Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-09-26
THE LITTLE ROCK RAILROAD.
A Communication from Mr.. Beat
mont, and a Reply Thereto.
MEMPHIS. September p. 1869

AZ 80 1'INkAAAFNA - A1N'
Editors -ippedl: Under the mead of " a
Big Speculation an article appears in the
local columns of your paper Of this morn
ing, in which it is claimed that Gov. Clay
ton has been forced by Messrs. Fisher Il
Co., of Boston, to issue the State aid
granted by the Legislature to the Little
Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. and that
he (Clayton) succumbed to the urgings of
the Republican party of the State to fund
the State debt.
Ii is evident that the writer of the arti-
Gle has been misinformed in regard to the
subject, and as / am somewhat familiar
with the action of the Legislature of Ar
kansas at its last session, and the suisse
quent action of Gov. Clayton under the
law, 1 desire to state the facts through the
columns of your paper.
It's well known that Arkansas Is greatly
in need of railroad facilities, not having
over fifty miles of finished, reliable rail-
road in the State. To obviate his great
need by encouraging the construction of
railroads in different parts of the State,
the Legislature passed a railroad aid law
Gust what Tennessee and many other
States have lone through Democratic as
well as Republican Leg%islatures), giving
to a certain class of roads $4,000, and TO
others $4,000 per mile Is a loan. To
render the bonds of the State available to
the companies receiving them, and as an
act of justice to the creditors of the State,
it was deemed advisable to find old indebt-
edness, and an act was passed accordingly.
1t was made the duty of Gov. Clayton to
issue the " Funding Bonds" and also, as
sisted by two Commissioners, TO award
the aid TO such roads as in the opinion of
the Board of Commissioners had complied
with the requirements of the law. II
award of 80, 900 per mile was made TO the
Fort Smith road long before Fisher &
Company, or any other company became
the purchasers of the road. There, then;
falls to the groundthe assertion that one
in possession Ofthe charter and franchises
Of h road, Fisher Il Co., procured from
the Governor the issuance of the State
add etc.
The funding Of the State debt was a
plain duty, which the Governor had no
right to evade, and a very necessary step
before the railroad aid would be of any
value, either to tho Fort Smith road or
the Memphis and Little Rock railroad,
and one in which Memphis has a deep in
terest.
If the object of the parties purchasing
the Fort Smith road, and now negotiating
for the purchase of a controlling interest
in the Memphis and Little Rock road is to
make them the initial of a thirty-ffth
parallel read to the Pacific" they are but
carrying out the views urged with geeat
Nl2DE pN INC AEEEAL HOlAAb ilLlG slllGtf AIT
which, l presume, the APPEAL holds to
now. "If the whole power of the
present Republican majority In Con-
gress," through the influence of Fisher d
Co. is to be concentrated or the subsidiZ-
ing OF a Southern Pacific Railroad, with
Memphis as an initial point, it appears to
me that every Memphis journal, and
every citizen of Memphis should do all in
their power to aid in the movement.
-n1-v ~wo Of Tho oIfe--u AF the A . A r
well, and have often heard him discuss
the Importance Of a 35th parallel road to
the Pacific, via Memphis, with eloquencs
and ability; and 1 20 not believe he would
knowingly be a party to defeat the efforts
of enterprising capitalists to consummate
his favorite idea, or that he desires to
perpetuate the sluggish policy that has so
long weighed like a nightmare upon the
growth and prosperity of Memphis. Let
me urgs you, gentlemen, to lay aside old
prejudices-if you entertain them-and
join hands with the progressive spirits
who wOul remOve from the track of pro-
gress the Rip Van Wrinkles who have so
long obstructed the 0 to success.
Respectfully,
$. B. BEAUMONT.
THE editor OF the APPEAL alluded to
above has no reason, even for a moment,
to suspend his Judgment as to the de-
HALdDA4Abg VI a SuLh par dAitL IOutb ~ lIo
Pacific, and he is glad to see that Col.
Beaumont, who, while superintendent.
of the Little Rock Railroad, strangely
enough opposed il, is. now that he is
no longer connected with that road,
as strangely for it. But the editor
thinks that since the stockholders and
mortgage bOndholders Of the Little Rock
Railroad are as anxious as Fisher Il Co.,
who have not ont cent enlisted in the en-
terprise, TO make that line the initial stem
of our great Pacific road. they should be
afforded every opportunity of doing so,
and even be given a preference over the
stranger who is not yet even within our
gates. The owners of the road propose to
do all that Figher & Co. promise, just as
the owners ofthe Mississippi River road
promised, and win do all thatthe Ring"
proposed to do with that road. They are
parallel cases TO the mind Ofthe editor al
luded to, who in this brief rejOinder does
not wish TO provoke further discussion
upon what he is well convinced the pub
lie have made up their minds.