LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. OFFICE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, To His Excellency D. C. Heyward, Governor of South Carolina. D. P. DUNCAN, Secretary. C. W. GARRIS, Chairman. JUN 27 1917 REPORT. To the Honorable, the Senators and Members of the House of Reprepresentatives of South Carolina. The Board of Railroad Commissioners respectfully submit herewith their twenty-fifth Annual Report. The Report deals properly with transactions for the year beginning July 1, 1902, and ending June 30, 1903. But for your information we refer to matters of interest which have transpired subsequent to the latter date. This has been a custom followed by former Boards, with apparent approval by your honorable body. Events have transpired this year in railroad operation that are so momentous that we feel justified in pursuing the policy of former Reports. Following this statement, we open the Report with three tables, one showing the progress of railroad development by years, a second showing the assessment of railroad property by the mile, and the third showing the value of the roads and their earnings for the last year. While the increase of our mileage has been constant, and to an extent gratifying, yet the development has not been as rapid as it might have been. We have populous communities in our State unserved. It may be very well for the reasons for this lack of enterprise to be inquired into, and if there are restraints or legal embargoes upon investment in these public utilities, your honorable body may find it possible to remove them, and, at the same time, preserve to the people complete immunity from the harm usually attendant upon a too liberal granting of the State's franchise. An examination of the table showing the progress of railroad construction, especially the last two years, show you our justification for these suggestions. When you consider these points; first, the progress of railroad building in our sister States, during the past two years; second, the very few miles built in our State in the same period; and, third, the vast territory not now served by railroads, it must impress you that something should be done to encourage some confidence in investors. RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION. The following table shows the progress of railroad construction in South Carolina; and also the total mileage up to date: If we juggle a few moments with these figures, we find first that we have in this State one mile of railroad to about every ten square miles of territory, and one mile of railroad to serve about every 500 of our population. This is a better showing than is made by some of the States, but our mileage is so distributed as not to give an ideal service. RAILROAD ASSESSMENT PER MILE. The assessment of the railroads of the State is not a duty devolving upon the Commission, except through the ex-officio relationship of the Commission through its Chairman to the State Board of Equalization. But the table of assessments are entered here because it is information very naturally looked for in a report from a Board of Railroad Commissioners. The assessment of the railroad property of the value per mile, as fixed by the Board of Railroad Assessors and Board of Equalization, as shown by the Comptroller-General's books, by townships: ASSESSMENT OF RAILROADS, 1903. A. C. L. System : Miles. Value Per Mile. Cheraw and Darlington, Gibson branch.. 36.27 8,000 4,000 24.63 15,000 |