The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-06-29
A "MARMiON TO THE REsCUEr

e dPpiicalon OF reason, and laugh assaults I
e scorn. We Were confident, also, that the matul
: ed sentiment of the people would sustain th
: proprlety of the views we advanced
a We are glad, now, 10 find that the opinion
for which we have contended, are not confine
f 10 ourselves. They have found an able advo
a cate in the southern portion of the State, an
= we rejoice that his good lance is in rest aeains
the foes of the true faith, against those VIII
t would lead the people Of Iowa from the line o
safe practices, which they have hitherto pursue,
. with such happiness and success.
The following article is from the Keoka!
Dispatch Of 18th inst:
"7he Sober Second Thought of TIE People,
County Subscriptions to Railroads.
This is a subject of vital moment Let the
citizens of Iowa-,he taxpayers-take calm
practical, common sense view of it, and not be
led astray by fallacous representations
/ 1t would be fine thing to have paging rail
road through each county of this Slate,-but il
is equally certain that at least two thirds cf the
counties that would rely upon success would be
doomed to disappointment. Yet in each one OF
them, only publish the probability of a grea,
roilroad-get up the usual captivating clap trap D
by which "stock' is raised, and there is hardly
doubt that the proposition would carry by a
large majority. The county credit would be
pledged; the people and their posterity would be
taxed; somebody would pocket the funds; and
something would result from it, In DUBUQUE
county, it is proposed to subscribe 100000 TO
the Pacific railroad. Suppose that only half the
other counties should do Likewise. What would
be the sum total, TEN MILLIONS of coun.
ty indebtedness! And that, too, in State which
has said in her constitution that her cebt shall not
exceed twenty thousand! How inconsistent to
establish fundamental principle-and then per-
init counties TO launch into the sea of debt, with
all sails set, and without anchor or rudder -
When the counties GO, where is the State DO
not all the parts constitute the whole Have
we no friends of "strct constitution" among
US? Can there be any two things more incom.
patble than State integrity. and such unbridled
county extravaganc.'
1t Is very easy to summon the aid of rhetoric
and depict in glowing colors the unima rinable
blessings to result from the construction of
.Paciic railroads it is an old story Our
sister State, Illinois, bears upon her bosom deep
traces OF the sorrows which have been caused by
such premature conceptions. Her railroads were
abandoned; her State stock went down TO 40
per cent; and wild cat banks sprang up upon
the ruins of credi', in every direction, to enrich
the shaver, by flching more than one half of the
honest earnings of the toillng masses She is
recovering from the shock-but how. By
most marvellous and magnifcen. grant from
the General Government, such as has never
been made before, and seldom will be again
Now, these railroads are reaching the eastern
bank OF the Mississippi, and they will go west
They must go, There will be at least two rail-
roads we ,tward, across our State. Now ,ohcre
will they go' That is the question. Is it wise,
is 1t Just for any county, by the vote of major
ty to compel her citizens TO launch their little
means, into mere lottery, 10 bid for them Ger,
even if they gain only paying for an indefnabe
profit, which probably would have accrued to
them, without any risk whatever
We may iely upon it that De Bow S maxim is
correct-'whenever commerce demands road
capital will make il 2' eWheneyer a road will
pay, The people along The line will have the
sagacity to take the stock" If these principles
are true, they are foreibiy true, now, when
money is plenty, and when the necessities of
eastern competition demand that roads shall! be
made west ward whether counties subsc.be or
net.
The present mania for railroad improvements
is strkingly similar to that Of 1S36-37 the plan
of authorizing county subscriptions, is revival
of the old, punderIng state lean system, in q
more expanded and hdeous form; and every
thing forebodes that the result will be similar
Editors and public men who opposed those then
popular laws were assaied in the severest terms,
as hostile to the true interests Of the country
Time has shown that they were right. Can any
one doubt that our protracted and extraordinary
season of commercial prosperity will be followed
by reVulsion-that county and city credit will
depreciaie, to the incalculable injury Of honest
industry; that many fair and lofty schemes of
public Improvement will pass away, like air cas-
ties or come down like childrcns toy houses
that banks will break, and that foreign relations
will become complicated, and lead to even more
serious results' Shall we not take warning
from the past, and consult reason and pru-
dence2
In our own State, the question of the consti-
tulionality OF county subscriptions has not been
answered. We are convinced that it must be
decided against railroad men. The powers not
granted by the cons,i uti,n are reserved, not to
the counties, but to the people. If majority of
the vs'es in a county can compel all others to
be taxed for railroad, why not, with equal pro-
priety, for a bank, or grand grist MILL
Four ierite colony, or anything else which they
may elect, according to their notions The
powers lie with the people, in their individual,
not in their corporate capacity, and the compul-
sion OF men to become subscribers against their
will, is more or less than virtual trespas upon
the bill of rights.
We have the greatest respect for the opinions
of our fellow citizens who honestly disagree
with US, but none at all for those who take
superficial view Of the case. Such men, who
perhaps can hardly spell through the pages ofia
railroad journal, may rail against sOld
Fogy," and bigoted, Indifferent and blind to
the true interests of our citzens' What does
Or wi ~ matt hat
Of the federal school see fit to rant in this wise
"The eastern States are already cut up into
perfect chequer work, by lines of railroads, and
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois are
pressing close upon their heels in this great en-
terprise of opening up steam highways through
the farms Of their State
Why is Iowa behind, Why is no steam
whistle heard udon cur praries' Are not our
people as enter orising as those OF PennSylva-
MAJ is our credit not as good as that of llll-
nois Do our people lack the desire for these
great thouroughiares, or have they no need of
railroads to minister to their commerce or pro-
mote their prosperity. In all these things we
are like our sister States
But our people are governed by rulers, whose
policy is defeated by other motives than the
public good. The leaders of Locofocoism de-
pend upon official salaries and public plunder
for their subsistence, and the increased value OF
property, and the general prosperity OF the coun-
try will put nothing in their pockets. They
stand therefore impregabIe against the onward
march of improvement in our State"
This is all political batderdash-and needs no
reply. In answer to the only plausible part of
it we have to say that "Iowa'' is not "behind. y
There has been no newState in the Union which
has advanced with more rapid strides. She
will be "chequered' by railroads, as early in
her history as Ohio or Pennsylvania. There is
no we'll informed person who doubts that she is
already entering upon better times than che has
ever known before. Her farmers get high
price for their produce labor finds its reward !;
the overfowing treasury of eastern capital Is
being opened to stretch across her the iron
bonds to the Pacific. Her people are practical
men, and are not to be cheated bv any leslsa
tive pretence, into rank and beggarly specula-
tons They choose to cultivate their broad
acres, and lay up thei stores of substantial and
undlsputable wealth, and subscribe, as they are
able, TO remuneratiye public improvements ),
rather than cripple themselves by taxation for
the privilege of a chance that at some future
day, the "lron Pegasus may fly through their
farms, like bird Of passage.