Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-12-18
MUM Der 81.
Virginia Central ENTHUSIASTICALLY Of
of Giving Satisfaction.


The difficulty Of producing proper and
satisfactory tariff for this or for any other
Company, is fully recognized. The tolls
are needed by the Company they must be
paid BY the community. Persons who are
required to pay money in any form RESENT
bling an arbitrary assessment, usually find
it difficult to believe that the tax levied is
not too high. Certain it is that almost oil
persons who are not themselves responsible
for the success Of railroad, find it easy to
imagine that under skilful management it
requires but a very small revenue to support
such work and it's machinery; or that, if
it does require much it is clearly the best
policy to seek, by very low charges, to- IN
crease the trade, and look for small profits
per ton on very large number of tons, and
thus obtain the large revenue that is wan
ted. Yet, the same party who takes this
view-even if a merchant addicted to such
generalization-when it is proposed to him
to charge for the goods he sells very little
above cost (and on articles of universal ne
cessity little less than cost, and look to
the future increase Of his business, which
mast result from this wise course, for a re-
ductlon of his future expenses and he ia
crease of his profits, find no difficulty in ap-
preciating its dangers. He knows that he
is obliged to live noao, and that it is unsafe
to put off the means of support until sufi-
cient population is born, or attracted by his
reasonable rates, to draw around him and
buy his ow-priced goods.
Your Company is in the same condition.
It is proper for it to look to the future ; but
not wise to forget the present. It is we'll to
find encouragement in hope, but better to
live on reality.
The tariff which I submit. however, IS
not to be regarded as a tariff of increased
charges. The rates are only increased
where they were absolutely less than, or too
little above, the actual cast of carriage At
many points, and on many articles, they are
most materially rednced.
submit this tariff with its acknowledged
defects, for your consideration and adoption
and in the hope that it will either be adop-
ted as it is, or so modified, within the limits
which | have laid down, that it will receive
the sanction of your judgment and be pro-
mulgated with your unanimous consent;
without which it is impossible that it can
receive the appreciation Of your customers.
The construction of a tariff is, beyond
all question, the most difficult, that can come
before Board Of Directors 1t is the most
important, because all your success, %hstA
ever else you may do, depends at last upon
your net receipts and your receipts upon
your charges. If the tariff is essentially
wrong-chargfng below the cost of transpor-
tation, on the one hand, or so high as to be
prohibitory on the other-the company must
be crippled and Impoverished No admin
listrative talent on the part of the President
and Superintendent can surmount the obsta-
Gle thrown in your way by inadequate and
ill-arrangcd charges.
The stroke of pen may reduce the char
ges ten times as much, in a moment, as the
labor and vigilance of year can reduce the
expenses. The mischief done is buried up
in the mass of accounts. The public eve
cannot trace it, and the stockholders, igno-
rant of the cost of transportation, have no
means of detecting it.
Permit me to add that the tariff submitted
is not supposed to be free from many of the
imperfections which I condemn. But,
claim for it one merit-that it neither pro-
hibits any commodity which the company
can afford to carry, nor charges any article
lest than the cost of it's transportation. It
insures to the Company some profit on all
the work they may do, though that profit
will sometimes be exceedingly small.
I have not been able to appropriate the
time necessary to construct passenger "a
riff as you requested that should do and
am not prepared to suggest any general
modification Of tho rates which you have
adopted. As a rule, am of opinion tina,
they are not too high.
submit my views on this difficult ques,
ton respectfully for your consideration.
| CHARLES ELLET, JR.,
Co'ssulfiag Engineer