The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-01-07
Correspondence
Hartford County Railroad.

DECEMBER goth, 1869

DECEMBER 29tll, 1869.
10 The Editors Of tie 44:gis d Latenigencr;
GENTLEMEN In looking over your pa
per of the gath of this month, my attention
was attracted to two communications on
the subject of the proposed railroad, both
Of which bear strongly the marks Of com
mon sense. The reading ofthese two plain
and practical letters has suggested some
thoughts to me, which | propose to put in
shape for publication, and ask for them
place also in your columns Now, if we
are serious about this road, as take it for
granted every person must be who is loca-
ted nearer the route which it may run than
he or she is to any other line of railroad,
why should we spend SO much time and
ink contending about particular routes and
the location of depots? These are ques-
tions for the persons who are trained in the
art of civil engineering, and to whom we
must look for its location. None of MS who
are anxious about the building of this road
are capable of deciding which is the BEST
most desirable and least expensive route,
for the simple reason that none of us are
familiar with the science Of railroad-mak-
ing. AS all of us who want coats made, go
to the tailor instead of the brick-layer, so it
is fair to presume if we want railroads To-
Gated we must call upon those skilled in the
art ofmaking railroads.
In the making of railroads there is one
fact which ought not to be left out of view,
and that is the simple impossiblity of ac
commodatlng every person with their
choice of location and the disposition of
depots. The true question for every man
to ask himself is not so much the exact To-
cation of the road and its depots and
switches, but whether if this or that road
is made will its location be nearer me than
any one yet made, and will its completion
bring me nearer the great markets of the
county than | would be if it failed This,
it seems to me, is the question for every
sensible man to ask himself and not
whether it is to run through my field
or my neighbours; and my reason for
this position is this, if | live now TWEEN
ty miles from railroad, and the compile
ton of this one will bring me within ten
miles, am benefited to precisely the eX-
tent that the distance between my farm or
place Of business and the railroad is lessen
ed, because | am brought just that much
nearer to all the great cities and markets
of the country, and because if it required
two teams to carry my freight to market
at twenty miles distant, it would only re-
quire one team to perform the same duty
at ten miles distant and because if my
farm, ten miles distant, produces the same
amount of grain, hay, &c, and is in exactly
the same condition as to improvements,
with the same number of acres as that Of
my neighbor at twenty miles distant, mine
on account Of its ncarness to the railroad
will bring in the market almost double the
price that his will. Now, suppose really
owned this farm that have been writing
about, and my neigIbor and myself should
each conclude to sell, and advertise our
farms in the columns of the 1Egis, did it
ever occur to you, in what important par
ticular Doth being of the same value if
| adjoining each other) our advertisements
would diifcr9 You would, in my adver-
tiscment, find the announcement in italics
| that this land is situated within "a short
ten miles" of the Hartford County Railroad,
and in his, the startling announcement in
large capitals, that "this land is situate i'm
mediately on or near the route" Of some
contemplated railroad, that exists, it may
be, only in his own imagination. Let me
| ask the readers of the county papers, and
| those who have examined the lists of our
property agents, how many hundred times
thny have seen announced, in tho last ten
years, that "this land" ''lies directly on" or
sis adjacent to the line ofthe contemplated
Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Rail
road" Now, the reason for this mode of
advertising property is obvious to every
observer. 1t proclaims the one solitary in
| controvertible fact that the nearer proper
| ty is to a railroad the more valuable it is.
| have no property that can be directly
affected by the location of the road, or the
situation of its depots or switches, but
what little | have will be incidentally
benefited, as will all other property within
| the influence of the enterprise therefore,
| while it is Of very little Importance to me
whether this or that route should be
| adopted, it does seem important that the
route should pass thrt ugh the centre of that
scope OF country from which it must draw
| its business; and as it cannot pass every
mans door, and as it would of necessity
| benefit more or less every property owner
| within at least ten miles of it, why not
| let the engineers make the best location they
| can, and each of us who are to be benefited
contribute an amount, equal to the advan-
| tages which will accrue to us on its COM
| pletion. 1.-THE the road would benefit man
sixty dollars year by lessoning his teams or
reducing his expenses in any way, Or if
his property be Enhanced in value to the
amount of sixty dollars annually, he is ben
Gifted to the amout of one thousand dol
lars, and he should in justice to himself
subscribe that amount, even if he believes
at the time that he would never realize one
cent from his stock, because he would be
annually receiving the interest on one
thousand dollars, besides the conveniences
and advantages which railroads confer
over any other mode of transportation. If
am right in this, it would be difficult to
| discover any better investment that tru-
| gal and cautious man could make.
u.