Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-11-17


recommend that petition be presented to the
Legislature, at lis next session, praying that
the State will guarantee one million of the
! Compnny's bonds, without requiring the per-
formance of the conditions imposed by the
Act of 1854, and such subscription as will be
necessary to finish the section of the road from
Walhalla to Clayton
The estimated cost of flushing the road to
! Knoxville is S4,586,512 The Treasurer
statement, G. shows assets to the amount of
81, ,l2O,9l4, applicable to the construction of
the road, leaving balance of So, ,465, sos
necessary to finish the entire road. A guar
| anty of 81 100000 of bonds, and subscr:p.
| tlon of 81, 100000 by the State, will leave
only 81 100000 to be provided The sale of
the balance of the first mortgage bonds will
nearly produce this amount What NAV be
wanting, can, confidently, be expected from
North Carolina and Tennessee The Board
is confident that the proposed aid will be suf-
fcient to carry through the road
They will not enlarge on the importance of
the Blue Ride Road to the resources and pros
perty of the State nor on the necessity of
1t to maintain the commercial position which
/ South Carolina has heretofore occupied nor,
again, detail the expenditure which has been
made by Southern States, competing for ccm
mcrcal supremacy, manifold greater than has
been made by this State; nor exhibit the ac-
tlvity and progress in the construction of rail
roads by other States, which are designed to
divert from South Carolina the trade which.
by its geographical position, it should engross.
These incentives to effort have been, in for
mcr Reports, so fully and often urged, that to
renew them at this time would be vain rep
etti2n.
But the President and Directors do res
pecttuIly appeal to the Legislature, which
represents the State in this great enterprise
not to permit it to be abandoned, after SO
much work has been done and so much mon
ey expended; fruitlessy, if the State refuses
the aid necessary for its completion.
If such is to be the disastrous issue of the
undertaking, the officers to whom its manage
mcnt has been committed, arc confident that
they must be absolved from all responsibility
At the risk of being tedious they take this
opportunity to vindicate themselves against
any censure, which the unrcnccting or evil
disposed may venture to cast upon them.
has been mentioned that, at the session
OF 1886, the year in which Bangs & Co. were
dismissed, a petition was presented by the
Company to the Legislature. While it was
pending, the President was heard at the bar
OF the House of Representatives in support
of the prayer of it. In the Report made by
the President and Directors to the Stockhoi-
ders in November, 1857, what the President
bad stated in his address was thus brought to
their notice: "Thc Directors have no motive
or desire to dclude the stockholders (in the
number of whom, by the State and CITY sub
scriptions, all the citizens of the State arc
comprscd) into fruitlcss expenditure of
hn -
the bar of the House of Representatives, at
the last session, on petition of the Compa-
ny then under consideration, he explicitly sta
ted that, by the failure of Bangs & Co. to per
form their contract the portion of the cost of
the road, for which they contracted to accept
payment in stock, as well as the difference be-
tween the payment, to them in bonds, at par,
and the prices at which the bonds may be
sold or disposed of by the Company, for the
payment of the cost of the road (thc whole
sum estimated at two millions of dolars),
would have to be supplied. He represented
that aid could not be expected from the States,
Georgia and North Carolina; the former of
which had rival road completed, and the lat
ter has expended large amount, and is ex-
pending more, towards the completion of
competing road through its own limits; that
more aid might be hoped rom Tennessee, but
that South Carolina should be prepared in
the last resort, to supply the deficiency He
further advised that, unless the people of the
State were prepared to do so, they should at
once stop any further expenditure on the
road
Again, in the Report of 1858, the subject
is brought to the attention of the Stockhol-
dcrs, "Two years ago, the Legislature y.qs
apprsed, that, the road could not be compile
ted, unless its construction was assumed by
the State; and a suspension of the work was
advised, unless the State was prepared to pro-
vide the sum necessary for its completion-
If resolution had then been passed, declar-
ing want of confidence in the enterprise,
the work would have been suspended Since
that time million of dollars have been cx-
pended fruitessly, if the State does not grant
tho Companys petition. From the inacton
of the Legislature the Company was justified
to infer acquiescence in the claim, of which
they were notified and, centuinly, the Direc
tors were not authorized to arrest the con-
struction of the road"
The demands, certain and probable, which
thc Company would have to make on the Leg
islaturc, for the completion of the road, were
brought to view in the Report of 1850, sup
ported by the statement that Z" the Stockhol-
ders and the Legislature have been repeated
ly and fully notified, since December, 1856,
that it may be necessary to call on the State
for second additional subscription of S1,.
000,000."
Copies of these renorfs las renuired nv tbn