[DOO. No. LXXI.]
REPORTS
OF THE
MAJORITY AND MINORITY OF THE COMMITTEE
APPOiriTED TO
INVESTIGATE CERTAIN MATTERS
RELATING TO THE
JAMES RIVER AND KANAWHA CANAL CO,
1851.
[Doc. No. 71.]
3
REPORT.
The committee appointed to enquire into " The causes which have
induced the James river and Kanawha canal company to increase the
salary of its president to three thousand dollars per annum ; also the
causes of the falling of the dam constructed across James river called
the Judith dam; the causes of the company's delay in completing its
work to Buchanan ; also to enquire into the expediency of prohibiting
by law the chief engineer of that company from accepting office or
employment upon any other public work within or without the state
while holding said office"—after consultation and conference, have
agreed to the following report :
That for want of time they have been unable to make the investi¬
gation ordered by the house of delegates. The complaints that have
been made against the officers of the James river and Kanawha com¬
pany are grave, and they come from a source so respectable as to
entitle them to the examination of the legislature. The committee
have not had the time and means of making such investigation as
would do justice, on the one hand, to the officers of the James river
and Kanawha company, and, on the other, to those who complain of
the conduct and management of the officers of that company ; but
they are of opinion, that this investigation having been ordered, it is
due to the commonwealth and the other parties concerned, that it
should be made, that the legislature may have reliable information
upon which to shape its course in regard to the important topics and
questions involved. That in order to give time and more favorable
circumstances for thorough investigation, it be recommended to the
house of delegates to appoint a committee of five of its members to
visit the works of the company above the town of Lynchburg, after
the adjournment of the present general assembly, with instructions to
report the results of their investigation to the Board of public works,
to be laid by them before the next general assembly, and that said
committee have power to send for persons and papers.
All which is respectfully submitted.
[Doc. No. 71.]
5
MINORITY REPORT
Of the Committee of the House of Delegates appointed on the \2th day
of February ultimo, under the following Resolution offered by Mr.
Carrington of Botetourt, on the 81si of January last, to wit:
" Resolved, That the committee on roads and internal navigation be
instructed," (modified so as to read) " that a special committee be ap¬
pointed to enquire into and report to this house the causes which have
induced the James river and Kanawha canal company to increase the
salary of its president to three thousand dollars per annum ; also to
enquire into and report the causes of the fall of the dam constructed
by that company across James river, commonly called Judith dam,
and the causes of that company's delay in completing its works
to Buchanan ; also to enquire into the expediency of prohibiting by
law the chief engineer of that company from accepting employment
upon any other public work within or without this state while holding
the said office ; also to enquire into the expediency of prohibiting by
law the chief engineer of any company in which this state is a stock¬
holder from accepting employment in any other company than that in
which he is the chief engineer."
The minority of your committee, dissenting from the majority, deem
it but just to all parties concerned, that facts which do not appear in
the report of the majority should be laid before the house.
They do not consider it the duty or province of the committee to
make any recommendation in regard to the appointment of another
committee to do that which they have themselves entirely failed to do,
particularly in view of the fact that the stockholders of the company in
question, after the most thorough investigation of the very charges in¬
volved in the resolution under which this committee was appointed,
approved the official conduct of the officers of the company, and
without solicitation increased the salary of the president to the amount
at which it was originally established.
The minority therefore beg leave to report :
That the chairman of the committee, on the 14th day of February,
received a communication from the president of the canal company,
which was laid before the committee, and a copy of which, together
with the answer of the chairman, is hereto annexed.
The chairman also, on the 21st day of February, received a com¬
munication from the chief engineer of that company, which, though
shewn to some members, has not been presented to the committee.
A copy of said last named letter, and of the answer thereto, is hereto
appended.
These communications oiler every facility, and urge the committee
to proceed in the investigation.
6
[Doc. No. 71.]
No evidence has been placed before the committee by any one com¬
plaining, upon which to predicate a response to any of the enquiries
above indicated.
No witness has been summoned, no papers or testimony introduced,
nor any call made or opportunity afforded for those whose conduct is
complained of to present evidence or explanation.
Neither the officers of the company nor any of the stockholders or
state proxies have been notified by the committee of the time or place
of meeting, or even of the appointment of the committee.
Under these circumstances, and with this statement of facts, the mi¬
nority also ask that the committee be discharged, and recommend the
adoption of the following resolution :
Resolved, That the committee appointed on the 12th of February
last " to enquire into, and report to this house, the causes which have
induced the James river and Kanawha canal company to increase the
salary of its president," &c., be discharged from the further considera¬
tion of the subjects to them referred.
