Newspaper Page Text
THE COWSTiTUTIONALIST, j
JAMES CARD NEK, JR.
* TERMS.'
Daily, prr annum 00
Tri-Weekly, per annum G 00
If paid in advance 5 00
W eekly. per annum 3 00
If paid in advance .2 50
To Clubs, remitting $lO 1N advance, FIVE
COPIES are sent. This will put oar V\ eekly pa
per in the reach of new subscribers at
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR*
iCrSubscribers w ho will pay up arrearages, and
send four new subscribers, with the money, can get
the paper at $2 00.
All new subscriptions must be paid in ad
vance.
djr’Postage must be paid on all communications
and letters of business.
[From the Baltimore Sun, 4 th tnsf.]
JBy Telegraph.
15 DAYS LATER PROM EUSOI*fi.
Arrival of the Steam Ship Hibernia.
More Great Fa4lnres in Europe—Decline
in Cotton —Advance in Breadstuffs —
Condition of the Money Market—As
sistance of the Pope tendered by Sar
dinia.
The steam ship Hibernia, Capt. Ryrie, was
.announced as being telegraphed ofl‘ Boston at
10 o’clock yesterday morning, aid she reach
ed the city at twenty minutes of two o’clock in
the afternoon, but it was 8 o’clock last night
before our despatch came through by tele
graph.
She sailed from Liverpool on the 19th nit.
an-l was therefore fourteen days on her pas
sage.
The FommaN Mails.—Arrangements have
been, made by the Post Office to have the for
eign mails brought by the Hibernia conveyed
by the special express to New' York. The ex
press train would leave Heston on Sunday,
(yesterday afternoon) and arrive at New York
this morning.
The following are the names, places of busi
ness, and liabilities of insolvent bouses abroad:
Allison, Camburlidge & Co., London —a-
mount not stated; Thos. Booker, Sons & Co.,
London, £50,000; Burnet & Co., London—not
stated; A. & A. Custin, Genoa, £80,000: D. &
A* Denny, Glasgow*, £400,000; Dennison &
Co., Limerick — not stated; Ende Bordo, Hon
fluer, £120,000; Eels & Co., Venice—not stat
ed; Egenet, Glasgow, £200,000; A. A. Gower,
Nephew & Co., £1,000,000; Harris & Hutchin
son, London, £100.000; Oogle & Co., Venice,
£30,000; MatthewPorclin* Glasgow, £45,000;
Reid, Irving & Co., London, £1,500,000.
Thos. U. 17. Born .Sc Co. and Thos. Booker Sc
Rons, in London, have been well known, and
their faiure caused considerable alarm, but
when the houses of D. & A. Denny & Co., and
Gurnnell & Brothers, of Glasgow, were known
to have suspended payment, a general feeling
of apprehension, beyond the limits of the corii
trade, spread far and wide. It is thought, on
this side, that the losses of Messrs. Denny will
be felt severely in New Orleans and New York.
The London discount houses are great suf
ferers. The stoppage of Messrs. Gurncll Bros.,
was caused by tbe non-arrival of the last
China Mail, and its effects have already widely
extended, as the commissions of the bouse
were considerable with Canton, Lima, and
Valparaiso. The failure of Arouai, (reported
in a former arrival,) in Paris, also connected
with the Pacific trade, created a great sensa
tion, the lirbilities being between 2 and £300,-
000. The failures,in Venice, Genoa and Paris,
in. .reased thegi’ii.r d gloom. It may therefore
be imagined *what counteraction, was
caused in London on the llth Sept., when it
transpired that Messrs. A. A. Gower, Nephews
& Co., of Coleman street, had stopped payment.
The extensive banking and commercial rela
tions of the house with Italy, Spain, France,
America, India and U. S. cannot fail to pro
duce corresponding mischievous results. The
house had been established nearly a century,
and the founder died 20 years ago. at an ad
vanced age, with about £40,000. His nephews
have since carried on the business. Mabel
Lewis Gower, the present chief, has been at
director of the Bank of England for many
years, and has also taken an active part in the
Company of Koval Copper Mines, but his con
nection with the latter body is said to have
lately ceased. The liabilities of the house upon
acceptance alone, was said to amount to £600,-
090. The other engagements, we should think,
cannot fall to bring the total amount to nearly
half a million, the house of Cumberbridge &.
Co , of London and Valparaiso, of which linn
one of the Gowers is a partner, was immediate
ly compelled to stop pa}*ment.
It would be improper at this moment lo ani
madvert upon the act of the parties in Messrs.
