The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-12-16
SPARTANBURG'S RAILROADS.
HAS ANY BENEFIT BEEN RE CE1vED FROM
THE S425, 900 TAX?
The People are in Doubt rs to Whcth.
by its Railroad Taxfs--Frcight
Rates no Better than when there
was only one Railroad.
Ne,CS and Courier.

NeuS and Courier.
SpARTASBUHG, December ll.-Many Of our
people are in doubt as to whether the county
The Subscription for the Air Line was SolO, 900
for the county and Sj0,O9O fOr the town, for the
Spartanburg and Asheville 100000 for the
county, and for the Greenwood, Laurens and
Spartanburg SD. 900 for the county. Total sub
scription, $l2j 600. These bonds hear interest
at I per cent. About S75,01D OF them have been
paid, so that our railroad debts is now about
Si5O,U0, the annual interest on Which Is s4,.
SEQ. The amount paid for bonds, coupons and
interest This year was S33. 233 CD, or about one
fourth OF our whole tax. State and county. If
cur tax payers were to raise ;$3O,GU u year to
len years to pay it off. These statements are
made SO that it may be known what Spartan.
burg has done to get these railroads and what
she has TO do TO get rid of the debt.
pit were told that If they wONld build the
Spar,anburg and Ashcville Road they would
have a short route to the West, with cheap
| rates OF freight. That Is not finished yet. and
! flee before April. Then another hope was
held out to our people, and they were per-
suaded to subscribe to the Greenwood, Lau.
rens and Sp%ar,anburg Road with the promise
that there would certainly. be competitive
rates when that road was finished. The Rich
mond and Dnnvifle Syndicate controls, the
Air Line, the SparianburS and Union and the
Spartanburg and Asheville roads. The Geor-
GA Central controls the Greenwood, Laurens
and Augusta. There seems TO be no compel.i-
ton as to freights. In fact, Srartanburg IS
getting no better rates than the smallest town
on any one of these roads. To show that
SrnrtanburG is paying higher rates than
ncighboring cities, It Is necessary TO- quote
rates from Louisville, Evansville Or IIen.ier-
son, Kentucky, is as follows: To Spartan.
burg 59lI cents, to Atlanta 81, to Augusta 80,
and to Columbia "a. Flour and corn exhibit
the same differences. The charge for sixth
class freight from New York Is: 10 Spartan
IN, In 20 nupts IN Atlanta 10 tn GNinnSrilla 40
to Columbia, Granitcville and Augusta 81.
These last places have p crrts advantage
over Spartanburg, with Il longer haul. The
freight or meat from Chicago to Spartanburg
Is % cents, TO Atlanta 80, to Augusta -.
This being the condition OF our freights on
the completion of the last road, our business
men BEGAN to look aronnd to see If there was
manded such frcights as would make this a
distributing point. Committees visited Au-
gusta and Richmond. They were cordially
were made looking to a reduction. 1t was
evident to these committees that there was q
thorough understanding between the Rich.
Inond and Danvllle and the Georgia Central.
btst evidence that there Is pooling. Ofcourse
the railroads will blame our Legislature and
the Railroad Commission, but when Column
biu and Augusta arc pointed out, with their
low rates, they say that it is competition. So
it seems that after paying out nearly half q
million Of dollars for these roads and burden
ing ourselves with ali OnerOuS tax, we have
no advantages except what could be derived
from Il single road. 1t is reasonable that the
people should become restless and 'kick'
against the building Of more roads. AS to
pooling, the people are hopeless and helpless.
M%onop0lies have the pow er to do this, and no
railroad law or commission can prevent it,. a
combination OF all the business men OF any
town or city to use one freight line would not
bring relief, for the fortunate line could keep
up its freights and compensate the idle line.
Some of our business men believe that direct
communication with Wilmington over the
Carolina Central would solve the problem and
give us the desired competition. We will
wait and see.