The daily gazette., 1878-05-18
Letter from Samuel Townsend
For the Gazette.

Mr.. EDIToR:-I see in yesterdays
Philadelphia Times, long communica-
ton, hailing from Mddletown, on the
peach crop this year, saying there would
be three and half millions of baskets,
shipped on the Delaware railroad. Now
Middletown is growing place, and see
no good reason, ii she desires it, she
should have the champion liar on the
peach business. The city people who
know but little of the country, know this
much, that both in Philadelphia and New
York and other large cities, for the past
few days they have had to keep fires in
their houses for comfort, and they know
they never see peaches in their markets in
the winter time, that peaches do not grow
only in spring and summer; and that
when the people have to keep fires in their
houses, 1t is not warm spring or summer
weather, therefore, even any sensible
child in the city, knows ii is too cold for
any tender fruit such as peaches. There
fore, this correspondent pretending to hail
from Middletown, must have some private
motives for lieing. There will be light
crop of peaches, or there may be little or
none, if such weather continues as on the
the date of that correspondents letter, the
nth. All men Of common sense. who
live in peach districts know that after a
peach tree arrives at the age of 15 years
/ 1t is not profitable to let it remain longer.
1t may live and bear few peaches up to
20 years All the first orchards planted
| along the line of the Delaware railroad,
are either cut down, pulled out, or are
| dead or dying, and for the last five years
very few peach trees have been planted.
Therefore, any man Of common sense
knows with the most favorable weather
| and good luck, their could not be much If
| any, even one half as many as 1875, and
then the crop shipped by railroad was
very little over four millions of baskets.
hold that any man who writes to news
papers pretending to give information,
should as far as in his power, give truth
tul information, and this correspondent
of the Times knew he was lieng when he
wrote that communication about peaches.
lie styled me ''war horse Sam and lugged
III politics" and further said was oppos-
ing the railroad
Now if this slink is under pay of the
railroad, would advise all the honorable
officers of the railroad to cut that fellows
acquaintance as soon as possible. My
self and other men who have planted
peach trees, have made great business
for the railroad, and when our production
Increased To such an extent that peaches
fell in the markets to one-fourth or one fifth
of what we got in the first years of the
business, and the railroads kept the freight
up to the same or nearly 50 then. Ought
we, the men who built this great business
up be complained of, If we held meetings
and sent committees of good honest truth
telling men, to the officers of the railroad
to state the hardships we labOred under,
and ask the said railroad officers to reduce
the freight? Mr.. Ilinckley parades it in
the papers once and awhile, that he has
made great reductions which the peach
growers know he over estimates, and
will explain one of his points. We, the
growers, and the company in bargaining
arranged for 10000 pounds TO be a car
load of peaches. And without weighing
basket of peaches, Mr.. Hinckley assumed
40 pounds to be the weight of basket of
peaches and would not let us put in but
400 baskets for personally called on him
ON the matter, and that only filled one
N'iN Va Wi Out W tllt tioOi, anu
other end nearly out, none at all in the
middle. The next year we brought the
/ matter before the peach convention and
baskets of peaches only weighed 30 and
30 pounds, therefore we were entitled to
| have put in the car 533 baskets, but really
the cars only hold 52S baskets, 10e in
each of the four divisions making 432
baskets and SO baskets in the middle,
making 52o baskets to the car, and max
ing 10000 pounds; and this excess of 12S
baskets, Mr.. IIinckley calls reduction in
freight, when it was only 10000 and in
stead of his assuming that it lowered the
freight, he ought to have paid every grow
er for the freight on 12S baskets to each
car, which it would have taken to have
brought the 400 baskets to the bargain,
10000 pounds.
The laws of our State, and law makers,
should not allow any set of men to eXtolt
on another set Of men without redress,
and no member of the Legislature during
his membership In the Legislature, should
De dlOUed TO receire and trduei on a free
rdfr0dd pass. 1t is babyish and pukesh
to call me an enemy of the railroad be-
cause ask Of them fair freight, according
to the worth of the article and times.-
One of the principal directors OF the
Delaware railroad, Mr.. Joseph Bringhuust
KNOWS | was Instrumental in helping to
get the Legislature to pass an act giving
TO the Delaware railroad at a time when
1t had stuck fast, the remainder of the old
bonus Sl26,000, and if any person will
take the trouble to ask Mr.. Horner, the
Treasurer of the p, W. Il b. h. r., if |
dld not give such information to him that
prevented the destruction of the big ferry
boat Maryland, at Havre de Grace, in
April 1861. Still this spaniel that wrote
that communication to the Times, would
try tohave people believe Twas an enemy
OF the railroad, but that had not the power
to help myself, but will inform that
railroad lickspittal that have written
oller from the officers of the new Bound
Brook railroad, between Philadelphia
and New York, to carry car loads of
peaches from Noble street wharf Phla-
delphia to Jersey City for thirty dollars
per car load and return the empty baskets
free: and all the npa oh U,ov aro N FL; ,,o ,,