Feb. 21, 1863
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| Col. W. W. Wadley, A. A. G., Augusta, Ga. |
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| Sir, |
| I am informed that you have locomotive
engines, cars, car wheels & axles and other railroad machinery
and supplies to dispose of for the Confederate States to such
railroads as may need them to enable them to do the transportation
required for the government. |
| This company is in great need for that object
of one, or, if to be had, two locomotives of about 25 tons weight
for freight trains, and of as many other cars, wheels and axles as
can be spared to it. The present and probable future positions of
the two contending armies in Virginia must always create this need
for a larger equipment of this road, while the engrossing demands of
the Government exclude this company from any other resources for
supplies of iron, wood timber or any other materials or machinery.
It is now, and for some time past has been using all the machinery
and cars, which can be procured from other companies within its
reach, and have kept them incessantly in use and motion. Yet all
these have proved insufficient to meet the exigencies of General
Lee's army. Of course, it will be expected that any further supply
furnished as herein proposed by the Government shall be purchased or
hired for a fair remuneration, and be subject to transfer when
necessary, on the same terms to other adjacent roads. You will
oblige me, and promote the public service, by promptly informing me,
to what extent you can afford the supplies needed by this company. |
| Col. Larkin Smith the Chief Accountant, Office
of the Quartermaster's Department & Asst. A. Q. M. G. refers me
to you, for the decision of the question, whether the allowance
heretofore made by him to this company of three cents per mile for
each soldier carried on its trains, shall be continued beyond the
first of this current month of February. Under the last agreement
made between the Quartermaster's Department and the convention of
railroad companies held at Columbia, S. C. in September 1862, this
rate, you will remember, was allowed to roads which were "side
lines & not thoroughfares." Upon this very ground, that
this road is not a "thoroughfare" being connected with no
other Route, or even "city or population district," except
at one end, the Post Office Department of the Confederate States
fixes its mail pay at the reduced rate paid to "side lines not
thoroughfares;" and it reasonable that this interpretation, if
adopted by one coordinate branch of the Government to be disadvantageous
of this company, should be adhered to by another coordinate branch,
and not rejected also to the prejudice of the company. |
| Further reasons for this are found in the past
heavy losses of this company, on whose road itself for six months
wholly in the possession & now partially in the possession of
the enemy eight bridges have been burned by our own troops, and also
in the fact, that the present occupation by the enemy of one end of
this road excludes all by Government travel, which on this
railroad is chiefly carried, not as on most others in burden
cars but in costly passenger coaches. But still another and
more conclusive reason for not reducing the rate of fare for
soldiers is found in the existing exorbitant prices of all
materials, supplies and wages, which greatly enhanced as it is on
other roads, is so to a much greater extent on this from the
exhaustion of the labor, materials, supplies & teams of the
adjacent country, first by the enemy and since and now by our own
army, and the actions of our Government officials in making
contracts for the army. As one instance of this last illustrating
others, which unfit to be detailed, I will mention, that the
Government officers, instead of pursuing the course on this road
adopted by them on others, of contracting for wood either through or
in conjunction with the Superintendent of the road; at ours, without
any warning to the officers of this company, proclaimed their
necessity for 30,000 cords of wood to be taken from lands along this
road, and therein willingness to begin by paying more than double
the customary prices for it. The consequence has been that this
company has to buy much of its wood at from four to eight
times the usual prices, and can with great difficulty &
uncertainty procure enough at any price to keep its trains in
motion. |
| In view of these considerations, I confidently
hope, that you will have no hesitation whatsoever, in recommending
to Col. Smith the continuance of the rate of fare heretofore paid
this company, which is less than half that charged private persons,
and as the day for settling the accounts is now at hand will thank
you for a prompt reply. |
| Very respectfully your obt. servant |
| P. V. Daniels, Jr. President {Richmond,
Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad} |
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