The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-03-05
The arosavine aua Colap,bia saiis NJ

|'at your remarks confained in the
Phqnir, ,sof Saturday, the i29th ult.,
touching and relative to Che above
railf6ad: It lfnusk indeed. be graft
Tying to the numerous stock
to learn that such arked prosperity
and enterprise is characterizing its
present administration; and doubt
less all you say is Justly due to, the
very respectable gentlemen who now
control or have the management of
its affairs. But 'trender unto Caesar
the things that are Cesar's, !" is
good old Biblical rule, that ought not
to be thrown away in this age of
sycophancy. I thought, with all
respect to the writer. of that edito-
rial, as we'll as President Hammett,
who is most worthy and essimable
gentleman, as we all know, that
nearly all the repairs, except the
Broad River Bridge, land it was far
more than half done,) were complet-
ed by and under the administration
of his not less estimable, worthy and
talented predecessor, Colonel Perrin;
and as to. its present worthy Superin-
tendent, Meredith, we thought he
had filled another sphere Of duty
entirely until tcifhin the last sic on.
eight aceeks.. We would detract no
thing from these gentlemen, but we
believe "fair play a jewel" It is q
pity, too, that whilst reviving the
dropping hopes of this company's
stockholders, that the road and all its
appurtenances are not likely to be
sold out for a ''mere song'-a nomi-
nal sum, to few of its first class
bond-holders-that So, 500, 900 worth
of stock-capital stock and outfits
not now likely to be sacrificed, to
enable few of these bond-holders to
levy On the whole of the road and its
PROPERTY, for perhaps as many hun
dred thousand, or even less, as some
OF us have feared would inevitably
prove to be the case; that some at
tention, also, has not been paid to
the tariff of freights. which abso-
lutely and positively amounts to pro-
hibiting merchants. builders and
others from shipping certain classes
of articles over It. And would you
believe it, Mr.. Editor, that this same
road or company, which you laud so
highly for the transporting our cot
ton over it, (which it is simply its
duty to do, and for which it is paid
an enormous freight is likewise
charging, or claiming the right to
charge, every shipper on its entire
line, ten cents for aoeighing each bale
Of cotton that is shipped ore1' i2 AS
we'll might the merchant allow his
clerks to charge his customer for
weighing each barrel of sugar, bag of
coffee, sack of flour, or anything
else, as to grant the right to this rail-
road company to charge for weighing
articles of shipment over it. Ger
tainly, they have just as much right
to charge the merchants for weighing
boxes, barrels and packages of goods
from Charleston, Baltimore and New
York, Us to charge the planter and
cotton buyer for weighing his cotton.
They have to weigh it anyhow, and
to the obtuSe and bcclouded intellect of
the writer of this, he aras and al,Days
had been uader The impression that the
company had gone to the expense of
buying and putting in each depot a
pair of railroad scales, for the mutual
benefit Of The company and Of the ship
per, and not to swell the expense of
shipments--already extravagantly
high in all things-and actually pro-
hibitory in some, that the said charge
of ten cents may benefit the company
exclusively, or go into the pockets of
some of its employees, are know not
achich. Can you not, sir, induce the
President to inform or explain it's
origin, history and purpose to you
and the stockholders, as well as the
public ut large, particularly cotton
producers and shippers, what dis
position is made of this ten cents per
bale for weighing, which, according
to the statement in your editorial
above alluded tO. now amounts to