Gowers’ firm, which may accelerate its ruin,
but it is plainly stated that losses on railway
shares have contributed to their insolvency,
whilst the firm of Messrs. Gurmell& Brothers,
of Glasgow, and the turn which political af
fairs, have taken in Spain, with which country
Messrs. Gowers were deeply compromised,
have no doubt been the immediate cause of the
catastrophe.
The failure of another Bank director so re
cently after the disqualification of Mr. Robin
son, has revived angry animadversions against
the establishment of the Bank of England.
Mr. A. L. Gowers being at present out of office
by rotation, no change of officers will be ren
dered necessary.
The public had scarcely recovered from the
shock when it further transpired that Messrs.
Sanderson & Co., bill brokers, which house
stood second in the metropolis in their branch
of business, had suspended payment. They
were known to be heavy sufferers by Messrs.
Leslie, Alexander & Co., and Gower, Nephew
& Co., and a very severe run having been made
upon them for money of their depositors held
at call, they were compelled to stop. It is
quite impossible to estimate the extent of their
liabilities, as the amount of their endorsements
on paper in circulation must be enormous.
Whilst closing this fearful catalogue of fail
ures, the intelligence reached us that Reid,
Irving & Co., of London, one of the oldest
houses in the maritime trade, besides having
considerable business with the continent of the
United States, have been compelled to stop
payment by the death of Mr. Irving, M. P.
for interior, which happened about two years
ago. The house lost the benefit of his sagaci
ty and experience, but his property descended
to his ncpheM', a partner in the house. Sir
John Rey Raid, the present chief, was Gover
nor of the Bank of England in 1839, and still
holds a seat in direction.
Thus no less than three Bank Directors
have succumbed to the times within the last
four weeks.
It is stated in the London Exchange, that a
gentleman connected with the firm of Prime 4
Ward & Co. of New York, arrived by the
American steamer, and that his presence jn
the city had given confidence and satisfaction.
The bills of this nouse upon. Overend, Gurney,
& Co., which arrived by the Cambria, have
been accepted in due course. The amount,
however, was only £2,000!
Messrs. Gowers’ failure will, it is feared se
riously affect a monied institution in the
United States, which is in the habit of drawing
them. The Ohio Life and Trust Company,
m
which has stood high and deservedly so, in
public estimation, being one of those which
ipi 1837 honorably fulfilled all their en
i gagements, it was anticipated, would have
| a large amount of their drafts on Gowers’
i house returned by the Hibernia, but it has
been arranged that the Ohio Company’s bills,
accepted, will be taken by Messrs. Bernct,
Iloares & Co., the London bankers.
The bills received by the Cambria, the Gow
ers’ offered to accept, but the holders will
I probably prefer returning them to the LTnited
| States. It is said that the Ohio Life and
| Trust Company will be creditors to Messrs.
1 Gowers, Nephews & Co., for not less than
£50,000.
The relaxation of the stringent measures of
the Bank of England in allowing loan on bills
; and stocks at 5 per cent, till the 14th of Oc
! tober, however it may have rendered facilities
j in some quarters, has not, as wo anticipated,
improved the position of the Bank itself/
in the last four weeks there has been a de
crease of bullion in the Bank of England to
the amount of £471,865. In the last three
weeks only, the securities and the bills dis
counted increased to the extent of £1,687,039.
The bullion increased £315,546, whilst there
i sei’ve fund, which had decreased considerably,
has recovered itself in the last week, under
the circumstances, with a smaller amount of
bullion than the Bank has ever had since the
bank charter act. It could have been only an
earnest desire to relieve the commercial body,
which induced the bank directors so far to de
part from principles as to lend money at 5 per
cent, when its actual value was higher in the
market.
At Paris on the 3d Inst, the Sardinian Am
bassador resident at the French court, pre
sented at the office of Foreign Affairs, the di
plomatic note from his government, of which
the following is the substance: in case his Ho
liness, Pope Pius IX, should claim armed as
sistance of his Majesty, the King of Sardinia,
against the Austrian invasion, his Sardinian
Majesty will consider himself bound not to
refuse the Sovereign Pontiff that assistance, it
being his duty, as an Italian power, to cause
the independence of all the Rtates of the
Peninsula to be respected, as guarantied by
the treaties of Viena. The communication
was forwarded to the King and M. Guizot,
both of whom were absent from Paris-. As
the chief of the political and diplomatical cir
cle, this movement of Sardinia excites the
greatest sensation.
