New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-01-07

TX
IL MARRIAGES DEArHs,-We will hereafter publish tn
, simple announcement of marriages and deaths free
70 charge.
le Taxation for Railroad Purposes
ne We yesterday said we hoped the Convention
v now in session in this city would give its endorse
y, ment to certain important propositions. Wemen
h toned that the Mexican Gulf--the American
Mediteranean--mustb be the seat of a grand com
mercial empire, NewOrleans its mistress and TIN
lie entire Mississippi Valley its granary and sup
plying region; that governmental aid to Judi
es cious systems of internal improvement is prop
- erly due; and that all restrictions upon tn,
n. amount of capital invested in railroad projects
e. and the duration of railroad companies, are il
is violation of the spirit of the age.
lie We should have added, as not the least i'm.
portant, that taxation upon property, for the
n furtherance Of judicious railroad projects. is
l. reasonable and equitable but this seemed to us
1t so necessary corollary of governmental aid,
II that we left it for future discussion
:, We say that it is reasonable and equitable
$ that property, and specially real estate, should
be taxed to aid in the construction of a judi
Il cious railroad project; and the truth of this
proposition seems to us to be open to the day.
d We tax real estate for the police protection we
give it; and that police protection is to save it
from loss why should we not tax it where gain
is to be made? Is not the principle clearly and
logically the same in both cases
: If railroad project be iudicious in its origin,
a long array of facts in history or experience
bears evidence to the fact that its successful
completion must largely add to the value of
property, and particularly of real estate
BY the effects of railroads, property in Bos
ton, in the brief space Of ten years. more than
doubled in value; that's, every property holder
over and above his customary annual receipts
from his property, made by its increase in value.
through the healthful and invigorating influence
of railroads, nearly IL per cent per annum
| Would it have been right that property holders
should have harvested all this proft--an extra
profit upon regular profit and contribute
nothing towards securing it:
| Take the Georgia railroad and see the influ-
cnee it has exerted i'll increasing the value of
lands ltruns Gf we remember rightly through
an extraordinarily poor and unproductive coun-
try, 1t at once doubled and even qladrupled the
nominal value of lands and made them, what
|
roads of Georgia have had the same effect,
| they have raised the value of lands, brought
them favorably into the market, swelled the
population of existing towns, and created others
where none existed before Take Atlanta for
an example. We believe it now numbers $500
inhabitants. In lS42-only ten years aeo-the
| unbroken forest Swallowed its site: but the loco
motive bearing trade and population in its
tram, came, and now it is rapidly growing into
prosperous city. The locomotive made Atlanta.
aud making Atlanta, made fortunes for MANY
individuals. Ought not their property, thus
vastly benefited, to have paid something towards
the establishment Of an agency which has made
them rich and is making them richer,
There is Chattanooga in Tennessee Two
years ago it was u dull, litelcss village, with
less than five hundred semi torpid residents
The Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad has
wrought magical change-one quite as Won
derful as any miracle of Aladdn's lamp. 1t is
now thriving, busting place, overcrowded
with commercial products, and counting some
twenty-five hundred, who will soon grow to five
thousand, nha bitants Property is more yalu-
able, rents are higher there. Ought not, then
the property holders of Chattanooga and its
vicinity to have contributed something to an
enterprise so largely to their profit? Take the
Boston and Worcester road In few wears if
has swollen Worcester from an ordinary coun-
try village to Il thriving city of nearly $4,000
inhabitants; and on the short line of Al miles
has created five hOmshing villages between
Boston and Worcester, adding not less than
10000 inha bitants to the short section of conn
try through which it runs From this fact,
outside Of all statistics, any man of common
sense must see how great must have been the
additional value it gave to property Did that
property owe it nothing--not one dollar Of sub |
scription;
But there are other points Of view from which
to draw conclusions on this subject.
Why is city property valuable more than any
other' For two plain reasons; immediate
nclgl'borhood to market and (what is the con-
sequence OF the iirsD denser population. Neigh
borhood is matter Of distance and distance
involves tile consideration of the facilities of
transit Ii man, five or ten miles out of the
limits of Il city can reach given point in that
city by railroad, can reach its seat of business,
IN twenty minutes, is he, for all purposes of
trade, further from it than the resident who
resides upon its immediate outskirts: 1t is
plain that he is not; and it is further plain that
he can make the products of his property.
whether he live ten or one hundred miles from
the city, find a daily market, if railroad facili-
ties be afforded him. This fact alone should
bring his property into demand and thereby
add largely to its value
Again: Real estate is permanent; it is the
same tomorrow, and the day after, and for
ever, that it is to-day, and always it commands
the benefits of railroads Men die; pecuniary
compel them or their children.
sooner or later, to dispose of railroad stock but
real estate enjoys always and increasingly the
useful and profitable influences of railroads, and
in degree far beyond that in which they are
realized by other property or by individuals.
Having so much greater, and permanent in
crest, why should it not contribute to their ,
construction, which is its most certain and alb {
dilute profit
We do not argue that the tax upon real estate 9