Company, under its charter by Act of 22d December, 1882, " it purchased from Mr. Higginson the constructed road." * * * * * * * * ** "The South Carolina Railway Company holds $70,090 95 of the stock of the Barnwell Railway Company. Except as a stockholder, the South Carolina Railway Company holds and exercises no control over the property The President, General Manager, Auditor and Master of Transportation of both companies are the same, but the accounts are kept separately, and all employees are paid on separate pay rolls. The contracts with the United States Government, and with the Southern Express Company, for the transportation of mail and express, are made with the Barnwell Railway Company. "The amount paid for the stock of the Barnwell Railway Company of course appears in the balance sheet as part of the assets of the South Carolina Railway Company." Colonel Peck calls attention to what seems to him to be the requirements of the law, quoting the Section of the Railroad Law which requires the Commissioners to make a schedule of rates for each of the railroad corporations doing business in the State, and adds: "The Barnwell Railway Company is such a corporation doing business in the State, and is not merged in any manner with any other corporation." In the "Return of the Barnwell Railway Company." made to the Comptroller General, 27th June, 1883, in accordance with Section 180 Gen. Stat., Mr. A. DeCaradeuc, Land Agent of the Company, certifies, under oath, that the length of the Barnwell Railway is nine miles, which, valued at $7,000 per mile, makes a total valuation of $63,000 Real estate valued at.................... and that "this is the cost of the Barnwell Railroad, including equipments and everything." 300-$63,300 The law requires that this return shall embrace not only the value of the track, depot, &c., of the railroad, but also the value of its locomotives, cars and other property. From this return it appears that the Barnwell Railway Company owns no locomotives or cars, or anything besides its road-bed and tracks, and can scarcely, therefore, be properly regarded as a corporation "doing business alone" as a common carrier, transporting passengers and freight by railroad, and, therefore, such a corporation as is intended in the Section quoted by Colonel Peck. The amount which Mr. De Caradeuc certifies to be the cost of the Barnwell Railway corresponds almost exactly with the amount which the Railroad Commissioners state is given in "Poor's Manual" as the cost of this road, ($62,816.19,) and the debit in the balance sheet of the South Carolina Railway Company for "Barnwell Railway," $62,816.19. The capital stock of the Barnwell Railway is fixed by its charter at $100,000. Colonel Peck says the South Carolina Railway Company owns $70,090.95 of the stock; he does not say whether the balance of the capital stock was ever subscribed or paid up, or, if so, by whom it is now held. The South Carolina Railway Company certainly holds.the controlling interest. Colonel Peck says, "in subscribing for this stock, the South Carolina Railway Company acted strictly in accordance with the provisions of Section 23, which does not make a subscription of a corporation to the stock of a connecting or branch road operate either as a lease or a contract, or in any way as a merger." The Section to which Colonel Peck refers, (Gen. Stat., § 1435,) simply declares that a railroad corporation may aid in the construction of any branch or connecting railroad within the limits of the State by subscribing for shares of stock in such corporation, or by taking its notes or bonds, to be secured by mortgage or otherwise as the parties may agree; but does not say that such subscription to the stock shall not operate as a lease, contract or merger. Nothing is said in this Section, or any other, as to the effect which such subscription to the stock shall have as to the control which the subscribing road may exercise over the road aided, or as to the right which such subscription by a railroad may give to use the road so aided. These questions must be determined by the facts of each particular case. Upon these facts, and any other of which they are informed, the Railroad Commissioners can determine whether or not the South Carolina Railway Company transports passengers and freight in its cars over the Barnwell Railroad as a road connected or working in connection therewith, or whether or not the South Carolina Railway Company has the right, license or permission to operate, control or use the Barnwell Railway. If they decide these questions of fact in the affirmative, then the Standard Freight Tariff prescribed by the Commissioners for the South Carolina Railway Company applies to the transportation by it over the Barnwell Railway. Respectfully, CH. RICHARDSON MILES, Attorney General. OFFICE RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, Col. JOHN B. PECK, G. M. S. C. Railway, Charleston, S. C. in respect to the Standard Tariff, and to advise you of their action thereou, as follows: In the matter of the South Carolina and Barnwell Railroads : Resolved, That upon the opinion of the Attorney General, and the facts in this case, the railroads are one and the same. Yours, very respectfully, M. T. BARTLETT, Secretary. JOHN B. PECK, THE SOUTH CAROLINA RAILWAY COMPANY, Hon. M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Board Railroad Commissioners, Columbia, S. C. SIR: I am in receipt, through Mr. M. T. Bartlett, Secretary, of the decision of the Board in regard to the relations existing between the South Carolina Railway Company and the Barnwell Railway