Liverpool Corn Market.— The continued
failures in the Corn mar ket sufficiently account
for the further depression in the prices of
grain during the last wet kof the month. On
the market day of the 6th, prices still contin
ued to recede, but towards the close of the
week both wheat and flour were in active re
quisition. This improvement was further
maintained on the market day of the 13th,
when wheat advanced about ss. per quarter
on the quotations of the 6th; and flour, for
which there was an immense demand both in
i London and Liverpool, advanced from 3s. to
j Is. per barrel. The top quotation of the latter
! descriptions of wheat was 625. per quarter in
Liverpool. The best Western canal flour,
which on the first was quoted at 255. per bar
rel, and barley fetched that price, was selling
on the 18th at 28s. to 30s. Indian corn had
also been in more demand, and higher rates
had been paid for it.
The coni market, at the latest moment, ap
peared firm, but as larger supplies were still
expected from abroad, and the English harvest
was admitted to be nh abundant one, it was
very doubtful whether further fluctuations
would not take place before prices reached
their natural level. Considerable purchases
have been made in the market for Belgium and
Holland, in consequence of the diseased ap
pearance of the potato crop in those two coun
tries, and these purchases have tended to
strengthen the market.
’die ssta'e of commercial affairs, and of the
corn trade especially, render it a TrfS&ir trt
great difficulty to form a c >rrect judgment of
: the future course of prices at Mark lane. Both
! rn the loth and 18th Sept, prices were a little
I higher. There was a limited supply of wheat
| and the stocks of the houses which had failed,
being withheld from the market, aided to pro
duce a firmer tendency.
Tne tenor of the advices from the U. States,
by which it is ascertained that no great sup
plies can go forward, has contributed to create
a better feeling in the corn trade. Flour was
quoted in Liverpool, on the 18th, at 235. 6d.
a 30<., and in London on the 17th, at 295.
The great want of confidence which the late
important Loudon failures has produced in the
money market, and the fact of the consump
tion of cotton still continuing upon a very con
tracted scale, together with the alleged unre
mitting state of trade, have tended through
out the week ending on the 17th Sept., to con
siderably depress the Liverpool cotton market,
and to reduce quotations three-eights of a
penny per pound. This quoted reduction,
however, is perhaps rather more than the re
ality, except for the qualities winch have been
mostly acted upon, viz : the middling and in
ferior, and these are tbe descriptions which
are not fixed b}* the Brokers’ Association in
the standard price. It is in these that the
greatest decline has been seen.
It is quite certain that all reasoning still
continues in favor of Cotton, but it is especial
ly certain that if money is not only to be dear
but scarce, the trade of the country must suffer
to such an extent as very soon to force upon
government the necessity of considering
whether the monetary system of the country
is fixed upon a right condition. Brazils,
Egyptians, and Surats have all partaken of the
fall equally, and the transactions at the decline
have boon very limited. The sales for the
week ending the 17th, with 2,000 bales on
that day, aud a quiet market, amount to 14,-
800 bales, including 120 American on specu
lation, and 3,000 American and 50 Surat for
export. The quotations, according to the
standard Brokers’ Association, are fair Upland,
G a 6|; fair Mobile, 6J; fair Orleans, 7£. The
imports for the week were 40,703 bales, inclu
sive of four vessels arrived, but not reported.
England—Her Cotton Policy.
A special delegate meeting of the operative
spinners of Lancashire was held at Manchester
on the 29th August. Resolutions were agreed
to, setting forth the long prevailing distress,
which is ascribed to the higher price of the
raw material, the dearness of food, aggravated
by the great demand for money for railway
extension, and a consequent crippling of com
mercial credit. In order to mitigate the evils
yet apprehended, they suggest a suspension
of operations in all the cotton mills, for a few
weeks during the mild season, when other
employment may be obtained by the operatives
with greater facility than during the winter.—
The operatives profess to proceed in a manner
perfectly respectful to their employers; and
they have forwarded their resolutions to se
veral influential public men.
The comments of the London Times, of the
4th ultimo, on this subject, are of great inter
est to this country, and especially to the South
ern States. They acknowledge that Cotton
is in fact the daily bread of the population of
of Lancashire; that it is to some 2,000,000 of
Englishmen not only a necessary oflile, but
the paramount necessary that includes all
others; and yet that for all this, the people of
Great Britain are content to depend upon a
single market, and that market a foreign one.
The Times then depicts the dangers of such
entire dependence upon foreign country, de
precates such a condition of subordination, and
then points, as follows, to what it supposes to
be a remedy to some extent, for the evil.
