QUARTERMASTER-GENERALâS OFFICE, September 10, 1864
Respectfully referred to Lieutenant-Colonel Sims, By order of Quartermaster-General: W. F. ALEXANDER, Major and Assistant to the Quartermaster-General.
RICHMOND, September 13, 1864.
Respectfully returned to Quartermaster-General.
The rates alluded to within are charged to individuals. Government is charged for troops from 5 to 74 cents per mile, or about twice ‘“pneace prices,” and on freights in about the same ratio. These rates are not excessive, but on the contrary extremely liberal. The roads find their profit in caring for individuals, and if the private rates are cut down by act of Government it is inevitable that Government rates must be advanced. Speculators, &c., are thus indirectly aiding in keeping down the price of one of the heaviest items of Government expense. Transportation by rail is beyond all question rendered to Government at lower rates than anything else in the Confederacy. It is true it is done at the expense of the people, and in that view it might be well to intrust the regulation of railroad charges to the commissioners, but it should not be lost sight of that the Government may be made to suffer by the operation.