The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-31
1902 WITH RAILWAYS
BOTH FREIGHT AND PASSENGER
BUSINESS SHOW AN INCREASE.
IMPROVEMENTS NEXT YEAR.
WILL BE IN PRESENT ROADS NOT
IN BUILDING NEW ONES.

The Views of President John VI.
CentraI's Earnings This Year
| Ahead of Lnst-ROads of State and
Section Generally Prosperous.
Good Crops and increasing In
| dustries Have Helped Both Freight
and Passenger MISUNDERSTANDING
Observation-Disclosures Likely to Let
Many Contracts for New Equip
ment Soon.
The year which ends to-day has been
an exceptionally good one with the
railroads of the South, is the opinion
of President John NJ. Egan of the
Central of Georgia.
None of the roads have had any great
drawbacks in the way of accidents
Of any kind, and business generally
has been good. for the crops of fruit
and vegetables have been large. the
cotton crop has, so far, been of normal
size. there has been an increased ship
ment of lumber into Savannah. and
the growing industries of the South
have conduced to a largely increased
business, both in miscellaneous freights
and in passenger travel.
Again the roads of this section have
been but little affected by the coal
shortage for their transportation of
that commodity has never been great
enough to make it's loss felt to any
extent. The roads entering Savannah
in former seasons have transported to
g..A- -
to Savannah by water, but these
shipments have been comparatively so
small that their loss this season will
make but little difference in the gen.
eral business of the lines. Summing
up it may be said, according to Mr..
Egan that the roads have had a most
prosperous year, both in the freight
and the passenger business. The Cen
trails earnings, Mr.. Egan said, will
be much greater this year than last.
Statistics show that some 21S miles
of new road has been built in the
past twelve months and this, Mr..
Egan thinks, is a very good showing
tor the state. There are but few if
any places now that have any reason
to cry for railroad accommodation, he
says, and the improvements of the
coming year will probably take the
form, not of building new road, but of
These improvements will be in the
form of steel bridges instead of wood
en- ones, the filling in of trestle cross
ings, where practicable building of
larger and better stations, and secur-
ing new acknowledgements i'm
provements that are always a good
investment-and Improvements in
which most of the roads are now
spending a great deal of money.
The large business the roads. have
done has at times taxed their capacity
of equipment, and as business is con-
stantly on the increase already many
contracts have been let for new cars
of. various kinds and for new locomo-
tiYes. 1t is confidently expected that
many more contracts will be let, dur
ingr the coming year..
In the matter of the lumber trade
Mr.. Egan says that not only has more
lumber been shipped to this port. than
in other years. but. because of the
large amount of building that has been
done, the demand for building ma
terials was quite brisk and it is prob
able that the lumber dealers have
made more money than they have for
some years past.
Another class of Savannah mer-
chants who have done a good business
and look forward TO a still better one
is the fertilizer manufacturers. They
state they have already sold more fer
tilizer for delivery in the spring than
has been the case in past years. Mr..
Egan is quite satisfied with the BUSH
ness of this year. and also with the
outlook of the one that begins to-mor-
row. isxaMIanIMW