The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-07-28

tuition forbade direct State aid, and
therefore the managers of the @. f. &
Y V. resorted to a very transparent
device to circumvept the constitution.
They went before the State legislature,
Cff7ring mortgage bonds of the road in
exchange for convict labor upon engi-
I GERS estimate of its worth. They OBJ
tanned all the labor they needed.
At the next meeting of the lpgisla-
ture they again appeared, showing
that they had fulfilled their contract,
and asking for a return of the mort
gage bonds already given and another
grant of convict labor to be paid for
with mortgage bonds similar to those
returned. The road was gradually
built westward, and such was the BOD
ularity of the road and such the unan-
unity Of the counties along the proposed
lines Of the road to be built that verv
little opposition was made to these liz
direct evasions of the State Constitu-
ton.
The Richmond and Danville Railroad
had already built a branch road from
Greensboro to Winston. This branch
road was extended so as to tap the line
of the @. F. & Y. V. at Sedge Garden,
This was done to cut off the Yadkin
Valley branch of the @. F. & Y. V.
Railroad which promised to be the
most productive and strongly support
ing feeder of the Q. f & Y. V. Rail
road.
This extension of the Richmond and
Danvllle system il fl cted O severe blow
On the Q. T. & Y. v, and contributed
al much as anything else to it's final
overthrow.
The Southern Railway Co. has al
ready fallen heir to the W. N. @. Rail,
road. If the ninety nine years lease
holds good, and it undoubtedly will,
unless the people of North Carolina de-
mand Of the various candidates for
Governor, and the candidates for the
legislature. regardly Of party, hat the
validity of the lease be tested in the
courts of justice, then the Southern
Railway Co will disrupt the @. T. &Y.
V. system, absorb the most valuable
portion and thus fall heir to the dona-
tions of the State in the shape of con-
vict labor. The interests of the State
will be ignored and with these North
Carolina systems of railroads in the
hands of foreign syndicates, North
Carolina will be a strip of territory for
other States to prey upon. Nearly all
political corruption proceeds from rail-
roads. Unless the lease of the n. Q.
Railroad is broken up it is only a ques-
ton of time before the Southern Rail
way will own or control all the rail.
roads in the State.
We have no time to lose. While the
people are carried away in their zeal
to restore silver to it's proper function
as money, 1.-The Philistines will be upon
Sampson"
Our sister State, Tennessee, is dom
mated by the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad. Hon. James Malone in a
letter to Prof. Chas. W. Dabney, of
the University of Tennessee, a y that
the President of the L. & N, in his
office in Louisville, Kentucky, forbids
the people of Tennessee to hold a much
needed constitutional convention for
fear that a clause may be inserted in
the new constitution f~orbidding rail.
roads to lease or purchase parallel
lines.
May North Carolina never have a
railroad boss -
Iregret, Mr. Editor, that the public
cannot find out the profits made by the
Southern Rail way Go. in operating the
N. @. Railroad. The semi annual pay
ments made into the State treasury are
not to be regarded as gratuities from
the Southern Railway o., but only as
a small part of the profits made out of
North C~arolinians in the course of
business. I have been informed that
the Southern Railway Go. pays a Geor-
gia railroad twelve per cent, six per
cent. on stock and six per cent. On
bonds. This may be an error.
When as Chairman of the Alliance
Committee, suit was instituted in my
name to test the validity of the ninety
nine years lease, a newspaper reporter
represented Judge Walter Clark as
saying, The doors of justice have been
thrown Open" Those doors 1Cere shut
and fastened.
Will not the people of North Caro-
line, regardless of party, see to it that
the next Governor of North Carolina
and his Attorney G. ne2 al shall open