The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-29
OPENING OF THE BIDS.
TWO RECEIVED AND ONE WILL
PROBABLY BE ACCEPTED.

Offers $4,000 for Twenty-Five
Years-The Nashville, Chattanooga
and st. Louis Cffers S35,oO1 for
Twenty-Five Years - Some Doubt
Whether Either Can bse Accepted
ATLANTA, GA, June 2S.-Bids for the
lease of the Western and Atlantic railroad
were opened this morning in the Senate
chamber at the capitol in the presence of a
large crowd. The road has not been leased.
The West Point Terminal offered $35. 900
per month for twenty-nine years, provided
no bid so good should be submitted, and
the Louisville and Nashville, or rather the
Nashville, Chattanooga and st. Louis,
which is part of the first mentioned system,
offered $685. 01 for lease of equal length.
The governor. controller, treasurer, secre-
tary of state and attorney general consti-
tuted the commission which. under
the act, Should decide upon the
validity of the bids. They
retired and spent nearly two hours irving
to decide whether bid for between twenty
and thirty years at the minimum rental
specified in the act could be legally received.
The point of difficulty hung upon the words
mot less" in section !, the language of the
act being as follows: The said lease to be
for a term of not Tess than twenty
years and for q sum Of not less
than s35, 600 per month, or for term of not
less than thirty years and for sum of not
less than $4,000 per month, or for a term
of hfty years and for sum of not less than
$4,000 per MONTH" Accompanying both
bids were checks for S25, 000 The Terminal
company also filed along with its bid a
lengthy correspondence bearing upon the
lease
AN, UNDERSTANDING.
From the correspondence it may be
guessed that the two systems Bidding for
the control are not at dagger's points. On
the contrary, there seems to have been a
sort of understanding between them, sup
position which appears to receive a sub
stantial prop from the fact that only 81
per month difference existed between the
amounts of rem al offered by the two COM
panies. The truth is, the rental
is considered high by the railroads and the
conditions of the act stringent, and except
for the connections possessed by the two
systems, which offer to pay the price named
by the legislature, perhaps no bids would
have been Forthcoming. In the afternoon
the commission met again. They were
doubtless embarrassed by the fear that if the
bid of the Louisville and Nashville was re-
jected no other could be had. The desire
of the attorney general that he might have
time to consider the meaning of the act met
with no opposition, and the work of the
commissioners was, by unanimous consent,
suspended until Thursday.
TERMINAL CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE
GOVERNOR AND WITH THE LOUISVILLE
AND NASHVILLE.
RIcHM'D WEST PIT. TERMINAL RY. & W. Co.
OFFICE OF THE President, 80 Broadway.
NEW YORK, June %, 1890, !
To Hon. John B. Gordon, Governor of Georgia:
DEAR SIR hand you, with bid for the
lease Of the Western and Atlantic railroad. the
deposit required by the act, and copy of the
correspondence between Mr.. Elk. Norton, presi-
dent of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad
Company, and myself in regard to said lease.
In order that the position of the company |
represent may be clearly understood, it is
proper for me to give you briefly the reasons
that have influenced its actions. 1t has no
desire tomonopolize the transportation bust
ness of Georgia 1t purchased the stock of the
Richmond and Danville, Georgia Central, and
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad
companies because it regarded these three
systems as more supplemental than competi-
tive, and because it believed a harmonious
management would result benefcially to both
the stockholders and the country traversed by
their lines. The way in which the cap
ital invested in these roads can be made
most remunerative is by the development of
the southern states and the increase of their
wealth and population. The Terminal company
and liberal policy, and by widening the markets
for southern manufactured products.
1t has been charged that the three railroad
systems controlled by the Terminal company
are at some points locally competitive; but their
combination creates q wider and more advan-
tageous class of competition than before ex-
listed. The commerce of the country has grown
to such proportions that far-extending railroad
systems have become absolutely necessary, and
Georgia and the southeast cannot hope to Oh
tain fair share of the commerce of this CONT
ant IYcrla nx nth
The Terminal company already controls a
road from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and the
states road, while advantageous, is not essen
tial to its system. If IL leased this road it
might convey the impression that it sought to
monopozs all the roads in Georgia and to shut
out the Louisville and Nashville system. This
the Terminal company has no desire TO do, but,
on the contrary, has preferred for the Louisville
and Nashville TO make the lease At the same
time, its management determined to aid the
state In obtaining good rental for its road
1t has neverfor a moment had any sympathy
with those who would have liked to see the
lease fail, and hence it submitted the three
propositions to the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad Company SET forth in my letter to
MIR. Norton. The Terminal coinpany's COM
bnations have made the state road more val
liable than it ever was In its history; and the
state is to be congratulated upon the wisdom of
that policy that left the bidding for the lease
free and unrestricted and which put this com
pany in position where it could protect itself
from the charge of having lessened the states
the state a splendid rental for the road. It is
but fair to say that If the lease had been SO re-
strlcted that the Terminal system could not bid, 4
the state road would not have been leased for
the price named in the act, and she would have
lost great many thousand dollars per annum.
No single interest il the state is as great as
that owned and controlled by the Terminal
company, and it intends to do all in its power
to promote the welfare and prosperity of the
people of Georgia and the south. Itsinterest is
TO do this. And just here permit me to say a
word that may appear personal. have been
represented as beng opposed to the building of
all new roads. This is a mistake and miSrepre-
sents nv position. Like all conservative
men. I regard the investment of
capital in unnecessary and Improbable
enterprises, of whatever character. as unfortu-
nate, but. wherever a local road is needed, and
promises a fair return for the capital inveSte I,
/ would like to see it built 1t is particularly
advantageous to the company which repre-
sent for this to be done, these local roads
tend to the development of the country. and
are almost all at some point feeders of our
lines Very truly yours,
JOHN II. LYMAN, President.
RICHMOND AND WEST PoINr TERMINAL
RAILWAY AND WAREHOUSE COMPANY,
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT. 50 BROADWAY,
NEW YORK., June 3d. 1890,
To Hon. John b. Gordon, GoUe1HOr of the
State of Georgia:
DEAR S1R-The Richmond and West Point
Terminal Ry. and Warehouse Co. will lease
the Western and Atlantic railroad for term of
twenty years, upon the terms set forth in