New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-05-11
from the Baton Rouge Advocate,
A Railroad to Clinton,

| The necessity for railway communication with
the interior is conceded by ALL therefore no argu-
ment is needed upon that point. How to obtain
it is the question: There Is little hope that North
ern capital will be placed at our disposal; there
is infinitely less than we can raise the money in
! cash or currency here. Shall we, then, drop the
subject and suffer under the continued nfiction of
| dirt roads that are good so long as no one uses
| them? or shall we try in another directi0n2
! What is needed to build railroad is capital.
Labor is capital we have neither. But lying
dormant IN our midst is the creative of labor, capi
| tai and population.
| From Baton Rouge to Clinton, a distance of
! thirty miles, we have nearly an air line road on
dead level, and requiring little grading or bridging
70 ~ " Tor cross ties and iron. To complete and
EQUIP railroad over this level tract will require
three hundred thousand dollars. OF this, one
thlTd OF the amount would be expended for labor
und two.thrds for iron and equipment. Lying on
either side Of the road between lines running
parallel with the road, and eight miles distant
from one another, is over l50, 600 acres of land
Ihls land may be worth more in the estimation of
It's owners put taking good, bad and Indifferent al
| t0gether, cleared, wild, fresh worn out swamp
and high land, it will average in value one dollar
per acre. If fifty thousand acres of it were sub
sGrlbed to the stock of the road by the owners
! each proprietor giving onethird of his land the
| success.
The company could then be organized, its lands
surveyed and mapped, and then placed in the
1 market at prices graduated according to quality
and on terms like this To actual settlers tracts Of
one hundred acres could be allotted, the price to
I be taEen out in labor upon the road. The result
would be that as soon as five hundred tracts of
I one hundred acres each were taken up and settled
| upon, 5ve hundred laborers could be placed upon
| the road, each one of whom would be earning his
! dollar per day. Every laberer's energy would be
| heightened by the knowledge that his work was
enhancing the value, whilst it was paying the cost
of his homestead
Dividing this labor into four divisions, of one
| h9nored and twenty-five men, each division could
| labor upon the road one week in each month and
then be discharged towork three weeks upon their
own farms. Estimating the value of their labor
upon the cost of their lands at three dollars per
| acre the result would be $l5OOO0 which would
more than grade, ditch, bridge and cross tie the
road ready for the IRON OF course this labor can
not be obtained easily, in this country. Most of
| our Southern population have homesteads upon
| which they can expend their labor. Northern men
are not coming South in colonies and will not be
tempted by such offers. Our negro population
cannot be relied upon, and the less of such actual
settlers in Louisiana the better for the future of
| our people. Europe is the bank upon which to
draw for this labor, and well directed effort would
result in the arrival of the five hundred families
| from Germany or ireland whose capital of muscle
! is wanted here. We could give them homes and
they would give us IN return railroad and popu-
lation.
| When their labor is expended and the result is
the production of road ready for the iron, what
| then! 100000 more is wanted to complete it.
The parishes of East Baton Rouge and East Fell
diana could tax themselves for $40, 600 EACH pay
able in twenty year bonds, and the balance would
come from the State under the act aiding such en-
terprises and the mortgage bonds of the road.
Private subscriptions cannot be relied upon, and
it is useless to expend breath talking about it, The
result, even if money to buy the iron could not be
procured, would be beyond al calculation benef-
cial to the country. Several thousand pure whites
would be added to the population, and the i'm
proVement of their own land would increase the
value of that Of the donors to an incalculable
! extent.
The above scheme may prove impracticable, the
proverbial short,sghtedness and selfshness Of hu-
man nature being great obstacle, but the effort
would cost little time or money, and if the prop
would upon election day, when they meAt to
choose ward officers, consult, make rough esti.
mate Of the amount Of land that would be sub
scribed to aid this enterprise, and send it to this
office, the publication of the number of acres
offered would have some effect on the public mind.