Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1901-06-22
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE MATERIAL RESOURCES OF THE
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
Letter Addressed to the Honorable r. B. Fulton LID Chan
ceOr of the University of Mississippi by Suyvesant Fish,
President of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company, May28, 1901.

the contrary, each plantation was a
thing by itself, Wit its own store. its
own mill, its own roads and bridges.
To be entirely candid, it seems to me
that the North has prospered through
combination and unity of effort. while
the South has Jagged behind by rea-
son Of isolation and the absence Of a
community of interest. That this
should have been the case so long as
slavery endured was a necessity; that
+ p9cnIinues to this day is a misfor-
tune, which we, as educated men,
should set ourselves to correct.
Another marked Characteristic of the
State lies in the vast preponderance Of
the natiye-born population. The CEN
sus of 1890 showed only 1852 foreign
born residents in Mississippi, as
against l4,264 in Arkansas, 14,777 in
Alabama, 20,029 in Tennessee, and
49747 in Louisiana.
From the beginning the State was
blessed with a seacoast affording natur-
al harbors, available for small
craft, as well as with a vast system
Of nayigable rivers, which net only
gave access to her whole western bor-
der, but also extended for into the in
terror in many directions No State,
certainly none west of the Allegheny
Mountains, earlier appreciated the
value Of railroads and us need of them.
More than one railroad was in opera
tion in Mississippi before a mile of
track had been laid in Indiana, Ken
lucky, Tennessee or any of the States
lying west thereof.
In spite OF all its traditions in ia
vor of States rights and the strict in
depreciation of the Constitution, Miss
issippi, so far as | have been able to
discover, was the first to pass an act
to extend and incorporate" railroad
company of another State within it's
own borders. Mississippi did this in
its very first charter, which was grant
ed before the Chickasaw Indians had
ceded their lands in the northern part
of the State, including that on which
the University stands. On December
2O 1881, the first native-born Cover
nor of Mississippi, Gerard C. Bran
don, approved the "Act to extend and
incorporate the West Feliciana Rail
road Company of the State of Louis
lana, within the State of Mississippi" :"
This gave the assent of the State to all
and each OF the provisions contained
in the Louisiana Act incorporating the
West Feliciana Railroad Company,
adopted ratified and enacted it into
a law of Mississippi, and provided that
said act should thereafter be in full
force and effect, as well within as
without the State, "as an act incor-
pOrating a company for the purpose Of
erecting a railroad from the Town Of
st. Francisyille, in the State of
Louisiana, to the Town of Woodville,
in the County of Wilkinson"
The West Feliciana was the first
Mississippi, and, If mistake Siajt not tie
first Interstate railroad ever charter
ed or built 1t was conceived and car
ried to successful establishment by
Mr.. Edward McGee, one of the original
settlers of the State who had gone
thither during the territorial govern
ment and whose descendants are still
living in and about Woodville. 1t
is today operated as part of the Yazoo
and Mississippi Valley Railroad.
The granting to corporations of other
States the right to extend their rail
roads into and through its borders,
and of allowing them to exercise in
the State, charter powers similar to
| those granted by such other States, has
throughout been the settled policy of
| Mississippi.
The adoption of this, or some like
policy equally characterized by broad
minded craftsmanship, was a necessity,
arising from the physical fact that 1t
| is at New Orleans in Louisiana, at
Memphis in Tennessee, and at Mobile
in Alabama, that the cotton and the
lumber grown in Mississippi must find
markets, and that it is chiefly through
those cities in other States that the
people Of Mississippi must draw their
supplies.
In this way the New Orleans, Jack.
son and Great Northern Railroad
which had been begun under a charter
granted by the State of Louisiana, was
continued from the boundary of that
State to and beyond Canton, with au
thor.ty from the State of Mississippi
to proceed enthusiastically through
Aberdeen, to the Alabama line, in the
direction of Nashville, Tennessee. The
like thing has been done in several in
stances since the Civil War, and was
done in the case of the railroad form
erly known as the Georgia Pacific
which is now operated by the Southern
Railway Company, and extends clear
across the State in an east and west
direction, from the Alabama line neal
Columbus, to the Mississippi river, al
Greenville.
1t is doubtful II any State in the
Union has granted more, or more
liberal, charters to railways than ha:
Mississippi Through the kindness o1
a friend, who has examined the session
laws for me, am able to say that:
From 1881 to 1910 Mississippi chart
cred at least 23 railroad companies.
From lS41 to 1850 Mississippi chart
cred at least II railroad companies.
From 1851 to 1860 Mississippi chart
cred at least 80 railroad companies.
During the throes of civil strife il
incorporated one in 1868, and in the II
years from 1861 to 1870 is railroad
companies.
From 1871 to 1880 Mississippi chart
cred at least 40 railroad companies.
From 1881 to 1890 Mississippi chart
cred at least 60 railroad companies.
Here we have the grantingof 203 sepa
rate charters, and my friend tells me-
this does not by any means represent
the total.
The liberal policy of the State re
suited in their being, in operation
therein, in 1860 some S62 miles o
railway. With insignificant exceptions
these formed parts of interstate rail
phis or Mobile. In respect to the mum
Der of miles of railroad in operation
Mississippi then ranked thirteenth
among the States of the Union. Tn,
Civil War, and subsequent misrule
necessarily had repressive effect, anC
in 1880 we find only 1,127 miles o.
railroad in operation.
Under the leadership of such jurist!
and statesmen as Judge Wylie 2. Har
ris, Col, l.. @. G. Lamar Gen. Il. c
Walthall, Gov. John M. Stone, Gov
Robert Lowry, each of whom | an
proud to have known, with others vel
known to you, the strong and wise mel
Of your State had, in 1876, restored or
der, re-established civil government
and respect for vested rights. They
) and men like them, were nj the heat
! OF affairs in 1882. AT the biennia
, legislative session held in that year
= sixteen railroad charters were granted
!. and in 1884 twenty-five. Many, II no
all, of them contained very liberia
provisions as to the fixing of rates