| From the Richmond Examiner |
| |
| October 1, 1861 |
| |
| The Richmond & York River Railroad |
| To the Editor of the Examiner: |
| The President of the Richmond
& York River Railroad Company has read an elaborate article signed
"Stockholder," (in the Examiner of the 19th inst.,) addressed to
the President of the Board of Public Works, concerning the connecting of
the passenger cars of the company with the Government steamer at West
Point. |
| Whatever may be the motive of
the writer, which is not called in question, the chief effect, if any,
of the publication must be to produce the general impression that the
present conduct of the road is wrong; for no one, of course, reads an
article of such length upon a subject of no more general importance
except those immediately assailed, and yet a glance suffices to inform
the public that complaint is made. |
| If the writer of that
publication be correct, then those who have charge of the interests of
the company are guilty of wantonly throwing away "not less than from
$100 to $150 of daily income in declining to adopt the schedule proposed
by him, which is the same proposed some time ago by the quartermaster at
West Point. |
| It may be remarked here that
this alleged loss is far beyond the fact; a circumstance merely adding
one to the innumerable cases in which error is advanced by the hasty
assertions of those who are not accurately informed a to facts; but let
this pass. |
| Now, the exact condition of
the matter is just this: The connection between the road and the boat
has, for some time, seriously engaged the attention of the officers of
the former; they earnestly desire to establish such a connection as will
not only secure the travel mentioned by "Stockholder," but accommodate
the traveling soldiers. The subject has caused anxious reflection and
reiterated conferences on the part of the officers of the company, one
of which has just taken place; and the uniform result has been, as it
still is, their entire conviction that the schedule proposed cannot be
adopted without incurring such injury to the rolling stock, and such
serious detriment to the general interests of the company as will far
outweigh the considerations in its favour. |
| It is not proposed to burthen
the columns of any paper with the arguments to establish the correctness
of this conclusion; it would not be read except by the few whose
opinions are fixed against it. Neither is it proposed to confute the
objections to the lying all night of the boat at the lower end of the
water line; yet this can be done in the most conclusive manner, so that
not a shred of them will remain; and it is conceded by all, even by
"Stockholder" himself, that this would be a complete solution of the
whole difficulty. |
| One remark in conclusion may
be indulged in. So far as the operations of this road in performing what
has been required of it by the Government are concerned, it is asserted,
without the possibility of contradiction or of cavil, that they have
always been performed, without failure in a single instance in the time
when, and in the manner how required without murmur, without delay, and
without the slightest accident to life, or limb, or property. |
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