The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1874-04-25
SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1874.
Have Corporations Any Con
. 40 sesaa t, sciences?

.pr.sident and directors that the net ear.
sninss Of tho South Carolina Railroad
= Company, during the past year, have
exceeded hall million of dollars. 1,
riaec certainly reasonable to expect that a
railroad company so prosperous and ap
gcplying none of its earnings to dividends
would at least provide suitable depott
qsand platforms at every station on itr
line, The, report says, complaccntly
ealenough, that the property Of the com
spany. has been maintained, it is belicv-
seed, in q condition fully up to tho stan
See, dard of the best Southern roads" How
geeeysr this may be as to other points, l
will venture TO assert that the depot and
!, platform arrangements at Orangebury
yaINepld disgrace, the poorest little conc
81 shorseY road to be found in the United
.y,oStates. The expenditures for these
,vapurposes, here, have been on scale Of
sssgniggardiness amounting to mcaness
The building is; little better than shan
ty, which the company was excusabls
for putting there Immediately after the
war, but has been wholly inexcusable
., fer keepiag there one day after it had
>; the means Of providing decent accom-
!, ! imodations for passengers. A mean,
-: narrow room partitioued off from the
freight depot, coarsely weather
-; boarded, constitutes the socalcd pas
: : - senger depot This oramped apartment
not one, half the proper size originally,
a. has beer rendered still smaller by cut
;. :, ting off two PORTIONS Of it. One ot these
is for The telegraph. 4 he other, it
seems, was intended for the agents
Office; but no man Xauld --ever have
guessed thnsaitwas designed to be oc
cupisd by a human being. 1t is n
coarse little chicken coop structure; not
much larger than the cooks cabooso on
small coasting schooner-dc depending
for light on a hole cut in the outer wall
Of about the size Of mans head
>, which hole is unsashed in the coldest
weather, and closed, when not in use,
by piece of board, fastened by rail
J.. spike poked through an auger hole!
This is the provision made for It's agent
by corporation whose clear incoms
exceeds halfa million Of dollars In
this dark little coop must tickets be
prepared and accounts kept by that un-
fortunate agent who, though highly
. efficient, receives salary deemed pitt
,ful hy those who know the large amount
= Of labor he faithfully performs. When
- "a ticket purchaser presents himself at
i she solitary loopholc which lights the
4 den have described, his head so nearly.
-, fills It that the agent can scarcely be
"a seen in the darkness, and how he sees to
do his work can be accounted for only
on the. suppcsitoip that he was specially
+ designed by Providence Tor the night
=. and day work Of the South Carolina
i Railroad Company. But not only do
% these two ooops diminish the originally
sos cramped room called by stretch Of
X courtesy the passenger depot. The
,5s balance of the small space left is still
further reduced by stove in tho cen.
ERE, and when, in winter; two persons
II. pass each other in the narrow space on
q, each side Of it, some skill is required to
escape being jammcd against the wall
, on one side or burnt by the stove OF the
, other.
agar But disgraceful as is the depot here
I'D 10 the South Carolina Railroad Compa-
,ss ny, the platform arrangements about it
i.7 are even more so if that be possible; f,r
5aysthey are not only inconvenient iu the
,gg extreme to all, but absolutely dangerous
Baa to persona taking the train for Charles
a.re ten. Instead Of being able to step from
ges,ho platform aexs the depot into the
- I. cars they must 30 down to the bed of
the road, make their way through mar
row passage between the tracks (usu.lIy
e,e vailed in on both sides by cars,) and
: .run the imminent risk Of being SO Jos.
e6a tled by tho hurrying crowd as to bs
q Gatthroyn under the wheels of the train,
"a which may be in motion tho next mo.
,sI nept. One single accident of serious
Il kind, from this cause, will be quite sufli
al cicnt to induce a jury in action for
9ad damages to teach the company lesson
lii will not soon forget. They will then
learn that even great railroad corpo ora