“We cannot it is true grow cotton at home,
■ if the application of that term be confined to
the surface of these islands, but we can grow
it in our possessions—upon fields and plains
i now almost profitless, but which would pro
j duce this precious and convertible commodity
in the most abundant profusion. Why, then,
is this not done: Is it because the inhabitants
of our Imperial dependency are unable to
compete with the enterprising freedom of
i America? Is an instance at length discovered
• where protection is indispensable to the exist
! ence of commerce, and may Sir John and
! Lord George point with confidence and chuck
-1 ling to the untilled plains of the Deccan or
the dcsested slopes of Caudeish? Not a bit of
it. There is not the smallest space for any
1 protective argument in the question.
“The simple fact is this; that the single cot
ton market of the universe does not exporta
i certain supply sufficient for the regular con
sumption of England. Protection would do
no good; protection would not shorten the dis
' tance between the cotton fields and the coast,
' or transform droves of miserable bullocks into
cleanly and expeditions carriers. The only
result of protection would be that we should
shut ourselves out of the only market existing,
and in the stead of a short supply of an excel
lent articles get a still shorter supply of an ar
: tide not half so good. We are not afraid that
our foreign imports should be intercepted. —
As long as cotton fetches a better price in
Lancashire than in Louisiana, it will find its
way from Lo lisiana to Lancashire, though all
the folly of all the Governments of the two
: j worlds should try to stop it.
'‘They who think that edicts can step in
| between supply and demand, should recollect
| fie year of the peace of Tilsit, when the light
horse and lancers of that very grand army
i which was to crush the commerce of England
were sparkling in the sky-blue and scarlet
fabrics of Manchester and Leeds. What we
want is not native cotton instead of foreign cot
ton but r. a five cotton besides foreign, cotton.
1 After taking all Georgia Can grow or gath
' er we want the additional crops from the
banks of the Teptee and the Toombudra.
‘ This nothing but railroads can give us. Pro
tection could no more guarantee the salvage
L of cotton over 200 miles of abullack track than
1 it could insure the transmission of white bait
’ from Blackwall to Hong Knog. What we
have to Overcome or compensate is not the
natural unfitness of the soil, or the overbur
dened condition of the laborers’, but the wear
and waste, and dust and dirt of a three
months’ journey, at two miles an hour. This
it has been left for steam and Stevenson to do;
L and if the mission which is this month to sail
for India be but backed, as it should be, we
shall never again have to sympathize with the
spinners of Lancashire on the failure of their
daily bread.
i»m mm ■iramiii* nrmnr "■wryHawaggfe
£1 «gus ta i ocorg i a•.
THURSDAY MORNING* OCT. 7.
Rumored Death of the President;
A slip from the Charleston Courier office*
■ dated 10*i a. m. Wednesday, says—
“ Passengers by the steam boat this morn-
ing, report that Mr. Polk was so ill at Wash
-1 ington that the recent Mexican news was not
S communicated to him. At Richmond, it is
; j said that a telegraphic despatch announced
1 his death. We give the rumors as they come
t i to us.’’
We sincerely hope that this report may be
1 ; incorrect, but we fear the worst. A letter,
» | we understand, passed through the Post Office
| last evening, directed to Mr. Kiddle, who ruaS
the express between Montgomery and Mobllc>
) on which was written —“Dead, in ha>te.”
, * Election Rotnms.
t | hr. v e ■ ecciv efi the f/iorVVyj v turns
1 which we hasten to lay before our readers.
1 Thev look favorable to the Democracy, and
i * m
leave but little doubt that Georg * W. Towns
, i is our next Governor.
1847. 1045.
Towns. Clinrh. McAlßst r. Crawford.
> 1 Bald will* 31-3 317 268 315
■ I Bibb, 6*>7 508 724 651
J ! Burke 370 500 312 540
5 1 Cass, 7(k)maj. 944 tifh
Chatham, 5* 776 715 700
Cherokee, 052 680 740 533
! Clarke, 437 615 398 * 538
; Cobb, 978 713 835 637
■ Columbia, 282 489 277 622
■ DeKalb, S9O 759 1782 577
Fayette, 230maj. 651 428
Greene, 131 767 115 753
Gwinnett, 694 742 680 757
Hancock, 321 456 3f)7 607
Henry, 50maj. 815 884
Monroe, 665 - CB6 64i 733
Morgan* 281 • 303 299 415
Murray, SOOmaj. 624 403
Newton, 412 913 471 895
Oglethorpe, 152 470 17i 670
| Pike, lOOmaj. 753 642
: Richmond, 488 GBl 474 717
i Taliaferro, 67 362 54 412
Twiggs 114maj, 403 321
Upson, 250maj, 385 646
Walton, 721 523 505
Warren, 250maj, 372 607
Wilkes, 80maj, 354 439
THE LEGISLATURE.
