Newspapers / The Wilmington Post (Wilmington, … / March 7, 1880, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE WILMINGTON POST. W,P. CANADAY. Ed'r & Prop'r. WILMINGTON, N. C Sunday Mobning, March 7, It SO. 1 The Supreme Courti of the United estates has rendered a decision in four cases, entirely confirming the right to transfer criminal . cases from State to United States Courts, nullifying and declarinc unconstitutional the statute of West Virginia which provided that colored people could not sit as juror?, and that a revenue or other officer of the United States, indicted in the state 'courts for acts committed in the dis charge of his official duty, can baye his case trans'fered to the United 1 States Courts, This is a full assumption of th national notver over the states, and blv fnrerer. the Question V" J m-m.mir-j . II,. of state rights. Those who remember . the decision of our Supreme U)uri,,in State vs. Hoskins, confirming Judge Cox's hold-ng of the law in the court below, will be interested in comparing the two decisions. The Kaleich correspondent of the Times, who telegraphed that paper on the 23th of January, that Canaday and Mott were "for Sherman, but they had no following on the committee or among the masses," when it was seen the next day that the committee stood seven for Sherman to three for all else, now con tinues his truth telling by telegraphing thai the members of the Committee of the 4th Congressional District, who i . " i . i - - met to elect delegates on the 3d, "re port that the elec ion of Sherman dele- gates at large by the State Committee, on Jan. 29th, is throughout the severely denounced District." Anybody who believed this veracious correspond" nf rxn ihn 9StVi nnH 90Vi nf TonilflTV' will be likelv to believe him now. r We print to-day the speech of Hoc. W. T. Dortch' of Goldsboro, madein the Board of Directors of the Western N. C. Eailroad, on the Best proposition. The speech is fo able, and so conclusive in its' demonstrations that we cannot re, frain from plrcing it before cur readers. It is the opinion of a Democrat, and from a Democratic standpoint, a fact which we do not dissruise from oursel yes, but'coming'from a person of such recognized ability, who is both a Direc tor in this road and a member of the state Senate, it is entitled to a conside9 ration among business men, equalled by what its subject matter entitles it to.- - ". :! j- r;w-. :. Whoever is responsible far exhuming the speech of Senator Bayard, made at Dover, in the stateof Delaware in 18G1, has at the same time killed off a Dem ocratic candidate for the Presidency.1 The speech is so hideously unpatriotic, so crowded with mischieyous sentiments long siuco repudiated, so hostile to the dominant thought- of the day, that it will hang over him like a nightmare (luring the rest of his life. He will be dropped like a piece oft. hot iron, and avoided as a leper, even by . the Bour bons of 1 he south. ' Th testimony of the Hon. Richard C. Badger, son of the late Hon. George E. Badger, before the exodus commit tee, is given An another column as re ported by a Washington correspondent of the Boston Advertiser. I ciiicAao. The .time is nofe now when the waves wf -public, opinion 1 can be summoned .back and then forward, as Moses sum moned the Bed; Sea eastward and west ward. Not all the northern flunkies, nor the penny-a-line scribblers, nor the Don CamerensJ nor the Conklings, can exorcise the hideous phantom of the Third Term, and bid it down and van ish out of sight of the vision of the American people. Neither would Penn eylvania nor New York, nor Illinois nor Indiana ooey tne command of trained cliques and packed conventions, nor defy that unwritten law which has guarded the purity of theEepublic for nearly a century. Nor could ex-bena-tor Howe, rivalling in his chivalric dialectic the airs and mien of the Crtsaders who poised their lances on the plains of Palestine, lead the Amer ican people to abandon time honored customs and-cherished principles. The Third Term is a failure.1 There is as yet nothing certaiu but negatives, about the Presidential nomination on that basis. It is certain that neither New York with her 70 votes, Pennsyl yania with her 53 votes, Illinois with her 42 votes, Ohio with her 44 votes, Indiana with her 30 votes, and New England with her 78 votes, making in nil 322 votes, cut of the aggregate of 7ob to be in the Convention, neither ; all, nor one of these states wiiUtand solid for the Third Term fallacy. There is a bad leak sprung in the Third Term 1 vessell, as witnessed by the insignifi. cant majority, of only 20 at Harrisburg, and the 34 majority at Utica, and the Act. hat. Illinois and Indiana lied from the field. V .-J;.