The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-06-22


road the refereuce--otherwise that road
would levy such local tariffs 10 points west
of this city, on business coming over our
road, as would shout equal the entire trans
portation of the c. r.. |. & P. road from
Peoria to those points. hi
The G. n. 4. & r. can. of course have no
particular objection to masking this arrange-
ment with these eastern companies, at PEG.
ria, because THE distance from Council
Bluffs, and all points in Iowa, is only &c
miles less to Peoria than from the same
points to Chicago, and its share of the .busi-
ness, under an arrangement with these com.
paaies, would give il about the same amount
of money as if the company carried its
freight and passengers 70 Chicago. Besides,
an alliance of this sort, at Peoria, would,
bring the c. r. I. & P. much additional
business for Council Bluffs, and west to
California, which it would not probably get
without this alliance. Under these circum-
stances we regret to say that Il would proba.
bly, be impossible to negotiate enough bonds
of our road, at any reasonable rate, to iron
and equip it, as capitalists don't make in
yestmenss Of that sort without looking over
the entire ground and learning what sources
they can rely on to promptly pay their in.
terest and ultimately reimburse their capi-
tai. 1t therefore becomes us, as friends OF
the Peoria road, to endesvor to raise, by
private Subscriptions, enough money to
place the enterprise on such a footing as will
enable it to successfully negotiate its bonds,
notwithst snding any overtures the c. r. /.
l. P. may make. Especially does it become
the people of this town, who voted for the
Moline route, and the people of Davenport
who advocated that route, TO see that the
enterprise suffers no retirement, at theii
hands. They voted that we must have
cheap coal, cheap transportation and "a free
ride to PEORIA" and in order to secure these
desirable results they must see to it thai
the enterprise does not prove 6
failure through any fault of theirs. In or
der, therefore, to place the new Peoria com
pany on that ground they must subscribe
about 500, 900 in Davenport and enough
IN Rock Island and Moline to make the same
amount, as the hundred thousand voted IL
Rock Island and Moline only about offset;
the fifty thousand which probably woult
have been voted in Black Hawk and Goa
Valley, and the thirty thousand which viii
now be lost in Western township by reason
of choosing the Moline route. When they
have done this the directors can have NOR,
assurance to ask capitalists to risk loan Il
complete our road-though they will still
meet the objections we have named in rela
ton to competition and business.
As friends of the road, however, it is no
the part of wisdom TO pretend that all is fai
| sailing and that there are no breakers ahead
1t becomes as to look all obstacles squarely
in the face and prepare to overcome then
By prompt and generous private ssbscrip
| tions.
We ell know that Davenport; is exceeding
ly anxious to have the road built by way O
Moline. She has done heap OF talking il
| that direction, and has subscribed abou
| one-tenth part of her share to secure the oh
ject of her desires. We can clearly under
| stand, however, that her backwardness wa
caused by wholesome fear that the road
would be built by way of Coal Valley but
| now that she has secured her favorite rout
she can no longer hesitate to put up he
money, and we expect to see her private sub
scriptions run up to the two hundred thou
sand, OF once.
It is true, also, that Rock Island has no
yet subscribed O cent, except to vote pro
posing to put the town in debt. But sh
wants cheap coal and cheap transportation
| and ought to have both and now that GU
people have secured the route which wi
give them both they will, of course, com
| forward at once and subscribe their money
They can well afford to do this, whether tn
road ever pays dividend or not, for the req
son that the reduction in the price of Goa
and in transportation to and from the east
viii Of themselves save or make large div
| dend ON the amount of stock subscribed
When these subscriptions shall have bee
| made the directors will then have somethin
to show capitalists that our people are il
earnest and have confidence in the enter
prise. It win also aid in preventing tn
road from being gobbled up on mortgage
bonds and thus cheating the towns out c
| every dollar voted upon the backs and pocI
cts of the people. Il was not our fault tina
these debts were voted upon the people
We have uniformly and steadily opposed a.
township or city subsc riptions in privat
corporations. But our people have bee
voted in debt and must now make the bes
| of what we regard as misfortune, and sc
cure,by private subscriptions, enough to saw
the township bonds from being gobbled upa
has usually been the case with similar invest
ments. We have always advocated privst
subscriptions, and now intend to redoubl
our efforts in that direction, hoping thus t
secure the construction of the road and saw
our township stock from destruction. Thos
who voted for the Moline route should re
member that Mr.. Cable offered to build one
sixth of the entire road and own one-sixth
but they voted that they did not wish him 4
do eight times as much as they have, as YET
proposed to do. We now insist, after the