In Chatham County, the whig ticket has suc
ceeded. Snider is elected to the Senate, and
Bartow and Clarke to the House.
Baldwin. —Senate —Buffington, d. 522; Ter
rell, w. 217. Haase —Rogers, d. 245$ Harris
w. 312.
• Cobb. —Senate —Hunt, d. leads Bird, w. 250.
House —Maloney and McConnell, both demo
crats, elected.
Burke.. —Senate —McLeod, w. 523; Morris,
d. 425. House —Brown and Greshar-, both
whigs elected.
Cherokee. —Senate Hunt, d. 722; Bird, w.
774. House—Wiliamson and Fields, both
democrats, elected.
Columbia. —Senate —Miller, 439. House—
Fleming and Shockley, whigs, elected. Drane,
d. was beaten by Shockley by only eleven
votes.
Morgan. —Senate —Rees, w. 456. House—
Harris, w.
Walton. —Senate —Hill, d. 789; Wilt&mson,
w. 429. House —Jackson and Kilgort, dem
ocrats, elected.
Cass. —Senate —Irwin, d. is no doubt elect
ed. House —Smith and McConnell, d.
DeKalb. —Senate—Simmons, d. SG6 ; Cal
houn, w, 787. House —Wilson and Parnall.
democrats, elected.
Newton. —Senate —Williamson, w r . isl; Hill,
d. 330 —three precincts to hear from, touse—
Reynolds and Pace, whigs, elected.
Bibb —Senate —Napier, independe4 demo
crat, 531; Wiggins, nom. 526; Riley, iadepen
dent, 101; Wiggins is probably elected by the
vote of Twiggs county. House—Jis. A. Nis
-bet, w. 671; R. 11. L. Atkinson, i 600; R.
Bivins w. 670; J. Newsom, d. 515.
, Monroe. —Senate —Cochran, 668; Sargent,
1 649. Battle, w., and Pinckard, d., elected to
the House.
Taliaferro. —Senate—Darden, whig, 361.
House—Harris, whig.
l [communicated.]
1 The Wilkes County Kail Road.
Mr. Edit an : — The attention of your rcad
| ershas been repeatedly called to the two Rail
j Roads which have been successively contem
! plated from this place: in the first instance to
Gumming, and in the second, to Tonnillo. I
trust that a candid review of the action of our
j citizens, and of the Board of Directors of the
Georgia Rail Road, may gain, as it solicits,
| the farther attention of the parties interested,
j In discussing some points at issue, incidental
reference must necessarily be made to articles
which have already appeared on each side.
1 j It has been for years a most desirable object
with the citizens of Wilkes to connect them
selves by a rail road communication with their
markets, and the world at large. The fact has
settled into a truism, that those villages
I °
, through or near wdiich a rail road passes, de
cline in size and prosperity; the common roads
; to market, and between neighboring villages
are neglected, and the rail road, which has be
-1 come the main channel is supplied with arte
ries from all sides, while facilities for inter com
munication, other than its own, arc cutoff. On
the road itself each successive terminus becomes
a thriving town, only to be swallowed up by
the next, and when the road is completed, it is
i a rare occurrence to meet with a flourishing
place betw'een its extremes. While the place
continues to be a terminus there is no compe
tition except with the depot next to it. To a
point half way from this depot on one side,
and for many miles on all others, it has Un
; disputed command of trade. When the road
" passes, however, the depots on each sido draw
* off their own share of the eustom, leaving the
: place to sink to or below its original level. —
’ I By drawing lines at right angels to the road
. from the intermediate points between the va
j rious depots, we might mark off, with tolerable
: accuracv, the sphere of each one’s trade —ta-
i I
king care however to extend the sphere of
\ ° X
; any village which thrives in spite of the pas
* sage of the road, somewhat beyond the above
dimensions, and the sphere of each terminus
' considerably beyond them. From such a
drawing it would appear that only a single
limit would boiind the trade of each terminus,
- so far as the rail road affects it. By the in
creased amofint- of trade, and therefore of com
’ petition, the prices -would be lowered, and ac
cordingly* Us was said above, the terminus
would encroach on the trade of the neighbor
t ing depots;
J ; The effects of the passage of the road upon
i | villages on each side of it, arc frequently still
| more disastrous. They never receive the im
? petus w hich those on the immediate route at
f i first feci, but quickly siiik from the first, as
, their trade is withdrawn from them. Our
3 own village has not been without her propor
tion of these results. Some years ago, the
main stage line front North to South passed
through it, and our’s was one of the distribu
ting pest offices. The rail road of course dfi
! verted the former, and the latter went with it.