-; v It is now about time to insist that those facile scribblers, who have made themselves so unhappy about violations of the civil service, shall suspend a0 lit tle of their grumbling at lhe fact that some southern Eepublicann, whe hap pen to hold offices, express- their prei ference for Secretary Sherman for the nomination, or We. any rights which white men are bound to respect. Some of these scribblers have became so bold as to appeal to the President to put an end to this exercise I of the riehts- of American citizens. ''Not having obsery- ed the scribblings of the e penny-a- liners, since day before yesterday, it is impossible for us to know exactly in what estimate they hold the President to dav. It occurs to us, however, that they presume. on his Simplicity rather msre than usual, if they think ihey can induce him to so far violate these re ver ed civil service rules as to prostitute the high office which he holds to snubbing office holders in the south, jit probably has not occurred to smy one, Unless it may be some writer on the New York Times, that if the President were to in terfere with southern "office holders on the occasion, becaus ) they exercised their right as citizens, that this virtu ous sheet would feel compellei to rep rimand him as the chitaffender against the blessed civil service rules, because he is the highest office holder in J the cOuntry,and his offence would be in pro portion to the magnitude of pis office. As we approach Chicago and the sec ond of June, it U reasonable to sup pose that some new complications will arise in the situation. As it stands now the three most prominent candidates talked about & before the public are Sherman, Blaine and prant. We no longer consider Grant as having any J considerable strength. The two events I which have fatally damaged him were the conventions at I Harrisburg and Utica. Neither of the Totes cast for him at either of these places' bore with them any considerab e sincerity, but they were both produced by adventi tious circumstances, arid the result oipe rated as a defeat to Grant. On arriving at Chicago Grant will undoubtedly be in a minority in both those states. But there are indications of dark horses enough to cover the ground vacated by him. Such men as iWashburne. Ed I munds, Conklirg, Windom and others, will doubtless appear with strength enough to absorb a respectable dumber of votes. I Among those who will keep a solid and constantly increasing strength will be Secretary Shermani Less noisy than Mr. Blaine he stands on a broader base and has a cleaner record. Ihe best evidence of his strength has been the assaults made upon I him latterly, by persons mostly of, doubtful jreputation, who were obliged to resort to indefensi ble expedients, whose) baselessness be came speedily apparent to the public. His immense advantage under the scrutiny to which all the aspirants are to be subjected will grow more apparent as the final decision is approached. Thse(who know, besi. the current of affairs look to his nomination with ah solute confidence. A MATTEtt TO THINK OF. Now that the General Assembly is to come together, there is a matter of bad legislation which ought to be repealed. Wo refer especially to the present law which provides for the election of the magistrates by the legislature at Eal- eigh, and then the election of the County Commissioners by the magis trates in the counties where they reside, and then the appointment of the poll- holders by these Commissioners, as well as the school committees, and school teachers, the overseers of highways, &c.l r This law, so un-American, so un Democratic and un-Eepublican at the same time, so subversive- of individual rights, so at war with the theory fat the basis of our government that all polit ical power is derived from the consent of the governed, is one of the most un popular on the statute books. ! The magistrates, as now elected, are; to the masses cf the people of all parties looked upois as hostile officials, foisted upon mem without their consent. During the pe ricd in which the people of the townships had become accustomed to selecting irom ttieir mtlo localities the magistrates to settle ttreir neighborhood uispuipj iney acquired a liking lor these htt'e r.ure fiemocracies, and their modesjo transacting the little business ot the neighborhoods. , : The hssbit of having the control these little governments, of being of lcwedito make and unmake them at their will, to turn them out if they: did noc nue mem, to rule their own little aomain, appealed to ieeliogs ia the Anglo-American character, as common in tuese soumern states, as in other parts of the nation. There is no person of sense who is not aware that neither party would dare to propose the abandonment of our elective judiciary. CXTl ... .. . - cica a proposition would be voted Tiuuvdrnueiuiingiy. i iiv'c.rt'iiuu of magistrate! in the present way, where the people can have no voice in it, Is as unpopular with the masses of the people as it would be to return to the old system of appointing th for life at Ealeigb, and thus keeping up an oligaichy from generation to generation, which they could not reach by their votes. People, wbo as3ume to do the pcliU ical thinking for these southern 'popu lations in these latter days, may as well learn that they cannot repress these growing aptitudes for individual rights, which are incident to the con ditions of free communities. Conren tionalisms, stratified opinions, in this ' as well as other free communities, are melting away constantly under the light of