The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1893-11-02

HaAus. DuI why 40 men go to saloons
usually? Because they have no better
place to go. About the most comforta-
BILE places in some of your towns are the
| saloons.
In the winter weather you get good
IRE, comfortable room, and a glass of
beer perhaps, and it is more comfortable
THAN any of the stations. 1t may be at
times more comfortable, | am sorry TO
say, than the mans home. He will go
there unless a better place is provided.
why did we break up the saloons at
Hinton? Simply because our employees
took hold of the Y. M. c. A. building and
made it their club room. 1t was SO much
better than any of the saloons that it
ended the saloons. They lost their pat
ronage, aid hope that will be the re-
suit here in Clifton Forge; that there
will be no use for the beer saloons or the
whisky saloons, but that the people who
wish the comforts of good fire and a
book to read will come to this building
instead of going to them.
The Association at Gladstone has been
as productive of good as those at Hinton
and Handley, l am told. although have
not visited it so much; and we hope in
time to establish the Association build
ing at every terminal on the road. What
we want to do is to do something practi-
cal. so that our men will be better cared
for will be better rested, will save their
money, and then they will do better Ivy
us. -
This is the month of October, 1893, and
it recalls to my mind that it was five
years ago this month that | took charge
of this railway. Nearly all of the present
officials on this road came later. 1t may
not be amiss for those of us who are con-
nected with the railway to look back
over the five years and see what has
happened, see whether we have adj
vanced any and whether we are entitled
to SO good a building as this. Take the
city of Clifton Forge, FIVE years ago it
was a small village on the other side of
the creek, and this was a waste pasture
out here where the c. 4 O. in that time
has spent 100000 in improvements. /
had copied for me tonight some figures
showing the adYancemento of the c. s. o.
railway, and it seems to me it might be
well to call to the minds of our employees
and the people of this town and the Of
ficials, the progress and advancement
that the railway has made in five years.
1t is one of the things that | am, per-
haps, too proud of. 1t seems to me that
in the business life l have had, Inever
saw anything prosper and grow like the
G. & 0. railway. have never seen any
thing improve as the employees, the
towns, villages and cities along its line
have. FIVE years ago you could no more
have built a building like this in this
place than you could build today here
the largest cathedral known. The same
was true of Hinton and Handley and
Gladstone and the other places along
the line.
The figures which l would like to pre-
sent to you are these: In 1888, the year
before the present management took
charge, the railroad carried 74O,8O7 pas
sengers; in 1898, 2, 1855, 297, an increase of
were travelling over the G. & 0. doesn't
it? And that was before the Chicago
Fair travel | remember the first year
that | was President of the G. s. o. l
lived mp at White Sulphur for two
months, and if ever life was burden to
any man it was to me, for there never
was train that got there but was any
where from three to four hours behind
time; everybody was after me; every
body was blaming the road. One old
of the Legislature ought to come there
and see what the trouble was. told him
| agreed with him, that couldn't find
out. But today, in ordinary times when
there is not this rush, we can generally
set our watches by the G. s. 0. trains.
The passenger revenue of the road in
1883 was 1903, 722; last year, 81, 356, 974.S6.
Another thing let me tell you, which
shows the advance that has been made
alongs our line, and that is in the mail
that we carry. endeavored to get the
postoffice department to put on postal
cars, and in 1883 when first came in
went to Washington and there happened
to be a Democratic administration then
which was friendly, and got them to
order some postal cars. When the new
administration came in, in 1883, it inns
mediately ordered them off, and went
on to Washington to see What the troub-
lie was. They said it was a big job when
we are not carrying any mail. Eighteen
hundred pounds was the average of
mail over the G. s. G., and there was not
railroad in the United States that had
postal cars that did not carry more mail
than that. We had a long fight and
stuck to it, as we always do, and finally
the authorities got SO worried about it
that they agreed to put on the cars and
try it. The cars went on in 1889 and in
1885, and in the latter part of 1892 we
got our mails weighed, and we have gone
up from 1900 pounds of mail day to
between II 900 and $4,000 pounds. We
have increased six times the weight of
mails, and the only thing that the Gov
eminent was anxious to do then was for
the c.. & o. to agree that they would
not take off the cars or the trains. In
1888 we carried 2,55S,063 tons of freight,
and in 1898 5,69S,Ss1 or an increase of
115 per cent. The gross revenue from
freight in 1888 was $s,417,S75 sc, and in
1898 $7,565,511 81. The total earnings
from everything in 1888 were $4,522,312
Al, and in 1899 $40, 1856, $40 Al, an increase
of 1919 per cent.
tmay be that some of the residents
of this city lhay say that this is not per-
tinent to the opening of this building,
but think the c. & O. boys ought to
get together sometimes and rejoice over
their success, they are doing so well; and
we have reason to be proud of the fact
that we have more than doubled our
earnings in five years. and that we are
doing the business so well. Why, the
wear before the present management