Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-07-18

ceivlng Il at the same place where 1t was
scld by the government. This is very
singular transaction, when we remember
that the head officers Of that road are the
officers Of eur road.
The officers Of the road furnished the
wood and coal committee with statement
showing us what it cost them to transport
wood over our road They make it cost
So 40 per cord. This is certainly a false
showing, or if il is not, we ought not to
keep such extravagant managers in our
employ an hour longer; for other roads
(the Louisville and Nashville road, for in
stance) moved large amount of wood lat
year, at a cost Of about seventy cents per
cord, handling and all included. But there
is no Disgusting the fact that this extrava~
CANT estimate was made out desiguedly, TO
make the stockholders believe that coal
was cheaper than wood.
Thus, gentlemen, / might go on bringing
charge after charge, enough TO fill large
volume; but let this suffice 10 show you the
way in which your road is being managed
by the present administration. You
elected me director, to look after your
interest have done 50 to the very best
OF my ability, and as my time is about out,
l have taken this method of rendering you
in part an account of my stewardship,
showing you some of the evils in time for
you to have them corrected. | have tried
to correct these things privately, earnestly
tried but failed, and am now being
cursed, abused and slandered for exposing
these things, (all of which / will attend to
in due time and in proper manner.)
In conclusion, 1 will say that l do not
wish to be a director any longer MIR.
Burns has solicited me to run on his ticket.
L positively refused, as l cannot conscien-
tiously indorse the present organization at
ALL And further, | am not able to spare
the money or the time, for it has cost me
at least one thousand dollars, travelling
expenses, etc, in attending to railroad
business, since | have been director, to
say nothing of loss of time and the enc
mics / have made, and the abuse heaped
upon me by Y. K. Stevenson and his
friends, and now by Burns and his friends,
and the latter is worse than the former,
and SO is the latter administration hun
dred times more corrupt than the former,
which will be shown when an unbiased
committee is appointed to look into it.
Since writing the above, one of Mr..
Burns comparative reports has been handed
/ to me by a friend Look, stockholders, at
the deception tried to be palmed off on
you in that small report. On page first,
third paragraph, he says, " You will please
bear in mind the enhanced price of labor
and material requisite to operate the road"
But does he tell you the enhanced price of
freight, etc, that he has been getting? Not
a word Of it. Again, in the same paragraph
he says, / will leave out all expenses Of
every kind, and make use only of the item
Of net cash earned" etc 1t is well he did
leave it out, for a comparison in this case
would have ruined him. On pages four
and five, in comparing his twenty and a
half months with the peaceable and pros
porous times from 1854 to 1861, when, as
he expresses it, the commerce Of the
| world was pressing onward and upward"
| (Query-Wo how high it got? Too
high, perhaps, for the Nashville and Chat
| tano0ga railroad to control it, But here
again he fails to tell you the fact that, at
| the close of the war, it found the South des-
titute Of provisions, clothing, and almost
everything except a little cotton; their
supplies had to come from the North and
pass over the Nashville and Chattanooga
| railroad; hence the immense amount of
freight. Il was no good management
of his, and these poor Southern people were
| charged higher freights than was ever
heard of before in this country. And as
before remarked, this destitute Southern
/ people had some cotton with which to pay
| for these immense supplies which they
were buying, and were forced to ship their
cotton over the Nashville and Chattanooga
| railroad, because nearly all the other roads
were torn mp. For this he charged them
/ the small sum Of five dollars per bale. He
was thus liberal with them, suppose, be-
cause of their destitute condition. And
that old fox, V. X. Stevenson, had the
audacity, before the war, to charge this
same people (and that, too, when labor was
fifty per cent. cheaper than it is now, and
/ when the commerce of the world was trav-
cling onward and upward, etc. one dollar
per bale. Just pause and think of it.
| Again, on page six he says that both par
ties contesting for your sutfrages were
| governed in their operations by the same
chartered rates, which were, of course
formed upon specie basis, and hence
detrimental to the present management
| Did you ever see as many absurdlties m
| one short sentence before There is but
one party in this contest that has ever man
aged the road before, and that is his
! But here he wishes to leave the
impression that V. X. Stevenson
has ticket, and that this new board, which
will take control Of the road on the 10th OF
| August next, is Y. K. Stevenson's board
and thus scare you into his (Burns) sup
| port He knows that this is false, Just as
we'll as do. Formed on a specie basis,
and hence detrimental to the present man.
apement," he says. Mr.. Burns, do you
mean TO say that yOu have to take depre'
ciated currency (greenbacks) for the earn
ings of the road, and then pay off the en-
ployes in specie? If yon do, you know il
is not true, for you pay them oil in green
backs, the same kind of currency you re
ceived. And now, according to your owl
statements, if labor is only fifty per cent
higher now than it was before the war, anC
freights are now one hundred per cent
higher than before the war, and you pay OF
the employees in the same currency that yol
receive for freights at this high rate, how
/ ask, in the name Of common sense can
be detrimental to the present management
This is loo palpable 10 try 10 palm Oh Of
an intelligent community.
But again on page SIX he tells you tina
his net earnings are $3.50, 932 Al for twenty
and a half months, and that be has pal
out for the old organization SIS4,453 At
Net earnings, Of course, must mean tina
much clear cash, made after having pal,
all expenses of every kind. Now, Mr.
Burns, deduct from your net earnings wha
you say you have paid out for the old or
ganizaiion-thus
Your net earnings are--.-.-.-...-..ss 1s0. s32 I
Paid out for old 0rganizatIon.......... l64 453 I
Leaving net profits s422, as
Add 10 this the cash received from old
organization for Gotten. -.-...-..-.... 10000
Shows cash on l2.47s
Now, Mr.. Burns, tell US stakeholder
where this six hundred and seventy thou
sand dollars is, or else tell us that yeu hay
made ont a false showing, for We stoekholc
ers have not received any Of 1t In dividend
and say it is not in the hands of the Trea.
urer; then if You have made 1t, as 20
would have US believe, you or your subol
dinates must have checked II out Of th
hands of the Treasurer, aud you must te
MS what has become Of it, for We intend {