The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-11-19
LRASR OF THE NORTH CARO-
LIMA RAILROAD.
Prof Tohn Graham, Vice President of the
State Alliance and Principal OF
Ridgeway High School, Wants
the Court to Take the Matter
in Charge.
in Charge.

Correspondence of the Progressive
R1DGEwAY. N. @. Nov. Is, 1895.
Notwithstanding the protest OF the
State Farmers Alliance and the uu-
qualified condemnatio IN of the act by
n press of North Carolina, the Direc-
tors Of the N. @. R. r have leased this
valuable property, privately and hur-
riedty, to a foreign corporation until
the year 1894, for a sum greatly less
than It's worth.
viii not the people of North Caro-
lima test in their own courts the val
idity of this outrageous lease7
Our wise and patriotic f~orefathers
chartered and built this road to con
meet Eastern and Western North Caro-
lima, and to build up our own seaports'
Gov. Morehead, VIM. S. Ashe, Calvin
Graves and many other noble Caro-
linians devoteded their energies ana
money to this great State enterprise.
Thew expected Beaufort with It's mag
niicent h9rbor TO become the Port OF
North Carolina. At the time the first
lease was made the bonds Of the N. Z.
r r were at a discount Of fifty per
cent or more. No towns Of any I'M
portance were along its line. The
population of North Carolina was not
much more than half what 1t now Is,
and yet the rental for this short period
is only n per cent less than that OF
this ninety nine year lease. An IN
junction was issued restraining any
change in the guage Of the road bed,
and on appeal to Our Supreme court
this validity Of the lease was called in
question, but the majority Of the
court held that a clause In the charter
of the N. @. R. r empowering the
Directors to form the right of trans
portion conferred the powers to lease.
Judge Bynum IN his able dissenting
opinion exposes the weakness Of the
decision.
Who can not, today, appreciate the
difference between a ninety nine years
lease of a road bed and all its equip
ments and the farming out by North
Carolina to the Southern, or any other
road the use of her ~superhuous
transportation facilities for through
traffic, and at the same time operating
her own trains for the bsnefit of her
own people. With her convicts she
can build double tracks wherever need
ed. The Cape Fear and Yadkin Val
ley vas in great part built by convict
labor furnished gratis TO the private
stockholders, and now foreign bond
holders have fallen heir to this i'm
mense gratuIty.
No one Will deny that seven per cent
is a handsome dividend, nor that $780,
600 per annum helps the State treas
ury. But Is not the road worth more
than 81, 900, OUO2 Would not the Sea
Board Air Line, at the expiration Of
the first lease in 1901, either itself pay
a higher rental, OF force the Southern
to pay a higher rental than $40, 0009
A lease fer ninety nine years, so far as
1T concerns Us and our chIidren's emil
dren Is a sale. But why lease the road
at all3 Can lot the State of North
Carolina operate this road in connec-
ton with the A. & n. q. r r. at a
prOtiU7 II has been claimed that the
A. & N. =. without any connections
pays a fair dividend. 1t might not
put two hundred and ten thousand
dollars into the Golfers of the State
treasury, but In the developing and
upbullOIng Of our own towns and sea-
ports, iG would amount to vastly more
than that sum. Many Of us believe in
governmental ownership of railroads,
and preached that doctrine from the
mountains to the sea shore. What
better opportunity to test the practi.
cability Of u theory2 Why not ship
our products to Beaufort instead Of TO
Norfolk, and thence if necessary to
Europe In ships # our owns
Whoever controls the transportation
of a country IN a great measure will
control thai country.
The United States Railroad Commits
soners have been stripped by the Fed
eral Judiciary OF nearly all the powers
conferred upon them by the original
act. Our only protection is our State
Railroad Commission. 1t has no juris-
dlctson outside Of North Carolina.
With the Noroh Carolina and the At
lantlc railroads run in the interests of
our own people we can dictate terms
, 70 the great through lines. We have
no hostility towards them. We will
arm ou6 to them tne use of our road
Oeos at a reasonable price, but We
o ought never to grant them cbo-,o -