| ThefC were at that time sold here (as intelli
i |
k i gent merchants state) two, three or four times
! as many goods from each store as are now sold;
the number of stores being much larger.—
Much trade from the up country, not of our
.* ownfctate only, but of Tennessee and the Ca
rolinas. centered here. This trade scarcely
> now exists, and though other causes have co
i operated, there is no doubt that the Georgia
| | Rail Road has been, the chief agent in the
► !
I i change.
In the year 1837, a charter was obtained for
’ a road to unite Washington with the Georgia
Rail Road at Gumming. This however was
before we had felt the effects of the Georgia
Rail Road, and although meetings were held,
it was considered that the stock would be un
profitable and the necessary amount could not
be raised. If the minds of our people had
been prophetic of the future, the unprofita
bleness of the stock would scarcely have de
tcred them from the enterprise.
In the spring of the present year, the effort
was revived, and the spirit which was display
ed, even though it was still supposed that the
stock could not pay over 4 or 5 per cent, was
a strong evidence of the conviction that it was
our dernier resort. The details of the action
of the two committees then entrusted with the
negotiation, are doubtless familiar to the read
ers of both your city papers. Before proceed
ing to comment upon them, let me remark,
that the proper parties to the discussion do not
appear to have been kept very distinctly in
view. These parties are the citizens of Wilkes
and the Georgia Rail Road, not the former
and the city of Augusta. What the feelings of
the citizens may be in relation to our new pro
ject, is not the present question. The present
enterprise comes nearer home to their interest,
and if they should view it with something of
hostility, I for one, should feel little of resent
ment at a feeling so rational and so common
under the circumstances. But as to the first
project, the information which has reached the
writer -would not warrant the opinion that the
mass of the citizens were opposed to it. Some
individual opponents there undoubtedly were,
and these may have had considerable silent in
fluence in the ultimate issue of our proposi
tions.
The writer is perfectly willing to admit, that
our first proposition required more than, in his
opinion, the Georgia Rail Road could have j
been reasonably expected to grant, and more j
than he (and the large majority at least, if not i
all of our citizens) supposed it to ask. The :
proposition virtually was, “that the Georgia
Rail Road should carry our freight from the
point of junction to its destination, at its low
est rates per mile.” In proving the illiberali- J
ty of this proposition, the Editor of the Chron- j
icle <Sr Sentinel has fallen into a singular error, j
which he does not seem to have detected even
yet, although pointed out in the reply of
“ Wilkes.” Our proposition was that our
freight should be carried at the lowest rates
per mile from the point of junction , not from
Camak, as the Editor assumes in his argument.
It would be unnecessary to refer to this point
after the publication of “Wilkes’ ” communi
cation, were it not that his subsequent com
ment shews it to have been still undetected by
himself, and perhaps therefore by some of his
readers.
From Augusta to the point of junction,
(probably Gumming,) is 67 miles; just one
third of the entire distance to Atlanta. The
proposed rates of freight, therefore, were just
one third of those from Atlanta. Taking cot
ton as the standard, to avoid multiplicity of
figures —the rate per hundred pounds, by the
printed bills then in general circulation, was
25 cents for the whole distance, and therefore,
would have been about 8 cents for the dis
tance from Gumming to Augusta. The regu
lar rate between the latter places, is 20 cents.
The rail road then, by accepting our first pro
position, would have transported the freight
and received 8 cents, while our company would
have received the remaining 12 cents.
It has been urged, however, that, although
this looked unreasonable, yet, if the Georgia
Rail Road could carry freight 171 miles for 25
cents, it could afford to carry it 57 miles fur 8 cents
—one third of the distance for one third of the
sum.
This position assumed in the article -written
with the characteristic ability and boldness of
“Wilkes,” I conceive to be untenable. The
position is substantially this :
A rail road can afford to carry freight at the
same rates per mile fora short distance as a hug.
