Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-02-21
OLYMPIA. SATURDAY MORNING. fEB. q. lNi
WHAT SHALL WE 70 TO BE sAvED?

The olu-faShioncd way OK bringing
about spiritual conversions was TO COM
mence uron the sinner by informing
him of the utter hopele>sness If his
condition. drawing terrible pictures of
everlasting torrents, terrifying hlm II
rossiblc into the belief that he was lost
beyond pcradventurc, unless he should
soon accept the proffercd means of sal
Walton. When brought to see the frey
gulf towards which he was blindly rush
ing. he, of course, very naturally ex-
claims, What shall l do TO he savod?'
about which time the hat was usually
passed around with great success. Ben
Franklin, who was noted for economy
in his day, informs us that he was once
thus induced by Whitfield to empty his
pockets of the last penny. Something
of this style has been adopted Ivy some
of our citizens, who see i'll the compile
ton Of the Northern Pacific Railroad
between kalama and Tacoma the de-
struction Of Olympia. They delight,
i'll drawing the picture Of our inlpend-
ing decay--mills without elist, stores
without trade, stages without passen-
gers and town without population -
Gaping the climax with the question of
the revivalist, " What shall we do to be
'saved?' then supplying the answer of
the ruined populace, which is always,
st" Build Il railroad to Tenino" After
that it only remains to shove around
the hat.
We do not allude to this matter for
the purpose of casting the slightest I'M
putation upon those who take this view
of it, but simply to suggest that how
ever well adapted the style may be to
spiritual affairs, it does not seem to us
as one likely to lie success in railroad
enterprises, which require long contin-
ued, steady, patient perseverance, rath-
er than those spasmodic ebullitions of
excitement which always exhaust those
who exhibit them.
We have too much faith in Olympia
to believe that this matter of railroad
with Tenino is question of life or
death with her, yet we believe it to be
an enterprise which should receive the
earnest support of her citizens within
their means. If the scheme is rational
and practical, if the road wW pay in any
sense of the word, if it will save Olym-
pia from loss or insure her gains plo-
portionate to the cost, it appears to us
that this may be readily shown in IA
tional manner, and surely this is all
that need be done to ensure its being
built If the proposition that our town
has come such to pass she must either
have railroad connection with Tenino
or go to the dogs were really believed
to be true by those who must furnish
the money for the road in case it is
built, is there any reason to believe that
they would take the risk of making the
advance? Would not foreign capital
lists, who have nothing here to lose,
rather keep their cash in their pockets
than to invest it upon the security of a
decaying town or county, and would
not those who have some interest here
already, hesitate before throwing good
money after bad? Every man can an
swer these questions for himself, and it
seems to us that if he answers candidlv
lie must conclude that there is poor
show to get railroad built on the
ground that it is the only thing that will
save us; for the proposition established
there must still remain the possibility
that We might not he saved with it.
A PHILADELPHIA Tower ONE THOUSAND