Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-09-15

thc oincers OF the Company have directed the
construction of the road with view to its
completion from Anderson to Knoxville
They have urged forward the work on the
tunnels and masonry, which are the most cost
ly and tedious parts of the work, leaving the
light grading almost entirely suspended after
Bangs u Co. were dismissed, who had done
nothing else AS the progress of the work
was reported to the Stockholders in detail,
this policy of the Directors was, in almost ev-
cry report which they made, communicated to
the Stockholders and to the Legislature. In
order to give the largest publicity to the pro-
cecdings of the President and Directors, their
annual Report to the Stockholders has every
year been published in all the daily papers in
Charleston, and in pamphlet form sent to the
Mayor and Aldermen of Charleston, to all the
Stockholders, members of the Chamber of
Commerce in Charleston, and largely distrib-
uted among the citizens of Charleston and of
the State AS required by the charter, cop
les have been officially presented to the presi-
ding officers of both branches of the Legis-
lature; and, besides laying copy on the ta-
bic OF every member, one has been mailed to
their residences before the session of the Leg
islature, in order that they might have time to
read 1T before they went to Columbia, and be-
came distracted by amuscments and elections,
or cngrossed in business. You cannot or
should not, therefore, have been unnformcd
of the views of the officers of the Company.
They have constantly avowed and published,
as they now do, that if the Blue Ridge Rail
road is finally to terminate at the Georgia line,
in the midst of the, Blue Ridge Mountains,
the addition it would make to the commerce
of South Carolina, would fall very far short of
compcnsating for the cost of its constructions
On this subject | will make quotation only
from the report of 1857:
\ specious exhibit of progress may have
been presented in the grading of the road, if
1T had not been deemed unwise so to apply the
resources of the Company. A little reAcc-
tlon must make itapparent that if the road
were to terminate at any point of the line
short of Knoxville, or the navigable waters of
the Tennessee at some other place, the road
would not compensate for its cost The con-
struction of the road has been accordingly di-
rccted to the accomplishment of connection
between Charleston and Knoxville The
great obstacle to this important end is prescn-
ted by the Blue Ridge Mountains If the
line OF the road to the Rabun Gap presented
only ordinary difficulties, the Blue Ridge
Road would have been undertaken and finish
ed long before this time. When the noun
tains are crossed the extension of the road to
Knoxville will be certain consequence"
suppose every intelligent person in the
State will concur in the opinion of the off,
GERS of the Company, that if the Road is to
terminate at the Georgia line it would not
compensate for its cost. The insuficiency of
funds to fnis, the road to the Georgia line,
which You specify as the mischief resulting
from the misconduct of the officers of the
Company is, then, no mischief at all
At the hazard of being tedious | will fur
tIer vindicnte the officers of the Company
from your charge of bad faith. | understand
bad faith to be a violation of some trust or
confidence rcposed, it may be in the transac-
ton of business, or in the intimate relation
of the parties. The bad faith you charge is
comprehended in the first part of my defini-
ton. 1T commercial attorney or agent
should engage in transactions beyond the scope
OF his authority, and not inform mis- principal
of such transactions, but conceal them, that
would be bad faith. Buff he fully appraised
his principal from time to time, as often as he
communicated with him, that he was engaged
in transactions which were beyond the origin
al scope of his authority, and his principal did
not d;sapprove or make any objection, that
would make valid and bona ftle the transac-
tions of the agent of which his principal has
been so informed.
The officers of the Company are the agents
of the Stockholders. These consist of the
State of South Carolina, the City of Charles
ton, and the corporate and individual subscri-
bers. The members of the Senate and
House of Representatives are the agents or
proxies of the State for the Stock which it
holds in the Blue Ridge Railroad Company.
Even II it were admitted that the officers of
the Company had violated the charter by the
expenditure of money for the construction of
the road beyond the Georgia line, yet if
show that this expenditure was communicated
to the Stockholders in every Annual Report
of the officers, tho charge of bad faith is re-
pclled.
1t would be tedious to quote from the re-
ports, but | affirm thot in every report since
October, 1855, when was elected President
of the Company, the progress of construction,
and, of course, the expenditure of money for
work beyond the Georgia line, has been ex-
hibited in detail
No disapprobation has been expressed by
the Legislature, nor by any other Stockhoder,
to the present time, though in the report of
1888 the expression of a want of confidence
was suggested to the Legislature and other
Stockholders, as the means by which the fur
ther expenditure of money would be arrested,
Bangs & Co. we're dismissed In April, 1856.
In the report of 1857, you will find the fol-
lowing passage: Ir
The Directors have no motive nor 'esire
to delude the Stockholders Gin the number of
whom, by the State and City subscriptions,
oil Tho oit;,ans oe tbo Ctata a,ag l[