The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-03-05
NUMBER 1877
Ggie'1 .aailp yournal.
THURSDAY MORNING:::::::,:::::MARCH s
For the Jonrnal.l I
An Expose. 80
ID OLIVER H. SMITH, ESQ, President Of the e.
70 IcOn,isvea from yesterday,s JournaIr

/
/ I q @. S. Z. Railrcad Company. 1885
! 1t appears clearly on the face Of this con.
tract mat, large as was the price to be paid
for the work to be done, whilst it clearly beg
Igared the corporation, still the corporation
was to furnish all the means with winch the
contractors were 10 build the road, aIt the
contractors Were not expected to pay any
thing out Of their own pockets; else what is
. the meaning Of the following language relst-
Iing to the payment Of the contractors the
$4,000 a mile in real estate bonds. oi
"These bonds in such amounts as shall be-
l"required to enable ne PARTY Of the second par.
l"-Carpenter & Co.,-to meet their cor. str1a ON
'col'tracts in the progress of the work, shall
"be delivered on request BY tho party of the
"first part, to the party Of the second part.''
Surely, there can be no misunderstanding that
provision. 20 ''" ~ Eafi
! And the Evansville and Lamasco bonds are
placed in this same open handed category,
perfectly ut the service Of the contractors.
Surely, there can be no mistaking the inten-
ton OF the contract on this subject. 10 fa g
In like manner, the mortgage bonds of the
broad, are to be had for the asking, when re-
,qured 10y the party ofthe second part to secure
and pay for the iron, chairs, spikes, and
! eaCn ulffSlol OF the ROAD. 10
llustrate the manner in which this contract is
carried out, or rather the manner in which
the contractors are permitted to carry oat
the securities of the road, under the contract:
| quote from the appendix, page 20, to the
: last report OF the company, dated May 1st
f; 1856. This article in the appendix, after
stating the preparation of five hundred and
seventy Thousand dollars, first mortgage bonds
ba data Il 1.t -
ing them all issued on the first division
&c, goes on to say: 1.-THE above five hundred
''and seventy thousand dollars of bonds will
"be paid over to Willard Carpenter & Co., the
Contractors to enable them 10 purchase iron
chairs and spikes, and to pay for transports
"tior for the first division ofthe road; and will
'be offered for sale by them, for that purpose.
. These bonds are issued, as will be seen bv.
due authority of Law and will be an uLques.
''tionabe security"
Can there, after what l have shown, be
any doubt upon the question of whether or
not these contractors were expected or requi-
red to bring any money TO this road? Is il
not clear that all that they were expected TO
do for the road was just what Willard Car
lpenter conld as veil do without that contract
as with it, that is, to convert the securities of
the road into cash, materials, or labor for the
company. The object OF large contract,
when that object IS good one, is to bring 70
the aid of the Company either skill or capital,
which the Board and its officers cannot COM
mand within themselves. Your contract con-
tains the internal evidence, that neither Of
these objects were expected to be obtained In
this case.
| The specifications as to the amount and
manner of payment to the contractors are all
full and clear enough, and as to what tho
road shall do for them in providing surveys
plats, profiles, &c. But when we turn to the
other side, aud enquire what they are to do
for theCompany, We find most plentiful lack
| OF specifications. For instance nothing is said
about the material OF structures. Bridges, abut-
ments, viaducts, shops, Engine houses, water
station houses, Depot buildings, &c. It does
not specify whether of stone, brick, or wood.
1t is to be substantial to be sure, and il is
to be "for a first class Road" but is not wood
substantial? And 'a first class Road", means
no more than "a first class Hotel" Both the
.BateS House" and 'lhe Metropolitan Hotel'',
are first class Hotels; both substantially built.
The one cost $50. 600: the other, think nearer
half million.
The 1erre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad,
and the Reading Railroad are both first class
roads; the one cost S22,0 per mile, includ-
ing all equipments; the other, your appendix
h." informs us cost SlSoOOO per mile. But
please notice, the former road running through
much rough country, pretty well equipped
and well managed costing $50, ,O0Oa mile with
equipments, but with no passenger depot at
Terre Haute, as yet, and no building made for
show, and being only seventy three miles
long, has paid more for depots, shops, engine
houses, water stations, &c, than your whole
provision, which you call ''ample provision
for those same things for your one hundred
and fifty five miles of road. .f
What is yet more startling is the total
omission IN this contract, of the subject of
''grade" or gradients" 1t is very plain, tha:
it is much less expensive 10 run railroad
over a HILL than through it. The ruling
lgrades'' of Indiana Railroads are low, but Of
some much lower than Of others. 1t is COM
lparatively small expense to grade given road
at high grades, which would be enormously
Iexpensive to grade at low grades, and yet low
grades are of great importance, in limiting the
costs of working road after it is built For
instance it may happen that your road can be
prepared for the rails, with grades OF fifty or
sixty feet ascent or descent in the mile, at
less cost by hundreds of thousands Of dollars
than it can be prepared with grades of not
exceeding twenty or thirty feet in the mile.-
And yet your road could be built with even
much higher than sixty feet grades and still
be a first class road. Notwithstanding all this
not word is said about grades in this con-
tract. These things, materials in structures,
manner Of construction, degrees of curvature,
height of grade, all referred TO the justice, or
the judgment, the whin or the caprice, the
fear or favor of ''the Chief Engineer" He can
make contracts profitable, or Improbable; can
make or unmake contractors. II, however.
the Chief Engineer and the contractors should
happen to differ in opinion, about any OF these
matters. what think you, would he the result?
May i call your attention to what has already
happened in reference to this partic ar pro