Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1870-08-04
For the Gallipolis Journal.
The Rail Road.

Lie nall hOdds
Fellow citizens! Please let me lay
before you, few facts connected
with our Railroad enterprise-in
which the humble citizens of oul
city and county are deeply interested.
and as we are approaching the prac.
tical point, let us lay aside all ami
mosities and former prejudices,
feelings and chickering's, and look to
the interest of ourselves, and pos
terity, which is the solemn duty oil
every parent and citizen, no matter
what may be their position in life.
1t is useless for any one to attempt
to address further reasonings or in
ducements for men to subscribe to
the capital stock Of the rail road.
As the men who have not subscribed
at all, and those who have, but not
in proportion to their ability, and
interest, are men of good sound
sense, but a:e actHated, as they say,
by other motives or considerations.
All great public Improvements, re-
quire heavy outlay, of both time and
means-cspital alone will not ac
complish the desired end, unless ac-
-companied with sound judgment and
good practical common sense. l am
not the advocate of any man or set
Of men, but simply an humble citi-
zen, desiring to advance the interest
of our city and country, and here let
me say that which we all know, and
admit. 'In union there is strength"
Certainly there never was, nor never
will be, time in the history Of our
lives which demands unity of &C
tion, as the present enterprise of
securing sufficient amount of Rail
road subscription from Gallipolis to
Logan, to enable the stockholders to
control the same. Every man of Or
dinary intelligence, is fully s.cquaint
ed with the great advantages the
co npany will save from the old road
bed, amounts to about two hundred
thousand dollars. Let US, therefore,
look well to the discharge of our
duty, for the present opportunities
will not always last, while some of
our best aud influential citizens, men
who have grown up, not only from
boyhood, but almost from poverty,
in this place, haYe only subscribed
meagerly, while others have not at
all, and are holding back, offering
trifiing or frivolous excuses for the
same, while their own individual in
terests and duties demand immedi-
ate action. Public improvements
and enterprise will be retarded, and
this portion of our highly favored
country will be condemned to suffer,
as it has done for an indefinite Pc
riod, simply. because certain indi-
viduals are placed in positions in
which they we're honorably chosen,
and fully competent to discharge the
duties! Let me say this enterprise
is of such magnitude of interest to
this community, that it requires
each and every man to do his part,
and that Immediately. Such op-
portunities as it is our privilege to
embrace, may not ever occur again.
Therefore, let us be up and doing,
"united as one man," desiring the
same object, and that is the building
of our Rail Road, which will infuse
new life and vitality to an old and
but lately dormant town. In as
much as the spirit of improvement is
not only to the citizen, but
more so to the stranger or traveller.
Let us not be contented with our
graded streets and nicely paved side
walks, together with the coming fact,
that in less than one week our city
will celebrate, with pride and admi
ration, the knowledge of being lit up
by gas, but make one grand and uni
ted effort to accomplish an object
which will be of incalculable benefit
to us, and to our posterity, for in SO
doing, in less than ten years time
from the completion of the proposed
Gallipolis, Macarthur and Columbus
Railroad. Our city will then be a
city indeed, with population Of at
least from ten to fifteen thousand in
busy and Industrious.
The vacant city lots will be built
up with solid block-old palings
and dilapidated buildings will all be
or remembered with the
things of the past. Iron mills, fur
naces, and other factories will send
forth annually almost az incalcula-
BILE amount of their manufactured
articles-will secure for the same
ample remuneration, thereby ena.
bling them to pay an honest com
pensatlon to the laborers. On all
sides will be seen the evidence of
the growth and prosperity of our
city, not only in the increase of pop
and business, but in the
style and education of our
the building up of every ell
ement necessary for free, happy
and prosperous people.
Now, therefore, let us make one
grand rally, both in and out of town.
in order to raise the Rail Road |
stock sufficient to enable the corpo-
rators to push forward the Road to
such an extent that in few months
we shall have the Irish, the cart and
the shovel, scattered along our Chick
hills. / am Yours,
HENRY BEALL.
GALLIPoLls, O., Aug. l, 1870.