The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-10-14
North Louisiana & Texas Railroad.
and the N. o. Times.

of the North louisiana ~ lcAas
Railroad, the TELEGRAPH, we
believe, has never found any
fault. We have felt that some of
it's tariff regulations were some
what harsh, but aware of the OBJ
stncles the road has had to over
come and the difficulties in the
way Of cheap transportation, we
have RETAINED from all complaint,
even whilst appearances have
stronglyi urged.a1 vigorous PRO
test.
Recently the: New Orleans
Times, as if suddenly spurred NJ
by a sentiment of honesty, has
undertaken to expose the alleged
acknowledgement of our. railroad
That unscrupnlons sheet does
not hesitate, in order to carry its
point, to misrepresent facts
facts not only of record, but di-
rectly brought to the editors at
tention. It charged the compa'
nv with joining the conspiracy to
iniure the trade of New Orleans.
Superintendent and Chief En-
eineer Green replied to the charge
that long since he had made
efforts to. close an advantageous
agreement with the New Orleans
packets to transport New Or
leans freights, and had Succeed
ed only n few days anterior to
his writing. The Times charged
that the road had been built with
tho funds of the people. To this,
it was replied that the aid re-
ferred to was loan from the
State, and not a donation. which
ia q matter of record.
These charges the Times holds
to, even after the. denial of Maj.
Green, and substantially re-iter-
ates them in u subsequent issue.
In its issue of tho 9th inst, which
has been shown us. the editor
says:
2 So far as the charges of the
North Louisiana and Texas Rail
road are concerned, we have the
right to complain and to invoke
some emphatic action on the part
of our tax payers against TINS
discrimination in favor OF the
competitors for our trade, by q
company which has constructed
it's road entire out of funds sup
Piled by the Taxpayers OF Loulsl-
ana.
We are not the champion OF
any public or private corporation,
bnt believe in fair play and in
honest, straightforward journal
ism. The Times, in the extract
quoted, has deviated from the
truth without excuse or pallia-
ton. The North Louisiana y
Texas Railroad Company has
had but two sources of revenue.
At first, the members of the COM
pany contributed their individual
means to the amount. as we nm
derstand, of $780, 900. They oper-
ated with this and the earnings
of the incomplete road, until the
State voted the road loan OF
$4,000 per mile, for every COM
pleted mile of the road, the rate
of interest being at the high fig
IRE of eight per cent, and with
this loan and the revenue derived
from the road, they have since
kept trains running regularly and
the road in tolerable repair from
Monroe to Vicksburg. This is
all the "funds" the company has
had; but the Now Orleans Times
pursuing it's reckless course, fol-
lows the sentence quoted With
this grave personal accusation:
Not dollar has been spent
upon tho North Louisiana and
Texas Railroad which was not
filched from tho pockets of our
people.
This assertion would bear an
action for libel. 1t must have
emanated from ono who doesn't
care straw what he says; be-
couse there is no indicating the
truth of the charge made.
We have ut times grumbled ut
%bo t>,,rp1;ne, ,nanoar in which