The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-09
SOUTHERN RATLWA MANAGB-
1TENT

SOUTHERN RAIL WAY MANAGH-
MENT.
MOST of the Southern railway companies were
so much impoverished or disorganized dur
ing the Rebellion that when the war was over
they found it impossible to carry on their
operations, and they were compelled either
to sell out or lease their roads for merely
nominal amounts to Northern capitalists.
The men into whose hands the roads thus
passed are too often inspired solely with the
idea of making money to care how the public
are accommodated or protected so long as
they can realize as large dividends as possi
BILE out of their speculation. All the South
ern railroads were in ruinous condition at the
conclusion of the war, and on many of them
only such repairs have been made as are abso-
lutely necessary for the running of the trains
The tracks have been laid and the bridges
repaired in the cheapest manner. Make
shifts of every description have been resorted
to to save money, and with old worn-out
engines and cars, badly laid tracks, and the
badly patched ruins of bridges, the only won
der is that thousands of persons have not
been slaughtered every year in order that the
gains of soulless corporations may DO in
creased
An example Of the consequences that must
inevitably result from this system of manage
ment was furnished not two weeks ago on the
Mississippi Central Railroad, where train of
cars ran through trestle, killing from fifteen
to twenty persons. This horrible occurrence
was the result of the system of management
we have described, and the men who control
the affairs of the road are directly response
BILE to public opinion as they ought to be to
the laws of the land, for the death of every
person who was slaughtered on this occasion.
The Mississippi Central Railroad was leased
for a term of sixteen years from the 1st of
September, 1868, at one doILGr per gear; the
lessees assuming during that time all the re-
| sponsibilities, pecuniary and otherwise, of the
original corporation. The lessees were Henry
s. McComb, of Wilmington, Del; Sam Tate,
of Memphis, Tenn; Josiah Bardwell, of
Boston, Mass; Eben d. Jordan and Charles
A. Lombard, of Boston; II. Winthrop Gray
Cyrus II. Mccormick, and Junius B. Alex
ander, of New York. John L. King, of Spring
field, Mass; Horatio ID. Newcomb, of Louis
vile, KY; and Samuel M. FELTON,, of Della
ware county, Pa. doing business under the
name and style of the Southern Railroad Asso-
citation. If the Southern railroads are to be
rebuilt and put in operation the aid of North
ern capital will have to be largely ex-
tended, and no one expects that capi-
talists will invest their money unless they
expect to gain something by it, But the
public have some rights in railroads as well
as the men who operate them, and they have,
| nh oil nth hiyo, fha rio To md
that they shall be kept in good repair and
managed in such manner as to make travel
over them reasonably safe. The public have
q right to demand that rotten bri!ges and
trestles shall be put in good condition, thai
the tracks shall be securely laid, and that the
locomotives and cars shall be built sufficiently
well and kept in sufficiently good repair tc
guard against any such disaster as that which
occurred upon the Mississippi Central on the
25th of February. If the managers
of railroads cannot fulfil these con
ditions they have no right to carry
on the business of transporting freigh
and passengers, and they ought to be helt
responsible before the courts for every dis
aster such as that referred to. If an example
were to be made Of the men composing tn
Southern Railroad Association, in this in
stance, there is no doubt that it would hav
most beneficial effect upon the management
of all the Southern roads, and would compe
some genuine efforts to be made to hav
them put in proper condition, 30 that th
: public would be able to travel over then
without fear and trembling lest they shoul
; at any moment be made the victims of a lii
tie coterie Of capitalists, who are only int
, rested in filing their own pockets, no matte
y what may be the consequences to others.