The Grange advance., 1874-03-11
Aocting u tie Wabasha 5& FarlbanIf
3. Z. Company. :,

- ~ COMpNu
cpeee"e'-Narro'o gauge rs. Broad guage-
Es''nated cost-Ihe Grange Advance to tie
rescue-R. r. to be built and owned bv the
towns.
The railroad meeting came off at Zum-
Drosa At 2 o'clock p. m. Wednesday the
4tn INST, pursuant to adjournment There
were about two hundred in attendance.
coming from Wabasha, Chester, Faribault
ana the regions around about Zumbrota.
strange to say, Red Wing had but one rep
te'entatlve, and he was ye editor of The
ORANGE ADVANCE, and was classically al
luded to as "Chiel amang ye takin
notes." &c.
The meeting was called to order by Mr.. H.
Wilson of Faribault, the President of the
Road. On motion of Hon. J. A. Thacher of
Zumbrota, Judge Vandyke Of Wabasha was
elected Chairman Of the meeting, and upon
taking the chair made few remarks, in
which he gave three reasons in favor Of
building the road. 1st, it would increase
the value OF property along the line of the
road; I'd, 1t would add to the price Of wheat
by decreasing the cost Of taking to market
Sd, 1t would give a profitable return, on
the money invested. Gen. Nutting of Fari-
bault was called out and said that facts and
derstood that there were men from Waba-
sha who had made estimates and were pre-
pared to give facts and called on W. S. Wal
ton Of the Wabasha Herald. Mr.. Walton
stated some of the arguments in favor of
narrow gauge road, and chiefly that its cost
was such as made it possible for the people
to build. Stated that at his request D. W.
Wellman a practical engineer, who was pres
ent, had prepared an estimate Of the cost o.
constructinga narrow gauge road from Far
ibault to Wabasha, which would probably
be more satisfactory to the meeting than
anything else that could be presented.
Mr.. Wellman being called for came for
ward. Gen. Nutting here stated for the in .
formation Of those present, that he had been
acquainted with Mr.. Wellman for many
years, and knew him to be an excellent and
reliable engineer. having been in the en-
ploy Of some of the best railway companies
Of the nation, and that from his knowledge
Of the man he should rely on the estimates
given by him with the utmost confidence,
considering that in his carefulness, not to
mislead, his estimates would be more likely
to exceed than to fall below the true cost.
Mr.. Wellman then read his excellent paper
entitled Narrow Gauge Railroads, and
which will be found on the inside Of this
issue.
Gen. Nutting followed the reading of Mr..
Wellman's paper with.a short speech, full
of energy and pointed arguments, in which
he estimated that the amount saved in six
years, on the cost of hauling wheat to the
river, allowing a saving Of six cents per
bushel would pay for the road and the
interest on the money invested.
1t is important that the farmers should
own the railroads in the same way that it is
important that they should own their School
houses and their highways, that they
may have under their control the means of
getting their produce into market they
would not submit to the idea of foreign
corporation coming and constructing their
common roads and compelling them to pay
toll for passing over the road. With this
road the farmers would have their own
warehouses and store and control their own
grain.
Hon. J. \. Thacher followed Gen. Nutting
with some thoughts on the cost and hard
ships Of carting wheat to the river, and
also of the effects Of throwing such large
quantities Of wheat into the warehouses,
and as he claimed, virtually upon the mar
ket at the same time.
1t having appeared in the course of some
Of the remarks, that some one had made
the very grave charge that the newspapers
had decreased the price Of wheat at least
five cents per bushel by publishing state
ment Of the large amount Of wheat now in
store, the editor of The GRANGE ADVANCE
came to the rescue Of the newspapers and
arose to explain, that wheat dealers do not
60 very much on newspaper reports !; that
in every town and city they had one or more
who furnished them regularly with re-
ports Of the amounts in store, and that it
was by these reports and not by the news
paper reports that dealers were guided,
and that the newspapers simply took these
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