Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1866-01-02
From the Mobile Tribune.
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The following article is from the New
York Tribune. The suggestions are good,
I but we cannot credit the Tribune man
nor his English railroad men with orig
mating the idea of q railroad express.
We learn from good authority that the
I railroad men in the South and Southwest
have taken the initiative IN this matter,
1 and rs far back as July last. agreed to
organize throughout the South and South
west with lines extending North
TO the Canada frontier rail-
road express company. The Ala
I bama Legislature at its recent session,
! granted them charter under the name
and style Of the Union Express Com
I pany. The corpOrators are all prominent
/ railroad men. Eleven thousand miles OF
/ railroad have already been pledged 10 the
H enterprise, and we hope TO see the insti-
/ tuition organized and put into operation
at an early day. For the country at
( large we hope for material benefits
from this union of railroads, and We
have no doubt that there VIII be a
great impetus given 20 the express
I business by the arrangement. One thing
I We are satisfied every merchant i'm the
country will be pleased TO hear, and that
is, that by adopting as the oTiginators of
the Union Express propose to do gene
RAJ freight tarift-say, for instance, from
New J Urk to Mobile, We may expect "A
considerable reduction from the pres
ent eXorbitant charges hy the various
inland routes. Cars will be freiehted
at any one point and taken 10 an
other without a transfer, thus saving
the time and expense usually attending
the transfer Of freight from one train to
another Ii viii he carried through bv
passenger trains; enabling Us TO get
goods through from the st. Lawrence to
the Gulf of Mexico In five or six DAYS.
Three lines Of railroads from the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers to New York have
gone into this railroad union, thus insur-
ing the Union Express Company close
and speedy connections between all i'm
p0rtaat points in the United States.
The leading managers of our greatrail-
roads are about, We presume, TO holdtheir
annual cOnvocatioD, and We urge them,
whenever they shal! have met, 10 take
up the relation existing between railroads
hid express companies, and scrutiniZe il
keenly in the interest al once OF their
stockholders and the public. Unless We
are grossly misinformed, il proffers large
opportunities for retrenchment and re-
form.
There must he express packages and
express freight on railroads; but what
need is there OF express companies2 Why
not as well have outside companies 10
carry slow freight Ss fast? Al petty
station, where the railroad can hardly
pay one agent enough to keep him IN
bread, why have another to do part Of
the business and receive another salary
as express agent?
We are assured that the English rail-
L. q -
were astonished by the character and
gigantic proportions Of our system of
railroad expresses. They say that ex-
press companies were making twenty
per cent. on roads that did not pay
their stockholders tive; they ascertained,
by inquiry, that the active managers of
those roads held large quantities Of ex-
press stock; they tried to ascertain, but
failed and had to guess, how they came
by 1t. But they were unanimous ana
emphstic in the Judgment that rail-
road shQlld do all the business that
runs on its rails; that it should stand
ready to carry anything-fr0m a gimiet
TO an elephant that was brought 80 any
OF its stations, properly directed al
duly paid for ana to deliver it at the
indicated point, no matter though Ii be
Drontheim or Calcutta. They would
have each road employ competent and
trustworthy men TO all its work, and
then take care thetit he promptly done
and paid for; but they would allow no
third party t0come between the road and
/ lts customers, taking the heavy toll OuI
I Of each under the gllise Of running an
I express.
! There s scarcely q railroad that might
/ not add at least one per cent. 70 its an
nual dividends by taking its express
| business into lie own hands and doing It
| properly, Then they would not be
! blamed, a. now, for blunders which they
I could not control, by customers who con-
I slider the express but a bureau Of the
/ road, as it should be, but is not.
! Existing contracts may ofstruct the
! completion of the reform We commend,
but should not impede its Inauguration.
/ We appeal 10 the next Railroad Conven-
/ ton to go straight to the root of this mat
ter, and devise a system which shall do
I justice at oHoe To their stockholders and
lhsir customers.