New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-06-06
The Railroad Ordinance.

The ordinance to subscribe one and malt
million of city bonds to aid in the construction
III !, continuous railroad To Mobile from this
CITY comes before the Board Of Aldermen this
evening. The bill proposes to refer to the pe9as
ple Of New Orleans thesimple question whether
they will be taxed one million and half dollars
to promote the enterprise Of connecting this cry
with Mobile by railroad. The Legislature
has passed bill providing for this popular nods
Of deciding the question. and merely oonstlsu-
ting the Council as the medium through when
the question shall be submitted. a bitter o s,p
siition has been raised and prosecuted py means,
little creditable to the parties, BY rival COM
nany which has already obtained large aid from
the city and people for its enterprise The op-.
position is confined altogether to the officers and
agents of this rival company Shall suchIaan
Opposition prevail with the representatives Of
the people, to induce them to assume the haughs
tn and grave attitude Of refusing TO the people
The right Of voting on this question The Board
Of Aldermen will decide this question in the
sitting of this afternoon.
If they refuse to pass the ordinance befoW
them. they will not only delay an important
public work, but they will produce sectional and
other divisions of interests and feeling, which
will injure the credit Of the city and seriously
ohstruct the other enterprises to which the and
of the city has been given To promote harmony
and a general union of all interests, to main
tain the credit Of the Corporation, it behooyes
our Aldermen to pass this ordinance and throw
upon the people the responsibility of deciding
the question. Their rejection of the present or
dinance may delay-it cannot defeat what the
Legislature intended, that the people shall pass
upon the matter, for the law provides that the
ordinance may beagain acted upon in six months
should the Council fail to pass il. It is indeed
8 serious responsibility, under these circum-
stances, for Aldermen to take from the people
the right which the Legislature has conferred
upon them Of voting whether they will or will
not be taxed for great public work
The Bee says that MISUNDERSTANDING of the
people are in favor of the subscription OF
Ill 800, 900 to the New Orleans and Mobile
Railroad. It could have safely said ninety
nine hundrestths are in favor Of the ordinance.
In the second District the Bee justly says the
vote will be unanimous, and yet it adds thato
of the of that District, it is ap-
pretended, will vote against the ordinance. We
can scarcely credit such rumor. The Repre-
sentative referred to is Alderman Gordon, wins
is one Of the heirs and proprietors Of the Mex
lean Gulf Railroad, an enterprise which has
been proposed as substitute for the continuous
road to Mobile. 1t is we'll known that as a last
shift the opponents Of the road to Mobile have
got in a memorial to induce the Council to sub
scribe what it has not the legal power to do tc
that extinct and dilapidated scheme Of o past
age. They, Of course. do not expect to succeed
in this, butit may excite some opposition to the
pontchartrain Company, and that is all they
desire. Besides, 1t il believed that by this
course they aid Alderman Gordon to adger.
tise his property and present inducements t
him to nisrepresent his constituents W
will mot believe that they are successful In tn
latter yart Of their scheme. Alderman Gordon
represents the Second District, and knowing, Al
he does, that ninety nine out of hundred o
his constituents are in favor Of the ordinance. il
bound by every obligation Of honor and duty
to reflect that wish and vote for the ordinance
With our knowledge Of the gentleman's charac
ter, we will not believe that he will or can &C
otherwise. until we see his vote recorded in op
position to the desire, opinion and will of thos
whom he has been sent to the Council to rep
resent