| Annual Report of the Mississippi Central RR |
| as of April 1, 1861 |
| President's Report |
| |
| Office Mississippi Central Railroad |
| Holly Springs, April 1st, 1861 |
| |
| To the Stockholders of the Mississippi
Central Railroad Company: |
|
|
| Gentlemen, |
|
In compliance with an order adopted at your last annual
meeting, the termination of the fiscal year of the Company has been
changed from the 30th of April to the 31st March, consequently the
operations of the road and the transactions of the Company, now
submitted for your consideration, embrace a period of only eleven
months.
|
| In my last Annual Report, I
estimated the receipts of the road for the fiscal year ending the 30th
of April, at $1,200,000. The subsequent political changes and
consequent embarrassments of the commercial transactions of the
country, have produced a material interruption of trade and travel,
resulting in a falling off in traffic to an amount not less then
$300,000. The effect on passenger traffic has been the most apparent
and it has, I believe, affected all other roads of the country in a
manner similar to the effect on yours. Your road during the year has
been in a condition to perform a much larger amount of business than
has been offered, without any material increase of expenses. |
| In consequence of the
completion of the road track in the early part of the year 1860, a
large increase of traffic was anticipated, and as the road was
imperfectly equipped, contracts were entered into to supply the
deficiency preparatory to the fall trade, and the indebtedness of the
Company was largely increased by the purchase of cars and engines. The
road has now ample equipments for the present prospective business of
the current fiscal year, unless the completion of the Mississippi
& Tennessee Road to Grenada should supply a large increase of
traffic to the Southern Division. In such an event, two more
locomotives for that division may be required for the expeditious
movement of freight and passengers. |
| I herewith submit for your
consideration the combined reports of Captains E. G. Barney and E. D.
Frost, the Superintendents of the Northern and Southern Divisions of
the road, marked (A.) exhibiting detailed and tabular statements of
the operations of the road, during the past eleven months. To their
report and the accompanying statements, I refer you for any desired
information for particulars of the movement of passengers and freight,
the sources of revenue, the amount of expenditures, and on what
account disbursements have been made. |
| By reference to the report of
the superintendents it will be seen that the receipts of the road from
all sources, during the eleven months ending the 31st of March last, |
| amounts to |
$836,244.69 |
| Expenses of operation and repairs during the same period |
447,634.27 |
| Net income for eleven months |
$388,610.42 |
|
| The ascertained net revenue for the month
of April was $31,540.00, if this be added to the net revenue for the
preceding eleven months, it will exhibit a net income of $420,150.42
for twelve months, being six and a half per centum on the cost of the
road and equipments, including all discount and interest, or seven and
a half per centum on the actual amount of cash expended therefor. |
| The operating expenses and
repairs have been fifty-three and a half per centum of gross receipts,
including the extraordinary expenses incurred by damages from high
water during the past winter. |
| The per centum of expenses
have been and will continue to be greater on the Northern than the
Southern Division, until the cuts are excavated to a greater width
than at present, and the bridges are constructed of more durable
materials. |
| In addition to the ordinary
operating expenses of the road, there have been expended during the
fiscal year $90,222.47 on account of construction, principally for
substituting masonry in place of more perishable materials -- piling
in place of trestle bridging, and filling openings with earth. More
than five thousand lineal feet of piling bridges have been substituted
for trestle, and one hundred thousand cubic yards of earth have been
moved into embankments, rendering the road more safe and permanent
than at any previous time, and giving promise of future reduction of
expenses for repairs. |
| The total number of
passengers transported in the cars during the fiscal year, has been
169,214, and the amount received therefor $477,975.53, against
$288,812.39 last year. |
| The average receipts from
each passenger carried have been $2.83. The number of local passengers
was 115,290 and the receipts from this source of revenue $192,060.25.
The number of passengers passing to or from other roads during the
fiscal year, has been 53,924, and the receipts therefrom $285,915.28. |
| The movement of freight has
been 82,330 tons, being an increase o9f 20,304 tons over the previous
year, and the receipts therefrom, $301,805.42, an excess of $79,566.88
over the fiscal year of 1860. |
| There have been transported
84,580 bales of cotton southward and 53,124 bales northward, being
2,672 bales less than were transported the preceding year. |
| The report of A. J. McConnico,
Esq., Secretary of the company, is herewith submitted, marked
"B," giving a statement of the receipts and disbursements of
the company from the organization to the close of the past fiscal
year. |
| Your attention is
respectfully directed to his report for any desired information as to
sources from which funds have been derived as well as on what account
expended. It will also be found to exhibit the sources from which the
revenue of the past year has been derived, and the present financial
condition of the Company. |
| The Floating Debt existing at
the date of my last annual report has been increased during the fiscal
year to the amount of $238, 346.00 by the purchase of equipments for
the road, and an additional sum of $108,196.28 found due to
contractors on the final settlement of their accounts, which had not
been audited and allowed at the time of your last annual meeting. |
| During the fiscal year
$240,114.98 of the Floating Debt of the Company has been extinguished,
but this description of liabilities has been increased, to an amount
greater than the amount paid, by the purchase of equipments and the
expenditures for construction. |
| I also submit the report of
W. F. Mason, Esq., the Treasured of the Company, marked "C,"
exhibiting the receipts and disbursements by him, during the fiscal
year. For the particular sources of receipts and on what account
disbursements have been made by him, reference is made to his report.
The business of his department has been generally confined to the
receipts and disbursements on the Northern Division. |
| Justice to those who have so
liberally extended their individual credit to enable the Company to
complete your road, would seem to demand that efforts be made to Fund
the Floating Debt and thus relieve them from their liabilities. More
particularly should this be done, as the financial embarrassments of
the country render it at all times difficult, sometimes impossible, to
meet the outstanding liabilities of the Company. |
| I therefore recommend that
the Board of Directors be authorized to issue Six Hundred Thousand
Dollars of coupon Bonds payable in then years, in the city of New
Orleans, with semi-annual interest, at the rate of ten per centum per
annum, and secure the payment thereof by a second mortgage on the
property of the Company and its income. |
| An enlargement of the shops
for the construction and repairs of the Company's Cars was in
contemplation during the past year, but so numerous were the demands
on the resources of the Company, the commencement of the work was
delayed. The necessities of the Company require more extensive
accommodations for this description of work than they now possess, and
more particularly is this the case as it is probable they will in
future have to depend on their own shops for any additional supply
they may hereafter require. The necessary tools for the shops have
been purchased and delivered. The erection of suitable buildings so
that they can be used, will materially lessen the cost of ordinary
repairs. |
| In December last when the
falling off of the traffic of the road became evident, I immediately
reduced the compensation paid to the employees of the Company for the
purpose of reducing, if possible, its expenses at a rate corresponding
with the falling off of traffic, and I am unwilling to close this
communication without due acknowledgement to the employees of Company
for the cheerfulness with which they submitted to the reduction of
wages, and the alacrity with which they and all the officers of the
Company have executed every duty required of them. |
| Respectfully submitted, |
| Walter Goodman, President |
|