The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-01-15

lumbia to Lewisburg, with a small eX~
c7LtiOn, is completed. II was confident
iy believed by those engaged in this
enterprise that if the corporation OF
Columbia, together with the few citizens
who subscribed for stock in the road.
would grade, bridge and crosstie the
| road to the Marshall county line, then
| the "GreAt County of Maury' would
come forward and lend helping hand
in ironing and putting the rolling-stock
not only from Columbus to the Marshall
| county line, but also to the Hickman
county line. The financial pressure has
been so great, and the money market so
| stringent, that the company have
| thought it best to postpone for the time
being the west end of the road, and with
the consent of the parties in interest
| appropriate So much of the available
funds of the road, as may be necessary
| to put it in good running order from
| Columbia to Lewisburg, believing that
| when times are easier the people of
! Maury county will come forward and
zsalously aid in extending the road
| west through the rich iron fields OF
Hickman, toward Memphis or St. Louis.
The question then recurs, will 1t be to
| our interest, to the interest of every
property>holder and laborer to use the
twenty-five thousand dollars belonging
to the west end of the road in equipping
and putting the road in good running
order from Columbia to Lewisburg?
For several reasons believe it will. In |
the first place, we have twenty-five |
thousand dollars already expended, |
which is bringing US nothing in the |
way of interest or profit, and which |
from necessity must be idle and dead |
capital, in every sense OF the word, until |
the road is finished; it will not only be |
an idle capital of twenty-five thousand |
dollars upon which we are paying in |
terest, but it will be a depreciating cap
ital as long as it remains unfinished,
because it will be constantly washing
away. In the next place, If the road is
put into operation to Lewisburg, it will
certainly pay the interest on the bonds,
and thereby relieve us of that burden;
besides, it will bring almost the entire
trade OF Marshall county to Columbia,
which would be worth thousands and
thousands of dollars to the town, even
if the road did not pay one cent OF in
terest on the bonds. Again, we are
now paying just double we ought to pay
for coal, which trade is assuming con-
siderable proportions in this communi~
ty. The Nashville and Louisville and
Great Southern road now charges you
twenty dollars freight on car load Of
coal from the coal fields of Alabama to
Columbia, but delivers it from the same
place in Nashville, fOrty-fiYe miles fur
Their, for fifteen dollars; thus making
NlCil d III ldNOT Oh q
competing market as to arouse and ex-
cite the displeasure of those who aided
in building the road. If we put our
road in operation to Lewisburg, the
counties east of us are ready to extend
it to the Sewanee coal fields, thus giY~
ing US shorter line and cheaper mar
k6C from that source than Nashville,
and in addition to that it will give
competing line and bring down the
trei ghts, at least on coal from the other
mines But again, Marshall county has
invested one hundred and fifteen thou
sand dollars in the road. They Joined in
with US in good faith TO build marrow
gauge road, and thereby give US control |
OF their large and valuable trade; but II
we tail to reach out and take the prize,
Marshall will make an effort to turn II |
into a broad gauge road and make il a
branch of the Nashville and Decatur
line; and if she should succeed, who can
estimate the loss we would thereby sus~
tain? These are no idle threats that
our little sister county is making. If
we had done our part as the people OF |
Marshall have done, to-day the cars
would have been running to LewiSburg.
| ct them but make it wide gauge road |
and Columbia will reap less benefit from
the trade of Marshall and Lincoln cOun> {
ties than she does now from the long
trains of rich freights that daily roll by |
US from Louisville to Montgomery. !
These are sober, practicable questions.
W hich should address themselves to our
earnest and thoughtful consideration.
These thoughts have been suggested by
reading an article in your last issue
over the very liberal title OF RAILROAD |
or Turnpike" There was so much OF
good practical sense and reasoning in the
Jne article, that we hope it may be fol-
lowed by another from the same source.
Would it not be we'll for the people OF |
Columbia to have a public meeting TO
this question y CITIZEN.