The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-05-19

For the Hestern Democrat.
RAILROAD AND POST OFFICE
CORRESPONDENCE:


pondence. recently published. between
Me,srs. Johnston. Fisher and Hawkins
and the Postmaster General. Last sum-
n-r the Postmaster General addressed an
INQUIRY to the Presidents of the South Car
,,Iina. VII. & Man. and vii. & Weldon
Railroad Companies. TO ascertain II they
would not put forward their respective
trains three hours sooner, as the mails ana
passengers going North were detained SIX
hours at Augusta The President of the.
;. c. Railroad Company replied that he
would 90 forward n desired by the De-
rartment. The Presidents of the Will d
Man. and WI. s. Weldon Railroad Com
panies declined to do so-thus defeating
the convenience of the public service.
The Presidents of the upper line Of roads
learning this. respectfully petitioned the
p. Q. Department to order forward the
| 6 C.Road three hours sooner from Au-
ou.ta. and stated that they would deliver
| the mails and passengers twelve hours
! sooner in Charlotte, Raleigh and Weldon
with the same advance of mails and travel
g,iuo South from Weldon to Columbia.
without any increased mail pay or expense
70 the government. TO this the Depart
mpnt promptly replied that with the con-
sent of Mr. Caldwell, President of the ). {.
/ Railroad Company, it would not hesitate to
make the order
, The President of the S. c. Railroad sent
I 81, Oh of
! The changes asked did not affect the sched-
/ ule of any other road. Relying upon the
promise of the Postmaster General that the
order of change should issue to the South
| Carolina Road. and knowing that the Presi-
dent of that Company had consented to It,
the Pre-. idrnts of the upper line incurred
heavy costs in making the necessary ar
ranrcmemts for new and faster schedule
But while the order was daily expected,
letter was received from the Department,
stating that the vii. q Man. Railroad OBJ
iected to it as "injurious to its interests,
without stating how or in what respect.
This action on the part of the Wilmington
g. Manchester Road was properly regard
ed by the authorities of the other roads as
uncalled for. officious and presumptuous
i'm the extreme, and deserved every state
ment made in the letter of the Presidents
in reply to the Postmaster General. The
facts therein stated, in regard to the many
failures of the Wilmington and Manchester
Road to make its mail connections, with
its somewhat crippled machinery" are TOD
well known to the public. as well as to the
p. o. Department., to bear contradiction.
These are the material facts in the cor
respondenee, and because these gentlemen
have seen proper to denounce, in be-
coming manner the presumptuous and I'M
warrantable interference Of the Whining
ton and Manchester Railroad, they are to
be uniuStly assailed by those who have not
published the correspondence and allowed
the public to Judge for itself We call on
the Editor of the journal to publish the
correspondence. The Presidents of the
Charlotte & s. c., North Carolina, and
Raleigh and CASTOR Railroad Companies.
need no other vindicaton of their course.
The Wilmington and Manchester Railroad
will learn that oflicious meddlers in the
business of other parties must abide the
necessary results of their own acts.
But the modest pretensions set up by the
Journal for the gallant son of New Han
over" and Wilmington, are beyond con-
prehension!! They drafted the Charter
If the n. c. Railroad and INFUSED life
blood in its veins in its hour of need" and
finally built" it and when it was about
to sicken and die. Wilmington infused
additional life blood and it survived. This
is really a new history of the n. c. Rail-
: road.
| Now, so far as voting and drafting char
! tiers went to build the n. c. Road, Will
the Road was more for her benefit than any
) other portion of North Carolina. and proba.
| bly, she did as her interest would prompt
; in regard to subscribing. In regard TO the
. State subscription of So, 900, 900, we all pay
5 equally on that according to the consttu
tional mode of levying taxes. The citizens
r of Cherokee, Charlotte, Fayetteville, anG
Elizabeth City, contribute according to
= their wealth just as much as the citizens OF
Wilmington, although they may derive NJ
benefit from it.
< More than four -fifths of the individual
subscription to the Road was made in ant
west of Raleigh, and the Road constructed
by the these same stockholders. NOtwith
standing all this, tariff of freights ha!
been made discriminating against every
other town and Railroad in the State fo
the benefit Of Wilmington, and against tn,
interests of the western stockholders an(
contractors who mainly contributed to builC
this Road The effects of the McRae
Wilmington policy has been to turn ou
Western Directors-Gen. Means and Ca
leb Phifrr. Esq.-and endeavor to contro
Il the Road and make it subservient to he
own policy, regardless CT the interest o
u the stockholders.