The North-Carolina standard., 1850-01-30
RALEIGH, January %. 1s


GENTLEMEN: I did not return home until late on
Saturday evening, when had the pleasure of find
ing your note of the 18th instant conveying the wish
of the friends of the Central Rail Road that
should address the people Of Granville at Oxford.
on Tuesday of your County Court, the 5th of Feb
by my recent visit to the Eastern part of the State,
that am impelled at once to signify my willingness
to comply with your request. AS Granville is one
Of the largest slaveholding Counties in the State,
with an intelligent and enterprsing white population,
am most anxious Of the opportunity Of laying be-
fore her people some facts, which must satisfy every
one Of the great advantages which the South enjoys
in the construction of Rail Roads.
The plan of allowing Stockholders to have pre-
ference in contracts for the payment Of their stock in
labor and materials, has been considered with as
Of doubtful policy. The experience of South Caro-
lima and Georgia in their construction of Rail Roads,
has removed all doubts on the subject. and shewn
that the planters and farmers themselves do the
grading. furnish the TIMBER and raise the superstruc-
ture, leaving only the iron, mechanism. and engines
to be paid for. The President of the Charlotte and
Columbia Road says: IS The practice is one of re-
cent origin; is admirably calculated to indase the
amount Of subscription for stock; to facilitate its
payment; and gives to the slave States great advan-
tages the free in the construction of Rail Roads,
Any one who has the least experience the subject.
cannot but be satisfied that slave labor is not only
the most economical, but is also the most efficient" "
The Charlotte and Greenville South Carolina Roads
the first one hundred and nine and the second
hundred and twenty-six miles to Anderson Court
House-are actually under contract. and that in
great degree by the Stockholders in part for stock
and these Roads, fifteen miles longer than ours will
be completed at the estimates with heavy iron, at
less than three millions. With such an example be-
fore US, can our people longer hesitate!
take great pleasure in informing you that the re-
cent Convention at Newbern was one of the most
thusiastic and successful which it has been my for
tune to attend. There were four companies nearly
completed for the list of one hundred. and seventy
thousand dollars subscribed for the continua-
ton of Road from the eastern terminus of great
Road to the town of Newbern and all this the work
of one day. 1t was indeed noble meeting, and
most nobly have the people of that ole town vindi-
Gated the birth-place of Castor and Stanly. And
doubt not we shall soon see our two rival seaport
towns, Wilmington and Newberp, enjoying the same
advantages-the one with her Rail Roads, and with
her Steamboats, the Cape Fear, and the other with
her Road, and her Steamboats, on the Neuse. / also
take pleasure in saying that doubt not the feeling
which has been engendered in Newbern, will be ex-
tended to the sdjoining country. Wayne, Lenoir,
Jones, and Craven, together with Greene. Pitt. Car
teret and others in the East, will be added to the
number of Rail Road Counties; and those who had
been marked out as victims, are likely to become
victors in the great system of State Improvement.
You will pardon the length of this answer, which,
together with your note, shall at hand to the
papers Of our City, for fear might not reach you in
time to give it publicity before your meeting.
am, gentlemen, your friend. &c. -
R. NJ. SAUNDERS.
To ]. T. Littejohn, r. B. Gillian, B. G.. Cooke,
Thos. Miller, J. r. Hefndon, and ]. G. Cooper,
Esquires.