The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-05

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John n Slaughter, Esa. LyncA6xrg, tHa.:
Dear Sir,-In answer 70 your request
asking my views on tho subject Of the
working Of the vissinsA aud Tennessee
/ railroad In c~opuection With the Soutbdde
and Norfolk and Petersburg roads, have
the honor TO reply that, 10 my opinion, the
greatest success Of these roads, yielding
| TIE greatest benefit TO stockholders and the
public, can only be attained by working
them jointly, under one competent head.
| These roads form an tnbroken chain OF
| communication, from tide.wstsrl to the
Tennessee line, and there connect with
the railway system Of Tennessee, leading
10 the Gulf States aud TO the Mississippi at
Memphis. The Stste owns .~three.Hfths OF
the stocks and . large amount Of the bonds.
This whole question h answsredby q single
inquiry. Hone man or one company d~&1ed
these roads, would they work them under
one general management or would they
divide 1t into two or three sections, placing
o president over each section, making
each Independent Of the otherf In slfths
States In this country where railroads have
been managed respectively, they failed to
fulfil the expectations Of their projectors,
and . consolidation Of the contiguous lines
became necessary and We find now that
live stock and merchandise are loaded 10
| st. Louis, Peoria, and Chicago, and carried
to Philadelphia and New York without
change Of cars or breaking bulk. 1t will
be seen at once tho great advantages OF
this arrangement, the diminished amount
OF rolling stock that il takes to work q long
line Of road when compared with the
amount, where at every one or two hun
dred miles the cars are stopped, unloaded,
and loaded again. i, This rolling stock Is
money at interest, and loading aud Nh.
loading requires men, or money to pay
them. But damage and delays are also in.
Cured, which shippers always dread. and II
choice of routes a. be made, the shipper
Is always going to take the safest and the
most expeditions. 1t Is answered that this
Is all partially attained under our present
organization. I assure you 1t is not. Our
present organization 10 essentially predi-
Gated on the idea that the people OF Viz
ginia are to be taxed to make. railroads,
and then their earnings are to be taxed for
running them, that the passengers and
freights of other States may be carried
oyer thom at cheap rates. Ny object Is to
place the people Of Virginia on an equal
| footing on our railroads with the people Of
other States. If our people do not pay
for carrying them, they arc "put out o.
the cars" So | want other people to be
served the same way. Can you see any
reason for charging q citizen Of Lynch.
burg five cents a mile fol. riding on q Yir.
GINA railroad, when a man from Tennes.
SEQ coming on the same train is charged
three cents Q mile, who sits by his side
But it is said one is a through passenger
aud the other Is not. And this answers
the question. But I will mako another
statement. Baltimore Is from L~ynchburg
nearly fifty miles further han Alexandris,
yet you can ship freight from Baltimore to
Lynchburg and thence to Bristol as
cheaply as you. can ship 1t from Alexan-
dria. Here is q wrong. The man ship
ping from Alexandria pays too much, or
the man from Baltimore too little. Jus.
tice is not done to the shipper from Alex.
andria. Again, the Richmond manufac.
turer or merchant desires to ship his ar.
ticles of trade from Richmond to Mem.
phis-say iron or nails-third- class freights
He is charged S3.03 tper 100 pounds rid
James River canal and Virginia and Ten.
nessee railroad, &c. Of this the Lynch.
burg and Tennessee road gets seventy
cents, the canal thirty cents-the residue
goes to the Tennessee roads. But the
Richmond shipper understands this regula.
ton, and he ships his freight to New York
and gets his agent there to reship to Nor
folk, thence by Petersburg and on to
Lynchburg by rail, thence to Bristol and
Memphis. BY this operation he pays
81 Loo, and the Virginia and Tennessee rail-
road gets thirty cents for its share of the
through freights. As astounding as these
figures may appear, yet, sir, l ain Informed
that these are the facts in regard to our
railroad management to-day. I will give
you another fact. A man at Bristol, on
the Virginia side, or at Abingdon, il he has
500 or 1000 bushels of grain that he wants
to send east, can save from thirty to fifty
per cent by going twenty or forty miles
into Tennessee and there getting a bill Of
lading signed, and then put his grain in the
cars at Bristol and send it on. A carload Of
grain or live stock from some point in Ten.
ncssee to New York would pay over the Vir.
ginia and Tennessee road from forty-five Ia
fifty five dollars, but q car Of same size
loaded by q Virginian at Bristol or ,Abing'
don pays, on the same road, eighty dol
lars. Under this system the merchant OF
manufacturer in the Virginia cities that
has his real estate and his manufacturing
establishments erected may continue to
struggle after q sickly business. But you
/ will find your energetic business men will
become disguised and leave the State, and
establish business in more northern cities,
where they can obtain superior advantages
for transportation, through Virginia, to the
same customers. Manufacturers with CAPT.
tai would be chary to settle in the State
where the transportation Of their articles
ore Disseminated against by over 100 pei
cent. The railroad management in Vir'
ginia is draining the life blood Of the com.
mercial and agricultural interests Of the
State. a.g- - .
But It Is msintaiped that the Virgins
and Tennessee railroad Is Q trunk road
and ought not to be connected with the
Southslde under tho same head. This OBJ.
lection is frivolous. The object in putting
it under the same head with the South
side is to enlarge and libcfalize the policy,
To-day, If 100 pounds Of freight came from
| Baltimore over the Orange and Alexan'
dria railroad, or from Norfolk, over the
| Southside road, going to Knoxville, the