The Van Buren press., 1860-07-20
Our Railroads.

Ihis condition, analogous to animal infancy,
is one of weakness and ineffieiency 1t is
the A of advancement, and must be
fully and thoroughly mastered before sin
/ gle step in advance can safely be taken.
We are How i'm the A B G. OF the F. s. d
l., r. Il. r., and it appears to me, as it
must t. all candid observers, that the work
is rather too long in its swaddling clothes.
1t is high time i; was at least put into
." shorts and boots and taught to totter on
by the aid Of its own strength Some work
has been done on the road bed, and all
things appear encouraging. Ii the people
Ioi Western Arkansas would only immo-
late that dangerous monster SO distrust to
the gol confidence" walk up t. their
duty, ana DO all they reasonably can 10 to
advance the work, the road could be built
without the least trouble From the posi-
4ion taken by our candidates for Governor,
We have little to hepa for from the pIetho-
ric treasury Of our unnatural mother, I'M
less the people will send representatives full
ly instructed to do everything in their power
70 rsssurc for our raiIrpads that aid they so
Justly deserve. g Pay of the State debt,
and establish G.. rc-estahlish," I believe
they call it) the credit of the State, and
then we will lend you the use of our said
credit to assist in building your roads" !" say
the two candidates for Gubernatorial hon
ors, who addressed us in such grandiloauent
non-sen not long since. The methods to
be pursued IN paying off, are little differ
ent-one is totally and unqualifcdly ridic-
ulous, as well as visionary, the other the
quintessence Of humbuggery and hypocri-
sy. The last one is the only one worthy
of serions notice. The advocate of the lat.
ter method is fearfully careful to admonish
the 8 dear people " that he would never con-
sent TO the payment of one farthing tax, if
he could devise means to get along without
.it-thlnhs one sixth of one per cent an
enormous amount to be paid by Arkansas
citizens for the enjoyment of the protection
ot her laws, and for the purpose of carry
ing on the machinery of government that
the &c magnificent banking system was a
consummate humbug and outrageous swim
die, and all the debts incurred by them di-
rectly or through their instrumcntality. are
iniquitous and unjust, and all these pretty
things. Yet the taxes paid in by the :. dear
people must be absorbed, swamped. cor
ruptibly swamped for the next three or fohr
years for the purpose of paying off the
principal OF these unjust iniquitious Z" &c.
debts, Iii order to put the credit ofMe State
on firm foundation. With such states
manlike views as those expressed by .. our
candidates, l pray how long would the
State keep its credi, on a fyus basis. But
enough OF their Juncon,be let us see for
ourselves, and try and do without the aid
which s. our candidates - deny US. In the
first place why pay off the principal Of the
State debt OF any other debt at all. Bond
holders, generally, are capitalists who in
vest money in all kinds of stock. HolforJ
4 Co, who hold the bulk OF Real Estate
Bank Bonds, don't want the PRINCIPAL due
them soon. f..,sa Arkansas capi;alists-who
held state bonds do not care a fig Rr rnc
principal of their debt If they are so
pressed for cash, why did they invest in
stock or'bonds 0. anything else ? They let
their money at-lOtoraot, an1 If the inter-,
Is paid PROMPTLY it's al. they wisl. or will
Iask. Then Ii some ARRANGEMENT be made
by the next Legislature 10 begin payment Of
back interest on the debts and pay all they
can IN which event H. {, Co. will gladly say,
:. We do not desire to dispose of our bonds
all we wish is the annual interest thereon
draw new bonds for us and make them
payable IN fifty years from date at per
cent" This being done, the State can have
time to force the money from the IIortSag-
:. \, :.
comes due, and invest surplus in such q
manner as that it will pay her IL ore PEI. cen
tum than she pays on her debt The conse-
qucnce will be that Arkansas bonds will 90
up in market like fash. She can lend her
az! to roads and other public works, thereby
creating an inexhaustiblc revenue, which
Will increase yearly, and make her veal
thy State. - State Debt " is a bug bear,
used by political tricksters to frighten the
people into measures-it is no dreadful
| thing. 1t is, on the other hand about as
as much benefit as injury Pennsylva-
MIA, with her /" forty million " debt would
not have it paid off, and is continually in
sestins surplus revenue in public works.
| But without State aid ,rc can easily
build our road with the lands. If we
thought it polite, the lands could certainly
be mortSaSed for means to grade the road,
| and the road-bed is good security for the
iron and rolling stock, always and more
Especially such an one as this will be, run
ming up one of the most fertile valleys in
the world, and directly through the heart
of the State with no road to compete with
it. Let us look seriously at this matter a
few minutes, reflect upon it and fix upon a
| plan for constructing the road. need not
review thu. plans already familiar 10 all. l
viii only call attention to one suggested by
a worthy fellow townsman and one who
deserves more credi; than any man in the
town for the manner in which he has eleyo-
ted himself to the accomplishment Of this
grand work. The plan is this; pay
him 5000, 900, to be secured by mortgages
upon land or in any other way, (without
mortgages ii possible) in cash and he will
enter into an obligation to build the road (, (,
How With these $200, 600 he can build
twenty miles of road and on that basis he
he can stock it. He will go to Little Rock
and begin work will construct and fully
equip 20 miles of road. With his locomo-
tive putting ami steaming into and ont of
Little Rock people will begin to think there
Is something in it after all. Having 90
miles built he could use twenty miles of
| land with that he would raise the means
for building another 20 miles, and so on
until some t:te or foggy morning the en-
| gine would scream lou,ler than the Ameri