Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-02-24

payer will receive stock to the amount
| of his tax. The benefits OF the road
cannot be calculated, but we may ap.
proximate them. On the line Of this
road, $50 miles In length, net less
than 100000 bales OF cotton were
raised last year, o fwhich 0,00O bales
were between Memphis and the Ala
bama State line, a distance Of l3t
miles. Memphis is the nearest
large cotton market to all OF
this region. Suppose that she should
receive by this road only 100000
bales Of cotton per annum, that now
20 to other markets. This would
yield her as profits at least five dol
lars per bale, which would be $500, q
600 each year, which is as much as
the Whole Of the county subscription
asked for. The owners of this cotton
would buy a large portion of their
groceries, dry goods, and Western
produce here, and that would yield
another $500, 900 as profits each
year.
In addition to this, it may be truth
fully stated that there would be $780,
900 expended in Shelby county in the
construction of the road, and in this
way the county would get back the
whole Of its subscription while the
road is in the progress of cOnstruc-
ton. As the city Of Memphis i'm
proves, the population of the county
will increase, and as the lands become
more valuable and the population
more dense the greater will be the
improvement in cultivating and fer
tilizing the land, and as a consequence
the more will be the productions OF the
county. This has been the result in
all the Northern States, and so it will
be here. Mechanics, manufacturers
and day labOrers will receive constant
employment at remunerative prices,
while the company is constructing the
road. The building of the road will
furnish employment to thousands, and
will give a great activity to trade.
Even these benefits, to say nothing Of
future results, will compensate for
the $500, 900 subscription. The amount
to be paid by each one will be small
compared with the benefits to be de-
rived, since it will only be $40 q each
year on $4,000 worth of property, and
this will only continue during FIVE
years, while the benefits will never
cease. While the advantages result
ing from this road would be great, vet
if it should not be built to Memphis,
but extended in the direction Of
Helena, Arkansas, the consequences
would be disastrous in the extreme.
Let us not delude ourselves with the
idea that there is no danger of this.
H. Lunnana 80 ea.aaE-L-H AN-a-T
road is projected from Mobile through
Jackson, Mississippi, to Helena. The
Selma road may be directed to the
same point if we fail to vote this
subscription. In that evOnt the road
from Elytou and Tuscaloosa, Ala
bama, the entire of mineral regions Of
that State, would also be directed to
Helena. Hence roads from the East
would draw the Western roads to
Helena, and thus Memphis would
lose the natural advantages which
she enjoys, and instead Of advancing
retrOgrade.
Let those who desire Memphis and
Shelby county to 90 back-W0uld re-
duce in wealth and population refuse
to vote for this subscription. With
out the Selma road we will lose the
Western roads, and without this sub
scription we Will lose the Selma road.
The prosperity and growth of st.
Louis has been owing mainly to her
railway system. She has increased
from 100, 773 Inhabitants in 1860 to
362, 900 in 1870. She has twenty-five
railroads, either built or in prospect,
whilst Memphis has only four built,
including the one TO Little Rock, and
four more in prospect, and if she loses
one of them (the Selma rOad) there
is great danger that she will lose all
four, and those already built would in
that event be Of but little value.
The fate of Memphis and Shelby
county depends upon the result of this
vote. Let eU6yy man then do his duty.