions of the Portsmouth Company are nearly paralyzed by the combined operation of several causes, the chief of which are the want of funds, the destruction of credit, the diminution of income, and a loss of a large portion of their road. Opposition on their part, it is reasonable to suppose, must soon cease, unless some powerful expedient, such, for instance, as a change of proprietors, is promptly resorted to, to keep it up ; and the probable issue of the existing state of things will be the total sacrifice of the capital invested in that work by the present individual proprietors and the State, and heavy losses to the private creditors of the company. The prospect of the Petersburg road, on the other hand, are apparently more encouraging. Though involved in a heavy debt, rather exceeding that of the Portsmouth Company, they have, nevertheless, gained the ascendancy in the transportation of the produce of the Roanoke country, which yields them a large gross income. Their road is throughout laid with heavy 25 rails, and is in good order ; andconsequently,while their expenses have already been, and will still be, essentially reduced, their trade and travel will be better provided for and accommodated. Under all circumstances, they may entertain a reasonable expect- ation of ultimately succeeding in their enterprise in despite of ail opposition. But the operations of the two companies which are the sub- ject of the foregoing remarks, 'have an important bearing in another point of view. It is known to the legislature that those companies form parts of two opposing lines, for the great current of through travelling, or of travellers passing the whole distance between Weldon in North Carolina, and Baltimore. The Ports- mouth and Roanoke Railroad, seventy-nine miles in length, is connected with a steamboat line on the Chesapeake Bay, be- tween Portsmouth and Baltimore, together forming what is called the " Bay route." The Petersburg, Richmond, and Petersburg, and the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac railroads, extending a distance of one hundred and sixty-one miles, from Weldon to Acquia creek, on the Potomac river in this State, form part of the iuland line, by way of Richmond and Washington ; consequently a traveller on the Portsmouth road is transported only one half the distance on that road within the State, that he would travel if the other route was taken. Hence too, it follows, that if the Portsmouth and Roanoke road should get the whole of this travel, the profit which would be brought into and remain in the State, would, at the regular and fair rates, be equal to one half only of what would be retained if the other route received it ; or, in other words, double the profit would remain in the State, should the whole travel take the Petersburg road, compared to what would remain if the Portsmouth road should take it. In the Portsmouth road the Commonwealth has embarked the sum of $432,850, for subscriptions to capital stock and loan, and in the other three roads $984,200, making a total investment of $1,417,150. Upon this large pecuniary interest neither dividends nor interest are at this time paid. But there can scarcely be a doubt, that, if the through travel was engrossed by the route by Richmond and Washington City, the State companies on that line would soon be enabled to make some remuneration to the treasury, in dividends." 3 2r «5