Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Jan. 16, 1907, edition 1 / Page 9
Part of The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
i .i.v.A.ji i;: daily o...;i;;:vi;::, jaiujauv i:;, i:,;)7. fr i r i r 1 t y . o U O M ' 1 5 I &' w?j.;y.-' f 1 r - V 1 I I f if- - . ' , m W mi UU ULz3 ,U; 0 s;.,- v-M- ; . -.j Y V MR.FINLEY ON CONGESTION CAl'KED BY iROWTII OF SOUTH Prwkloni r Koutliorn Railway Com puny Inhucs Statonu-nt to thr Pub IU Admits Tliat Railroad Hcrvlce In Far Vnmx Hatlnrartory Railroad llaa Ikvn Ovcrwlicliiifd With Traffic RpmiIUdk Vrom V'npajrallol 1 IriduKtrlnl DovPlopinriH Which It Has Iiargrly BrouKht Altout r llaa Made hargvi Inrrow In Ca pacity and Ih Doing All It Can. Special to The Observer. Washington, Jan. 15. President W. W. Finley to-day made public the following statement, relative to the congestion of freight traffic 'on this railroad in the South: MR. KIXLEY S STATEMENT. To the Publlr served by the, Southern Railway Company: Realizing, from our own point of view and from public expression, the importance of the work of this com pany, especially In the South, and the fiduciary relationship which it bears to tta patrona and to the public, I desire to make a brief statement of some of the conditions which con front It, and of the purposes and policy of lis management. The management would not Ignore tha fact that at present railroad ser vice gcnorully. Including that of the Southern, is far from satisfactory. If there was no adequate and justify ing cause for this, these conditions would be unpardonable, but the fact Is, thay spring largely from causes whleh cannot for thft moment be con trolled. One exceedingly potential cauao la the extraordinary Industrial develop ment of the South. In his lust pub lic address, the late president of this company. Mr. Samuel Spencer, re ferred to this development aa fol lows: QUOTES MR. SPENCER. "The South has entered upon a 'period of Increased production In agriculture and In manufactures, and of general Industrial and commercial activity, such as her best frtendt and most enthusiastic prophets had scarcely dreamed of fifteen years ago. Within' that period the cash value of her cotton crop has doubled, the amount of pig Iron produced at her furnaces has Increased enormously, and the product of tier ooal mines has Increased more - then three fold. Cotton factories have sprung up wtth Imtier borders to the extent that more of her cotton crop la now manufac tured on her own soil than lnx all tha" milts of New England, The to tal" value of her annual 'manufac ture now aggregate nearly $1,800, 000.000 In value. Tha total, value of her agricultural products la now over 1, 700,000, 080 per annum.". ' This increase ,( likewise Indicated .In tha volume of traffic handled by thlH company., ; In' m5 the number of tonr of freight carried one mil waa 1.098.912,144, while In 10I, the number of ton carried, one mil was . 4.4M,tlS,l!, showing; an Increase of over 100. per cent, oft allowing for ' tha Increased mileage, an Increase of over. lis" per centf whllo In 1I0J, the number of passengers hauled one . mil was 1TI. 015,118 tt , against I4l.51g.l4t In HOI, ahowlng an in. crease of over 100 pr cent., or, allow ing for- tha Increased mileage,; an Increase per mil of road of over 10 par cent,:''"- - ' Nowtoero 4n'tft'tvnlted 8U?c, W pt in the two state la the extreme : We are not here, for the treatment of nervous troubles and the cure of the tobacco habits Qur great object is to successfully rid the race of the terrible whiskey habit and this we are doing every day. Our rational treatment has for years been accepted in localities' where it is known as the best cure on earth Our cures in the Southern States have been as successful as our treatment in other States and we now stand alone in the relief of this terrible curse to mankind Resident physician always in attendance. Private rooms with baths. Every attention and service known to the best sanitariums Wire ahead for accommodations. T Phone 184 Northwest, Washington and Oregon, has there been such Industrial de velopment as In the South. CHIEF FACTOR IN DEVELOP MENT. It is perhaps not too much to claim that, outside of the energies and ef forts of the people themselves, this company has been one of the chief factors In this development. Mani festly, the vast Increase of trunk- in cident to this commercial awakening, requires enormous Increases in trans portation facilities. The management of tha Southern Railway Company has not been unmindful of this. fact, and did not wait for the coming of the development Itself, before