[Doc. No. 71.]
7
At a meeting of the executive committee of the James river and
Kanawha company, held on Friday, 14th February 1851 :
The president called the attention of the executive committee to
the following resolutions, which appear in the published proceedings
of the house of delegates of Virginia to have been adopted on the 12ih
of February instant:
"Resolved, That the committee on roads and internal navigation be
instructed to enquire into and report to the house, the causes which
have induced the James river and Kanawha canal company to in¬
crease the salary of its president to $3000 per annum.
"Also to enquire into and report the causes of the falling of the
dam constructed by that company across James river, commonly
called Judith dam, and the causes of that company's delay in com¬
pleting its work to Buchanan.
"Also to enquire into the expediency of prohibiting by law the
chief engineer of that company from accepting employment upon any
other public work within or without the state, while holding the said
office.
"Also to enquire into the expediency of prohibiting by law the
chief engineer of any company, in which the state is a stockholder,
from accepting employment in any other company than that in which
he is the chief engineer
And suggested the propriety of offering to the committee, raised
under said resolutions, such facilities as may be required or received
by the said committee in the performance of their duties.
Ordered, That the secretary of this company be instructed to sub¬
mit to the free and full inspection of the house committee, the books,
records and papers in his office, whensoever required so to do by the
committee, and that he and the other officers of the companj'' make
promptly all such explanations as the committee may desire.
Resolved, That, with a view to more convenient reference to the
same, the use of the directors' room, in the company's office, be placed
at the disposal of the committee of the house of delegates, for their use
during their sittings.
Resolved, That the president communicate to the chairman of the
house committee the foregoing resolutions.
At a meeting of the president and directors of the James river and
Kanawha company, held on Wednesday, February 19th, 1851 :
The president reported to the board that, in accordance with a reso¬
lution adopted by the executive committee on the 14th inst., he had
addressed a communication to E. C. Carrington, Esq., chairman of
the committee of investigation appointed by the house of delegates,
and received a reply from him as follows :
8
[Doc. No. 71.]
Office James River and Kanawha Co.,
Richmond, Feb. 14, 1851.
Sir,
Perceiving by the published proceedings of the houáe of
delegates, that a committee has been appointed to carry out reso¬
lutions of that honorable body, by making enquiry into certain
acts of the stockholders of the James river and Kanawha com¬
pany, and other matters connected with the administration of its
affairs, the executive committee, in the absence of the board of direc¬
tors, have instructed me to communicate to you, as the chairman of
the house committee, the accompanying copy of resolutions adopted
on the subject of your enquiries.
I beg to add the assurance that it will afford me and all the officers
of the company much pleasure to furnish every facility in our power,
to yourself and the committee in the discharge of the duties devolved
on you.
1 have the honor to be.
Very respectfully.
Your obedient servant,
J. Y. MASON,
President James River and Kanawha Co.
Mr. Carrington of Botetourt, Chairman, S^c.
House of Delegates, Feb. 15, 1851.
Dear Sir,
I have received your polite letter proffering the use
of the rooms of the James river and Kanawha company to the com¬
mittee of investigation appointed by this house, of which I am chair¬
man. I shall lay the letter before the committee at its first meeting,
and think it probable that they will find it expedient to accept the
company's obliging offer.
With great respect.
Your obedient servant,
E. C. CARRINGTON, Jr.
Hon. John Y. Mason,
PresH James River and Kanawha Co.
Extract from the records.
WM. P. MÜNFORD, Sec'y.
[Doc. No. 71.]
9.
Richmond, February 21, 1851.
S.R,
I am informed that the committee of which you are chair¬
man had a meeting yesterday and adjourned until Wednesday next.
It must he desired hy those who have sought the enquiry, and it is
especially important to myself, that this investigation should he
promptly and fully made ; for the plain and obvious import of the re¬
solutions is in fact an arraignment of my professional reputation, hut
to some extent an implication of the honorable discharge of my duties.
I submit therefore to the committee, as an act of justice to myself,
being thus publicly and officially assailed, whether a full and thorough
investigation should not he entered into, that I may, hy reference to
the records of the company and other evidence, refute the charges and
implications that otherwise may operate to my injury.
I have only to add, that my professional engagements are pressing,
and that I appeal to the committee to afford me the earliest opportu¬
nity to exercise the privilege accorded to any citizen of the common¬
wealth when publicly arraigned.
/ Yours very respectfully,
. (Signed)
WALTER GWYNN.
E. C. Carrington, Esq., Chairman, ífc..
House of Delegates.
Richmond, February 21, 1851.
