The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-02-11

James River and Kanawha Company.
To the Editors Of the Richmond Dispatch:
I noticed an editorial article in the
Times Of the I'd instant on the James River
and Kanawha canal, which, from its ability
in the use Of satire and ridicule, is calcu-
lated to do much damage to this great
work in the minds of persons who do not
take sufficient interest in our public i'm
movements to be familiar with the facts
relating to the government and prosperity
of these great arteries Of trade, by the
means of which alone Richmond can ever
hope to be q large, wealthy, or prosperous
CITY. To call a great work aye raging
canawl,, white elephant" or "a ditch"
is no doubt a great stroke OF wit or humor-
7 am unable to tell which-that would be
quite as witty or humorous, and equally as
killing, when applied TO the canal that
built the city of New York and if l am
not greatly mistaken these same death
stabs were aimed at the great Erie that the
Times so forcibly thruStS at the ditch that
is emptying thousands Of tons OF freight in
the city of Richmond per annum.
/ do not propose TO measure ability or
humor with the Times editor, for | would
shrink from an encounter in which | ! know
that | must be beaten, but shall simply
confne myself to the figures and is/ts
given in his able article.
We are told that DR.. Graham, of Rock
bridge, in hunting out a moribund corpo-
ration upon which to practice his despe-
rate remedies, inStinctiyely fell upon this
company. Why should Dir. Graham seek
for a moribund corporation upon which to
practice? Is the Doctor so little expert
enced in Internal physic that he feels it
necessary to trifle with his patients, or has he
so little regard for the interests of his State
that he can allow himself TO experiment
with its most vital interests? | cannot
think and in this l think the Times has
unintentionally erred.
The Times informs US that the excess Of
expenditures over receipts of this COM
pany for the year 1866, was upwards of
Ss4, 900, and infers from this that the COM
pany is in a hopeless state Of bankruptcy.
It is an unfortunate thing for a business OF
any kind to have to expend more money
than it collects but in justice TO the canal
we must say that this work was greatly
injured by the war-as greatly as any i'm
provement in the State-and besides, no
repairs of any magnitude were made upon
the canal since 1860 and the whole eX-
pense of repairing from the effects OF the
Sheridan raid, besides the legitimate wear
and tear for the last five years, were made
in the wear 1866, and the canal is in far
better condition to-day than it has been
for the last ten years; and if the excess of
EXPENSES upon this line has been greater
than mon the several railroads of the
State. it is because the State has not paid
for the repairs upon the canal as she has
upon the railroads. When we recollect
the thorough repair OF the canal at the
present time, and remember that the COM
pany have borne the whole expense for
these repairs, and also remember that our
farmers had but little freight to send TO
market from the fact that the war had
impoverished and paralyzed the country,
and also remember that the grain
and tobacco crop upon which this i'm
provement had principally to rely
proved nearly o failure last year, and re-
member also the extreme low rates the
company were compelled to charge for
tolls. the wonder seems to be that the ex-
cess of expenditure was only SS4, 900.
The Times is next exceedingly severe
over the salaries paid to the officers Of the
canal. The president, he says, has 3 salary
of $500, and the secretary OF $4,000. To
men u~naccustomed to business this, we adj
NIT, seems enormous, but it yet remains to
be proved that efficient men can be Sc
cured for aless amount and ! do not know
of o single railroad or canal, of one-half
the magnitude Of this improvement, whose
chief officers receive so little pay. A
president Of two little railroads in this
State gets $3.50 0 per annum, and a SUPER
intendent Of a Richmond road gets SIS, 900 !;
and the same officer for a western road
gets $4,000, and so on and no single officer
in the State, so far as / can learn, ranking
with the officers above, gets as little nav
rs those objected to by the Times. These
salaries may, perhaps, be too large, but
they are certainly small compared to the
salaries received by most of the officers of
our other lines Of Improvement, and /
should think an impartial Journalist should
attack the greater evils first.
What the Times says about the two su-
perintendents seems to be correct, and |
doubt not the chief engineer could find
ample time to superintend the whole line,
besides attending to his duties as engineer.
That the receivers of toll get ~, 600, or a
salary equal to that received by Judge
Meredith, Is Is likely TO prove the State
niggardly In the pay of her Judges as to
prove the company exorbitant in paying
these men sufficient to live upon. have
no doubt that mon could be gotten TO Oil