Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1870-02-18
South Carolina Railroad Company.

In our issue of Wednesday wos published
sha prdpsedipgs Of q COMMITTEES Of the Senate
on the mntteca Of tho sffai kht, ,oharges Of t6t
South Corolina Railroad, sbetween Oamder
and Kingsyille. These proceedings were
based 1hpon q coapiuint made by q nierchani
Of the former place. The South Carolina
Rait6ad Company Is the property Of a,num
Der ofour citizens, who are poor ]; many have
saved but little else from the wreck Of the
war 1t is importpnt to them that the value
of their property should not be unfayorabIy
affected by representations not correct a,
point Of fact, or Of ftcts grcatlg exaggerated
and distorted, to crafty personal feeling, or to
promote selfish ends. Wo know those who
have been entrusted with the management of
this property. We know, also, what labors
and difficulties they have had to encounter in
providing for tho public highway, and ao.
commodations mt inferior to those onioyed
in any section of the Southern country. WE
know further that it is claimed and we believe,
justly, that their rates of freight and passuge
are today lo,ocr than any in the State or near
it. Still we hear this clnmor kept up, and its
continuance forces us to conclude that thero
is something more in it than appears on tho
surface. To do justice, therefore, to all par.
whom We regarded authorized and able to
furnish it, and ascertain the facts Of this case
to be simply these: That tho parties who
complain in this case have never approached
the Directors Of the Company with any stute,
nlcnt Of their grievances; thut the South Car.
olina Railroad Company has no such charges
per 100 pounds upon any of its freight tariff
as nre stated in the reports; that its chr; scs
for freight from Camden to Kingsvlle arc
precisely the same rs they are for similar dis.
tances from Charleston, from Columbia, or
from Augusta.
Now wc confess with these statements be.
fore US, we nre at a loss to comprehend the
necessity of the proceeding to which we are
referring. The Railroad Commutce has
clearly not sent or persons and papers.
But we hear still more 1t will be borne
in mind, that the burden of the complaint is.
that the South Carolina Railroad does not
work thirty eight miles of its line in conncc.
ton with the Wilmington and Manchester,
and Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, and
the railroads leuding through Wilmington to
Baltimore, which is Il competing line, so as to
destroy the trade Of its own line to Charleston,
the interests of the City of Charleston and OF
the State, and the steam ships which have
cost so much effort and money to establish.
for the very purpose of fyiUihg Camden una
oU other 'nt0n0 ctttes II route North over their
opn Hne and through their own city. Nor
what are these very competing railroads doing,
FOR whom this rulnous rolicy is invoked
pursuing the very Identical practice which is
Of, though in grcaVy eraqoera. |
ted .form, of the South Carolina R,iroad
Company. We understand that the price of
freight on the Wilmington aud Manchester
Rail Road, (say bn'e Of cotton, is rs much
ns from Sumter to KingvNle. twentv.scven
miles, or Mars Bluff to Florence, sic mHcs
us it is from these places respectively 10 vii.
mington, over ono hundred miles. Is this
truel The same is the case on the Char.
lotte Road and we presume on every railroad
in existence, aHd the reason is obvious. Itis
found in the service and necessity Of every
company to protect and promote it's own inter
ests, and that interest is of course in the di-
rectlon of freight movements along the entire
me q its railroad, and To and through an i'm
portant Hrminal or initial point
Nor are the railroads mentioned in the
complaint exhibiting any unusual liberaity
IN the adoption OF what appears to be a low
tarin or chargcs. Mrouyh, us compared with
the South Carolina Rail Road's iotul tariff
their effort Is to diUert a G.,sincss qcAtch does
not belong to them, and to do so, ten,porar42v
establish very lo,o rate of frel .ht for that
which comes from the South Ca,slina Rail
Road, and City of Charleston. Wat are
their local charges place those in comsnri.
son with similar on the South Carolina RM
Road, before forming too hasty conclusion.
But are we expected to manage our institution
in the interest of competing lines of rail roads,
and distant communities? Have the Stock
holders of the South Carolina Rail Road ex.
pended vast sums Of money to construct
long line of Railway merely for the purpose
of destroying four fifths oft? Has tho City
of Charleston and the State contributed their
hest minds and their large means to construct
a system of internal Improvement at once to
develop the wealth of the interior and estab.
llsh an influential seaport for themselves,
and have their efforts turn to nought, ond
their work curse, not a blessing? We
imagine not I
Yet such results aoouM surely .foliow the
policy indicated in the complaints 6ctoye the
Leg'slature.- - Charleston Courier. .
nsA- Butler is trying to worm his way in
to the White House. At one Of Gen.
Grants state dinners the tables glittcred with
gold plate. The next day Butler, in speech
in tho House, spoke Of the President as ''that
great and good man." But of course Gen.
(Irant tiaa a anfa nlaca for hia nl,ta |' FL.