moro liberal ideas, and the average southern man, looking aheads more than he looks backward, is getting to like his own . ways and his own lights more and more each day. .It is betCer to repeal this remnant of senility and debility . before there comes volcanic action and sweeps it away. Who will introduce the bill? lrrportant Testimony Carolina. from Ntfrih A Washington dispatch to the Bos ton Advertiser, referring to the investi gations of the negro exoius, says: The Democrats seem determined not to allow llepublican witnesses to bo summoned before the exodus commit teer but Wednesday they caught a tar tar in one of their own witnesses, K. C. Badger son f ex-Sen ater Badger, of North Carolina. He was summoned by the Democrats, and is opposed to the exodus. During his examination he made some remarks as to the kuklux outrages in North Carolina which-led Senator Windom, who cross-examined, to question him very, closely on that subject. The witness said that the ne- groes did not have equal justice in the courts, and that they were discrimi nated against. When asked about the kuklux outrages, he said that he was appointed by the Governor a few years ago to investigate them, and he knew ail abaut them. He said there were hundreds of cases of whipping, shooting and murder of every kind. ' The witness further said that there were three organizations in the slate, the White Brother hood, the Constitu tional TTniftn Gnnrrl " and tlm InvinihlA Empire: one was political, to carry the state for the Democrats: another had fr its object to reinstate the . Confeder acy, to restore the, lost cause; ana the third was one which was organized for the purpose ef committing murders. The first two were not dangerous, he said, but the last were. If a negro, as he expressed it, "got too big ior his breeches," or a Eepublican was to ac tive, this order would decree his death in the county where he lived, and would then send to some other county to a like organization, who would fur nish the executioner to commit the murder. As to the discriminations in the courts, the witness said that if ne groes were arrested for larceny they were always convicted, much more cer tainly than a white man. When ques tioned as to the elections in North Car olina, Mr. Badger said that the colored men were swindled out ot their votes. For instance, he said that when Vance was elected he got 27,000 more votes than there were Democrats in the state. Anti-Slavery Kccord cf John Mier- mac More prominently and completely than any other public man now living, does Mr. Shermau in his personal his tory Tepreseut the career and princi ples of the Eepublican party. He be gan public life with it, and took his place among the young and active ad vocates of the anti -slavery principles. He constituted one of the numerous band of earnest men in all the northern states devoted to the cause of freedom, aud determined to protect the virgin territories of the country from the foul touch of. the slave system. . 1 Through, all the vicissitudes of the autLsiarerv strutrerle following the re- peal of the Missouri compromise, he was a fearless and unwavering actor! The older men now living .will remem ber the fierceness of the excitement prevailing fjr the years following the repeal of the Missouri compromise the arrogance of the southern members fn Congress the yioljeucje grid, blood shed committed by their emissaries in Kansas; and the threatemngs1 of evil and disunion by the press and speakers of ihe south and their Democratic al lies of the north. In those peaceful times with the lng reign of amity and good feeling, it required a steady cour age to encounter the odds of opposition to the anti slavery cause.. Mr. Sherman was all the while in the thickest of the fray. He wa.s one oj" the committee ap pointed by the House of Eepresenta tives to investigate the troubles in Kansas, aud the frauds and violence by which the slave power sought to over come the free majorities of that Terri tory. Mr. Shermanj was never an elo quent speaker, but always a patient, able and earnest worker. His execu tive ability aud knowledge of the par liamentary rules altheugh he was a Very young man, pointed him out as the Republican candidate for Speaker in 1855. The angry and exciting con test ot m3y weeks that followed, form one of the most notable pa33agcss of the legislative history ojf this eountry, dur ing which Mr. Sherman bore himself with the most constant dignity and courage. Without referring to his leading connection with the finances and business of the country at the out 'set of his legislative career, we wish to call particular attention to his conspi cuous and consistent deyctipn to the ami-slavery doctrines of his party, and the cause of emancipation: He was elected to the Semite very soon after the inaugVation of Lincoln and although especially engaged in the question of finances from ihe outset of the rebellion, he participated in the discussion of all the great questions that aroe very rapidly in its progress relat ing to the slavery question. He acted upon the principles of emancipation as the true policy of the future, rather than