The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-02-17

"A Talk with MIR. John EveriGL, of LOn-
don Tho Question OF Gauge Low
Speed and Cheap Rates-The Rail-
roads and Resources OF the south
The Virginia OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Malone the biggest Man In the South
Norfolk and Direct Trade, &c.
The following is an extract from receut let
ter by 'Gath," the Washington correspondent
of the Chicago Tribufes
You have been cSritus to know, no doubt.
the different stops oE the process by which
foreign capitalists make American Investments.
With your curiosityxI luckily fell last night
upon gentleman Whose commandments
will satisfy both of u.s.. Returning to Washing
ton from @ Sunday spent IN New York, made
the acquaintance. between the whlffs of our
cigars, of o thick set, silver-bearded, British
built gentleman, whose card, as I afterwards
received it, reads: "Mr. John Evertt, OF Lon
don No. 70 Wall-street, Now York" Perceiv-
ing his want of fanliSsrity with the route, and
talka i've railway acquaintance in a fore gn
land, explained the landmarks we passed.
and revived the early days Of rairoading be-
twee Washington and New York. BY his par
saw that this and kindred subjects we're made
luminous by his experience, and very soon the
impersonality Of our conversation was put by.
[ found that my casual friend was an agent
uuu PIluCtpdI VI lOI0ISu Capital, seeking In
vestments here. Ths conversation soon turn
ed upon
SIR MORTON PETo AND THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT
WESTERN RAILROAD.
us Sir Morton in q fair way Of getting on his
feet again 7"
Eyes; be has passed the Court of Bank
ruptcy; tho past is wiped out; he is spen-
did man, with genius and courage. and Will
undoubtedly revive. He was overtaken by the
panic OF 1855, and hey aud Pei haps been too OK
tensive in his enterprises But his integrity is
beyond reproacL. Re and others wore made
the victims Of Che nsuf1iclency Of the Bank of
England to do the exchanges of England F."
1.-The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad,
Peto's founding, seeGs to meet with the i'll
fate OF broad gauge roads in general"
eyes; that road is MI. McHenrys scion,
chiefly. His original theory OF it was a great
forked highway, independent of the Eric Road,
to tap st. Louis and Chicago, and find outlet
at Boston. The junction at Salamanca was an
after thought of necessity. But, as you re.
mark, broad-gauge rff1ds have had the Same
fate the world round, and the original quarrel
between Stephenson and Brunell. at the build
ing Of the British Great Western Railway,
ought to have been conclusive. Brunell was
the wild protector Of broad-gauge roads,"
.'Yes," l interpolated, land of broad. gauge
ships, ulde the huge failure Of the Great East
ern."
Precisely 50 Brunell commended that tho
broad-SauSe was the permanent, the spacious,
the elegant and the ultimately cheap road, TO
which Stephenson replied Now, men, what
DO ye speak of Cav ye build the six feet tun-
axle, tho six feet driver. the six feet roadway
We want the roads for speedy use. This king
dom cries for them. Lotus stick to the cheap
gaugel" But Brunell .persevered, and the
Great Western, in England, Is approximately
the failure of the Greab Western i'll America
CHEAP TRANSIT AT low RATE OF SPEED.
"There is question: said my companion,
after pause, (which Iam engaged in press
ing upon the people here--the people Of estssss
South, eminentIy, whers have been travelling
vital to tho American people and their rail
way system-the subject Of utilizing your rail-
ways to the fullest extent, by running slow
and frequent trains Of freight at greatly re-
duced rates Of shipment. You know, sup
pose. that very many of your railways are
in use not more than four hours out of
the rwenty-four You know that, in geo.
metrical progression, almost, the cost of rail
way carriages increases with the rate of
speed 1t costs half as niu,h to run train
at ten miles an hour as at twenty. Increa ase
the rate to thirty and it costs double the
tariff at twenty. The fuel, the wear and tear,
accident, cost of rolling stock make the differ.
ences. An engine, to run forty miles an hour,
Us some OF ours do, costs an extravagant sum
OF money. 1t must weigh sixty tons to in
sure safety. This sixty tons pulverizes the
rails. The speed shakes the extravagant en-
gine speedily to pieces. We. have found in
England, that no railway train pays anywhere
in the kingdom which exceeds thirty miles an
hour. The Royal Holyhead mail, which makes
q mile minute. exclusive of stoppages, has to
be subsidized extravagantly. The same ap-
plies to fast ships. Behold only yesterday the
French steamAr Periere, built to outstrip the
Scotia. puts back to Havre with her engine
room full of dead men. High rates OF speed
That was the matter. That destroyed your
sidy and the extraordinary competition In
England between railways. we should not have
train to make above thirty miles an hour.
Our island is hardly longer than the State of
New York, but In this country, where you have
SO vast distances between your grain and cot
ton districts and the sea, the subject OF low
speed for the sake of cheap freights is Of vital
Importance. Let me illustrate it by personal
experience.
THE WAY THE ENGLISH GOT CONSOLIDATED
LINE FROM NORFOLK TO MEMPHIS.
II have recently made gratifying trip
through the South, investing some money, and
proposing to invest more, in the Mobile and
OHIO, and the Selma and Dalton Railroads.
was almost thrilled, If an Englishman can say
80, with the beautiful lands OF Alabama and
Mississippi; noble prairie, capable Of raising
grain, tObaccO'or cotton equally we'll; and as
rode in special train from Chicago to Mobile,
1 met the leading people of the country, wear
ing that inconsolable look OF despair which
has been impressed upon them by defeat, the
loss Of their slaves, end consequent poverty.
"'Great Heavens, gentlemen = said, you
will make me as sour as yourselves, il you
dwell thIs persistently upon your calamities.
A people have no business to concern them
selves in politics to the exclusion of their pri-
vate concerns. I have been an associate in
England Of Golden and those who strove to
release trade from imposition, and the work
was earnest and enthusiastic with me: but
would have been fool to have engulfed in it
all my private fortune, ceased my private en-
deaycrs end become the victim of q set of pol
iticians, such as excite you now to make poll
tics your entire subject Of grief and agitation.
Go to work. Set your affairs right. and hop
pier politics will come. See what you ore
doing; paying in Illinois dollar and quarter
'bushel for. grain, and growing none your
selves, though with land fully as excellentl II
part, certainly enough to raise food to eat.
Keep every cent beside you and pat it into rail-
ways. Establish for yourselves O consolidated
line from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, 50
that yon can send cotton and tobacco, without
fra nahirrannt atIni hk Liz