- Transcription
MAIN OFFICE
SOUTH ATLANTIC TRANS-CONTINENTAL
RAILROAD COMPANY
WAYNESVILLE, N.C.
Dec. 7, 1912.
Hon. Locke Craig,
Governor-elect North Carolina,
Asheville, N.C.
My Dear Mr. Craig:
Since I talked with you the other day, I have talked to some strong friends of yours and mine. And I had in my mind the thought to strengthen your arm if you so desired in carrying out those measures I laid before you, by having the business organizations of Asheville, Waynesville, Hendersonville, Charlotte, etc., by official action in the form of resolutions to petition you to keep Captain Laughinghouse and his Warden and Secretary in their positions at the State prison.
And that you appoint Mr. Frank R. Hewitt to be the Chairman and Western Carolina member of the Prison Board. He says if it is your desire he will serve and ^but does not desire any appointment^ I intended to call your attention to the matter of retaining the recently elected Senators George B. McLeod, of Lumberton, on the Prison Board.
After talking with a man I reckon that is closer perhaps to you politically speaking, than any other one man in this Campaign, he suggested that it would be unwise outside of indorsing Mr. Hewitt to have your home people ask you for favors that might not be possible for you to grant.
Just why that occasion could arise as regards these men that have served the State well, I don't know, but I don't want to be the instrument to bring about the slightest friction in your work, and I would not intentionally recommend a man that I didn't believe would be to the best interest of the State for you to appoint, and I cannot conceive of any reason that these men wouldn't be loyal to you and the State.
I propose to remain loyal to you, and loyal to this State that has extended, and given me a new lease on life, and a son and an heir to perpetuate my name if God shall let him live. And I have discussed all the points connected with this matter with a number of the men that have helped make Asheville what it is, and been helping me to increase her prestage, and the concentrated opinion I find is that you now know those we would like to be retained and appointed that we believe will best serve this State in co-operations with you, and serve the interest of Asheville, and Western N. C., and they all think it is best to let you understand the paramount issue of Western North Carolina and should be of the State is to get this competing line of railroad across the State under State control as it is now being built, and to secure for the State a rate basing port.
This road and port, as you will find from the official data submitted will save the people of this State over ten million dollars per annum in freight rate discrimination and bring safely Twenty-four Million Dollars of the new taxable wealth and property into this State within the road itself, and certainly build up this State as nothing else can do; still adding greater wealth, and it will stop the discrimination from the hour the road is completed to Southport and ship line put on to give water rates and thus complete the Inter-state Commerce Law's requirements, that the Supreme Court of the United States has sustained in the fight by this State from the Aycock Administration to the present day. That it cannot prevent discrimination and that North Carolina has a port and if the roads in the State won't arrange ship lines to open that port, that the Inter-state Commerce Commission has no power to force them to do so.
But if the State of North Carolina, or anybody will build a road across this State to that port and secure ships to co-operate with it and make through rail and water rates, that then the commission will immediately order rates made based the same as Virginia, George, South Carolina and Tennessee has, so your friends and my friends, and I believe they are all one and the same, do not want you to feel that we are particularly interested from the individual stand-point as to whom you may appoint to hold any office, save they are friendly to this great public interest.
The great underlining motive of our purpose and desire is to unshackle Western N. C. and thereby the whole State to a saving of over Ten Million a year and all we ask is that you select as your judgment may direct, men that will hold up your hand in freeing this State of this great wrong.
In your hands, without the need of a single new law to be written, lays the power by a public act to have every convict in this State now, and that may hereafter be convicted, sent to this road to push it to completion.
And only about two and one-half year's work will be all they can do, then they can be turned to the great work of building Central Highways, that the convict labor of the State should have been doing ever since it was made a State.
Every mile of good road built today carries a greater volume of tonnage to the railroad, increases the amount of discrimination against the commerce of the State, which ranges from 50% to as high as 500% in some classifications, as you will find officially set out in my report as Commissioner for this State, Tennessee and Florida to secure help from other States to unchain this State from these great wrongs, that prevail in no other State but North Carolina. It figured out Ten Million per annum in Aycock's administration, and I am quite sure if careful statistics are gathered that it will amount to near Fifteen Million per annum more to the Shippers and Consumers of this State than our adjoining sister States are paying the same roads for handling for them the same number of tons over the same number of miles and of the same kind of goods.
The friction in your office at the opening of your administration is going to be the contention over the convict labor of the State, different portions of the State under this good road enthusiasm is going to make the strongest possible appeal they can for the convicts.
However, I can't conceive if the intelligence of the State is made to thoroughly understand that these convicts are now needed to first releave this State of this great drain on its resources and preventing capital from coming here to push forward our industrial development.
If this session of the Legislature will leave all the laws pertaining to Convicts and Convict labor as they now stand, and let the laws stand as they are, pertaining to this road that is now being built with convict labor under State control, there will be no occasion for very much friction.
There is the need of either a new law or an amendment to be passed, requiring the Circuit Court Clerks of each County to report to the Prison Board and Superintendent of the Prison the names, the age, and the offense, and date of conviction and for how long convicted, and to direct the judges to order this done.
And, instead of the Judges sending the State Convicts to any County camp that the Judges may now think best for their disposition, that they should be left subject to the direction of the Prison Board.
If you want to see this State freed from freight rate discrimination by the construction of the road and secure it a rate basing port, it's only to appoint men in sympathy with the same thought.
By public act you will find that all convicts in this State are subscribed to this road. Section 4 of the Act in the laws that I give you that was ratified March 11, 1907 will show you where all these amendments and this road's charter has been made a public act.
Governor Kitchen left resting, not by law, but simply by consent, the power in the hands of the Judges to dispose of the convicts. The repealing act in our charter was for the purpose of repealing that act that gave the Judges that power.
You may not know, but until I made the request, and paid the expense for the Commissioner of printing and labor to ascertain by sending blanks to be filled out, the number of State convicts that there were in this State, nobody knew and there are nine Counties that we have never gotten a report from yet. No report is sent by the County Clerk to the Prison Board or the Superintendent of the Prison of men convicted in the State Courts. Hence, the Prison Board and the Prison authorities have knowledge official, of only those convicts that the Judges send direct to the State Penitentiary. It is a known fact that convicts have been voting in this State after they have served their time out as State convicts on County roads. No one, unless a man would give to the Register, when a man is registering for the vote, the fact that he had been a convict, would know it; for he could get no record of it from the State prison, where it should be kept; hence, I have simply called your mind to these facts and that the Prison Board has under its control only about four hundred convicts out of about three thousand convicts that are State prisoners today. Thus you will not be mislead and commit yourself to a policy about the good roads move when you can first save the State safely Twelve to Fifteen Million Dollars a year by making the application of the convict labor for the State's relief.
And I am going to take the liberty to suggest that you have a conference with Gen. Davidson who has been the legal head that has advised me from the hour I set out to try to free Western Carolina and this State from this wrong.
I want to thank you for your kind words to me, but above me, above my associates, and above all men, lies the principle of Justice to this State involved in this work, and in securing it this road and a rate basing port, and I wish for you to feel that I am subject to your command and will gladly furnish any data, or information that you may wish further on this subject.
Begging pardon for the length of this letter, believe me to be with highest personal regards,
Yours faithfully,