yield to the conservatism and fc&ra suggested by the dangers of the hour. Be Very early took ground in favor of enljuicip&twn in ihe District of Col umbia. In the discussion of the resolutiou in regard to furnishing aid to etatps in emancipating slaves, Mr. Sherman, as early as April 2, 1862, urgecf upon Con gress the immediate emancipation of the slaves in the District, and in a speech of that date, he said : "It is obvious that the chief import ance attached to the measure is that it involves the idea of Emancipation. ., This is the best .place to try the ' experiment ;of emancipation. I have always thought, since I could reason on this subject, that the law of uroi pro?iaimeu emancipauuu m.::iuo nltimate end ot thi3 question." vAgain -he said in the same speech, I. would establish it as a permanent record on the. Statute Books of my country that the first sound of the can non against ihd flag of our -country, was the signal fer the -emancipation of the slaves in this District." t As the progress ef events cleared tie way for further measures of emancipa tion, Mr. Sherman embraced and ad vo- cated them. The thirteenth amend ment was the first sweeping legislative 15 " a h!iK: step in that direction. Mr.- fenerman a . - . 1 was its early adroc&te. This cut up the institution of slavery in this country by the foots, and was the dawn of day to the long night of bondage through which the negro had passed. Mr. Sher man hailed its coming. The war cUssd and . the t thirteenth ameud ment wa adopted. J Mr. Sherman supported all subsequent measures of reconstruction necessary to goarantee, the actual libe ration of the negro,, and k when Presi dent Johnson cut loose from : the auti- i l Li. i iU. slavery sentiment ol the country anU attempted to throw the negro back into the arms of his former master,- ia statte go vernm ents rectus trusted , Mr. S h er . man had no hesitation as to a vigorous course of Congressional resistance. To guarantee the Thirteenth Araendmeut and secure its fruits, :he became the ad vocate of the Fourteenth Amendment, and finally embraced and advocatedthat ulterior measure of security and protec tion to .the colored man that keystone in the greats arch tf j liberty i in this C9untry,l the Fifteenth ! Amendment. This amendment finished; the work of organic, legislation; and Mr. Sherman in the benate has. supported every neces sary measure of .legislation by the gen eral government to secure the benefit of these amendments, and the protection tbey were designed to aflord to the col ored man : , this protection against the hoatile state legislation as well as against violence and intimidation. 1 He stands, ready to-day to do what ever may be expedient and effective within the constitutional power of the government, either by executive or leg islative action; or h by 4. the use of the judiciary, to, pratect the negro of the south against the wicked violence that hai 'oppressed him, or the scandalous frauds that have cheated him eut of the Decent oi nis Daiiot. jno man in public life has been a steadier friend to the hunted negro .and persecuted white xtepublican8 or the south. He recog nizes in the experience of the southern Kepublicans the noblest heroism, tdo- serving (he gratitude of their party as sociates in the less darcerous field of party movements in the north. They are entitled to our sympathy, and they have always ; had - hi3. Washington World. SHIPWRECKS. The steamship Hindoo from New York for Hull, was capsized in mid- ocean oy a heavy sea, ana Jay on Her beams 5 days and nights. She had a crew of 51 snd 5 passengers, 210 head of cattle, and a caro of graiu which changed sides, and was thrown over board. ; When it became cyjdent that the vessel cu!d not keep up more than 24 hours more, a steamer was sccd, and approached within; bail, took off tho crew and passengers and carried them to New York. i ' '.) The' State ol Nevada, approaching Sandy ; Hoek.; oii Saturday night, the 28th ult., struck on the bar where she lay about) ten hours when she was et ten off and taken to New York. J4T10fAL 8AVIXUS Bi.XKS. Senator Wingom has introduced a bill to. establish National Sayings lanks for deposits to Ire inycted. entirely in ' cited States bonds, aiid seciiritiesV. The npre important leatures of the biil arc contained in sections 14 and 15, which are fts follows : c Vi : ; Sec. Ii. All deposits received by any such association, except the amount needed for actual expeuse3 and pay ments, shall be wholly and promptly inyested in loans or securities of the United States, paying interest, the net income or profit cf whiph s)iaU be di vided among the depositors in such as sociations, but no interest shall be re ceived by depositors until 30 days from the time when their deposits are made, after which depositors shall receive in terest -at the rate of 3 per cent, per an num. Withdrawals by depositors mav be made at any time, upon giving three days' notice in writing of their inten tion to withdraw such deposits or any portion thereof. T - - Sec. 15. At least 90 per centum of all United States bonds or securities held by any such association shall be from