The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-11-17
RichEsond, Fredericksburg and Po-
tOmac Railroad d-Annual Meeting OF
Stockholders rs-Tl,irty-Efghth Annu-
nj Report Of the President.

tOmac RnfIrOad-Annual Meeting OF
StockhOiders-Tlair Eighth Annu-
| al Report Of the President.
The annual meeting Of the stockholders
Of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Po-
tomac Railroad Company was held at the
office of the company yesterday. MIR. E. i.
Cannon was called to the chair, and J. B.
Winston, Esq, appointed secretary.
A quorum Of shares being found repre-
sentcd, the thirty.eighth annual report of
| the President, P. V. Daniel, Jr., Esq, was
| laid before the meeting.
| This report shows the income Of the COM
pany during the year ending september 30,
| 1870. to have been S328, ,51972 derived from
| transportation, and 81 ,608.99 from rents OF
real. estate, or 1926, 1881 in all !; 1t being
s., ,S98.71 less than that of the preceding
year. The current ordinary expenses du-
ring the same period are shown to amount
to the sum Of S1SS, ,433.11, or .S12, ,O2O.64
/ more than those Of the preceding year; not
including therein the sum of S71,440.S4
expended in. additions to the property OF
the company of comparatively permanent
nature, enumerated under the head OF
Extraordinary. Expenses" and made ne
cessary chiefly by the increased number,
size, and speed of the trains run during the
| year.
The cause of the decrease in the income
Of the company, and Of the Increase OF eX-
penses, is explained to be the reckless
| competition which made it necessary tor
\ this company ssto establish and main
tain, with the aid Of the Potomac
Steamboat Company, hrst-class dahy
line for passengers aud freights between
Richmond and Baltimore ria Acquia Creek
and the mouth of the Potomac river, on
which the rates of tolls and fares were OF
necessity from time to time reduced, ana
| kept at least as low as those charged on tne
York river route and other measures lor
securing freights and travel similar to those
used on that route, were adopted by them
"Thus the revenue Of this company de-
rived from through travel was diminished,
| not only by the diversion by the means al
ready mentioned Of part of that travel to
| the York River route, but also by the con-
sequent low rates of fare charged on this
company's lower Potomac route in compe-
titon with it. And as the establishment
| and maintenance of this tirst-class daily line
| for freights and passengers oyer this lower
Potomac route rendered necessary an in
creased equipment of engines and cars,
with additional employees, and an increase
| in the number, frequency, and miles run Of
trains, somewhat corresponding increase
| in the current expenses of transportation,
and Of extraordinary expenses for addi-
tional equipment &C., was unavoidable.
Notwithstanding this diminution of the
income and increase of the expenses, ordi-
nary and extraordinary, of the company
during the past year, its nett revenue has
more than sufficed to pay punctually, as
they accrued, all the liabilities Of the COM
pany, including interest on its funded debt,
and dividends on its guaranteed stock, leay-
| ing a balance OF S5,764.11, applicable, with
the other cash resources of the company, to
the costs of the other improvements and
additions to its property hereinafter mcn-
toned,
"Bnt however desirable it might have
been to avoid engaging in this contest, had
it been possible for this company to do so,
its occurrence, progress, and result have
not been wholly without compenSating adj
yantages. II has ended in a compromise.
by which this company is protected from
any further diversion of its Legitimate
travel to the York river route, and
whilst n wise and just policy would
prompt the companies on each OF thee
routes to cultivate the resources more pc
culiarly its own, and to refrain from cngae-
ing in 4 reckless competition at unremuEe-
rative rates of tolls or fares for the business
more naturally belonging to another route,
vet, should such Il reckless competition be
ever again forced on this company, its eX-
perience during the past six months has
demonstrated, beyond question or doubt,
| that it possesses ample means OF seif-prOtcc-
ton. for rcsorting to which, therefore, ii is
not likely soon TO have any occasion. Nor
can the unusually large expenditure during
the wear for additions TO the machinery and
other equipment Of the road, which this
contest made necessary, be considered more
than anticipating the early wants o! the
company, resulting from its increased bllsi-
ness.
"Of the balance of the six per cent. GER
tticates of debt given for dividends, due i'll
July, 1860. remaining at the date OF the
last annual report, nearly Sl6,O have been
since converted into guaranteed stock OF
the company, in accordance with the rcso-
lutions OF the stockholders ut their annual
meeting in November, 1865, encouraging
the hope that the holders of the residue OF
those certificates may soon agree to the
same equitable arrangement.
"During the past year, railway con-
nection between the track of the Rich
mond and Danvlle Railroad Company
and that of this company, by means OF
the track and bridge OF the Richmond and
Petersburg Railroad Company, leased for
that purpose, has been constructed, under
the direction Of the engineer OF this COM
panv, on the southern bank of James river,
at the joint expense OF the two companies
whose roads are thus connected. BY this
means the transportation Of passengers,
baggage, mails, and freghts, over the joint
route of this company and ofthe Richmond
and Danville Railroad Company to and
from the Southwest, is very greatly tuclli-
tated, by being relieved from the transfer
through Richmond in omnibuSses and
wagons, to which it was heretofore subject,
and which was well calculated to divert
both travel and freight to more western
routes not subject to such Interruptions.
"From very early period in the
existence of this company it became its set
tied purpose and policy that whenever there
should he reliable prospect of the con-
struction of railroad from Washington or
Alexandria, extending southwark, so as to
afford suitable connections with itsralroad,
at least ten miles of such proposed rail-
road should be constructed and owned by
this company, under the provisions Of its
charter, which authorizes the construction
and operation by it of such branch or eX-
tension Of its railroad.
"In the annual report Of the President
and Directors of this company to the stock
holders made in May, 1876 (Which was
unanimously approved and adopted), it was
recommended that, in certain contingencies
then contemplated, a branch or extension
of its railroad should be constructed from 4
point on its existing road near Brooke 5
Station, ten miles northward to point on
or near Quantico creek. The contingencies
then contemplated were realized during the
last summer, in the expected early con-
strlction of the Baltimore and Potomac
railroad, from Baltimore, through Wash
ington, over the Long Bridge to the Vlr-
ginia shore, and in the incorporation OF Il
, hn ri gf pti from