Company. The Board having made its decision, I should not have troubled the Board farther on the subject but for a statement made by the Attorney General in his opinion, that it appears that the Barnwell Railway Company owns no locomotives, cars, or anything besides its road-bed and tracks, and can scarcely therefore be properly regarded as a corporation doing business alone. It was not probably known to the Attorney General that, judged by the same standard, the South Carolina Railway Company owns no locomotives or cars either. Comptroller General Hagood decided several years since that inasmuch as the taxation of railroad property was assessed at so much per mile of track, which assessment covered all the property necessary to the operation of the railroad, it was not necessary to enumerate the other property, and therefore for several years the tax returns of the South Carolina, and I think the other railroads in the State, show nothing but the miles of track. The returns this year both for the South Carolina and the Barnwell Railway Companies were made in accordance with this ruling, but the present Comptroller required an enumeration, and additional returns were made. The Barnwell Railway Company does now, and has since its construction, owned a locomotive, which is able to do, and has done, all its business, and the cost is included in the amount stated. As to cars, the cars of the South Carolina Railway go on nearly every road in South Carolina, aud indeed on many outside of the State, but that fact neither gives it control of the other roads or indeed of its own cars after they leave its own rails. The Barnwell Railway uses the cars of the South Carolina Railway and of other railways as the exigencies of business requires. The connection between the South Carolina and the Barnwell Railway in this respect is the same as with all its other connecting roads. I am impressed with the opinion that the statement of the Attorney General heretofore referred to had great weight with the Commissioners in fixing their decision in this case, and I have therefore thought it proper to bring it to their attention. Yours truly, JOHN B. PECK, JOHN B. PECK, THE SOUTH CAROLINA RAILWAY COMPANY, Hon. M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Board Railroad Commissioners, Columbia, S. C. DEAR SIR: In regard to the Barnwell Railway, I have had a full consultation with the Directors of the South Carolina Railway Company and with the Directors of the Barnwell Railway Company. Under your decision the Barnwell Railway Company is practically deprived of revenue and cannot be operated except by incurring continual loss. The South Carolina Railway Company decline to operate the Barnwell Railway, but it is willing to dispose of its stock in the Barnwell Railway, and has a purchaser who is willing to purchase the stock, provided the road can be operated as a separate road; and I beg to ask the Commission, if they think proper to do so, to give me their opinion as to whether such a sale would enable the purchaser to operate the Barnwell Railway as a separate road. I beg also to say that this communication would have been made to the Commission at an earlier date but for the reason that I had hoped the point made in my letter of the 10th would change the decision of the Board, inasmuch as to this extent they had acted on what seemed to me to be an important point under a misapprehension of the facts in the case. I am to-day advised by Mr. Walker that the Board did not consider my letter as requesting a review of their decision, and I therefore take the earliest opportunity of conferring with the Commission. I should have attended the meeting of the Commissioners but for the fact that my presence is necessary at the annual meeting of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association at Atlanta on the 24th instant. Yours truly, JOHN B. PECK, General Manager. OFFICE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, Col. JOHN B. PECK, General Manager Barnwell Railroad, Charleston, S. C. DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 23d instant is received, and I am directed by the Board to say in reply that in the absence of particulars as to the proposed sale of the Barnwell Railroad, and as to the manner in which the road will be operated by the purchaser, they are not prepared to decide whether or not, under the law, the change will entitle the road to independent privileges. The Board will be pleased to consider the question when in possession of all the facts, and must require that meanwhile the freight and passenger rates be made to conform to the decision of the Board. Yours very respectfully, M. T. BARTLETT, Secretary. JOHN B. PECK, THE SOUTH CAROLINA RAILWAY COMPANY, CHARLESTON, S. C., October 27th, 1883. M. T. BARTLETT, Esq, Secretary Railroad Commission, Columbia, S. C. DEAR SIR: Your favor of 25th instant has been received. Instructions have been issued to agents both of the Barnwell Railway Company and of the South Carolina Railway Company to put into effect, commencing this day, rates for the transportation of both freight and passengers to and from Barnwell and other points on the Barnwell Railway in accordance with the decision of the Board. I feel it my duty at the same time to advise you that, inasmuch as the order referred to operates to reduce the gross earnings of the Barnwell Railway Company to such an extent as to render it impossible to earn enough to cover its necessary working expenses, I am instructed by the President of the Barnwell Railway Company to give public notice that on and after the first day of |