The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-01-01
FRIDAY. JANUARY I, 1904.
"ANGTON AND THE SEA
BOARD AIR LINE.

wilmington stands fourth in the
ast Of cotton exporting seaports Of
he United States. She has a large
naval stores market. She has more
Wholesale Houses than any city OF It's
size south Of Baltimore. These three
facts would indicate that she had a
trade and railroad traffic to h in
terrier which was worth competing for
by the railroads leading out from this
city. Wilmington has but two rail-
way systems connecting her with the
interior, the Atlantic Coast Line
and the Seaboard Air Line. The
former has done much for our city
and the adjacent territory in the way
Of building up new enterprises and
insrsving old conditions. What can
be said for the other?
The ears of the officials of h Sea-
board Air Line must have been
tingliag Tuesday afternoon about the
time the Wilmington Chamber OF
Commerce was in session. for some
pretty plain words were being used
by members of the latter regarding
the manner in which this city is being
treated By the officials of that rail-
way system. From the statements OF
facts made and the conclusions drawn
from them by some of our best bust
ness men present, who knew whereof
they spoke. we are forced to one OF
two csnclusions-that the men at the
head Of this railway system either do
not want passenger and freight busl-
ness IN and out Of Wilmington or are
net competent to manage the COM
pany In a way to secure it.
As to the first proposition-Does
this system not care for its proper
tomato part of h passenger and
freight traffic of Wilmington? From
the manner in which the merchants
of this city are now and have for
several years been treated. one is led
to believe that it does not. But this
matter is not optional with the COM
pany. It Is a quasi public corpora
W A43 A. 40 - ~ ~ o4Ao10 ~
al patrons the best accommodations
possible within it's power. That the
Seebeard Air Line is doing this for
Wilmington no one, outside Of itsl
officials, will contend. On the con-
trary. 1t is giving our city about the
wost service, both passenger and
freight. that can be imagined.
The city of Wilmington is one of
the S~eaboard's three Atlantic Seal
board points, and should be made al
big shipping point, bu instead, it isl
nsthins more than a way station.
Look at the arrangements for ~receiv-l
ing and delivering freight on its yardsI
here A first class railroad would
have better facilities at any flag sta-I
tioa- The idea of a railroad havingl
to refuse a shipment Of Jour hundred
tons OF freight because the sideI
rack leading to where the desired
Shipment is located is in such bad
condition that the engineer of theI
locomotive over it. This is a fairI
example of the condition of the teri
miual facilities at this, one of thel
coGnpany's three seaports: and whenl
come to the matter of shippingl
and receiving local freight the con-
dluo.s are as bad as to time takenl
for transportation. Mr.. J. A. Taylor,
one Af our leading wholesale grocers
and oonmision merchants, illustrated
this point in the following remarksl
before the chamber of commerce oni
Freight reached Hamlet in
the proper time, but to points
beyond Hamlet the time was said
to be indefinite. An instance
was given where a shipment was
nade from Rockingham and it
took seventeen days to reach
here. It vas generally admitted
that it took any where from one
to tive weeks to get freight to
Rockingham, when 1t should
eacA there in two or three
days.
We know of a merchant here Who'll
has . bill OF lading for freight ship
ped from Rockingham in September:
the goods have not yet arrived. In
Of this delay in the receipt of
TO and from points beyond
are of almost daily occur
renoe. The truth is the road is mott
properly equipped for handling itsl
business for this city and it does
act take the necessary steps to-
aaAdie 1T.
The business of the Seabcard Air
Line 1t Wilmington is worth to that
frpm $500. eco to 100000 a
rear. The company, were it TO in
lugaxate the same methods as those
e other roads seeking business. coald