Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-01-01
RAILWAYS DID WELL.
Record of Coast Line Gratifying-Ehecto OF
Promised Removal of Tariff from Coal.

Proposed krniONai OF iIohi N''''
prepared for the Dispatch by Mr. John
SHELTON Williams. of the banking hrm
Of John L. Williams a. SonsD
Never since steam was first applied to
purposes of locomotlcn or since capital
first sought increment by engaging in the
business of transportation have 40 many
colossal financial wrecks strewn the path
of railway progress as have been seen
in the twelve months past The distress
and ruin which have been spread far and
wide by the wlping ont OF entire fortunes
and the humiliation of the means OF sup
port and income OF thousands of depend
ent women and aged men who have lost
their all In the sh-inkage which has taken
place, are only comparable 10 the destruc-
ton and ravage that follow in the path
Of cruel war.
or the 1883 miles Of railroad in opera
ton in the United States January l, 1894,
II is estimated that nearly 30 per cent
have passed into the hands OF receivers.
The par value of the securities issued upon
these failed properties can be estimated
at more than 5000, O00,000 or nearly SIX
times the assessed value OF all real and
personal property in the State Of Virginia.
The railroads now In the hands Of re-
ceivers represent mileage nearly as
great as tnf lOtdl IdllTOdu llllltdbt VI
United States as late as 1870.
SOME NOT COMPLETE FAILURES.
OF course these failures are not all COM
plete and hopeless. With many railroads
IL Is simply case of suspended animation.
Interest and dividends may be passed for
year or SO. What net earnings shall
accrue may be expended in improving and
lettering the roads, and when general
~ ha a
tors learn that they cannot strange
railroads with impunity. and when a
healthy reaction shall set in which shall
convert the bitter hostility diplayed by
30 many lawmaking bodies into wise
and just acknowledgment Of the rights
OF railroads, the roads now struggling
in the thrOes OF financial wreck Will be
reorganlzed, take new life and again
enter upon successful careers, fortified
by experience and wiser for the knowledge
of the causes which have operated to
bring them where they are to-day.
SOUTHERN ROADS.
As the South was the first part of the
country TO be submerged by the tidal
wave of railway financial disasters, we
may naturally expect the waters now
soon TO retreat from us; In fact the dove
may already be seen returning with the
olive branch In its beak. Although the
storm in other parts OF the country con-
tinues, as is evidenced by the receiver
ships within the past few days of the
Atchison and New England roads. the
South has already seen the worst.
We give below record Of the opera
TONS for the past fiscal year OF the sew
eral railroads in which Richmond is most
interested. The record of the Atlantic
Coast-i.ine system for the year is es-
specially gratifying. Several roads OF this
system, In spite of the depressed condi-
ton of business and the financial crisis,
show themselves TO be ira stronger finan-
ciai and physical condition than ever be-
fore and doing the biggest business in
their history
RICHMOND AND WEST POINT TER
MINAL COMPANY.
The affairs OF this system are still In
process OF reorganization under the
Drexel- Morgan scheme presented last
spring. The carrying out of the plan has
been greatly delayed on account Of the
financial crisis through which the coun-
try has been passing, and II is hardly
thought that much progress viii be made
for some months TO come, or until the
earnings OF the system shall be built
up TO q basis which shall justify the ex-
pectation OF the interest charges being
regularly earned on the new bonds which
II Is proposed 10 issue.
The following report OF the operations
OF the Richmond and Danville Railroad
Company. based on the 300 miles from
Richmond TO Greensboro. we get from
the report submitted by the company to
the Virginia Railroad Commissioner: