The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-03-01
ESTABLISHED

Jor cash where they will pay, and NO
oy the hypothecation Of millions OF dollars Il
county bonds, issued to sui, the purnose. :
spectators, to be repudiated when payment
; demanded, TO the lasting scandal and disgrsc,
o. our people aud State.
we are in favor Of the construction Of Rail-
roads They are destined to confer great benz
nh upon our State. But We would let n.
railroad companies in the State construct thei,
roads with their own money wherever they like.
Let their own Interest direct, guided by their
reason and common sense. If spectators have
money for such an investment, let them mh-
scr'oe it wherever their irteres. dictates. II
the burlington and Missouri River Railroad il
unable or unwilling, with the present sparce
population IN the counties traversed. 10 con-
ssrucs their road through to the Missouri rive,
without these counties voting supplies in tha
shape OF bonds, let the enterprise stop and wait
ouei II VIII pay. So with other roads. Let
them all wait-bidc their time. If thew hava
merits IN business point Of view the money
VIII De found and they will be constructed r.
they have not. the landed property of the State
should not be mortgaged to force their construc.
uon and the gordon knot in the end cut by the
people in seeking relief by reputation.
This evil of voting railroads into existence
and forcing their construction where the wants
Of trade and tue interests OF the builders would
not now build them, has the still further inhe-
rent evil OF compelling one town alter another |
and one county after another to do the ..m. |
thing in self-defence. 1t is all wrong. The |
quicker it is stopped the better.
Our Western road, to Ottumwa. with its land
grant. built as il has been for cash, With econo-
my and skill, will pay its Eastern owners at least
ten. and We believe, fifteen per cent. Yet Bur-
lng,on and Des Moines county and Henry, JEFF
erson and Wapello counties incurred debts 10
secure its construction. They were forced by
the fact that others were incur
ring large Indebtedness for other roa is, the con.
structon OF which would greatly injure them,
into this position. The owners of this road. M
Is the case with all yet built in Iowa, reside out [
ot the State aud have no interest except to make
Ill they can out of their investments. They
sill qrarter their friends upon us as employees,
md the whole patronage of these large corpora.
ions will be used to further the ends and ad-
ance the interests Of their Eastesn owners, of
curse Could it be done consistently with legal
nd moral obligations-with honor and selfres.
ect-we should say at once, never pay one
ent OF interest or principal, SO far as it is going
. the present owners. But il is not an open
nesuon. We have agreed to pay, and it is a
lea we never shall put in as an individual and
aght not as con munties, in bar of the claim of u
creditor, that we made a foolish bargain.
so far as our own citizens are concerned-the
ontractors who built the first thirty miles of
le road and now own or are entitled 10 nor-
on OF these bonds wien issued-there ia eyerv \
ason why they should receive them aud be
AID punctuaily, even though there might be u
gal opening whereby payment might be avoid. q
l. They are the public spirited citizens of Bur- n
lgton who have mainly made all her improve G,
her plank roads-her bridges. and
cured her Eastern road TO the benefit of the n
eople OF Southern Iowa and to their own great +
,cuniary sacrifice. q