Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-08-11


further legislation is unnecessary, il
the government has as good a claim a:
her agents claim to have, besides which.
the best legal minds in the country be
lieve that such law would be uuconsti
tutional, null and void, against any com
pany, when action had already com
menced, and the cause pending in court
Yet, IN February last such bill was be.
ing pressed by the Quartermaster Gene
fal's department upon the attention OF
the Judiciary Committee of the lowe,
House OF Congress. Happily, the Pres;
dent of this Board was in Ws,nipp.
ton at the time this BIZ! was in
troduced, and at once SOUGHT an interview
with the Secretary of War, Gen. Belknap.
and an audience with the Committee on
the Judiciary. both of which were prompt.
ly and cteerfully granted, and the writer
was a1iowed the privilege of laying be-
icfe both the Legislative and Executive
( branches of the Government the facts in
the case as understood and believed by us.
with such arguments as the facts suggest
ed; the result of which was q bill and
report from the committee to the House
looking to compromise and settlement
OF the whole matter by a commission, to
| be appointed by the President of the
United States. The bill, for one reason
at least, failed in its passage, for want of
| time, and NAV co-~~ - and he nassed aft
| the next sess..,i. - .. ,rr..ss. Commencing
december next; ai.I whilo fha bill seems
unnecessarily restrictive in It's conditions,
yet 1t IS believed that a. settlement NAV
be reached under it, just to the govern
ment and reasonable to the company, and
thus avoid long and expensive litigation.
With a reasonably fair settlement of
this controversy, and good management
in the future, the stock in your road may
yet be made valuable to its owners.
1t is as pleasing as it is proper for me
to say that in my numerous interviews
as your representative-with the present
able Secretary of War and his learned
counsel, and the members of the Judi
clary Committee, and with many mem
Ders OF both houses of Congress, l was
treated with great kindness, and the argu-
ments IN favor of your cause were listened
TO with commendable patience by them.
and manifestly with a desire to reach
conclusion that would put an end to fur
ther litigation. To the members of both
houses from Tennessee | am especially
indebted for the interest manifested bv
them in behalf of the Tennessee railroad
companies.
NASHVILLE AND NORTHWESTERN RAI1PoAn
The Directors explained in their last
annual report the reluctance with which
they assumed control of the Nashville
and Northwestern Railroad under the
terms of the short lease, contracted for
by our predecessors, and ratified by the
annual Convention, on the 18th of Au-
gust, 1868; and in that report they sub
mltted the question quite fully to the
stockholders, and advised the return of
the road to the State authorities under the
terms OF the short lease, unless a new one
could be effected with the stockholders of |
that road and the State of Tennessee.
granting sufficient time to Justify your
in assuming the responsibility
OF putting the road-bed, structures, and
rolling stock in good order, at which |
meeting discretionary power was given to
the Board of Directors, by resolution, to
act as in their judgment the best interests
of the Company required.
Soon after the adjournment of your |
last convention, circumstances clearly in
dictated additional reasons of the i'm
portance to our company of maintaining /
this road as connection with the North |
west. South from Nashville, the line
from Decatur to Montgomery was at that
Time being put under contract throughout
its whole distance. In the Northeast,
Cincinnati, with the strength of a finan-
cial giant, was demanding from the
Legislature of Ohio the privilege of con
'tructing through the territory of Ken
lucky and Tennessee a railroad, upon las
near as practicable) an air line, between
he cities of Cincinnati and CHATTANOOGA.
and begging for the opportunity to spend
from ten to fifteen millions Of dollars
upon the route. Louisville, at the same
lime, was stimulating the Louisville and
Railroad Company to push for
ward its Lebanon branch to a connection
1t Knoxville with the East Tennessee and
Georgia railroads, and at another time
applying to the Legislatures of Kentucky
md Tennessee for authority to build a
Dad direct from Louisville to Chatta-
looga
Thus, with our large through business
rom Louisville and Cincinnati rendered
insecure on the one hand, and in view of
he early completion of the Decatur and
Montgomery road, and the apprehended
consolidation Tin management at lesst) of
hat road with the Nashville and Decatur
Dad, with the already existing and fierce
for the business passing be-
ween the Northwest and the Southeast.
~ the Memphis and Charleston and Mo-
)ile and Ohio Railroads on the other hand.
he question of maintaining the route be-
ween Chattanooga and st. Louis via your
Dad, became one of vital importance to
he future interests of our company. The
successful running of the Nash
lille and Northwestern road we be-
ieved necessary to the future pros
,erity of the route. If this could have
)een done, by either the Company own
ng the road, or the State of Tennessee,
rour Directors would have been gratified;
)ut when it was made manifest that nei-
her would put forth the necessary effort,
n incur sufficient responsibility to meet
demands for placing the road and rolling
took in proper condition, your Directors
unlimited a proposition of lease (copy
lereto attacheO for six years to the
of that road, in convention,
which was accepted by them, and subse-
Iuently approved by the General Assem-
,ly of the State of Tennessee. By the
erms of the lease, you will perceive that
ur Company undertakes to put the road
nd machinery in good order, the cost of
which, with interest, it is provided, shall
'e returned to our Company out of the
arnings of that road; and, in case the
ease should be terminated by any act
# the General Assembly, it is provided
hat the Company be fully reimbursed for
nd proper outlay over and above the
arnings, before demand for the road can
,e made by the State or any other party.
The lease was not ratified by the Legisla-
ure until about the middle of December
asst, consequently the weather rendered
he improvement of the track during the
winter months and early spring 1mpracti-
able, but as soon as the weather did per-
nit, the work of restoration was com
nenced, and has been prosecuted with as
much energy and dispatch as was posi-
10 TVa bavn baap JaIauaJ eo,,,o,,,I - -. |