The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-11-22

1 L
nation, and inti,..a,:ons as to the IL
advisa biiity Of a change Of schedule,
which it benooves the representatives
.sese.1s from Sumter 20 weigh We'll.
While I desire that President N3i-
sons letter should receive due consiG-
Grafton, I deem it my duty to cau-
ton the business men of Sumter tha;
President Wilson's intinaation as TO
the change Of schedule on the Cam
den branch of his road, brooks no
good for Sumter. While I see no n
i cessity for any radical change Of
schedule on the Northwestern rai!-
way at either end of the line, az
while we of Sumter have only aske<,
that trains be run on schedule time.
Which they never do, in order that
Sumter's customers may be able 20
come here to trade, and While we 30
want more time for them to do their
trading, still do not see any neces-
sity for President Wilson to reverse
the entire schedule of his entire line
and hurt Sumter for asking for that
which the Northwestern railway
promises in its schedule but never has
delivered; namely, decent accommo-
datsons for passengers, and a reason
able time limit to travel twenty miles,
and time between trains to come up
town when the patrons Of the North
western railway reach Sumter after
having been on the road long enough
| to go to Savannah, Ca
At the suggestion of Mr.. r. I. Man
ming, Chairman Bowman first called
upon the visiting gentlement for an
expression Of their views.
Mr.. Smyth, from Summerton, stated
that he desired to repeat Only what he
had said before the commissioners in
Columbia, and that was to the ef-
feet that the present schedule best
subserved the interests Of the people
of Summerton, that they had worked
hard to obtain it and that they would
put up a good fight before it was
changed, unless Summerton was to
be benefited thereby. A change such
as Sumter desired, would give them
only one freight and one mail day
and would greatly disturb their
freight business. He thought that a
change would be damaging to the in
terest of Summerton, Sumter and all
other points on the road.
Mr.. o. C. Scarborough, Of Summer
ton, contended that he wanted train
tnat could come to Sumter without
such great and seemingly unneces-
sary delays. The schedule as pub
lished by the road provides for a stay
in Sumter Of three hours, whereas
the patrons Of the road rarely have
more than 40 minutes in which to at
tend to their business affairs in Sum-
ter. He desired good passenger SER
vice.
Mr.. r. C. Richardson, Jr., said that
the passenger service on the North
western was the poorest of the poor,
and stated that if the people were en-
titled to good passenbger service that
he wanted it, and would ike to know
how he could legallay demand it.
A letter from Mr.. Thomas Wilson
was read, which was as follows:
Sumter, S. c., Nov. 13, 1905.
Mr.. E. /. Reardon,
Secretary Chamber Of Commerce,
Sumter, S. c.
Dear Sir: I am in receipt Of your
letter Of 4th instant inviting me to at
tend meeting to be held in Sumter
on the 18th instant for the purpose CT
discussing change of schedule on
the Northwestern railroad.
I would, with pleasure, attend the
meeting, but as I leave the State to-
night to be away for some days, it
is doubtful that I can return in time
to be present at the meeting.
Some months ago we had corles-
pondence with you ab5ut this mat
ter and stated at that time, that the
schedule put in effect was the most
satisfactory that we could operate.
This schedule gives passengers three
hours in Sumter between trains and
this seems ample time for their pur-
poses.
We could operate train out from
Wilson's Mill to connect with No. 50
at Sumter, running on through to
Camden, and, returning, connect at
Sumter with No. SO, but we could not
make No. SO connection with this
train at both Sumter and Wilson's
Mill. This arrangement, you will see,