The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-04-30
NEGLIGENCE ~soARwHERE.
Who, q

10 your enquiries as 70 LneIHW, NO'' Ia
to thu duty of railroad com
to rAake annual reports to the
of the physical and financial
;onditi on of their roads, L consulted
4 laV Ever as to this matter and ma
5hs / was wrong in surprising that IL
now the duty of the Attorney Gen.
eral to sue for the penalty proV1ded
for in the Code, Sec. 1860, that all
these penalties could now be recovered
and that when recovered they would
he1Ong to the State. The different
railroad companies, if sued for these
penalties, might successfully plead the
statute of limitations as to every fail
ure to report except the failure within
the twelve months next preceding the
beginning of the suit. The penalty
when recovered will not go to the
State but to any person who'may e
fit to- sue for it. The law as'passed
passed in l87l-'72 applied to every
CORPORATION in the State and has so
remained up to the present time. The
change as. to the penalty, taking 1t
from the State and giving it sto any
one who might sue for it, was not
made until the End of March, 1888.
So that from the day of ratification OF
the act of l87l-'72, which was the 9Th
February, 1872, up to the End March,
1885, it was the duty of the State au-
thorities to institute and prosecute
suits for penalties against all such
railroad companies as may have failed
to make the report required by law.
Notwithstanding the plain require
ments of the law, standing on the
statute book from the 9Th day of Feb
ruary, 1872 up to the present moment,
no railroad company, as L am in
formed by my Raleigh correspondent,
has paid the slightest attention to it
until the year 1886, when the follow
ing companies made reports for the
year ending 3Oth September, 1886:
Chester & Lenoir N. g., Milton &
Southern, Northwestern N. c., Char
lotte Columbia & Augusta, Piedmont
". N. c., Atlanta & Charlotte Air
Line, Atlantic Tennessee, & Ohio, A.
& n. c., G. F. & Y. v, GAINESVILLE &
Washington, Midland N. c., Norfolk
& Southern. Scotland Neck, W. G. &
A, Alma & Little Rock, W. & W.,
Danville, IMocksville & South.
western, Albemarle & Raleigh.
Cheraw & Salisbury, Cranbury
Iron and Coal operated by East
Tennessee & Western, Warrenton,
Chowan River Railway & Baltimore
Steamboat Company, Suffolk & Caro-
lima; and no railroad company has
made any report since that time ex-
cept the Chowan & Southern for the
years 18S7'8S and the Wilmington
Chadborn & Conway for the year
1888.
I might comment on the fact that
up to the End March, 1883, until
which time it was certainly the duty
Of the State to sue the different rail
road companies for the penalties for
which they were liable, and i'm that
way teach them that they were mot
above the law. and compel them to
obey it, nc governor ever required the
Attorney General to bring these suits
or called the attention of the legisla-
ture to the fact that the law was
utterly ignored by the railroad com
panies; but nay object is simply to call
attention to the fact that this law has
been and is nov disregarded by the
different railroad companies of the
State, and that no one has undertaken
to see to its enforcement, asI prefer to
make no criticism upon the conduct of
anyone, letting the people fern their
own opinions and come to their own
conclusions without any suggestions
from me.
The law provides that the Legisla-
ture may alter or reduce the rate of
freight, fare or other profits upon any
road when upon examination of
amounts received and expended they
shall ascertain that the net income de-
rived by the company from all sources
for the year last past, shall have ex-
,ceeded an annual income of six e
cent. upon the capital Of the corpora
ton actually expended and 1 have
been told that there are some com
panies which, under their charters.
are exempt from taxation so long as
their profits are under six per cent.
But how can it be known what the in
come of accompany is unless there is
a close and careful scrutiny of its re-
ceipts, expenditures, &c, and how ear
be had If the law is not .rigidly
enforced and accompanies compelled
to file in the proper Office itemized
accounts, showing whatpro6ts, if any,
they are realizing on their invest.
ments?
Now that I am on the subject of
railroad companies and their DISPOSE
ton to evade the law of the land.
especially that portion of it which