The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-03-28
THE LOUISIANA RAILROADS.

| Mr.. WhcelOCk, President OF the New
Orleans Pacific Railway Company.
prints Il card in the city papers of
| Sunday relative to the unfortunate con
| troversy which has arisen between the
New Orleans Pacific and the North
Louisiana Railway Companies. We
should be glad to see both these roads
constructed because we believe that
both of them will vastly benefit large
sections of Louisiana and the city of
New Orleans. Therefore, we regret that
any controversy should have arisen be-
tween them, especially as they are in
no respect rival lines, unless Mr.. JThce-
tock can clearly establish his charges,
which we gather from his card to be rs
follows:
First. That the North Louisiana rail
way charter is the Backbone swndle in
disguise
Secondly. That the friends and incor-
porators of the North Louisiana Rail
road have lcagued with the Scott men to
make that road the only subsidized
branch Of the Texas Pacific in this
State, thus combining to cut off the
New Orleans Pacific from any Congress-
ional aid.
Thirdly. That the Shreveport com
missioners in their fealty to the North
Louisiana Railroad enterprise have VIC
lated their pledges to the New Orleans
Pacific Company.
Between the two enterprises, standing
upon their own merits. there is no rival
ry, no conflict. One traverses the
western portion of Louisiana from
Shreveport to New Orleans the other,
the southern portion from Shreveport to
the Mississippi at Vicksburg The lat
ter cannot be detrimental to New Or
leans, unless the Mississippi river is
detrimental to New Orleans. The wagon
and railroads, striking the river at
every point, pour their traffic into this
city, and tho North Louisiana road, ira
versiDg a rich, beautiful and fertile
country would necessarily do the same,
increasing the trade of New Orleans in
the same proportion that it contributes
to the development of the country.
It does not seem probable to US that
the North Louisiana charter is the
Backbone road in disguise. There are
none of the Backbone men among the
Of the North Louisiana
Railway, and it is not reasonable to
suppose that the incorporators of the
North Louisiana Road would be willing,
for the franchises of defunct swindle,
to shoulder a million Of dollars of
fraudulent bonds due by tho swindle
to Kansas Pomeroy, Pinchback, Lowell
and others for their patriotic services
in its behalf in Congress and the Louis
ANA Legislature. Most Of the incorpo-
rators Of the North Louisiana Railroad,
known to us, are honorable and saga
,ious business men, who would not sully
heir hands with swindle like the
Backbone road, nor engage i'll an
enterprise saddled at the outset
With a fraud of Il million dol |
ars. Col. n. Gregg, the Presi-
lent Of the Shreveport Cotton Exchange.
md an honorable and wealthy merchant
u Shreveport, in recent dispatch to this
'ity, said: 1--WE repel the insinuation
hat there is any connection between the |
North Louisiana and the Backbone |
Dads. And Hon. John C. Moncure. in
lis dispatch to the editor of this paper,
printed in our columns this morning,
makes the same declaration. We can
&c no logical connection between the
wo. The incorporators are different
nen, and the North Louisiana men
ould not be idiotic enough enough to
houlder the rotten corpse of the Back
'one swindlc
Upon the second point we think Mr..
'heelock is mistaken. There was a
,orth Louisiana Railroad bill intro
uced in the Senate at the last session
y Brewster. Baker and Morey were
9th concerned in this latter concern.