The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-10

| waiting for the sanction of the pri-
vate stockholders thwarted your
wishes. Your representative obtained
| from the State Supreme Court,
| through his counsel. Hon. David
Schenck with the consent of the At
! torney General of North Carolina, per-
mission to bring suit ito vaeafe the
| charter of the North Carolina Kali
| road, or such other relief as the courts
| would see fit to grant. Judge Schenck
| explained to your representative thaI
no effort would be made to Vacate the
| charter, but under the clause such
other relief as the courts would see
fit to grant he would attack the
validity of the lease. To the surprise
of Judge Schenck and your represen-
tative the words "such other relief
as the courts would see fit to grant
were left out of the papers turned over
to your representative and by him
filed with the Clerk of the Court of
Wake county. The Attorney General
was earnestly beSOught to allow the
suit to be brought in accordance with
he permission granted by the Su
p,> me Court, but he perSStently re-
fuses Acting under, the advice of
Judge SGhenck and apprehenSive that
Il suit simply to vacate the charter
might result disastrously to the States
interest in the property the suit was
withdrawn. A suit for the purpose of
testing the legality of the lease was
instituted in Guilford county and an
irrevocable power of attorney had
been obtained from the owner of a
share of stock on which this suit was
brought. Without notice to Judge
Schenck the owner of this share of
stock came to Greensboro and entered
what is called a "retraxit" (whatever
that is) and thus we were thwarted
again. The gentlemen who made the
ninety-nne years lease thoroughly
protected the financial interest of the
State, the per cent. of interest is good
but the valuation of the property is
low. An abortive effort was made
by our present executives predeceS-
sor to annul the Lease. A suit was
instituted by the Southern Railway to
restrain the directors of the North
Carolina Railroad from interfering
with the lease. This suit was with
| drawn, the Southern Railway paying
| all expenses incurred by the State.
| Thus ended the fight against the lease,
| the directors of the North Carolina
Railroad agreeing not to interfere with
| the lease, but the preamble. to the
| resolution passed, reciting that no
! right of the State Of North Carolina in
| any respect was waived. This pre-
| amble the Governor insisted should
| not be changed in any respect, assert
| ing that it in no way affected the
| right of State Legislature to annul
| the lease. Now this matter has been
| brought to your attention for the pur-
| pose of endeayOring to induce you to
| petition our present executive not to
| lease the Atlantic and North Carolina
| Railroad. With that road in the
hands of the State, by an extension
| TO Norlina or Henderson our Rail-
| road Commission can regulate freight
| charges within our State. Beaufort
10 cft N1n Il
| can be put in first class condition by
| convict lavor and the right of transit
! farmed out at reasonable rate to
| the Atlantic Coast Line and to the
| Southern. The State can still operate
| its own trains. If the Interstate Com
| mission is unable to protect us from
| impositiOnS by outside corporations,
| mercandise could be shipped to Beau
| fort and thence distributed. The pos
| sibility of this being done is, in my
| Judgment one of the main reasons
that the attempt was made to wrest
| the property from the State and force
| it's sale or lease. The State of New
| York dug the Erie canal and by
means of it secured cheap transporta
| ton. Its canal charges for years have
| been nominal and last year, by an
| immense majority the people of New
| York voted 500, 100000 to enlarge
| the canal. Whv should not convict
| labor be used on this road belonging
| to the State, when the Cape Fear and
Yadkin Valley was built in great meas
ure by convict labor and the State
| never received any pay therefore or at
least very little The interest of pri-
vate stockholders should be consider
ed. but how much have they been con-
sidered by the corporations owning
and operating the Cape Fear and
Yadkin Valley and the Seaboard sys-
tenn?
The A. & n. c. Railroad.
The State owns about three
fOurthS of the stock Of the Atlantic
and North Carolina, tho counties own
a good deal, and the rest of the stock,
not amounting to one-fourth, is owned
by other parties. How much is oWtI-
cd by original stockholders L do not
know. The State can afford to guaran-
tee to these private stockholders or
2 " per cent. dividend rather than put
her citizens in the power of the syn
dicate controlling both the southern
and the Seaboard and dominating the
Coast Line The Coast Line deserves
well Of the State. 1t has built great
many branch lines and developed the
eastern section of the State. The other
roads have absorbed the roads built by
the people of the State. In connec-
tion with the lease of the North caro-
lima Railroad is the reopenfng or the
StltlcIilcllI Ol Tue cldle 1ui
States credit has ever been good.
After the war between the States our
impoverished people left for awhile
the management of public affairs to
carpet-baggers and ScalaWagS, aided
and abetted by some of our own c1ti-
zens. When these were hurled from
power the State compromised its
debts. agreeing to pay all that it could
and winning the praise of it's creditors
the great majority of whom willingly
accepted new bonds from the State in
place of the old, or money on the
basis of the compromise agreed upon.
The States interest in the North Car
olina railroad was pledged as security
on some Of the bonds issued for the
benefit of the Western North Carolina
Railroad. The Supreme Court of the
United States has decided that North
Carolina can be sued by the State of
South Dakota on account of these
bonds, given to the State of South
Dakota by parties who could not
themselves bring suit, thus doing in
directly what could not be done di-
rectly. Judgment has been rendered
against the State. Resistance in every
| way possible should be made against
| the payment of this judgment You
| should make your candidates for the
| Legislature pledge themselves to OPP
nose the re-opening of the States set