New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-11-26
1NTERNAL ufPROvEMEHTS.

1
keen it alive and before the people that
the State may be enriched by such works
Of public improvement now in progress.
and which may be necessary for the de-
velopment of her resources. y
Looking beyond the boundaries Of our
State, We find some Of our neighbcrs put
ting forth every effort to increase their
| railroad and other communications with
| the North and West, SO rs to control the
trade of those parts Of our country.
Florida, Georgia and Alabama, on the
Gulf of Mexico, are stretching forth their
lines of railroad in all directions, regard
less of cost, that they may draw toward
themselves the commerce and traffic of
| the great and growing North. Arkansas,
too, is not tagging behind in the work of
! railroad building, endeavoring to secure
| to herself the great Southern Pacific rail
route in its intersection from Tennessee
with the Indian Territory and Northern
| Texas
|
grants to railroad companies, that she
may bring to herself the great commerce
of the far West, which hitherto has been
| flowing into Missouri, and her growing
city, St. Louis.
Before the late war, all the States border
ing on the Gulf seemed to be content with
the water communication through their
rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, with the
other States Of the Union, owing to the
fact that their labor might take to them
selves legs and run away, but now since
this labor owns itself it behooves the
people Of such States to bestir themselves
in the matter of their progress, especially
internal improvements. Here in this
State especially, when in travelling dis
lance of eighty miles on the Mississippi
river, at a cost of five dollars, and the
time occupied in making the trip being
from ten to twelve hours, is it not full
time that this expense and loss Of time
should be materially rGuced? So also in
regard to the matter Of charges in the trans-
portation of freight upon the river it is
SO heavy that the merchants here say they
are obliged to place it upon the goods
which they sell, in order to save them
selves from loss.
This oil may be re1nedied by compet-
ton through railroads diverging in vari-
Gus directions from our city, connecting
with other cities and railroads as is now
done through the jackson and Great
Northern, and Mobile and Chattanooga.
We have lands in abundance all through
the State now entirely isolated from occc-
patton and settlement because there are
no means of ingress and egress to and
from them. All these lands are now waste,
and almost as valueless as though they were
desert waste, while we know every acre
of them to be fertile and productive if they
can be brought under the hands Of the
earnest and active tillers of the soil.
It were better that the owners of these
isolated and unoccupied acres in the
State should give half toward the build
ing OF railroads through the sections of
country where these acres lie, SO that
when these great Improvements are made
the remaining half viii be worth twice if
not three times rs much as the whole now
u.s. Let some of our Rip Van Wrinkles
wake up and take look at the map of
railroads running all through the North
and West, and they will not be long in
finding solution Of the question why
emigration flows past our State to the
North and West, as it constantly does to
the regret of our people.
When you ask merchants here why they
| put price upon their commodities sold
| here almost twice as much as they can be
purchased for elsewhere, they say il
is owing to the enormous charges fol
freight and transpozt ration. We have now
two competing lines of railroad from the
North for freight and passage, and that is
not enough. We want at least five or 81,
more, and if the people of the State
through legislation, will only afford the
necessary facilities for the building O
other railroads besides those now com
pleted and in progress, there need be NJ
apprehension that capital will be wanting
to build them.
Governor Warmoth, in his speech o
the third of November, speaking of tn
wisdom Of the policy Of the Republican
party, under his wise and judicious ad
ministration, says truly: cit is just tn
policy pursued in Illinois, Indiana and il
Iowa. 1t is just the policy pursued il
Missouri, where they have six Or sever
thousand miles of railroad and not dol
lar in debt. By the construction of thes
railroads your lands will be doubled i,
value"
Where property as it now stands in thu
city and State is worth Hundreds of dol
lars, by the building of railroads, unde
the wise policy pursued by our presen
State government, will be worth millions
and the State will rejoice in having {
teeming and thrifty population, will
wealth and prosperity reigning through
out her borders.
ON CARONDELET STREET.
Although there does not seem to be an,
visible improvement in the condition o
the money market, The street was not 81