time to time transferred and de livered to the Treasurer of the United States. &uch bonds or securities shall be received by W "said Treasurer upen deposit, aud shall be by him tajely kept in his ofHce until required by the depositors of such association. The bill further provides that at tie time of making semi annual dividends, not less than one-eighth nor more than one fourth of 1 per: cent, of the whple amount of deposits shall be reserved as a guaipjs fjndj until such guarantee fund hh&li a us vil Ut lo $ L.tr r.enf, n ih whole amcuut of depoifs, which fund shall thereafter be maintained and held to meet looses in business from dilapi dation of, the ecuritic.s or otherwise, Moflthly report, verified under oath by the President or Treasurer of the asso ciation, and attested by the signature of at least tfc ree of the Directors, are retjuired to be made to the Controller of the Currency and these "reporU are also required to be publMhed n a pews paper in the county in which the asso ciation making the report is located TheKentUclry .auditor reports that there will be a budget deceit of 912 25on October 1U. This is part of the beauties of Democratic supremacy. Another beauty of it is found in Ten nessee, where iho state debt is wellr nigh repudiated. North Speech to the Board of Directors of Hon. W. T. Dortch, in Opposi tion to Ite Sale of th3 Road.- Mr. Dortch said: The proposition submitted by Mr. Best at the last meet ins: fthe Board was m substance that associati8 the Eoad. and . that the Leg islature sheuld authorize the formation JWWWIUiL' III I V.I IMI I SI. Ill LIIAII MA AtWi I jr of a new corporation with $4,000,000 of stock, that the new company shou Id complete the Paint Kpck Branchby July istj 155J, ana ine xuciti.wuxraucu oy July 1st 18S5: that the state uhoujd furnish 50 convicts to the new com pany for rive years without any com pensation tor their labor ; that the new comoration shou td have power t mortgage the Road to the extent of $12,500 per railejand pay the interest on the present mortgage on the lioad after the 1st of May, 18S0, and the mortgage its.eli at maturity it 1890, in COnalaerauou Oi nuiuu iuc new vuu pany should give the state $S50,000 of stock The proposition now submitted m the same excep me new company is xo mortgage the Itoad iyr $io,UUU per mile and give the staie $550,000 1 the new mortgage bonds. ' ,u k The leusrLiioithe road irom Salisbury I The Wesiern: Carolina ai road (its eastern term in us) to Asheville, is ; If wehave been able, to stand an ex 145 miles, and is completed to within a I penditure of $170,000. per annum for few miles of the latter place, and the cars are running lover it daily. ? The to Paint tEock branch from Asheyille down the French Tennesssee line. Broad Eiver to the is 45 miles 18 of 1 wnich are graded. The branch frem Asheville to Ducktown is 140 miles, length ef line thus making the entire 330 miles, which, mortgaged at,$15,0fQ per mile, makes the sum f 5,950,000, j which Mr. Best is to raise (less $850,000, 1 amount of mortgage now on the Road) I with which 1 e is to bujid tlie ltoad. : j If Mr. Best and his associates (who j are unknown to us) can mortgage the : ; But we are told that the State Treas Itoad for $15,500 per mile and with, the iiry. will not be ;abfe to , (furnish the proceecs uunu tne line noc aireaay completed, why cannot the state bf North Carolina do the same, when the only security proposed ; to those who shall take the bond is a mrtgage on the Eoad ? But I am told wo cannot sell the bonds in the market, if we can not, how can Mr. Best? I am told again that Mr. Best and his associates will take the bonds themselves. Why issue bonds if they are to retain them? If they have the cash why not build the roaa wnn tne capital s ock wuicn is to be $4,000,000 ? Why issue, over four millipns of bonds secured by mortgage? Is itTusual for. corporations or individu als when they have plenty of cash on hand, to issue bonds secured by mortg ago to be packed up in safes or hawked about iu the markets? This is a species of financeering which I do not under stand. By it somebody will be cheated and as usual it will be posr old North Carolina.. We had enough of such op erations 08-:G9a'70 to disgrace the state, I want no more of it. Y ni will recol lect that when Mr. Best submitted his first proposition, 1 asked us a cash oiler. He said prepared to do so. 1 II we seil t6 Mr. Best, him to make was not he the slate is to have iio voice 4ii the munagemept ;Of the Koad a id no power . to regulate charges of .freight. We aro to be bound hand and loot for all s.ge to come. Once part wiuh tho control df your pro perty and you can never resume Jt. We will then indeed be a, "narrow strip i-of land between Virginia stud &uth Carolina," owned by New York tCajritat- istS . : , :'' r. I cunsider this iload, coiiipleted t Paint Ucick, the most valuable railroad stock in the south for the reason that the preseut capital is only 50,000, . wothii di of Which belong to the state, and it mut pay a large Uividend. It is not questioned by amy onp that when it shall be completed to. Paint' iliock, and there make connection with the railroads running through the great and rich western states and the large, cities of Cincinnati, Chicago .and ,bt, Louis, it may be sold for $3,000,000 in cash.1 : ' , ' . ( "'.i'.'