at tempting to Increase to the utmost possible extent Its transportalon ca pacity. It must be remembered that this company has not been In ex istence more than about twelve years. It found those railroads of the South, now constituting a part of Its system, of light and faulty con struction, poorly equipped and utterly unprepared to handle any, consider abl traffic. They had been recently bankrupt and were without credit. Aa soon as the new company came Into existence, the management adopt ed a policy of betterment and Im provement and something of what It has done to prepare for the traffic of the South will appear from the fol lowing statement IT HAS 8PENT: In new, approved and heavier rail 110,880,000 In double tracking, reduc ing grades and chang ing alignment 6,842,881 In new steel bridges for heavier power 2.578,540 tn branches and spurs to industries. 3.362.288 In side, passing and com mercial tracks' 3,148,806 In shops, tools and ma chinery . . . . 2.041.148 In additions and Improve ments to yards, real estate, roadway and atructures and other Improvements and ad ditions d, 8,J2,05 Or a total of . . .. $36,114,018 IT HAS SPENT OR CONTRACTED TO SPEND: For new aqulpment . . $49,322,669 For JoJn( terminals com- 1 pleted (Its proportion) 3,408,188 For terminal.': . . .. $21,401 For double tracking , . 6.144,7(1 '. Making total of' work a , done,' and contraeteH for to prepare to han- ' " die tha traffic i. ;' U ' . $16,482,845 .'r;-t v.-,.-"... . IT HAS INCREASED ITS ROLLING 8TOCK AS FOLLOWS: .', ' Locomotives, from 111 to (receiv ed and contracted for) 1,844.. ,., Freight .train can from ( 18.U4 tt (received and contracted for) 58r III.---'--' ; y '" , Passenger train cars from 37 to (received and contracted for 1.008. This doea not indicate fully the In crease mad to Ita equipment by the company, because the Incroasod pow er of the locomotives, and tha Increas. ed tonnage capacity of the can, have added much, more to the Equipment capacity- ef the company than tha number of added tttiltr would rtpre sent. For example, tha averaga ca pacity" Of the freight Cfcr.haa been increased 28.38 per rent -,... ' , A (air consideration of these flgurei mm will demonstrate the fact that the management of this company has not been unmindful of its obligation to In crease Its facilities in anticipation of the, increaso in traffic. HARD TO GET LABOR AND CAPI TAL.. It ha.s been, and .still Is, hamper ed, however, by two conditions: One Is the large amount of fresh capital required; and, the other, the diffi culty of securing adequate and ef ficient labor, of promptly getting Its construction work done, and of ob taining the rolling stock, rail and other material eo.sentlal to Improved facilities. Delay Incident to obtaining rolling stock will be Illustrated by the fol lowing. On November 1, 190f, contrai l wa made for ninety-eight locomotives and one thousand eight hundred and and six freight cars to be delivered In February) and March, 1906. There are still undelivered one hundred and seventy-seven freight cars. On February 1, 1906, contract was made for one hundred locomotives and ten thousand freight cars to be de livered on or before October. 1906. Rtlll undelivered seventeen locomo tives and two thousand two hundred and eighteen freight cars. The disappointing delay In construc tion work will be Illustrated by the following: The double track work on the mnln line between Pomona and Sprnrer, N. C, was all let during the year 1905, and the last of It should have been completed by November 30, tiOft Part of this work la ten months late and the rest of It will b approxi mately five months late. This delay Is . due to the difficulty of the con tractors In getting labor and ma terial. The contracts of the doublo track work between Knoxvllle and Morris town, Tenn., wore let In September, 1905, and April, 1906. That part of the work which should have been completed to date Is approximately ten months late. This delay Is due to the Inability of the contractors to get labor promptly. The double-track work between Peyton and Austell, Ga., the contract for which waa let In April, 1905, and which ahould have been completed In February, 1906, will be more than 14 months late In completion. This delay la due to scarcity of labor and material. The prosecution of. thla double traek work haa necessarily caused aome of the delay to the traffic of which the public complains and ne cessarily results to the company In lucreoaed cost of operation. The. fact that the company, In It effort to improve Ita facilities to han dle the public buNlneas, has not