Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-01-29
PERSONAL AND GENERA

Cairo Bulletin, Friday: "High water has
finally also cut off the Iron Mountain rail-
road from direct communication with New
Orleans. Passengers coming from the South
by the Iron Mountsin and Mobile and Ohio
routes must be taken from Columbus, Ken
lucky, by the Duncan, and brought to Birds
Point, from whence they continue on their
way over the Iron Mountain by way Of
Charleston, Missouri. Passengers for the
South on the Iron Mountain road come to
Birds Point by way Of Charleston, and are
taken from there by the Duncan to Column
Illinois Central railroad has abandoned its
outside Ohio leyee track for general use, be-
cause the river has, in places, so far washed
away the bed from under it as to make the
running OF trains upon it dangerous. AT
present no one but the Illinois Central Rail-
road Company suffers from the washing pro-
cess which has been going on now for several
years"
Considerable excitement is created among
the employees of the Ohio and Mississippi
railway, occasioned by the wholesale removal
of the passenger conductors. The bomb was
thrown in their midst on the western divi-
sion. Five out of the six conductors have
been asked to hand in their resignations on
or before February 1st. Some OF the men
have grown gray in the service. From the
best information the orders came from Re-
celVef DOuSlds, VINO was recently dppOlnteO.
Mr.. Douglas believes that a general change
in the passenger conductors will materially
better the road financially. 1t is rumored
that a general cleaning out OF conductors
will take place on the eastern division, from
Vincennes to Cincinnati. 1t is positively
known that freight conductors are in train
ing to step into the shoes of the defunct con-
ductors. 1t is said that the officials of the
road had the conductors Swallowed during
all Of last month by detectives. They have
figured very finely what each mans living
expenses are. The conductors on the eastern
division manifest much uneasiness, believing
each trip to be their last.
A concern known as the Auglo-American
Construction Company, organized under the
auspices OF the Grand Trunk Railway Com
pany, 10 build the Chicago, Portage and Lake
Superior railroad, and TO obtain possession
of the land grant, said 10 be worth $1,000
600, which the completed road would be en-
titled to receive, has come to grief. The
Construction Company, without a dollar of
real capital, so said, took the contract to
build the railroad, and sublet the work of
construction. Parties who have furnished
supplies and outfits for beginning the work
have seized the materials found on the line.
The railroad company are reported as h1v-
ing sold their franchise and land grant to the
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha
road. A dispatch from st. Paul says; "The
actual facts in the case are at present clouded
with many conflicting rumors, which are
rendered more uncertain by reason Of the
peculiarly misty transactions which have
attended the laying of the Chicago, Portage
and Superior road from the start. 1t seems
to have been, as was frequently charged, a
paper concern, and its sudden disappearance
has naturally thrown the people who have
been doing business with it into a panic.
Several business houses in st. Paul, who
have sold supplies TO the construction COM
pany, will lose heavily, and it is feared
trouble may occur on the line, where about
1900 laborers are suddenly left without pay
msnt OF wages or supplies.
The railway companies are the largest ca
nal proprietors in England, and the canals,
in consequence are 20 managed as not to in |
t~erfere with the railways, and this has from
time to time created considerable dissatisfac-
tion among merchants and others interested
in cheap transportation. A movement is
now, il seems, in progress, the object OF which
Is to emancipate the canals from the control
Of the railways. The Wolverhampton
Chamber of Commerce has adopted a resolu-
ton. which will be submitted at the February
meeting OF the Associated Chambers in Lon
don, recommending that all the canals of
Great Britain be entirely relieved iron. the
control of the railways, and made as free as
the highways, an the cheapest ways of con-
NeylnS manufactured ana agricultural goods /
to market, instead of being, as they are now,
obstructive tools in the hands OF
the railway companies. "This resolution"
says the London Economist, "points clearly
to adesire on the part of its promoters for a
purchase of the canals by government.
Cheap conveyance is the life OF trade, and
we have every desire to see a greater use
made OF the canals of this country. We,
however, should distinctly prefer TO see this
carried oat by means of private enterprise,
for which parliament should grant every
reasonable facility" This last suggestion, if
carried out, would add nothing TO the value
of the canals so far as the public is con-
cerned, as an arrangement would soon be
by their proprietors with the railway
companies, which would be very likely TO
in derriving the public of the benefits
OF cheap water carriage to the same extent
as at present. The full benefit obtainable
from canals, whether as affording the means
of cheap transportation or as regulators OF
freight charges, in England or in
this country, can only be secured by render
ing them Gas free as the highways"