I would call special attention to this propo
sition, as upon it the fairness or unfairness of
our terms in a great measure turns. I con
sider the proposition to be false, because
Ist. There are items of expense which do
not vary with the distance. This may be best
illustrated by resolving the price paid into its
constituent parts’. The company has to incur
the expense of weighing or measuring articles
of freight —of putting them on andoff the cars
—of keeping traiftportation accounts —and of
the actual transportation-. The price paid
must of course cover all these expenses, and
. leave the company a reasonable profit. Os the
four elements of expense above mentioned,
three remain constant for any distance; and
the remaining one varies with the distance.
Is it not evident then that increasing the dis
tance in any given ratio, increases only one ele
ment of the expense in the same ratio, leaving
the other elements unaltered. In other words
increasing the distance in a given ratio, does
not increase the total expense in the same
ratio. Os course then the company need not
increase its charges pro rata. To realize equal
profits per mile, is an entirely different thing
from making equal charges per mile. To ac
l complish the former object, it is necessary to
render the charges per mile unequal, by di
minishing them in a certain proportion as the
distance increases.
! 2d. The cost of transportation, although it
' increases with the distance, docs not increase
in so rapid a ratio. The company must make
! stated trips whether there is a sufficient
’ amount of freight to require the full force of
their engines of not. The expense of one of
the-«o trip* wlihOMt freight—without a snffici
■ ency of freight—-of with a deficiency for a por
tion of the distance passed over, is of itself
1 heavy, and an increase of freight would not
make a corresponding increase of expense,
for the weight of the engine, and of the cars
necessarily carried to provide for contingen
cies would remain constant, though the freight
should increase. The same number of firemen
would also be employed. It is evident enough
■ from these facts, that the company can afford
to carry a large amount of freight cheaper, pro
rata, than a email amount. although
equally true, it may not be eqdfilly evident,
• that it can afford to carry the same amount
cheaper for a long distance than a short. The
principle is the same. The receipts for carry
ing freight are to cover all the expenses incur
red from the starting place to the final desti
nation. If the freight be taken in at a point 1
midway between these, the gross receipts :
would be found by multiplying the price per
mile of the total amount of freight by the num
ber of miles it was carried, equal by supposi
tion to half the cnt : re distance. The expenses
would be the firemen’s pay —the expense of
the engine in carrying itself, and frequently
employ cars—and the additional expense of
the freight superadded. If, however, the |
freight had been taken in at the starting point
itself, the expenses would have been the same
as before, except that the last item would have
been doubled, while the entire receipts would
have been doubled. Would not the nett . rofit
in the latter case evidently exceed that in the
former? If so,the company could have realiz
ed an equal profit by charging less per mile
when it carried the freight for the longer dis
tance.
If the engine leaves with a small train, in- ,
creasing at each depot, the effect would be the
same in kind, though not in degree.
There is a second latent consequence of our
proposition which served to render it objec
tionable. The Georgia Rail Road according
to it, would have received but 8 cents per hun
dred pounds, yet the producer would have
paid 20 cents (12 being the share of our road.) j
Now the reduction of the entire price to 8 cts.
would have given .a powerful stimulus to
transportation—which stimulus the portion to
be paid over to our company prevented. No
such obstacle obtains as to transportation from
Atlanta—and therefore the G. R. Road could
afford (even if other circumstances did not j
concur) to carry cheaper pro rata for them than !
for us.
Again, their published report gives the aver
age ratio of expenditures to receipts as 38-100. i
Now the fraction of the receipts they were to ■
retain, according to our proposition, was 8-20,
or more accurately 8J twenti ths, equal to not
quite 42-100. The G. R. R. would then have
received but 4-100 of the profits.
Acknowledging then that our first proposi
tion was objectionable (as the others may have •
been in some degree) but disclaiming any in
tentional unfairness, I will pass onward to the : '
action of the Directors.
Were they liberal in their feelings towards ,
i
[ our road? Did they offer sufficient induce
ments for a junction? Did they leave room
for anticipating more favorable terms on a per
; sonal conference?
Considering their resolutions fairly inter
| preted, as the exponents of their feelings and
| intentions towards our road, they were not
I inclined to be as liberal as even their interest
might have prompted them to be. In their
i first resolution they agreed to carry freight
from Gumming (the probable point of junc
tion) as if from Camak.