been deterred from undertaking thla work lat a time when the cost of" materials and labor Is on such an unusually high plane; ahould, 1 think,' be acf pt d by the public as an earnest of the company! desire and purpose to put itself In a position to perform ac ceptably Ita public, dvtle. . . . SOUTH NEEDS TR.ACK CAPACITY 1 One of he greatest' heeda of tho South la that Ita railroads should have additional track capacity. No matter how many locomotives and car may be available,. It la manifest that the number which can be moved la lim ited bf the track capacity; . Tha work of providing the necessary additional track will require vast input of r 8 pi tat How It la to he provided Id everywhere a-matter of grave con- LIQUOR RflDSVULL N.C All trains stop at Reidsville cern to railroad managers. It can not be obtained from the current operations of tho properties. It nmut be borrowed. Looking forward to the need for largely increaHed facilities, the man agement last Bprlng authorized the creation of the company's Develop ment and General Mortgage bonds to the amount of $200,000,000. of these bonds, $20,000,000 were tit once sold and the proceeds are being spent as rapidly as the work can be done In adding to the existing faclllf W- of the company. It is the Intention of the management to pursue this policy and provide nurli of these additional facilities as may ba required to meet the growing demands of busi ness. As bearing upon the capacity of the railroad companies to obtain the means to make necessary .additions to their facilities and to pjoylde the most approved safety appliances in oper ation, the public should give fulr business consideration 'to the situ ation which confronts the carriers. The present situation la: An Immense Increase in all ex (lensea, without any Increase in rates In fact with th.. proposition almost universally made to decrease rates by legislative action. The large Increase In expenses msy be Illustrated as follows: SINCE 1898: Bridge timber has Increased from $9.36 to $20.52 per thousand feet. Cross ties from 28 cents to 34.." cents per tie. Steel rulls from $17.75 per (on to $39.00 per ton. SINCE 1898. PRICES OF KQ1TIP MENT HAVE INCREASED AH FOLLOWS. Locomotives from $1,392 to from $16,000 to $20,000. Passenger coaches from $6,315 to $9,468. Freight cars from $500.43 to $765. 00. Coal cars from $361 to $1,135. The cost of labor has Increased per mile of road from $1,831.67 In 1895 to $2,174.71 In 1906: and from $3,51$. 64 per mile of road In 1905 to $3,874.71 In 1906. Taxes of the company per mile of road have, since 1898. Increased 63.41 pen cent. To this 'large Increase of expemm must be added the excessive verdicts of Juries In personal Injury rases. In addition to this there la a mark ed tendency on the part o many of tho SUte to regard any failure or aei vlce aa wllfu', and to. Impose upon the carrier a heavy penalty there for. Inasmuch as udequte facilities for all are not In existence,' tha Imposition of a penalty for failure to furnish cara under the above mentioned cir cumstance, if It haa any effect other than merely to deplete the treasury of the carrier . and to deprive It tu that, extent of the pow er to improve Ita transportation and aerrlce, must result simply In the; withdrawal of tho carrier! facilities from tha ser vice In rexpect to which there la no penalty In order to use them In the service, whera they la a penalty.', Tho logical result of this would be 'race between the States to ae which could Inflict the highest penalty so ga to ob tain a preference for.ltr own cltlaena. , PENALTIES NOT EFFICI EXT.. f,,' r'The tmpoaitlon of penalties win riot build railroad tracks, aupply, equip ment, or enlarge and simplify ter minal, nor would It, under tha cir cumstances mentioned, benefit tha CUR transportation service as a whole, hut, on the contrary, woul tend to produce Injustlcn and discrimination between persons and localities. Un aided, this naturally would develop Into a preference In favor of State commerce over Inter-State commerce. Hut the larger Interests of the ship ping public of the South are In inter State commerce for the reason that their principal markets arn the larg er marketa of the country, which are In other States. That this condition In appreciated by the shippers will be apparent from the following quotation from a letter Just received from ft large shipper: "Practically all our shipments go out of the State; therefore, we can not use Form 41 (a form used for the purpose of availing of the penalty laws of the State), consequently or ders for shipments within the State