2. Again: None of the railroads which I represent have been enabled by their earnings to at once meet their pecuniary obligations and maintain a proper condition for safety, utility and public convenience, but have been obliged to borrow money for purposes of maintenance. It is, therefore, hard to convince reasonable minds that the rates on these lines are excessive, or unjust or unreasonable. It is vain to say that the obligations upon the property are the result of excessive valuation, for the records will prove in each case that the contrary is the fact. 3. Finally: While the Act, oppressive in its nature, is momentarily aimed at but one class of property, the principle applies to all property owned by corporations or by persons in this State. The immediate result has been loss of confidence in all property in South Carolina, which distrust will be greatly increased by any action of your Board which will convince the public that their apprehensions are well founded. It is needless to suggest to your minds what irreparable mischief this would bring upon all public interests as well as private. Another immediate effect of reduction in rates will be the reduction of our operating force, which will at once inconvenience the public by decreasing the number and speed of our trains, and inflict great hardship upon railroad men by throwing many out of employment and reducing the compensation of those who remain. These are a few of many self-evident truths which, I am convinced, will receive your earnest attention. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, A. C. HASKELL, President C. & G. and C., C. & A. Railroad Companies. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE COLUMBIA & GREENVILLE RAILROAD CO. CHARLOTTE, COLUMBIA & AUGUSTA R. R. Co. COLUMBIA, S. C., July 31st, 1883. Judge A. C. HASKELL, President Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta and Columbia and Greenville Railroad Companies, Columbia, S. C. DEAR SIR: Since the new tariffs and classification proposed by the Railroad Commission of South Carolina amount to a sweeping reduction, compromising largely, if not altogether, the net earnings of our roads, and calculated to prove absolutely disastrous, I have concluded to briefly lay before you some views, which, if urged upon them, may tend to conservative action on their part. If they are legally authorized to use the great powers apparently conferred upon them, and use them injudiciously or improperly, the tendency will be towards practical confiscation of all investments in the railroads of the State and encouragement of the disastrous spirit of communism. The Commissioners would assume great responsibility if they depreciate these great interests so as to mar at their sovereign will the fortunes of innocent persons. It will be only after due and cautious experience, even with the best intentions, that they can grapple intelligently and fairly with that most complicated and difficult question-the establishment of equitable, just and necessarily ever varying railroad tariffs. In fixing the rates per passenger per mile and per ton per mile for each property, competition, population, volume of business and physical characteristics should all be borne in mind. It is clear that where there is a large population, engaged in various avocations, these rates may justly and properly be less than in a comparatively undeveloped country in which there is but little diversity of pursuits-that the increased expenses and risks due to fractional as compared with full car loads (often lost sight of by the public) are analogous to those of retail over wholesale business-that the cost of transportation in one direction is very different from that in the other, by reason of the inequality of grades or volume of business in different directions; often, from this last cause, double service is performed for compensation in one direction only. In the much-vexed question of higher local than through freights, it should be remembered that local short hauls are far more expensive relatively than long through ones, for the simple reasons that the handling of the freight and loss of time of the engine, crews and cars add in greatly augmented proportion. Is it not just that the local business should chiefly contribute to the maintenance of any railroad to which it is tributary? Is it not too often forgotten that they are mutually dependent upon each other, and that neither can permanently flourish at the serious expense of the other? Profits on junction and through business are necessarily small, and if the only dependence nearly every railroad in the country would be inferior in condition, imperfectly operated and substantially bankrupt. These gains, though small, cannot, however, be neglected by railroad companies, since, by increasing resources, they permit increased liberality to local industries and interests—after all the chief dependence. It may not be amiss just here to call special attention to the wellestablished fact that the profits of simple "middle-men" not unfrequently largely exceed the total amount demanded for hundreds of miles of transportation by the very railroads against which they bitterly inveigh. It is further respectfully suggested that the Commissioners be requested to dwell not only upon the shortcomings of the railroads, but, in al fairness, upon the benefits they confer as well. Competition, actual and prospective, water highways, the laws of trade and of supply and demand-laws which control not only railroads, but the entire commercial business of the world-all seem to conduce to an average reduction of rates. For these reasons alone, on railroads, even when protected by special charter enactments, which accord to them the rate-making power, the average rates are only about one-half what they were a few years since. Can any other branch of the public service show such progress? Conservatism will lead to the construction of additional roads; radicalism will completely check their development, and the Commissioners may well hesitate before taking any action calculated to drive away capital with its benign influence. In France, a country justly celebrated for its wise, conservative and successful financial and industrial policy, the prevailing sentiment is: The State should watch attentively but prescribe little. Yours truly, A. L. RIVES, Vice President. RICHMOND AND DANVILLE R. R. CO.