The Lincoln County herald., 1871-06-15
fFOr tho Lincoln County iIsrald.1
Al Answer 70 r. \.


N. Editor In the s.. Charles Cos.
mos. Of June 9th, I notice On article cub
scribed n r." which deserves som,
notice At the hands of the friends Of III,
present location Of the St. Louis snt
ksotuk railroad. Il does occur to M,
that men have gone mad, and have per
mitted their own Interests, or supposed
interests, 90 to blind them, that they can
not see. aud as an unavoidable couse
qusnoe, cannot speak or write the truth
l would not charge "R. r." the CORES
pondeut Of the Cosmos, with . wilful
perversiou Of the truth, for be may be
aud for aught know is, sn honest man
but he has suffered his mind and being
to be so jauudiced and prejud,ced and
misled, that he has been betrayed into
writing an article whose only truth. con
sists 10 his statement of The fact that Z
meeting was held 10 St. Charles, aud tba,
. resolution was adopted asking the sub.
mission Of proposition by that city to
take stock 10 the st. Louis aud St.
Charles railroad. I challenge the truth
Of every other material statement.
BY what standard of measure meut 10 it
that he makes tho line Of the St. Louis
and Keokuk railroad l8 miles longer
through Troy and Bowling Green, than
the one up the bottom of the Mississippi
BY Clarksville and Louisiaua. A very
casual glance at the map Of the country
would have been sufficient to have saved
"R. r." from this gross error. I am not
able to state it positively, but I am per.
suaded that the line through Troy and
Bowling Green is the shorter by some
three or four miles-certainly it is not
longer.
The interests Of commerce and trade
compel the location Of railroads, and not
these little chickering's and slings Of pref.
udced minds and If tho interests, com.
mercial and others, demand the location
of this road upon the proposed line, il
will be built there, the fabrications of
"R. H." and others of like bias to the
contrary no iwithstauding. The building
OF this road is plain business matter-a
matter Of dollars and cents-and it is
perplexing to my mind to determine the
theory, or facts, or philosophy, or by
what process of reasoning, "R. R." con-
cludes that this road should be built up
the river, when there is not, nor will be,
anything to feed and sustain it; and
where it will come in competition with a
great river that will sap and drink its
very life blood.
l state . fact that is know to all men
when l say that railroads cannot compete
with rivers 10 freight carriage. The pro,
posed line through Troy, &C., passes
through rich, fertile laud-rich in its
soil and rich 10 its mineral resources,
with no outlet for its commerce. The
river line would not accommodate it, and
could not. IF you take it to the river,
you take 1t into the river, upon the theory
stated above. Now let me say OR r."
and others who make il their business to
traduce the management Of the st. Louis
and keokuk railroad, and use every en-.
deavor to impair its prospects, "Let US
have peace;" and If we are to have war,
let US have q sensible, dignifcd war-not
war of words aud misreprese tations,
but a war of facts-stern facts facts
which will cut and clash together until
the sterner and more real shall compel
their recognition, and insure the speedy
completion Of this road upon the best
route five are not upon this route, then
we will yisld like men, and let 1t go else.
where; if We are, let it come. But l
am dwelling here too long; l have an
other question to ask "R. RI:
Who told him that the st Louis and
keokuk railroad company had been sued
by three Of its "chief engineers" for
their hard earned wages? Who told
him that the company had been sued at
all by any one7 All a mistake. "R. r.;
the company has never been sued BY any
one, and is not likely to be- The com.
pany thinks it 10 out Of debt, and your
corres pondent thinks it has good right
to think so.
1t may, or it may not be true, that the
contractors have abandoned their con.
tract. have never heard that they had.
But suppose they have, Is there any thing
ominous in that fact? It only proves
that these contractors hadn't the means
to complete it. Other contractors upon
other roads have failed; in fact, It i. the
very nature Of q contractor to fail. The
failure Of the contractor does not imply
the failure Of the company or the road.
Of one thing be assured: The company
and contractors are not in any trouble
amongst themselves. The company is
moving along as smoothly aud peacefully
and successfully % can be desired. Il
moves cautiously, and 80 it should. Ex.
perience has taught it . great lesson of
caution.
I would like to notice other parts in
"R. Rs" article, but find that I am
spinning this note into greater lenoth