The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-09-19
transportation.

tous question before the Am mcrlcaT' peo-
ple to-day than that of transportation.
The fact that railroads have superseded,
and always will supersede, all other
kinds of transportation, coupled With the
further fact that transportation, and
rapid transportation, toej' affects mate
rally in one way or another almost every
citizen of the land, makes railroads a
most important and potent factor in the
industrial and social economy of our
Government. What would we be with
out railroads? And yet it must be ques-
to every thinking man whether
this necessity has not brought with it as
many necessary evils as it has benefits.
Without our railroads what would we
have done with the unnatural increase
of our population Perhaps we would
not have increased SO rapidly, and would
have been that much better of.
Without railroads We would not have
opened up the great western domain OF
this country. Perhaps We would be bet
ter off if We had not opened it up.
The rami6cation of railroads hastened
the coming, Of our great civil war, and
enabled the North to conquer the South.
In fact our country has been developed
by railroads, and by their assistance the
American people have been made the
strongest and, perhaps, the most intuen-
tial people in the world. The people
built the railroads, and should to-day
own them, but unfortunately they 90
not; and long-headed, far-seeiDg, able
fnanciers have stepped in between the
builders and their building, and taken
possession, and to-day own or control
that enterprise, which, though not half
as?old as the government, and in nowise
connected with it, is or holds control
ing influence in the civil polity of the
Union.
Such men as Vanderbilt, Scott, Gar
rett, and other great railroad magnates
exercise more influence and exert more
power among the people and over the
legislation Of the country than does the
President of the United States. That
they are oppressors, can be heard on all
sides; but that they are more maiefac-
tors than benefactors, We do not believe.
They are the representatives OF capital,
which though timid is always oppressive;
and far more, they have that capital so
invested that the investment is a neces-
sity to the country. That they use their
power and privileges wisely and well, we
are not prepared to assert, but we doubt
whether according to their opportunities
they are IS hurtful to society as are some
of the lesser lights of the same brother
hood.
We are not now proposing to discuss
this question in national point of view |;
mol. do we care to allude to the troubles
created on the great trunk lines of the
country by reason of the discrepancy
they make in favor of Through" sgainst
."localn freights. But We propose sub
mitting few facts upon these points, in
which our own people and the railroads
that they have built, and are compelled
to patronize, are vitality interested, and
We do so free Of prejudice and pro bono
pubhco.
The railroads of South Carolina are in
trouble, and two of our most important
and most cherished are about being taken
from those who really own them, but
perhaps who never lent q hand in con-
structing them. We feel sorry for them,
because. we always sympathize with the
under dog in the<fght, but we are pre-
pared to believe the time has arrived,
yes, and has long since arrived, when
these roads should have been put under
different administrations. We have
never had any experience in managing
railroads, but like every other man we
have always had our opinion as to how
they should be managed, and have al
ways believed that the South Carolina
and Greenyille and Columbia Railroads
have not been managed to the interests
of those who patronized them. We say
nothing about the passenger travel,
though we have and do differ with the
of those roads, in the idea
that q reduction of fare will not produce
an!increasel of travel. We believe it, as
certainly as we do that a reduction of
prices will increase the custom of q
corner grocery. As experience has
never tested this question in South Car
olina, opinions here are like honors in
whist, "easy."
We do propose, however, to say some
thing upon the freight arrangements of
those two roads, and what we do say shall
be simply recital of facts; and if they
are not incontrovertible arguments in
favor of our position We would most
gladly be set right by wiser heads. Let
us start in the mountains:
Recently we met man in Oconee who
ives buying UP cattle for the Charleston
market, who told us he was collecting
cattle to be. shipped from Seneca City
by way of Atlanta, Ga, to
Charleston, S. c., because the freight was
about the same and accommodations
we're better. From Seneca City to AT.
Lauta the distance is III miles, thence to
Augusta III, and to Charleston 1877, or
tosal 429 miles. From Seneca to Colum-
bia is l56 miles, and thence to Charles
ton $50, or total 2S6.
While beating about the bush in that
upper end of the Third Congressional
we encountered wagons hauling
from Central on the Air
Line Railroad (the Blue Ridge Railroad
is managed by the Greenville and Co.
.umbia Railroad administrator to Pen
ileton and Anderson, two points on the
Blue Ridge Railroad, and respectively,
we believe, II and Is miles below Seneca
City, where these two railroads cross
each other. At Seneca the Blue Ridge
has no depot, though the Legislature
nearly one year ago passed a law re-
luiring them to build one there. They
hare one, however, at Perryville, two
miles below Seneca, at which we have
seldom if ever seen passengers, or freight
received or discharged. In fact, the last
trip we took up that road, arriving at the
Perryville depot a little after 9 at night,
We saw the conductor get off and walk
around the depot lantern in hand, and
give yell or two, which we suppose was
q sort of admonition to the absent agent
that the train had arrived.