Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-07-23
To the Business Men of Delaware.

GENTLEMEN:-The business interests
of this town require that there should
be competition in railroad facilities for
the transportation of freight. The bu-
! siness men of the place are victimized
by the monopoly that now exists in
this department of business. The eX.
t~Ortionate charges that they are sub
iected to on local freight, are not only
unreasonable and unjust, but depress
to a greater or less degree all branches
of business among US. Enterprise is
restricted; capital is withheld from in
vestment in manufactures and other
business operations; the citizen sus-
tains a loss upon every article be con-
sumes or buys that comes from beyond
our limits, that ought not to be impos-
ed upon him; n he is in like manner
robbed of a prOpOrtionate amount up-
on every article of manufacture OF
/ rOduc for which a market must be
things continue to exist, Or shall we,
by concerted action, endeavOr to find
a remedy in the remOVal of this incu-
bus which now weighs so heavily up
on us? To appeal to the corporation
whose road run to doors would be
useless. Corporations are bodies, pro-
verbally, without souls, and this one
is certainly not an exception to the ad-
age. Our only remedy consists in the
establishment of a competing line OF
IdllLOGAa IL aSCOA ADAl5AL E1LASg capital
must be raised; we must arouse our
selves to the magnitude of the occasion
and put forth our best efforts, and we
must see to it that those efforts are
honestly and in~telligently directed
In wears gone by we have had some
I~anlentable experience for want of due
caution in this latter respect. Let us
profit by that experience.
We are now presented with the OBJ
portunity of obtaining the relief de-
sired, and of securing to us facilities in
the respects mentioned scarcely sur
passed by those of any locality in the
State. The proposed plan of finishing
the old line of the Springfield, Mt
Vernon d Pittsburg road from Della
ware to Mt vernon, and continuing it
thence to Millersburg, where it would
connect with the road now completed
and in operation from the latter place
to Cleveland, would, if carried out.
furnish a road to Cleveland from Del
aware of about the same distance OF
that by the Cleveland and Columbus
road, and which would make connec-
tons at Orville with the ~Pittsburg, Fit.
Wayne and Chicago road, and at Akron
with the Atlantic and Great Western.
Thus far we would be furnished with
competing facilities for northern and
eastern travel and transportation; but
the scheme should not stop here. What
we want, and what the central and a
o. 20 BOAGACAA VI Xix EOuL44ClH anu
northern parts of our State require, is
an Independent through line from Gin
cinnati to Cleveland. Such line would
be obtained by the continuation o fthis
one running from Delaware southwark
by the way of Xenia and Lebanon to
Cincinnati. From Cincinnati to Della
ware the line is straight. and from the
latter place to Cleveland it is very di-
rect, making the distance between Gin
cinnati and Cleveland as short, if not
shorter, by several miles, than by the
1eveland, Columbus and Cincinnati
road. Large meetings have, within a
few months, been held at Xenia and
Lebanon looking to the construction
aof the southern portion of this line,
and an assurance given OF raising a
large portion of the capital required to
extend it to Delaware. and il is under
stood that the necessary funds are as
Sured for its completion from Nj. Yer
non to MiIlersburg provided that
about seventy-hFe thousand dollars
can be secured to extend it from nit.
Vernon to Delaware. This road would
pass through the best portions of Ohio.
1t would penetrate, in Holmes county,
ineXhaustable bed of the finest quail
ty of coal and pass in the immediate
vicinity of the MassillOn, Akron and
other mines, and accommodate, in its
entire length, a rich and highly i'm
proved country. a large portion of
which is now destitute of railroad IA
~cilities. Cincinnati and Cleveland
would be greatly benefited by its con
struction, and we might reasonably ex-
pect liberal contributions from them
for that purpose. The present appears
to be a propitious period for c,rrying
this important enterprise. which
would unquestionably be Il source OF
profit to it's stockholders, and furnish
the means of curbing the %rapacious
spirit of the present mouOpOlies which
bears so heavily upon the people
Of this and other points upon its line.
IN Whatever you may do, however, on
this subject, beware of entangling al
liances with other railroad cOmnanies
without u guarantees for the protec-
lion of your interests, and be also on
your guard against certain class OF
who are simply theorists. without
knowledge or experience in railroad
affairs, with a small modicum of abiIi.
les and perhaps q less amount of sub
'tantial means, who will endeavor to
the controllers of your in err
ssts, but whose action wou d in the
.uture, as it has in the past, lead to
he squandering Of your means with
nut beneficial result, and M in
allure. You nave two notable exam
lies of this before you. The SPRING I
leld, Mt. Vernon and P%ittsburg road ]
vas sacrificed to the ambition of indi- e.
-iduals of this stamp, and the 'Short
line" project was defeated in like l
manner. Some Of you lost your thous- q
nds in each of these enterprises. and IA
{ you will calmly and dispassiOnateIy q
sView your action in the matter, YOU b
ill have no difficulty in arriving at tt
ne cause of the disastrous result. In -
10 n cIse, as stockholders, you aid !