Sir,
I handed your letter to several members of the committee
of which I am chairman, for their consideration ; and in consequence
of our pressing engagements before other committees and before the
house, we concluded that it would be impracticable to have a full meet¬
ing at an earlier day than the one determined upon at our last meeting.
I will, for my own part, cheerfully consult your pleasure and conve¬
nience in this matter in every way consistent with my duty.
Yours very respectfully,
(Signed)
E. C. CARRINGTON, Jr.
Major Gwynn.
2
[Doc. No. 71.]
11
SUBSTITUTE
Intended to be proposed by Mr. Carrington of Botetourt,
To tha Report of the Committee appointed to investigate certain
matters relating to the James River^ and Kanawha Co.
The committee to whom were referred the resolutions of this house,
concerning the salary of the president of the James river and Ka¬
nawha company—the delays ofthat company in completing its works
to Buchanan—the falling of the dam constructed by that company,
commonly called the Judith dam—and the expediency of prohibiting
the chief engineer of the said company, and of other internal improve¬
ment companies in which the state is a stockholder, from accepting
employment from any other company than that in which he is chief
engineer, have had the subjects of the said resolutions under conside¬
ration, and beg leave to report :
They have no other means ofjudging of the propriety of the recent
increfase of the president of the said company's salary, than is pos¬
sessed by the members of this body. They are of opinion that the
said increase of salary during the present embarrassed condition of
that company's affairs, and of the treasury of the commonwealth, was
inexpedient; and they recommend the adoption of the resolution upon
that subject which is appended to this report.
They aré pf opinion that the time intervening before the adjourn¬
ment of the present legislature is too limited to admit of that thorough
investigation into the causes of the delays of the said company's works,
and the falling of the said Judith dam, which the importance of those
subjects, and justice to all parties concerned, demand. It is true that
the said company have thrown o{)en their books to the committee, and
offered every facility at their command for such an investigation ; but
the evidence thus afforded, consisting as it does in great part of the
reports of the officers whose conduct is implicated, is in its nature ex
parte, and such as would not be satisfactory to the legislature or to
the public at large. If contractors have failed to execute their con¬
tracts in the periods agreed upon, the causes of failure are best known
to, and may be most impartially learned from, persons along the line
of operations, who were eye-witnesses of the conduct, as well of the
contractors as of the officers of the company. If the cause of delay
was the letting of contracts to persons of insufficient pecuniary means
and deficient personal energy and enterprise, and blame be impu¬
table on that "account to the officers of the company, the fact can best
be shewn b}' evidence derived from those who, from vicinity to, and
personal acquaintance with, the contractors, possess the most perfect
12
[Doc. No. 71.]
knowledge of their character and pecuniary circumstances. Evidence
upon these essential points in the investigation can best be taken, and
probably can only be obtained along the line of the work, and among
the community through which it passes. The committee therefore
recommend the adoption of the resolution hereto appended upon that
subject.
The committee are of opinion that no investigation is necessary
upon the expediency of prohibiting chief engineers engaged upon pub¬
lic improvements in which the state is interested, from accepting em¬
ployment from other companies than those in which they are chief
engineers, and therefore recommend the adoption of the resolution
upon that subject hereto appended.
The committee therefore beg leave to report the following resolu¬
tions :
Resolved by the general assembly of Virginia, That the proxies of
the state in the James river and Kanawha company be and they are
hereby instructed to move a resolution at the next meeting of the
stockholders of the said company, reducing the salary of its president
to $2000 per annum, to cast the vote of the state in support of said
resolution, and to repeat the said motion and vote at every meeting of
the said stockholders until the said reduction is effected.
Resolved, That the Board of public works be and they are hereby
instructed to enquire fully into the causes of the delays of the James
river and Kanawha company in completing their works to Buchanan;
also into the causes of the falling of the Judith dam, constructed by
said company across James river ; also into the first cost of the works
of said company from the commencement of their operations to the
end of the current fiscal year ; also into the conduct, efficiency, and
attention to duty of the officers of the said company since the resump¬
tion of operations above Lynchburg: That besides such other evi¬
dence as may be collected by or laid before them, they cause evidence
in writing to be taken at such points upon the line of the works above
Ljmchburg as they may think expedient ; and that they report the
result of their enquiries and the evidence collected by them to the next
general assembly.
Resolved, That the proxies of the state in all internal improvement
companies in which the state is or may be a stockholder, be and they
are hereby instructed to cast the vote of the state against every chief
engineer employed by any such company, who shall accept employ¬
ment in any other company, or upon any other public work than that
of which he is the chief engineer.
All of. which is respectfully submitted.