when shippers use Form 41 arc given preference." It Is not to be wondered at that the large increase In the cost of ma terials, equipment and labor and oth er expenses above adverted to. and the Increased difficulties In transpor tation, are, aa shown by the publisb I eil reports, reflected In a lartre rte ! create of the net earnings of the eom j pany since July I. 1906, notwithstand ing Its Increased gross esrnlngs. With these greatly Increased ex I pensos for material, for labor, for ; taxes, for penalties and for dam .age claims, and with the Just de mands of tho public for better fa cilities and greater safety of oper ation, It must be apparent that a re duction of revenues must conflict with the public Interest In these larger questions of better facilities and great er safety. 1 submit these facts to the candid consideration of those people who, In perfect good faith, desire a reduction of our freight rates and passenger fares. The public should be advised that, with decreased revenues, the railroads of the country will be utter ly unable to pursue successfully their efforts to provide better facilities and greater safety of transportation. The point Is near where it may be absolutely necessary for tha public to take the choice bebtween better and safer facilities, on the One hand, and lower ratea on the other. In the na ture ot things, It Is Impossible to pro vide both. In view of the difficulty of meet ing the just demands of the nubile for larger facilities arid greater safe- j ty, with reduced revenues and Increas ed expenses. I feel that I am Justified in laying before our patrons and the public thla plain statement of con ditions, , Respectfully, W. W. FINLEY, President, A. V. li. RAISES VAKH. IfcvauM of Increased Cost of Utlng, Atlantic Co ist IJnc (Jranta In Tiar to All Clerks, Agcnta, Klc. Special to The Observer. Wilmington, ' Jan. ifi.-R k annnunwe.1 from th headquarters of the Atlantic Coast Line' Ksilioad Company here that, effective January 1, a general Increase li.n been made (n tha sulnrlr rlorka. Wgenla, tralntnnstert, dispatchers, union- nrt, etc, Tn percentage of n crease haa not yet btex computed, the bjeci having been to mnkt ih advance, aen eial lit all department Wlthoiitn-uuril to recent hi "teases fur affldeney ami length of tlm in same brnnehiN of the, service. The- advance afteets sevrnl fiHiUSatnl employe - m the three divisions .of the Vftfem and will Incrrase the operating expenne of thrt rond mar than a quar ter of a m'lllon dollars per yi-ar,'.Tlto l eaten Riven for aeneittl advance U U lncrsasod cut of living. ' " COMPANY Box 2000 NEGKOES TO DIG THE CANAL 5,000 to m: taken to Panama And They Will Is- Ilowl by White Men From the South Who Under hImiicI Them -Mr. Oliver Talk AlKiut Ills Plans for Work at the I St hill H, , Washington Special. 1.1th, to New York Sun. William J. Oliver and Anson M. Hanffs, the contractor who will prob ably build the Panama canal, are waiting for the Isthmian canal com mission to take action on the prop osition they presented yesterday to construct the caiul for 6.75 per cent, of the total cost. There seems to be no doubt that the canal commission will within a few days make the award. The proposal of tho Oliver Bangs combination Is now being care fully scrutinized by T. P. Shouts, chairman of the commission, and Richard R. Rogers, general counsel. When a conclusion Is reached and the contract formally executed, Mr. Oliver and Mr. Bangs will set In mo tion the great machine with which they will build th- canal. Mr. Oliver will go to the Isthmus at once and there personally superintend this work, the largest und most important ever alven a contractor. The con tractors nill take over the whole plant owned by the government In Panama and will at once begin ship ping additional material to the Isth mus. They must, tin accordance with the terms of tho controct, begin actual work within 60 days from the exe cution of the contract. Southern negroes will be used ex tensively for labor by Mr. Oliver. The conditions In I'unama are somew hat similar to those In some of the Southern States, where Mr. Oliver has done much work, and ho Is doubtless more famlMar with the methods of handling negro labor than any other contractor In the United States. As practically the whole working force In Panama la black that la, the force actually behind the picks and shovela Mr. Oliver la perhaps better equip ped than many other contractor would be. Admittedly one of the greatest problems In Panama Is the labor ques tion. Down on the Isthmus the fact that the white foremen now employ ed by