The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-02-12
GheG'ttelIiaetter.
The Whoeling 4 Lake Erie Road.


The wheeling X Lake Erie Road.
The steubenville Gassth somewhat
sueeringly observes that the 100000
subscription Of the city Of Wheeling to
the Wheeling s. Lake Erie road WAS al
best of no great Importance 10 that COM
pspy, and the loss Of 1t will not even
cause a "rifis" in tho building Of the road.
II tells us that "the leading man in the
projection Of that and the road from
aopedale 10 New Lisbon, A. B. PAUL,
Esq, will with his coadjutors, keep on the
even tenor Of their way, and forget that
Wheeling ever talked about q $500, 900
subscription 10 their road"
We do not see that there is any call
lOr the Gazette resorting to this line oi
comment in regard to the repeal Of our
subscription, but It's language Is a mere
matter OF taste 10 which we make no
special exception. We are certainly
hsppy to know that Mr.. PAUL can build
the Wheeling s. Lake Erie road without
The aid oI Wheeling. Our fear all along
has been that even with tie aid Of
Wheeling he could not do 1t. This
lear was not at all allayed by
reading the report Of the President lately
published. Indeed II was rather increased
by that document. When we saw that
all the subscriptions under the BoEsEI
law had gone by the board, and that thus
far the 5000 per mile required by Mr.,
sHANLY had not been pledged, and that
the President felt called on to assure the
public that care would be taken that the
subscriptions already made would not
be expended without fair prospects Of
ultimate success" we felt that he him.
self felt that the future oI the road was
far from being assured.
The Gazette may belittle the subscrip'
tion Of Wheeling to its hearts content,
but the fact nevertheless remains that
outside Of that subscription there was and
Is very little bone and sinew in the road.
For Instance, the President in speak.
ing Of the operations Of the Board Of
Directors observes that "the Board
have been very much embarrassed, in
that hitherto the expenses have been met
by advances from few individuals"
And again, in speaking Of operations
slong the line Of the road, he says that
"sctIYe operations have been confined 10
that part Of the line east from Lodi, moth.
Ing Of moment having been done to re.
place by local subscriptions the amount
lost by the decision against the BoEsEL
law" Then again, he says that "under
the contract with Dir. SHANLY, and the
provisions ola law passed May 9th, 1873,
ii became necessary to secure authority
10 increase the capital stock Of the COM
pany to $s,7OO.0OO, though the issue is
not to exceed $6200000." The proVis.
Jon in the contract by which this increase
in the capital stock became necessary Is
not explained. We. confess that we do
not see through II, especially when it is
said that only $62OOOOO is to be issued
We should like to have the Steuben-
vile GaE:tte, since 1t has been so swift TO
uisparsge the action Of our City Council,
and to magnify the prospects and re-
sources Of the road by showing, the insig.
nlHcauce Of our subscription, tell US. how
much Of the $780, 600 has been pledged
10 any reliable shape2 VIII it inform US
when and where, since the repeal Of the
BoEsEL law, the halt Of $8,2O0,O00 has
been pledged2 Will it even show US
where one-quarter, or even one.eighth,
yes, even one sixteenth, of that SUM, has
been so much as reliably pledged TO the
road 1t is easy to deride the $SO000O
subscription Of this city, but 1t is not by
any means so easy to count up 100000
elsewhere, all along the line oI the.road.
We wish We could see that Dir. PAUL
could carry out one.halt the programme
laid down for him by the Gazette. But
what il the sense in deceiying ourselves
iu this matterS We shall certainly con.
tluue to hope that Mr.. PAUL and Mr..
WOoD, and all the other energetic gentle
men connected with the enterprise, may
succeed to the uttermost, even far beyond
their own expectations; but, despite the
moot abundant good wishes in their be.
hall, we are convinced that the City Of
Wheeling did a wise thing in Withdraw.
inc frOnn the Antarnr;aa . t"a