The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-09-12

The New Southern Railway Company ant
the Many Railroads that Eater Iuto it'
CompositIon-Reduc Fixed Charge!
and Coed Business Outlook.
New YORK, Sept. Goa Saturday
the 1st instant, the reorganization o1
the Richmond Terminal system was
definitely and formally completed, anC
the last of the many properties which
under the rlan of reorganization have
lost their unhappy and unfortunate
Identities and become merged in new
and propitiouS enterprise, passed into
the possession OF the Southern Railw ay
COMPANY. Last Saturday, therefore
marks, for all practical purposes, the
completion of the reorganization; anC
8 consideration of the situation Is
therefore, opportune, particularly Wner
It Is borne in mind that the event is
the most notable that has taken place
In the history of American railroads
and that its bearing upon every South
erR business interest is of vital import
ance.
The Southern Railway Company op
crates $500 miles of railroad and about
15O miles of water line. With the ex
ception of 491 miles all the system is
owned by the company, and the here
tofore complicated ana expensive plan
of control by majorities, wholly i'm
practicable and unfortunate IN its op
Grafton and sure to make enemies
among the minorities, is done away
with. The old Richmond Terminal
Company did not Own any railroad al
all, and the much yaunted (but tntrln'
sically worthless) Richmond and Dan
vile owned only 145 miles. The rest
of The Richmond and Danville system
was made up Of some thirty separate
companies, ranging in length from six
to 552 miles. Efficiency and economy
were impossible on this basis, which
also afforded good opportunity for ob'
jectionable methods Of accounting
The organization of the East Tennes'
see was mere compact, but it, too, left
much to be desired.
AS aresult of the reorganization over
thirty corporations, whose affairs and
securities were interlocked in every
conceivable way, and in almost hope
less confusion, are united in one com
pang. Thirty Boards of Directors and
thirty sets Of separate accounts disap
pear simultaneously. The original plan
was dated May l. 1893: it was issued on
May %, 1898, and the response OF Sc
curity holders was prompt, and by the
middle of June, 1893, success was as
sured so far as their corporation was
concerned.
The summer and autumn Of 1893 par
alyZed the South, in common with the
rest of the country, and railroad earn
lngs shrunk greatly. New conditions
and new complications were presented
and the problem became one OF dealing
with bankrupt receivers as well as
bankrupt corporations. By strenuous
efforts everything was held together,
and as soon as possible some amend
ments to the original plan were pro-
mulgated, mainly to solve the financial
problems of the receiYerships, and also
TO cut down the interest charges Of the
reorganiZa ed company pending return
to normal conditions.
These amendments were made public
on March 1, 1894. and they we're so rea'
sonable in character that they were
quickly accepted by the security hold
ers, and the reorganization was at once
pushed forward with such rapidlty that
within four months the new company
was formed. and now, within two
months more, the last Of the property
comes into its possession-4,500 miles
of railroad which, exactly six months
ago, nau almost dropped to pieces, and
which but for the strong hands that
held the properties together during all
the financial troubles, would have drop.
ped to pieces, are now brought into one
compact and efficient company.
The new company is organized under
charter granted by the Legislature OF
s Virginia, supplemented by its conform
ity to the laws of all the oSher States
in which it owns property.
The reorganization has involved two
trustees sales, VIZ:
Richmond and West Point Terminal
Railway and Warehouse Company.
Trustees sale under 6 per cent col
lateral mortgage.
Trustees sale under 5 per cent. col
lateral mortgage.
One receivers sale, viz:
Richmond and West Point Termlna!
Railway and Warehouse Company.
Ten foreclosure sales, viz, covering
Richmond and Danville and its LEASED
lines.
East Tennessee, Virginia and Geor'
gia (under two mortgages),
Charlotte Columbia and Augusta.
Columbia and GreenVille.
Louisville Southern.
Georgia Pacific.
Western North Carolina.
Northwestern North Carolina.
oxford and ClarksVille.
ClarksyiIle and North Carolina.
p Six conyeyances without foreclosure
viz:
Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio.
Richmond, York River and Chesa
peake.
Washington, Ohio and Western.
Piedmont.
StatesVille and Western.
Oxford and Henderson.
And we understand that some hall
dozen minor sales and as many more
conVeyances Of other kinds are now II
progress in order to perfect the work
Prior to the reerg ganiZati00, the proper
ties now merged into the Southern
Railway Company were covered by
aboat seventy separate mortgages
About forty of these mortgages have
been eliminated in one way or another
Described briefly, and ignoring many
small branch lines, the Southern Rail
way Company extends from Washing
ton, OF, more properly, from Alexar,
dris, Va, and from West Point and
Richmond, Va, via Salisbury, n. g., to
Augusta and Atlanta, Ca; and thence
to the Mississippi River at GreenVille
At Salisbury another main line crosses
the State of North Carolina By way OF
AsheYille; thence over to Knoxville
and Chattanooga, Tenn and from there
to Rome, Ca, where it divides, one line
going to Brunswick and the other tC
Meridian, Miss. Another line runs
from Louisville to Lexington and Bur,
gin, KY, there connecting With the Gin
cinnali Southern.
The Cincinnati Southern and Mem
phis and Charleston were included il
the plan Of reorganization as originally
promulgated, but were dropped from