-CHARLOTTE, COLUMBIA AND AUGUSTA R. R. CO.-COLUMBIA AND GREENVILLE R. R. CO. OFFICE OF GENERAL MANAGER, Hon. A. C. HASKELL, President, &c., Columbia, S. C. DEAR SIR: In response to the invitation of the Railroad Commissioners of the State of South Carolina to the railway companies to submit their objections, if any, to the application of their General Schedule of Rates to their respective roads, I have the honor to submit for your consideration and approval the following presentation of the case in behalf of the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta and Columbia and Greenville Railroad Companies, and the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company as the operator of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Rail way: The above named companies are, I take it, willing to render all the assistance in their power, and to give the benefit of their experience, to aid the Commissioners in fulfilling the requirements of the Act under which they were appointed; but without committing themselves to the acceptance of the Commissioners' tariff, or in any manner surrendering any rights they may now have to test hereafter the constitutionality of the law or the legality of the acts of the Commissioners. The duty of ascertaining and fixing "just and reasonable rates" imposes the responsibility of regulating the commerce of the State, so far as it is dependent upon or affected by the equitable distribution of the necessary transportation ta'x upon products, manufactures, &c., the movement of which for interchange constitutes an essential element of trade, and involves the welfare of both the carriers and shippers, whose interests are so closely interwoven that neither can be permanently benefitted at the expense of the other. If the transportation charges are lightened at the expense of the welfare of the railways, not only will it deter capital from seeking investment in new roads, but the existing roads will necessarily deteriorate in condition and equipment so as to impair their efficiency, to the detriment ultimately of the commerce dependent upon them for facilities, and with but meagre results in the way of even temporary development of traffic; for low rates stimulate business to a very limited extent, as will be seen by comparing the relative production in certain sections of any of the seaboard States, where the rates of transportation are exceptionally low, owing to their accessibility to navigable waters, with that of less favored districts in the interior, or with the yield from the same sections in pre vious years. The solution of so delicate and intricate a problem as that which the Railroad Commissioners are called upon to deal with-in which all or nearly all of the material interests of the State are directly or indirectly involved―cannot be found in rigid tariffs or uniform rates without regard to the widely varying conditions which affect the cost of the complicated service to be performed with speed, system and regularity, at the carriers' risk of accidents, damage, and delay from any and all causes which a jury may consider avoidable. That the Legislature did not intend the adoption of a Procustean measure, to which all must alike conform, is evident from the law itself, which not only authorizes but requires the Commissioners "to make for each railroad corporation doing business in the State a schedule of just and reasonable rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight and cars on each of said railroads." The laws of supply and demand must always limit the prices of transportation, as they do those of other commodities; and it may well be doubted whether any further regulation of rates is necessary or advisable ; certain it is that any disregard of these natural laws of commerce on the part of the transportation companies is attended with loss as in the case of individuals; and every attempt to regulate prices arbitrarily, in defiance of natural laws, whether of transportation or other commodities, is likely to produce results the reverse of what was intended. Notable instances of this may be found in the "Potter" laws of Iowa, and similar legislation in other States, which the very movers of made haste to rescind. It has been claimed that the regulation of rates by Commissions has in some instances proved immediately beneficial to both the railroad companies and the public, as evidenced by the increase in traffic which has followed their action; but when it is remembered that during several years past there has been an almost unprecedented development of industries of every class throughout the country-where the transportation. lines were not under any restraints as well as where they were-it would seem more than probable that credit is due to the Railroad Commissioners for their conservatism in not rashly interfering with the natural currents of trade, rather than for any beneficial results which can be traced directly to their intervention. The wise and safe course for a Railroad Commission to adopt is to exert their influence and authority in the direction which every intelligent railway company will pursue in the regulation of its rates, viz.: to adjust them so far as practicable to meet the requirements of both the railroads and the |