Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-03-15

BUILDERS of railways are not more
unselfsh than other men. Public ben
efactors they are, and monuments
loftier than those that kiss the clouds
above politicians graves should per-
petuate the fame of their country's
truest b~enefactors who have developed
its wealth and startled its intelligence
by the creation of magnificent rail
way system. If we contemplate the
map of the Valley Of the Mississippi,
and remember that cities have never
been enriched save by Western roads,
we may appreciate at once the value
Of those highways which, extended
toward the setting sun, must beget for
some metropolis on the Mississippi,
as like roads have done for Chicago
on the Lakes, a splendid destiny.
Trade from the very doorways of
Memphis on the eastern side of the
Mississippi is drawn to Eastern and
more northern marts. Even so at st.
Louis and Chicago, the wealth and
growth and greatness of both are due
to populations west of the great river.
In very truth the present railway sys-
tenn of Memphis, as perfected
on the eastern side of the river, is
chiefly valuable to the extent that it
must draw hither other lines from the
West. If Helena may speedily be
connected by railway with Grenada,
and thus with the entire system of
Southern and Southwestern roads,
there is not the shadow Of doubt that
builders of Western roads would pre-
fer Helena. The reasons are patent
enough. We have said that railway
builders, while the truest of their
country's b~enefactors, are not averse
to money-making. If they may fix
the terminus of a road, they are very
much inclined so to locate it that they
may be profited. 1t now happens
that a few land monopolists own the,
country across the river, opposite
Memphis. The builders of the Kan
a City Road a effect no specula-
tons at Hopefeld. In truth it is
hardly a fit place for the habitations
Of men. When a few individuals
have invested time and money and
toll in the organization of a COM
pam to perfect a scheme which
will enrich cities and States
there is nothing wrong or I'M
reasonable in that policy which
aggrandizes themselves without Diet.
riment to their associates in the task.
undertaken. These builders of the
Kansas City road will find it an easier
task to amass wealth through the
ownership Of real estate at Helena
than at Memphis. Helena is unde-
veloped. Railway builders may
move the town up or down the river
and augment the value Of property on
which their last rail is laid an hun
dred fold. If Governor Alcorn will
agree to build a'rOad from Helena TO
Grenada and, Helena will give a few
thousand acres at the river or Crow
Ridge to those who direct the
course OF the Kansas City line, there
is little doubt that the whole wealth
of the whole broad domain, west of
st. Louis, will find its way to the sea
through Helena. Each capitalist in
terested in the road, and each citizen
who has devoted to its construction
his labor and wealth, will naturally
deem himself entitled to some ade-
quate compensation for risks incurred
and for labor and money and anxious
thought expended. A few valuable
town lots, worth IAN hum
.red thousand dollars, viii
add pumberless attractions, in
To- pyes Of mo- rn4ailTA~ di5s