The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1907-02-07
SOUTHERN RAILWAY COM

y
Washington, ID. C. January 16, 1907
To the Public Served by the South
ern Railway Company:
Realizing, from our own point and
from public expression, the import
ance of the work of this Company,
especially in the South, and the idu-
ciary relationship which it bears to
ats patrons and to the public, l de-
sire to make a brief statement o1
some of the conditions which con-
front it, and of the purposes and
policy of its management.
The management would not ignore
the fact that at present railroad ser
vice generally, including that of the
Southern, is far from satisfactory
If there was no adequate and Justi-
flying cause for this, these conditions
would be objectionable, but the fact
is, they spring largely from causes
which cannot for the moment be con-
trolled.
One exceedingly potential cause is
the extraordinary industrial develop
ment of the South. In his last pub
lie address, the late President OF
this Company, Mr.. Samuel Spencer.
referred to this development as fol
lows:
The South has entered upon a
period of increased production III
agriculture and in manufactures,
and of general industrial and COM
mercial activity, such as her best
friends and most enthusiastic prop
hets had scarcely dreamed of fifteen
years ago. Within that period the
vast value of her cotton crop has
doubled, the amount of pig iron pro-
duced at her furnaces has increased
enormously, and the product of her
coal mines has increased more than
three fold. Cotton factories have
sprung up within her borders to the
extent that more Of her cotton crop
is now manufactured on her own soil
than in all the mills of New Eng
land. The total value of her annual
manufactures now aggregates nearly
eighteen hundred millions in value.
The total value of her agricultural
products is row over seventeen hun
dred millions per annum. +"
This increase is likewise indicated
in the volume of traffic handled by
this Company. In 1895 the number
of tons of freight carried one mile
was 1,099,932, 1884, while in 1906, the
number of tons carried one mile was
4, 4,488,915, ,839, showing an increase Of
over three hundred per cent, or, al
lowing for the increased mileage, an
increase Of over 1873 per cent; while
in 1895, the number of passengers
hauled one mile was 178,015,925 as
aginst 549,518,645 in 1906, showing
an increase of over two hundred per
cent, or, allowing for the increased
mileage, an increase per mile of road
of over eighty per cent.
Nowhere in the United States, ex-
cept in the two States of the extreme
Northwest, Washington and Oregon,
has there been such industrial de-
velopment as in the South.
1t is perhaps not too much to
claim, that, outside of the energies
and efforts of the people themselves,
this Company has been one of the
chief factors in this development.
Manifestly, the vast increase of traf-
fic incident to this commercial awak-
ening, requires enormous increases IN
transportation facilities.
The management of the Southern
Railway Company has not been un-
mindful of this fact, and did not
wait for the coming Of the develop
ment itself, before attempting to in
crease to the utmost possible extent
its transportation capacity. 1t must
he remembered that this Company
has not been in existence more than
about twelve years. 1t found those
railroads of the South, now consti-
tuting a part Of lts system, of light
and faulty construction, poorly equip
ped and utterly unprepared to han
die any considerable traffic. They had
been recently bankrupt and were
without credit.
As soon as the new Company came
into existence, the management
adopted a policy of betterment and
improvement, and something of what
it has done to prepare for the traf-
fic of the South will appear from the
following statement:
1T HAS SPENT:
In new, approved and
heavier rail .$10, $4,000
In double tracking, reduc-
ing grades and changing
alignment !. ......... 6,942,e3l
In new steel bridges for
heavier power =. -. 2,578,54O
In branches and spurs to-
industries !. -. 49,. 2,3e3,2sS
In side, passing and COM
mercial tracks !. -. 3,14s,soe
In shops, tools and ma
chinery 49,. ......... 2,O41, 1,14s
In additions and improve
ments to yards, real
estate, roadway, and
structures and other i'm