Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-12-23
A PROPHET.
who II Not without Honor in His Own
COuntTy-MaIOr W. J. Sykes De
fezdad.
His Predictions Fully VerI6ed-Rsr.
minghans. AIa.-Its SurrOuudinS
aud Rapid Growth.

! We publish to-day letter from Major w
! J.. sykes, taken from the Bolivar B5fl{ztsa
Z We are aware that some have been disposed L
consider Major sykes visiOnarvUn the su biec1
Z Of railroads and other improvements, be
I cause ne has not, out or them, realized large
I private iOrtune. Not only he, but many
! ether men, have worked for the public. and
Z their works have been. eminentlv benes}cial
/ whilst Individually thew have sflsfgi n 81
/ losses, either OF time or money, aud some
times Do.h., in addition to the facts given
In his letter. which we to-day publish. We
give some extracts from his raj road speeches
made IN Alabama since the war, that show
now ne loreeaW and predicted results. In a
speech az ElytOn, Alabama, made in Septen.
T Der le5si near where Birmingham now is, he
/ said;
"Coal is taken from Pennsylvania and iron
Z from MISSOURI % Cincinnati, and vet they
LianuIacIure the Iron there and send YOU and
Z AZ AZ or US thelr iron manufactures. You have
I the coal ana Jne iron here, and with sufficient
capital and sufficient energy You can make
tuls ne slirmlo CHAM or the PitIs0urg OF the
Sod, When you DO Jufs, Memphis and
tclSsDurg are 10 be yO-r great markets. How
{ Can Ncu best reach those markets. To Cin-
Z cinuau II is four hundred and eighty miles by
! ran, 10 Louisville three hundred and ninety
I lNo miles, Wnlle 10 Memphis by Aberdeen,
Mississippi. IL viii only be two hundred and
l nfty-flve miles. At Memphis yOu will reach
/ the Mississippi river below all distractions,
! COth summer and winter. You viii then be
connected with a system OF railroads running
70 all points, west and nO-th west, even as far
/ as the Pacific. II is the center Of the finest
( So.to-4 region ca TAI, or any other continent.
ine experience OF the last two years shows
Ius2t IL not the UeTV best u Is one Of the best
eoGton on-markets IL the south. 10 ten years. l
believe more cotton viii 5e sold in Memphis
Iuan IN any southern city, because cOttOns of
lne unesL quality viii come there. IL is IN
Memphis and Nlcksburg that your manufac-
IuEeIs VIII md their best distributing points
This was said before there were any railroads
IN Ina- country, and before there was a sign
OF a mouse where Birmingham, Alabama. now
n N IA nrTl uf
enI sJanis. Major sykes not only predicted
that there would be a city in hat regiOn.
buL be may be said 10 have given IL its name.
Al a suDSe4 uenI period, IN March, 1911, at the
same place, be suggested and advocated the
Lease Of the y Nashville and Decatur and Of the
south and North railroads by the Louisville
year the lease was made, and a. a consequence
We have the great through route from Louis
vile and Nashville to Montgomery, PensacO-
10 snd MoSile. He then said:
"Inls Is the true p 1licy Of Louisville to
counteract the movements Of Cincinnati. She
cannot long delay the building OF the Cincin-
natl ana Southern road, but she can build a
road, and 10 VIII only require a snort one, that
viii give her the advantage Of the southern
oI Chattanooga, IS four hundred and
eighty miles. From Louisville 70 Ely
Ton, by way of Nashville and
Decatur, Is three hundred and nInety-two-a
difference in favOrOf LOuisyiIle Of eighty-eight
miles. From Cincinnati 10 Atlanta, by way
OF ChattanoOga, is four hundred and seventy
iour miles; from Louisville to Atlanta, by way
OF Nashville and Chattanooga, is four hun
dred ard seventy one miles a distance in IA
vor Of Louisville o. three miles, The route
might, perhaps, be shortened a little by a road
from Decatur TO Atlanta. SO far, then, as
LOU Hsyllle Is concerned. she has and must
continue u have he advantage over Cincin-
uati in uearut s. 10 The southern markets. Her
interests, then, point unmistakably 10 the eX-
tension Of the road from Decatur to Ely ton
aud montgomery, Alabama This Will con,
meet her with the whole Alabama system Of
railways. Let her cease her opposition TO the
Cincinnati and SC-Jhern road, and employ
little Of her great capital in building The road
sOuthwa-d from Decatur. With the aid 50
l-Osra " granted by Alabama, and with a lit
tie assistance from Ire Louisville and Nash
vile road, this work may soon be accom-
pllshed. may say with truth that the Deca-
Uur, ElytDu and Montgomery road is the great
southern road for Louisville as well as Nash
Vile"
As he then said. It has become the great
southern road " Then as low he was warm
advocate Of cheap transportation, sub. .ect
which Is exciting intense interest throughout
In the same speech from which we have
quoted, ne said:
"RailIo8cs are only a means Of develop
ment and intended 20 encourage population
and Improvement. II Is, therefore, i'm pOrt ant
that railroads, 70 be profitable, should foster
local trade and travel by low rates, and there
By build up the country, Tor, in so doing, the
rOaC viii reap the benefits by an increased
business, and while the railroads should give
announcement TO local trade and travel, the
people on the line OF the roads should sustain
ana defend the roads. The great misfortune
and error OF many of our roads has been that
they sacrificed the local 70 the through busi-
ue-S, and, in that way without intending II,
injured themselves
We give these extracts TO show that his
views are now the same that they always
were, and that what many considered at that
time the dreams OF a visionary enthusiast
have become sOGer realities. II may be that
he has not realized, dividually, any benefit
from these things, but that does not prove
that his views we're not sound. 1t Is the fate
OF some men To advocate enterprises of which
Others often get the benefit IL is perhaps due
to Major sykes To state that in his SPEECH at
Lawrenc ceburg. on the first Monday in No
vember, he said that 70 was his last railroad
speech; sUhat he could not, in justice 20 him
self, devote any more attention to such SUBJ
iects aud those who needed and would be
most benefited by railroads should not only
build but advocate them"