Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-01-28
county in the very front rank of wealth

UtOt. NOW III Dy Ilo utdiis AoAio"S
because we are in debt, therefore
we should not aid in this work. The
very fact that we bond the town and build
this road, may be the very way to pay
our debts and save ourselves from bank
ruptcy. When Gen. Hamilton was called
upon by Congress to devise some mode to
pay the national debt, he recommended as
the best means to accomplish that end to
raise the national credit, and how could
that be so well done as by the adoption OF
such measures as would increase the con-
fidence of all classes in the government
and raising the value of every inch OF
land within the jurisdictional limits OF
that government. The same reasons
which weighed then are just as potent
to-day. Let us build this road, and the
value of our real estate will double and
quadruple, and the small pittance of a
tax that viii fall to our share will never
be felt by US.
The writer of this pamphlet attempts
to brighten our people by telling them that
they will have large amountof interest
to pay on these town bonds. Now, in the
first place, these bonds are not to be issued
until enough has been subscribed to build
the road, and of course the interest will
not commence until the bonds are issued
When the bonds are issued, the town is to
receive back the bonds of the road to an
equal amount. Does any one believe that
when this road is built the stock will not
be at par Ii did not so believe, /
should hardly urge you to bond your
town. I DO believe that when this road
Is built and its proper connections com
p!eted. 1t viii be one of the best paying
roads in the country, and that its stock
will be above plr, and that in consequence
Of that fact you win never be called upon
to pay one dollar on your bonds. 1t does
not require a great amount of figuring to
come to that result As to the worth OF
this new road and its Importance, OF
course we have to Judge of it as we do OF
other things. But when we consider It's
location, that Of Il connecting link in a
great chain of railroad from the Atlantic
to the Pacific that Portland, near to US,
has the best harbor on the Atlantic coast
We see Mt once that the Rutland and
Woodstock railroad will hold no mean
place in this great iron chain which binds
together our now united country.
But even ii tho stock of this road should
not be AT par, and the town Of Rutland
should have few thousand dollars to pay,
should we not be the gamers by sixty or
a hundred fold
Again, am told that the engineers who
surveyed this road, and estimated the cost
of building it, are not acquainted with
their business and their estimates are not
to be relied on have but word to say
in'regard to the survey; 1t was made by
men whose capacity has never before been
questioned Messrs. Evans and Wyman
are old surveyors, and have had long ex-
perience in the business, while Messrs.
Randall and Brown, of our town, need no
from me the survey was
and accurately made, and the
estimates can be relied on, and it shows a
weak case and small means when men re-
sort to such subtcrfugcs to defeat great
and noble enterprise.
The Hoosae Tunnel Is also lugged in to
brighten and scare US, because the gentle
men who surveyed our road have recon-
menaed tunnel at the top of the noun
tain, some 500 feet long. Our people
have all heard of the Hoosac Tunnel, and
know something of its length and depth,
and it is needless for me to spend time or
space to rcfute "A theory which carries its
own contradiction upon the face of it. The
Hoosac Tunnel is long one. through
mountain where shafts have to be sunk
every few feet, and of course thousands
and millions of dollars are spent in open
ing those shafts down hundreds of feet
under ground land experiments are tried
which often fail, while we have a small
tunnel of only 500 feet with no shafts and
no experiments, and the cost of which
can be estimated almost to dollar. W leak,
poor, small, and dilapidated, must be the
cause which needs To be bolstered up by
such ilimsy Subterfuges and absurd state
ments.
We,are next treated to long column
Of large figures, in which is calculated the
immense amount Of money which Rut-
land will have to pay if she should bond
herself for the amount proposed In the
first place, the writer starts upon the as
Suuted false premises that the stock of the
road will be worthless, and that when
built 1t will be no advantage to our town,
and winds up by figuring his whole con-
illusions at compound interest.
That the road when built, will be a
great and lasting benefit to our town, is a
so plain and palpable, that it
requires and admits of no argument. and
we propose to leave it upon the foregoing
statement Of facts, and your own good
sense.
The pamphlet man now erows'wise as he
proceeds, and sits to work To figure out
the cost ot building the Road, he doubts
and denies the estimates made by the
engineers, and call, upon you to know il
Won have ever seen them. The estimated
cost Of building the road from Rutland to
is 81 100000. as given you
by the mcn who YOU employed and paid
by your private subscriptions to do that
work. Can you conceive or imagine what
object or Involvement those men could
have 10 give YOU false estimate Of cost OF
/ stance. They are men whose lives have
been spent in this business. and who>,.
'eputatiou are at stake in all they say
md do III regard to it. Some men are 80
dishonest themselves that they ar. ,,l~.".7
suspicious or other people. and when
-he>e gentlemen attempt 10 carry their
point by setting up their own knowledge
II ii subject Of which they are wholly ig-
lortut ~ iiIst that of men of long expe-
rience, and great practice, they merely
NJ * themselves egotistiral and ridicu-
ous, Il Is for the people to say whose
and estimates are entitled to
.he most WEIGHT and credit. in view of all
the facts and circumstances. The man
who wrote the pamphlet may be a good
man III his own business, but he can hardly
.xpect to carry much influence when he
attempts in his office to estimate the cost
IF building railroad. across the Green
In regard TO the worth of the stock of
he road when built, it seems to me it can
tdmit OF but one answer: we can not and
should not Judge OF it by the stock of other
Vermont roads, because this road is to
form one of the links in the mighty iron
,hain which Is to unite the waters of the
with those of the Pacific, and
over which will pass the great bulk of the
commerce between these two oceans
Other roads in the State have To depend
upon their local business, while
his road will find ample employment in
CARRYING over its line the goods and mer-