Now the rates of freight from either of these
: depots to Augusta is the same. The directors,
like ourselves, therefore, were ignorant of the
| effect of their proposition, for no one can sup
pose they intended an imposition upon our
company. Their intention, beyond doubt, was
to give us a portion of the profits of their road.-
How great a portion? is a question which can
not be certainly decided. The average differ
ence in the rates for ten miles difference of
i distance, is very small, fur there are 105 niltfs
on which no difference is made in cotton, flour,
rice and salt, namely, from Craw ford ville to
| Atlanta; 91 miles on which no difference i*
made in carriages, wagons and some other-ar
ticles of freight; and 68 miles in grain. Theror
are still other articles on which the
crease although the distance is increase da* iff-
I precise difference inten led cannot thcrefo e 1 ft
kuov n—and doubtless was dlff.reutly esti
i mated by different members of the board of
i directors.
Some may have supposed their offer to be
' 10 parts out of 57 of the gross receipts. Others
may have intended to give us cents out of
20, or i of the gross receipts. This latter sup
position is based- on the fact, that 5 cents dif
ference per 100 pounds of cotton is made be
tween Gumming and Thompson, which would
be at the rate of cents from Gumming to
Camaß. On neither of these suppositions,
j viewed in the most favorable aspect, (nor on
; any other which has suggested itself to the
writer,) does the offer meet with our expecta
tions. We could not, of course, expect the
board to have been governed by our ideas of
what would be liberal terms, but we arc wil
ling to leave the question to public opinion.
As, with the greatest bonus that we anticipat
ed, the estimated profits of the road would
not have paid more than 4 or 5 per cent annu
al dividend, Would a bonus of J of the net
profit have been too milch, for us to have ex
pected? The company would have received
two thirds of the net profit, on a largely in
creased business, while wo would have receiv
ed, even with the bonus, considerably less
than ordinary interest.
Viewing the proposition of the directors in
its most favorable light, we would have receiv
ed less than we might reasonably have antici
pated—c:f course there were other lights in
which we would have received still less than
on this.
The second proposition, however, was that
which struck an effectual blow, not merely at
; our terms, but at the possibility Os making
terms at all. It reads thus—
''Resolved, That it is deemed inexpedient id
i hind this company to any further; future or
i prospective arrangement with other companies;
! or to make any agreement to allow the cars of
j the Washington road to pass over the Georgia
j Rail Road.”
This resolution is, as to prospective arraitgc
i ments, final and conclusive. It operates as an
entire estoppel to further negotiation. There
iis nothing loft for implication. The action
plainly and unequivocally covers the whnlb
ground, barring “ any farther, future or pro
spective arrangement.” Not satisfied with the
one proposition offered him, and cut off frota'
the expectation of better terms, our Agent of
course declined the compliment of an interview,
which the previous resolution had made
j empty.
The bare fact of passing resolutions, vro
readily admit, would not have shut the door
! upon further communication. It was the na
j ture of the resolutions whioh-did this. These
resolutions did not stop with rejecting the
prospective arrangements which we offered,but
declared any further, future or prospective
arrangements inexpedient in the opinion of the
directors. Would it have been the part of
prudence for our company to have accepted
terms which left them for the long future en
tirely at the mercy of a company whose only
offer we did not consider liberal? Could the
J stock have been raised under such circum
stances? Were we not driven to the abandon
ment of the enterprise?
To state the matter somewhat differently—
The company by its first resolution, indirectly
rejected our first proposition without explana
tion, and by its sole remaining resolution re
jected our remaining propositions without even
the hope of substitutes. Their second pro
position would have rendered their first nuga
tory, even if it had been liberal, for we could
| have had no surety of continued liberality
Does this appear to be the action of a compa
ny liberally inclined, or of one, which having
us completely in its power, was rather indiffer
ent as to the whole subject ?
No one can question the rigid of the compa
ny to act in accordance with its own views of
its own interests. But when the question of
j liberality arises (or even, as the result has
proved, of an enlightened attention to its own
interests) it must manifestly go against it,*
One error in the editorial article of the
Chronicle Sr Sentinel has already been adverted
to. There is another and material error to be
pointed out. The Chronicle asserts that a com
pliance with our proposition would have been
a virtual surrender to our road of J;he entire
business of the depots between Camak and
Athens. And this because we could afford to
carry at lower rates, by dropping a portion of
the 12 cents profit for which our proposition
stipulated.
This is an error in. the editor, resulting from
a misapprehension of the mode of collecting
freight. Taking the State Road as an illus
tration, the farmer who puts his produce on
the cars at Dalton or any depot on that road,
docs not pay freight separately to each road,
but his agent pays the whole amount in Au
gusta, and the Georgia Rail Road retains its
share, and pays over the share of the State