Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-23
RaIIroads in the Snnth

Railroads in the south.
LoHisriUe COurier-Jou,.aal.
Uath mas met man who has had much
10 say about railroads in the South. Some
OI lhls talk Is mere speculation and sur
mise, some eVinces considerable shrewd-
ness and general information. while nor.
tlons of the interview contain glaring
inaccuracies. Gath's informant thinks
the Erlanger syndicate will ultimately
90 To pieces and surrender its lease of the
Cincinnati Southern. The Erlangers paid
too much rental he thinks. and as il
has no connection beyond New Orleans
winch city, according TO the gentleman,
Is a commercial myth-cannOt get busi-
ness enough to pay the rental. That the
price paid for the Cincinnati Southern
was high was the opinion expressed by
competent railroad men at the time of the
lease, but the fact that the Erlanger svs-
TEN does not extend beyond New Orleans
Is no reason for regret. There is such a
thing of extending your roads too far.
besldes, what may to-day be a burden
some charge, hYe or ten wears hence NAV
be light enough.
Mr.. Gould, we are told, will purchase
tue Seney system, and, with his roads
west OF New Orleans, operate a transcon-
tinental line. This sounds well, but it
slgnlnes nothing. Mr.. GOuld's Wabash
system, which was gathered together
win grand promises, has not poured
wealth into his lap and has not changed
any OF the important channels of com
meree. Gath continues:
"Said /: Suppose Erlanger throws IN
the Cincinnati Southern, who will get it 2
think the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad will get hold of it. | think they
Will come forward and say: Our Cincin-
natl brethren, We see the distress Won
are IN, and viii extend our charity to
yOu.'
why said I, is not the Louisville
railroad system itself pretty shaky:'
lit l. in a much better condition To-
day said my friend. than il was a wear
ago. Practical experience has shown
them where their system was weak and
where II could be extended to advantage.
some of their lines in the South are of
very little benefit to them. For ex-
ample, the long line theyshave through
Alabama 10 Mobile is of slight advantage
10 them. Happy are the men whose rail-
roads run through good regions of land.
am southern man myself, but have
been compelled TO travel over this cOun-
try. and / must admit that great deal of
our soil in the South which Is expected to
supply railroads with business. is exceed
lngly poor. We can neither get il out of
the ground. nor Of foreign immigration,
nor ont Of the tourists. Ii is a pretty
hard thing to maintain railroads in the
Southern States"
Il is not probable the Louisville and
Nashville would attempt to get the Gin
cinnati Southern, even if it should be ne
cessary 10 cancel the existing contract,
which Is improbable. The managers of
the Louisville and Nashville are working
assiduOusly developing traffic along the
roads they now possess, and are not dis
posed to enlarge their mileage. There is
no doubt the building of roads in the
South has been OverdOne; that there must
now be halt and the country he allowed
10 grow up to the railroads. This work
Of developing is going on i'm a manner
which viii satisfy all except the specu-
latOr, who buys to-day TO realize to-mOr-
row. Gath's informant is mistaken con-
cerning immigration. Because foreigners
prefer the North and Northwest, super
ticial observers suppose the South gets no
new blood. The last census should have
shaken this belief; the next will utterly
destroy il. Every Southern State receives
each year large accessiOns TO its pOpu-
latiOn, the immigrants coming from
the North. attracted by cheap lands
and mild climate, TO which may now
be added good transportation facili-
ties. Ii Is tEue the railroads do not have
the business the Western roads have, but
on all well organized Southern lines the
business Is steadily increasing. The Louis
vile and Nashville lines, for instance,
from Nashville to New Orleans, are now,
Notwithstanding the new roads, doing a
much larger business than ever before.
This Southern railroad magnate makes
the mistake of saying that the Pensacola
and Atlantic Is part of the Erlanger
system. This is a mistake, as il is owned
by the Louisville and Nashville. The
gentleman continues:
savannah is a town that does not
sraagph = y nIann of QIlrOqn trans
shipment il is sull important. They have
pretty good water down 10 the ocean, and
the steamship line connecting with the
Georgia Central Railroad carries a great
many passengers and very much cotton
to New York. The Georgia Central Road
has the advantage Of long establishment.
At the close of the war Mr. Wadley, n
Northern man, got possession of the road.
and drew TO it the business Of the finest
sections of the South, They accu-
mulated surplus Of money 10
build these ships. The Sc
nev syndicate entered into con-
peiitiOn with them. and paralleled them,
in fact, from Macon TO Atlanta The
Georgia Central is perhaps the most sue
cessful system i'm the South. or rather the
most solvent. Their system is simple one
reaching from Savannah TO Montgomery,
to Atlanta and to Augusta. They con-
meet as quick as they get to the seaboard,
and then use iron steamers to New Ork.
The superiority of tile Seney system is
that Of an equally good port at Bruins
wick. aud they have the long run all
the wav from Norfolk, from the Missis-
sippi river and the far South. The Geor-
gia Central has no long interior lines to-
Wsrtl the West or Northwest"
Mr.. Wadley was one of the original
contractors on the Georgia Central, which
is one of the oldest railroads in the coun
try. He was a Northern man only by
birth. having been identified with South
ern interests long before the war. As to
interior lines to the West the Central is
very well supplied. 1t gets into Atlanta
bv a Joint lease with the Louisville and
Nashville of the Georgia Road, which eN-
tends from Augusta TO Atlanta, 1t is there
met bv the Louisville and Nashville Road.
which is supposed to control the Western
AMI Atlantic to Chattanooga from At
Ianta. hat as this road is open to the
FrIangers, the Georgia Central finds in
AtIanfa two strong roads bidding for
their Northern and Northwestern busi-
ness. The steamships of the. Georgia
Central from Savannah to New York are
made very profitable by carrying cotton,
tnrpentine, ship stores, fruits and Vege-
tables.
Paul strobach's Trial.