The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-06-28
RAILROAD MEETING AT
BAR TLETT.
The Railroad FIR ON MeInp llis to Jack.
sOu--ItS cost and PrOfit--.A Good
Investment.
MAJOR w. j, SYKES, REMARKS.

Oh Tic Coun Try iIs runs through anu
the conneci ions which it makes. The
road from Jackson runs through the
best uplan d country in West Tennes-
see, passing, as it does, through Mad
ison, portion of Haywood, Harde-
man, Fayette, a md Shelby counties. .
1t will make more important con-
nections than ny other railroad. Al
Memphis it will connect with all
Southern and Western roads; al
Jackson with the Mobile and Ohio,
and. with tn e Mississippi Central,
leading to all points North and West.
twill also, 1t the same place, conneci
with road 'oy Huntingdon to- Nash
vile, maxim g this the short lii 'e from
Memphis tn that. In addit ion to
these, there are two roads pro, iected
from Jacks on. one direct to the Ten
nessee River, to be extended Il renee
through Middle Tennessee tov Yards
Knoxville, and the other from EI ans
vile, Indiana, to Jackson. With
these connections, if any road will
pay, it must be this. Let us ow
consider what will be its proba Die
profits. ...
The Memphis and Charleston roa d
made, last year, twenty-eight hun :
dred dollars per mile On its local
freight and local passengers. This
road would certainly make as much
per mile, connecting as it would, two
such places as Memphis and Jackson.
This would give two hundred and
twenty-fOur Thousand dollars as the
gross earnings OF the road annually.
Estimating the running expenses
at one half of the gross earnings,
there would be left one hundred and
twelve thousand dollars as the Eet:
income from the road each year.
Putting the cost of the road at twelve
thousand five hundred dollars per
mile, or a million of dollIrs, the net
income would amount to more than
ten per cent. The local passengers
on the Nashville az id Chattanooga
road paid, last year, fifteen hundred
dollars per mile. If the Memphis
and jackson road should only make
as much per mil as the Nashville
and Chattanoog did on local passen-
gers, Its net go rnings would be one
hundred and twenty thousand dol
lars. Arc J rot these estimates rea-
sonaDle - he cost of the Denver
and Lilo y rande road was thirteen
thousand five hundred dollars per
mile, and it is fair to presume this
would ost much less, as that was
through a mountainous country.
The cheapness of the road, the
come ctions it would make, and the
chars cter of country itruns through,
won id make it a pecuniary success
and a good investment for capital. L
ma &c not taken into consideration the
be nefits it would confer upon the
p cople on its line, by furnishing
heap and ready access to markets,
since these must be evident to all
men of any discernment. The
amount that could be saved in few
years, from the reduced cost oftrans.
porting the products of the country
to market, would more than pay for
the building of the road.
HOW IT MAY BE BUILT.
If the people on the line of this
road have no money with which to
build it, they have that which is as
good as money and that is land.
There are within three miles of this
road, from Memphis to j Jackson, three
hundred and seven Thousand, two
hundred acres of land. One fifth Of
this would be sixty-one thousand
four hundred and forty acres. This
would secure the building of the
road. The owners of this land
would be much richer after PAL ting
with one-t fifth of their present land,
and obtaining the road, than they
now are, with the whole of what
they now have, much of which they
cannot cultivate, and which is going
TO waste. The company could take
one-fifth of the land within three
miles of the road, sell it to aetna
vate il, and with the proceeds of
these sales the road might be built.
The land might be sold Oh ten years
credit and the notes used by the COM
psny in building the road. The men
who buy these lands would not only
cultivate the land they might buy,
but they would assist in culIivating
the other lands. In this way labor
would be obtained and value added
to all the land near the road. This
is the best plan to secure immigration
and labor. a mans wealth does not
depend merely upon the number of
acres he may own, but upon its ca
pacity for production, its nearness to
market and the means of procuring
laborers to cultivate it. The railroad
would increase all of these, and al
though he might possess fewer acres,
he would be much richer.
THE EFFECTS OF THIS ROAD UPON
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
The building of this road will, by
causing churches and school houses
to be established stevery depot, tend
TO prevent that depopulation of the
country now so rapidly going on.
Men must have society for their
families, schools for their children
and churches for Divine worship.
They 60 to towns and villages to OBJ