.ijVj-fM.-I It must necessarily pay on its present capital, when we consider that it i3 the shortest route from the great western states to Beaufort, Wilmington, Norfolk and Charleston.. Look at the immense amount of merchandise, consisting of meat, flour, furniture,) whiskey.buggies, vagons, live tpcK, ana j almost every- hing else which is brought into every ;jart of this state and , South Carolina and used and consumed by our people. iy what route do these articles com to us? ByNew York and Baltimore, hun dreds of miles farther and at much arger expense to our people than by the short and expeditious line through. our own -state and over ourroads, when completed to Paint lio;k,and which will never be interrupted by excessive cold and free zs. There have been sold in my own town over 1,000 horses and paules in the.last three j months, which came jrom yiucinnati. Again., all the produce maUe in this tate finds a ready juarKet in the western; states finds a eady market ia the western states and :s shipped there by the way ot New ixork and Baltimore, i ' , , . We are told by some that the Eoad should btop at Asheviile. This would be foily.it would not pay expenses from hat point to baiisbtirv, but build the balance to Paint Rock, and ihe whole ljue between those places will pay. When the state purcjfased the road i n I87o at S5D,j0O?(Tt ha p ng cost ser-: ?ral millions ongihally p' far as then completed this side ot the mountains) tj was thought that he had ; made a ;ood birgai n. There is ah impressi on Brjtii some that- the tate i 'bpuh for :he purchase jmoney this is an error the Koad only fs boundj the statej how ever, did bind herself to pay the inte rest on the purchase money until thp lend became due in 1890, if the Road should hot pay it.- It xfzk not expected hat the Bead; would pay the interest jintil a western, connection should be made. The state has paid the interest t ince, 1S75, and has puc ! 0QQ genyicts to '?ork on the lload, and has fed, clothed sind guarded them, and agreed t furn ish $70,000 per annum in iron, amount ing alLOirether , to about $170,000 per ahnumfdr all of whiph she has a legis-. lativelien on tne xoaa, amounang up Jo this time to! about $500,000. But we are told that this expense must stop when the Road reaches Asheville. i As before stated, it the Koad stops sli man wasted. In regard to - stopping the Road at Asheville, it reminds me of an unwise farmer who has a pond of water in the middle of his fieli which sobs his land and ruins his crop it is necessary to drain it, and in order to do so successfully, he must commence to ditch., several hundred yards below his fence to get tbejiecessaify fall, i lie dUcheVaf aV dred dollars up to.5 his fence and there he stops his money is lost unless he extends his ditch fifty yards further to the centre of the pondr : and thus lie saves all he has spent outside as well as inside his field.. . We have tunnelled through the Blue Kidge at a cost f about $35O.Q00,which waa estimated at over 31,000.000 by the Eneiner before the wan and now that wehave accomplished this great feat in j engineering SKiu woriiu w uay auumou to vour Eoad. ! these enterrnsing and far seeing capitalists of New York come forward and propose that you; give them the Eoad , and , tOO con victs for 5 years to complete it, and offer for this most valuable property" of the state to give you $650,00(f of bonds out of $4,- yoO.OOO they wning? all the balance. subject to mortgagesj. twhich; JLhey can j nothing. Thus the $50,000 of bonds iuicuusc vvucu sua uu jmtc j.uu mm would be a total loss to the state, and we Would losa eyery cent the state has invested, whereas she now has god se curity fer her expenditure of $400,000, when'the Eoad shall be completed ! to Paint Eocfc. as well as foi the expendi. tures she may "make to get there. five years to build ' the Eoad : from Old Fort through the'Blua Eidge to Ashe ville, a distance of 25 -miles, i can't we stand it 18 months longer, when it will be completed to Paint Eock, when all admit that we may then sell for $3,000,- 000 in cash ? s Stop at "Asheville ; and you lose all. CO ' 45 Smiles 'further to Paint Eockand you saVe net only what you have already spent, but all you will spend in cettiha: there5, and the very day you reach that point you can sell,if so disposed, and' make $2,000,000 clear. None of you will dispute this. money to purchase tne iron irom Asn- villto Paint Kock. Concede this to beu so. ! We Tshall not need it until about the time we approach the latter place with the grading. Then, we can say to the Legislature at , its next ses sion in January '81 that we need the '' f iL! .AC If. T : J. iL a. - iron ior mis mixes oi xvoau; mat we have no power t contract a debt or to execute h mortgacret that we will not ask them to Incur the debt for the iron, but give1 us the power to contract a debt, and execute a mortgage if neces sary, for the purchase of the iron; You all know that the Tennessee ,CQnapany, with which we . shall connect 'at Paint Bock, is ready s not only to furnish the iron, but to grade the road to Asheville, but we have no power to make, a con tract with them. The Legislature can not refuse this power, whn we propose tnu3 to relieve tne peopiie irom taxa tion and make a good surd for the state I defy anyl one to : gainsay these state ments in regard to the Jb rench Broad route and its value to the state. 