the commission arc unable to get the proper amount of work out of the West Indian blacks, of whom there are thousands, Is not concealed. Mr. Oliver will tako with him a great force of whit steam shovel men, su perintendents, foremen, sub-bosacs and the like. These will come from tho employes of the Oliver interests In the United Stales. They, like Mr. Oliver, will come from tha South, where they have been working' with negro labor, and It la declared that they will not find trouble In pushing the black man forward at a rapid pace in making the dirt fly. , f Mr. Oliver will take 1,000 nogroea la Panama with him and maybe more wilt be taken out of the South. He hag not reached a decision about th use of Chinese luborera. There, ' are now two responsible blda before the Isthmian canal commission lor fur nishing 5.000 Chinese laborer, but no action haa been taken on them. If Mr. Oliver so desire he could doubt lea take ovr-r these blda and make a contract with the bidders. There Is no political reason to keep Mr, Oliver from; using Chinese Ubor, iu u mi restricted In any way, and, entirely within the law and his rights, he may import all th Chln'- lalnt run J A,; -f he may care to have. Like every one else who Is familiar -a with the situation In Panama, Mr. Oliver realises the Importance of get ting tho right kind of labor. In d-la-cusslng the contract to-day he said: ' "The men now employed on the i Isthmus who have been there for any length of time must be good men or they would not have stayed by their -work. From time to time there will he complaints, but I have never had uny difficulty with my labor that I could not bundle, if die men are well fed, comfortably housed and get their money promptly we can stand the troubles which will come from bad weather. A man with his feet In the mud and rain on his back Is a bad man to argue with, particular ly If he does not know that a hot meal and a dry place to sleep are wultlng for him when he stops work ing. "As I now do my work, the organi sation of each separate Job is under v the direction of a managing partner, , with full uuthoiity to hire und dis charge employes, and who Is held responsible for results. "The contractor who undertake this work should, not go to Panama, with the Idea that he Is going to up set everything tlu-rc. The men who arc already there, of course, know more about local conditions than those who huve not been there for uny length of time. It Is tho buai- noss of the contractor to Co-opurate with the government officials In every way and to push the construction aa fast as lit- can." Mr. Oliver has two-thirds and Mr, Hangs otic-third control In the com bination, which made the lowest bid for tho Job. Tho fact that only two men arc in the projuct explains why their bid waa so low. These two wIlL share the profits.' The other bids, for 7.19. 12.50 and 28 -per cent., were made by Interests which It Is declar ed would have to divide th profits among a number of partners, and na turally they were looking for greater returns. Mr. Oliver wanted to take ' the contract aingle handed, but he . was told by Mr. Shonta, cnalrman of ot the canal commission, tht the gov--. ' ernmcnt would be. tinwllllng to. give sucn great responaiDiiity to one man. Accordingly Mr. Bangs Joined with Mr. Oliver in making tho bid. There were a number of propositions made by Mr. Oliver to form partnerships , , for aubmltttng offers, but those in terested In making them were unwlll ' Ing to go to Panama to personally direct thu work. Uovernment officials ar pleased v with tha proposition of the Oliver Bang concern. Mr. Oliver ta known to President Kooaevelt and la said to. have made, a very favorable Impres sion on him. Ho has something. of ' Mr,, Roosevelt's manner. Hla conver- satlon is at tlnrcgvery picturesque Mr. Oliver is a millionaire three times over, but hie doesn't look It l x V ' : 'A: MWntcnarrtatlon. 1' , Lumber to a Kvbeaonlan. , r- -'V .. ' A .local item v in The Robeson Ian Thursday seems ,v to nave offended some one,", It was.siatcd in the item that , 'The boat young men" t Uto town composed. the dancing class, of ceura th paper -did not mean to aay that all th bent young men of n town were In the claw, but rather that the members of the clasa are among -the best your. men of ttu town. - We don't think the younsr M-n Of the town not members of i -" t' . . Ing school rive t 'ie item f ? much I t t.M o fTeti.s ,i . i - (it n M !! v. ! . r ' 1 I :..-: i. . v
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 16, 1907, edition 1
9
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75