Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-03-02


my charge until handed to the book-kee,cr =
entry and have so far taken safe care Of tho ~
Payments OH these are only made on nv war,sn.
as President, and it is not for the treasurer Or a
subordinate to look behind this warrant. hany q
up to the present, managed to make no m,ro,
payments, according to the very strict audnrr u
the board and auditing committee, and have sst'
fed these as to the manner of payments. Has N y
chairman found any wrong! If so he has sn,sas e
me its exposure.
The chairman gives statement of station arcD., &
accounts, showing balances due as by books q
the first time of his attendance (Jan 4th) TO lo
this examination, strongly urged him to eyama
carefully our system of transportation accounts
one compiled from various roads, and as nearly perr
in its checks and balances as possible lie ne.
dill emmiae 1T at ALL This, by far the most t.. =
portant department in its daily uses, to save al @
lose much-he did not think it uorth uhile to L
int one hour.
In this department we might lose, any month
by "a bad system, more than he dcplorcs as lost i
the accounts of McRae, Trolingcr and Andrews !
rents and interests-but in this department tL,,
was no field Of exploration to find mnttcr 10 rrn,n'
If he had looked into this he would have seen hoS
it is ia thing every year requiring long expEn.
tions that balances appear against the station aa,m<
For instance on 3lst of December, each aren't IA, z
is his daily duty sends to the Office by mail tram
his return of freight sent to every other agent md
it is all charged up as against the agent 10 wh,,
sent, that ddy: but it is not receired for two d,r
perhaps by The agent char cd with it. and celtairi
is not taken from his warehouse and paid for, in Il,
month Of December 1t stands therefore as 4 l..
ance appearing against him, on the LIST of Japus,r
| but it is in goods not delivered from his WAR;
house, or in money due for freights. Such Show.
ing is unjust and very ungencrous towards Eithii
tho fI,,,,, aT(nt 4
when it is not SO. These agents may claim TO he,
| least as honest as the chairman
| The chairman states three cases where agents ~,
in default and mis-statcs all of them The one At
Goldsboro' will be only little more than two tbcn
sand, not over five thousand dollars, as he rem.
| sents-this balance he promises to secure The On,
at Smithtield was an appointment of former terra
and the loss was owing to uncollected ffei.hts At
his DEATH The one at llaw river is i'll suit and the
former agent is considered good for it. As rcgar,
this case the chairman makes an untrue and iner
rect statement on information of the treasurer he
says, which he must have misunderstood, as The
treasurer could hardly have given him perverted
and partial statement. The credit TO this agent for
account of Gen. Trollinger was for licghts of lum
Der delivered to the Haw River Company. 1t was
received from the agent at the Office not on liz hat
ing, as is stated, but time teJ0re for collection
from this company, and only asccrtaned to have
been paid by them to Trollinger as was not expect.
cd by me, some time afterwards. | neither expect
nor propose that the road shall lose this rs 10 the
bonds of agents, long ago notified the treasurer
that it was his duty to see to these bonds; to keep
them, and see that they were good to take care
that agents never in arrears; and to notify me
| if they failed to pay up regularly. Whenever L.
has done so, have Immediately required from them
prompt accountability But the receipts of this
road have been over II million Of dollars through.
the agents The default of payments less than iiyeS
thousand dollars to this date in five ycrs-thc actual
loss SO far beyond remedy not one thousand. AHE
immense loss this!
As to the delinquent stock, about which he i,
troubled it belongs to the treasury. 1t is SO mud
less of capital inveSted-and so much less amount
than the four millions of capital, upon which any
dividends could go out. The board have ALWAYS.
considered it wiser to let this stand rather than sr
at a sacrifice. The chairman probably thought
was giren aeay to the original subscribers. This
! was mistake of his.
The chairman refers to the Wtstern Norl
Carolina Railroad," The calls it the Western Ez
| tension in way that may be notifying to that
company. The board Of directors have rather Con
sidered that in aiding this work We were dirrtly
aiding and promoting our own intcrest-and they
have only made the same liberal terms for reigbB
(of construction-not for ordinary frcghts) viii
| hOns-in the course of its construction. Our Tay
ments were made to these partly in stock of tie
company: this road pays lis in cash. Its progrci
towards completion will largely and constantly III.
crease our receipts, and so much is it identifedns
interest as to he called an "eXtension" of cur roa
Can the chairman see in this no reason for lber-
dealing towards that work?
Only one other point of the chairmans report
shall further notice. and this, because it is unEuF
made. He gives an extract from the report of th
finance committee in July last, and he omits mott
referring to it. When this report read in thi
meeting asked the chairman Mr.. Kirkland if be
would be good enough to explain what it meant de-
finitey, as it sounded somewhat vaguely as well a
harshly to my apprehension. | asked if the com
mittce had found anything in crrory he said nothing
ANYTHING wrong? nothing. Was the transportatioi
system, more important than all else on the road,
good one? he said admirable in its perfect arrange
ments of checks, balances and books. What then;
why, the plain books of entry, the accounts witt
individuals, these only were not as they should be
Such was the fact, until the present secretary and
book-keeper, with great labor, brought up and rcge
lary entered from the first year of this corporation
certain accounts. ! found account of liabilitis
due, listed for reference, when l into this d
flee, none was then kept now; hence the impo>>
bitv of determining the old Indebtedness until
was presented for payment. 1t is concluded nov
that our books in perfect order, as believe the
to be, Otherrise the chairman would have reerreI
to them in his report.
He says on page %, "No system of book keep
ing can be adopted, which will make the book-keeF
er's balance sheet show the truth, if the treasure
be required to pay on the Presidents warrant, witt
out showing for what this marrant Issued, de-"
Now the truth" is, that erery rar7aht erer II
sued does sho,c fer aehat this warrunt issuoL' 81
express terms, and if the chairman looked at singh
warrant, he ought to MoV that each one does So
His reference to the condition of the treasury u;
July, 1856, and his remarks thcreupon, do ny
consider of sufficient importance to authorize my Ell
tending this already very long communication, 4
give it any notice, nor his attempted review Of ny!
statements. My report of the history, affairs, con
dition and prospects of this road, ought to be ca
bic of sustaining ADLER review than the charms
has made or can make without being affected thgfl
by. have reason to believe that this report i%
been generally satisfactory to the Legislature and
the public, nor do | apprehend that the report
the chairman disturb this satisfaction, but ri
ther must by its character confirm it. j