1 1 We ari0 told by some that it will cost an immense sum to grade; the r rench isroaa route to . l'aint jkock mis is a great mistake. The road bed is along the margin of the river nearly all the way, and can be graded as phcaply as any xoau cau ue iu me ceuirai portion of the state, and there will be no tun nel On the route, I have deemed it my duty . to go over it aad know of what I say,jttnd you who are familiar with it, will concur with me. " But it is objected that we must divide our force at Asheville and put half on the; Paint, Kock , and the other on the Ducktown route. So reads the act of your Legislature. If we had the power so to do, it would be contrary to all business aud economical principles, as it would greatly increase the expense, as any one can see, and a Western .connection, without which the Koad cannot pay, would be delayed. If the Ducktown route were the shorter, and we had the power to build it, I would say buhl mat ursfc 03utwe have no legal right to put, a force or expenda dollar in labor on . that route, and in this, assertion I defy contradiction. ; At a former nieetirrg of your Board the questi,0Ji ef your, title to the Duck town and Paint: Beck .routes was re ferred; te Mr. Henderson and myself. We have reported to your body that our mie to the Paint Kock route is goqd, and hat we haye no title what ever to the" Ducktown route. ' When this report was made, your President called the1 attention of f the other lecal gentlemen on: the Board to it and asked trrem it yier;J dissented ' from onr con elusion.' a No ohe gave a oontrary opin ion; nor can any one versed in legal principles ' da so. Let me state the facts. The Road ' was originally char tered as the Western N. C. 11. 14. from Salisbury 4 tp uucktown and: Taint itock. ' The Legislature in 1869, di vided jit into ; two corporations. That from Salisbury to Asheville as the Eas tern Division, and that from Ducktown by Asheville to Paint Rock as the Western5 Division- i The Eastern DivN sfon ras S'eld by' decree'of the l.' S.' virpuic uourt ana was purchased by the state., i" U - The Western Division was sold under execution and was purchased by H. Y. Ju.cA.aen, who couveyed the French Broad route to the sute absolutely and the Ducktown route to Clayton & Smathers, in trust for the creditors of j the Western Division, ( whose claims amount to about $65,000, ) and t hen in trust for the Vestcrn iiivuion Corpor atlonjand'its stockholders. ' So that the legal title td the Ddcktbwn branch is in Clayton & Smathers, and the equitable in its creditors first, and then in the Western Division Corporation and its sfocTthelderS: and neitheJthe state nor the,Westerh "N. C-H. E.4 1 W airr title to it whatever and can Only acquire pne by a sale by the tstees or by de c?e qf gourt Ths pofnt cannot be denied. It is true that the last Legis lature, by an act, attempted to convey the title of the Western N. C. B. E. Co.. but that portion . of the act is un constitutional and has been so decidedV Suppose .were . to put iconvicts on that route, any "taxpayer of ' the stats could enjoin us, upon the 'ground that we haye no power to expend the state's money, or labor on property which does not belong to the state or our corpora tion. ! It would be illegal as well &a ( absurd for us to build a railroad for the creditors and private stockholders of v me western Division, It i3 their prop: erly, not ours. if the Legislature !ntil buiiding ol that route, they must, fur nish the means to purchase it.! Vish to see it built, 'and .-my orinimi u t.h nt. after the Paint Rock route is comple ted, it will be demonstrated that it will pay, and the people will then be. will ing to furnish convicts to build it. and will give us .the pbtver tomortrajre an Mr.- Best - propses:"for I repeat; if h caabuUd it by mortgaging, .we can u the same, i hut Mr. best urootses that w xhuW give him the labor otj ov) convicts for hve years to build h road for ''him; and not for the state. I wish to usu our convicts in building raatlsforinnr. far northern capitalists to make million of. Does Mr. Bast make this nffr of love f)r us? IX o: but becaua hpu and all raiiroad men see that largesuns w : wvi WW 0 Rre to oe maue uy possession of tho X rench liroad rou te. Several ta i 1 rnaM men pf intellijsence have said to mn in the last few days, that the 41 inilpa nf road from Asheville to Paint Rnck completed, will be worth more than auy 00 miles "of railroad ia thestate. for the reason that there, are 600 mili of mountain! b AtUuta to Lynchburg not pierced by any roau out oars which is the most central and is, the board. S ' shortest to the sea- In auiiilum i to the uieri!lia.nriivi Va and from iNorth