Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-26
SUGGESTIONS.
Report Of the President of the Elyton
and Alabama Railroad Company
Manufacturing I'm h South.

We nave received a copy of the report
Of W. J. Sykes, late president of b Ely
ton and Alsbama railroad company, from
which it is our purpose to make g few
short extracts. It Is thsre stated that
a road may be built from Tuscaloosa, Ala
bsms, to meet the Elyton and Alabama
road, thus making the distance from
Memphis to Tuscaloosa only W hundred
and twenty miles. The distance over the
Elyton and Alabama road from Grenada
to chattanooga Is three hundred and thir-
ty miles, and to Atlanta the same. The
great coal and iron region of Alabama Is
penetrated by this road. In regard to the
railroad county law Of Mississippi, the re-
port says:
The legislature OF Mississippi has also
passed a bill donating to all railroads that Will
and build twenty-five miles by the
LIST OF September, 1872, and that Will use iron
rails weighing hfty-six pounds to the yard,
Your road cannot get the benefit Of that act,
because as It now stands it Is limited 10 ROADS
which use iron rails weighing hfty-slx POUNDS
to the yard. 1t is, however, hoped that Ine
legislature at its next session will so modify
this act as to make 1t apply 10 roads more
cheaply built and that Will use hghter rails;
These cheap railroads viii be more benenclal
TO the people, and will, therefore,, be more en-
titled TO a bounty from the State Than those OF
The motley of ali legislatures in the Southern
states Should be to encourage the building OF
railways that can be cheaply built ana that
can furnish cheap transportation which may
which they pass.
The subject of cheap railroads Is dis
cussed at some length, and is concluded
with the following practical suggestions:
In this connection I would recommend that
two or more suitable and competent persons,
engineers and mechanics, be selected to ex-
anime the roads that have been built
and those now in process Of construction, in
order not only to ascertain their a~dvantages
| and Disadvantages, bat TO become practically
| acquainted with the manner and details OF
building them. The danger is that mex
| perienced men may undertake TO construct
| these roads and thereby cause that which
would be a decided success to be a failure. This
may be remedied in the manner above sug-
! gested.
Tho remarks about the value of mani
| featuring in the South are applicable to
all parts of the southern country. 1t
| might well be said, in addition, that al
/ though we are in the midst of the finest
grain, provision and stock region in the
world, we buy our bresdstufts apd treats
from other States. With thaE greatest
amount of valuable walnut, cypress and
| other timber, we import all, or nearly
all, the articles made out of this timber.
| Although Tennessee can grow the finest
apples in the world, we purchase b o
sands of barrels of this fruit from the
more northern States. How long, oh!
how long, will this continueH The fact
stated in this report with regard to the
price of coal seems almost incredible, but
we learn 1t is true. The report says:
Coal can be supplied over this road to the
| people of Mississippi at three dollars per ton,
| and when this is the case, Aberdeen and other
towns may become large manufacturing cities
Nc merely agricultural country can ever be
very prosperous and rich. The best way to
| create wealth is to add value to every article
| grown in the country. This can only be done
| BY the various branches of manufactures
| which will spring up when your road Is COM
| pleted as far as the iron banks and coal mines.
| Pennsylvania has grown rich and powerful by
manufacturing iron, and Massachusetts has
| revealed in wealth through the manufacture OF
| cotton.
Within twenty-five miles Of as fine iron as is
in America, you buy all your iron manufac-
| tured in distant regions. Within a short dis
| lance of water power inferior to none, you pur-
/ chase your cotton goods from Lowell. Al
though there are billions of tons of bituminous
coal, equal to any in Pennsylvania, within
sixty miles of Aberdeen. you are burning coal
brought more han a thousand miles by rfvel
and rail. How can you expect to be a rich and
prosperous peoples so long as this state of thing
| continues