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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Office of the Railroad Commission.

Columbia, S. C., January 1st, 1921.

To His Excellency, Robert A. Cooper, Governor of South Carolina.

Sir: We have the honor to transmit the Forty-second Annual Report of the Railroad Commission of South Carolina for the year ending December 31, 1920.

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STANFORD LIBRARY

PART I.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RAILROAD COMMIS-
SION OF SOUTH CAROLINA

To the General Assembly of South Carolina:

The Railroad Commission of South Carolina has the honor to respectfully submit for your consideration this its forty-second annual report.

Since our last report to your honorable body the National Government, on March 1st, 1920, returned the railroads of the country to their owners for operating purposes, but retained jurisdiction over the finances of the different companies owning the railroads until September 1st, 1920. The retention of control of the finances of these companies practically meant that the roads were still under Federal control until that time, and during the period from March 1st to September 1st the Federal Government allowed no funds for permanent improvements to the railroads operating in South Carolina. This alone was a great handicap to the Railroad Commission, preventing them from obtaining many necessary facilities. Aside from this, the roads were returned to their owners with the roadways in a very dilapidated condition; also scarcely any new equipment had been supplied during Federal control, especially motive power, and this was found to be in a very depleted condition. The Commission's understanding is that no finances were provided for the companies when the properties reverted to their rightful owners. This has been a serious handicap to the public, to the carriers and to the Commission, so much so that the Commission was forced in many instances to curtail service in order that some of the carriers would be able to function as common carriers at all. Upon close investigation, the Commission found that many trains were being operated at an enormous loss, especially does this apply to passenger service. In some instances,

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