The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-05-07
The RaiIroad.


two hours length TO large audience o
: our citizens at the court house las
Thursday night He first read the ordel
: of the Board submitting the proposition
of the N. & X. r. r, which order en-
I braces the proposition itself, and then
. commented upon it. he showed thai
every provision had been made to guard
the interests of Pulaski, which can be
seen by our readers themselves in the
order which we publish elsewhere, and
then stated fairly every conceivable pO-
sition of the oppOsers Of the project,
meeting them all with such an array OF
facts and figures as to utterly demOlish
them. Maj. Sykes speech was rather a
reitteratiOn Of what he has before said to
this people and what has from time to
time appeared in these columns, but his
speech as a whole was the most logical
iy convincing showing of facts, figures
and deductions we have ever heard. In
fact we never heard better speech on
any subject. But good as it was, and
powerful as it was, and convincing as
it was, it did little good, simply from
the fact that he spoke to an audience
who came there entertaining the same
views that he did, the opposers of the
Railroad tax taking care to stay away.
We do not know why they did not at
tend-will net pretend to say-but we
viii state that in our opinion no man
with an unprejudieed mind could have
heard Maj. Sykes Thursday night with
out being convinced of the truth of his
statements. He said that the term
"railrOad taxi was a misnomer. There
never was, never win be, never can be.
a railroad tax. 1t is a railroad incest
nleRt-a paying investment. A sensible |
man can see the point here without fur !
ther comment. We think that the sim |
pie voting of the tax by our people is a |
foregone certainty. What we want now
is to make the vote authorizing the tax
unanimous. Think what weight such |
an exhibit of enterprise would have
abroad! Pulaski and Giles county have
lead the van in every project they have
entered into. This is the most important /
that has been brought before them. |
Shall they not now come up as they /
have in the past?
Maj. Sykes spoke substantially as fol-
lows:
''The term railroad tax is a misnOnler:
there is no such thing as railroad tar.
1t is a subscription, not a tax. II
man pays ten dollars and receives in re-
turn, thirty, could this be called a tax
Not man in Pulaski would pay as
much as he would receive, either in the
way of increased rents or increased
profits on his business. The money
used in constructing the road would all /
be expended in Pulaski, whilst nothing
would have TO be paid by the town un-
til they would have the road in opera
ton. This is not proposition to draw
money from the people before the road
is built, but to build the road with bonds
and then let it be paid for gradually, so
that no one would feel it except benefi-
cially.
1.-The idea that it is the purpose of the
Company to build road only from Pu-
laski to Lawreneeburg is simply redicu-
lOus. If so, why did the merchants of
Memphis agree to raise $4,000 to build
it through Shelby county? Why'd the
people of Hardeman, McNairy and Nadi-
son build it through their counties
Would the Memphis 6 Knoxville R. r.
Company agree, as they have done, to
use their credit to iron and equip a road
extending only from Pulaski 20 Law
renceburg? The road has to be built in
sections, and therefore it is provided
that the Pulaski bonds are to be used
when the road is under contract to Law
renceburg. The Memphis subscription
is upon a condition that the money there
is to be used in Shelby coun-
fr,a nHlen,- Z
other county. 1t is your interest for
the work to commence here and go to-
wards the West, for this will bring you
the whole trade as well as the money
expended in building the road. If the
whole road were put under contract at
once, Pulaski would lose this advantage
Your merchants, your mechanics and
your labOrers will, as the proposition
now is, get all the money expended on
the road as the work goes On-that is all
that has to be spent in any town. If
Giles county raises enough to build the
road to the Lawrence line the whole
road from Memphis to Pulaski will be
under contract within twelve months.
Whilst this road will increase the rents
of the property holder more than enough
to pay his part of the subscription, it
viii enable the man who rents the prop
erty to pay it more easily. a man who
gains, as every labOrer viii, from half a
dollar to a dollar a day more than he
now gets, can afford TO pay ten or Twelve
dollars more rent during the year, and
a merchant who has his business increas-
ed fifty per cent. can well afford to pay an
increased rent of 500 per annum. It
will thus benefit all, both the man who
owns the property and the man who
rents it from him, and on that account
should receive the support of ala.
This road will open to Pulaski the iron
ore banks of Lawrence and Wayne.
Is this any objection? Other towns
have paid hundreds of thousands of dol
lars to reach ore banks. Chattanooga,
fifteen years ago, was a smaller town
than Pulaski now is. She has become
connected with coal and iron-and
more: She has I2,0O0 inhabitants and
five millions of dollars of taxable prop
erty. 1t is true the owners of these iron
lands will be benefited, but they will
have to assist in building the road. Any
of you can become owners of these iron
lands at cheap rates. You can buy them
as individuals, or you can become mem
bers OF the Tennessee River Iron &
Manufacturing Company upon most
favorable terms, and you are invited to
do so. because IL viii benefit you. What
is by some made an objection is the
greatest recommendation to this road,
and that IL win give Pulaski Manufac-
turing facilities equal to any town in
Tennessee. Never was so great advan-
tages offered at so small a price, and 60
suppose they win be rejected, would be
8 rejection upon your Intelligence and
good sense which viii not make.