Carolina before spoktn. m, uryugufc to us f aua earned from t by the way of New York and Baltimore, a large portion of the mili ioha of hiiah. els of grairrnow seut from the Western totate to .New York and Baltimore and shipped to Europe, must come by our froad and its connecting roads to Wil- mington and Beaufort and thu3 build up North Carolina - cities aud seaports. The learned Dr. I Caldwell proDoaed many years since that the first railroad the State should construct . Hhmild run from Beaufort harbor to the Tennessee line. Had his proposal been1 carried out in that day, North Carolina would not be one oti tne srreatest and richest states in the Union. We have delayed and built by piece meal, and now that we are almost in stent-of Tennessee, we are told we must halt and satrifica all wc haye done, and that the 45 miles yet to be completed, must not be built. or must be given to northern capi taiists. lhis 4o miles is the hpad and 1 i nfi the wuole railroad system of the State. Cut it off or give it awav to nnrthfim capitalists, and you make not only your.-elves but all future ceneratidus slaves to greedy and bloated capitalists. j-ue penalty would be a proper one for those favoring such a suicidal act, but posterity vili curse us ior it. Accept Mr. Besis proposition, and iu less than ten years when vour people sea the minions llowing nuo the pockets of iuete capitalist those concerned in giving away their property will be ashamed to acknowledge thatt bey were so short-sighted. - 1 i j V e have been told, that the road will not be able to pay the mortgage now on it of $850,000 when it becomesdue in 1890, and that it will then go to the hammer and will become "the vrnnrrtv of the bondholders. TKoha prophesy, ought to have made that dis covery before the Btate purchased in 1875, aud certsinlv before we nfirfnrmpH tho Herculean task of piercing-the Blue Ridge. They should uot hare waited until we had; reached so near the Tens hessce line. Long before ihose'bohds become due, we shall have reacne4 4. ainc ivoct, when it is - conceded our road will be worth $3,000,000 in cash. Then if it shall not be convenient to pay the bonds, we can.readilv ranew the. mortgage not only for this debt,but iur an amount suihcient to relund to the state every dollar which she shall have advanrerl Of": iWia:,'tK"ao l.Ui w.. . bUVly tali UC' no question. Besides, wuh this valua- " ble property in our possion, withits ' aia and a mortgage on the Ducktown is u tc, h c wu ounu i ue latter. I do not j propose to tax the people further for the conslruclion of tms road, Let the state furnish the con yicts, and feed, clothe an I guard then, and she must: do it i;i the walls of the Peuitentiary that greuj; elephant q our hands) or put them on works of internal improvements, where they wiil cost less. It they are kept in the'Peni teniiary, they must be put to trades, in competition with the honest me chanics of the state and reduce them and their families to beggary. " ;: ' . The supremely ridiculous portion of Mr. Beat's proposition is that to give : him the labor of 500 convicts for five " years to buib4 him a Railroad. ? ' The'state owns thousands of acres of valuable swamp land in the eastern counties belonging to the -Literary fund. If we lo not propose to use the convicts in th.c coastruction of railroads tor the state and to be owned by the -state, why no put them to work to ' canal and reclaim these valuable lands . - .vfcu lum will! raise money sufficient to keep open your common schools all the year round?' Instead of 4 providing thus lor the education oi the por children, we are coolly asked to give to rich capital ists the labor of -these couvicts to build' a railroaa for theiaselye. I wish the state to retain her railroad property. The railroads were hot constructed alone for this generation but for posterity as . well. We cannot be expected to pay in our day for their construction in full. if we pay the in terest and a smail portion of the debt, it is as much as we ought to do. Let those who are ;a , Com& after us and enjoy the benefit of this property'pny laeir portion. Ihere a no dHfiiMittv in Keeping up mortgage ou ny good rail, road, whiiijt iniiOou of capital inrthe I . r great cities ar seekingmvearmtrit'&t iuur per cent. v We have denounced without' cea those, who, in 186S-'69 sold out ing the site ? interest iu some of he meat valuable roadvand now we propose a mbre indefensible act. Give away th road and then will follow the N. C. and the A. & N. C. Roads, - v'V':-'-' - If ihe etafe shaJl decide topartwitfa her property, don't give it aWay, don't give one road to. build another; but put up at public auction your three roads Vestern N. C., the N. C, and the A. & N. C, and theywill sell for money sufocient to pay the entire indebtedness ofthe state,whica under the eompio- ooo ooo0t t?7 ik a liuIe l 0,000,000. Ihen you will beVhtOf debt and the cry oi taxation will cease: Complete this road to Paint Kock and continued on second page.
The Wilmington Post (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 7, 1880, edition 1
2
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