The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1876-05-14
THE &. AND r. u. IA FORClBLE
APPEAL.
CAIRO, ILL, Nav l3. 1876.

EDITOR BULLETIN The ulSaRrccaDlc
duty OF bringing before the people of
Cairo the claims OF the Cairo and Tenn
essce river railroad, and Of asking their
assistance, has devolved upon me, am
fully aware. of the difficulties under which
the people Of Cairo are laboring. and Of
the disappointment they have met with
In regard to railroads. They say, and |
have no reason to doubt 1t, that they
have contributed to railroads that have
been of very little service to them, and
that these same railroads have In the
times OF their arrivals and departures, ii
not In their freight charges, Disseminated
against Cairo, arriving, as they do in the
evening, or at night, and leaving in the
morning. They do not run
their trains either accommodation or reg
ular trains SO as 10 bring their
passengers to Cairo in the morning and
take them away In the evening, allowing
them time to make purchases In Cairo.
What is done In favor of every other city
Is refused to Cairo. The people Of Cairo
have been so sadly disappointed because
their liberality has been SO misplaced, as
they think, that many Of them express
distrust Of all railroad enterprises. Again.
the taxes are so enormous. amounting to
81 OF per cent. that they feel unable. If
they had the will, to aid any enterprise
no matter how promising. These things
arc very discouraglng, admit. but In my
opinion, the best mode of relief for the
people Of Cairo, Is the building OF the
Cairo and Tennessee river railroad.
Standing still will do you no good; you
must advance or retrograde. Your debt.
though very large for Cairo in It's present
condition, would be light il you could
treble or quadruple the value Of the taxa
bic property of Cairo.
The roads which you now have tend.
in some measure, to take trade from you
and carry it to larger cities. This Cairo
aud Tennessee River railroad has no large
city at the other terminus to take trade
away. 1t will come here to get the adj
vantages Of competition between river
and railroad transportation. Even now
tobacco is shipped from Cairo to New
Orleans at $3.50 aud $500 hogshead,
which Is less than it takes to bring il from
Fulton. n.y., to Cairo, or from Mayfield
to Paducah. This road would give you
large portion OF the trade of Ballard and
Graves counties, Kentucky, and Of Henry
and Benton counties, Tennessee. These
counties are comparatively undcveloped.
They could produce three or four times
as much as they do. but even now
the average value of farm products
In these four counties Is five
million Of dollars per annum. The
amount OF tobacco now raised is ten
thousand hogshea ads per annum, which
might be easily increased to twenty
thousand If this road were built. am
satisfied that the completion of this road
to Paris Tenn, would double the bust
ness Of Cairo. and can see no reason
why flour, pork, bacon and provisions OF
all kinds, intended for Southern markets
may not be sold rs cheap in Cairo as
anywhere else. As your trade increases
from the building of this road, trade
which Is now carried from you by other
roads will come back, tor 1t is prOverbial
that men have to go to city that docs a
large trade whether they get any better
bargains or not. do not ask the people
OF Cairo to aid the people of Kentucky
and Tcnncsse In the building of this road
on their own account but because be-
licYe Cairo will be even more
benefited than the people of Ken
lucky and Tennessee will be, great as
admit their benefits will he. am not
asking you to aid them. but to aid your.
selves. First, we wish to make our sur.
vcys and then We must devise the WAYS
and means OF building the road. | have
only asked Cairo for subscription OF
100000 to make the survey, and thus
far have only gotten $l4O, 200. Certainly
the remainder can be raised without diill-
Guilty. icxpcct to return to Cairo by the
23d OF this month to sec II ] cannot raise
this small balance. This will not build
the road. 1t Is true, but it will be the
first step In that direction and will give
us the means Of asccrtaining the probable
cost OF the road from this place to the
Tennessee river at JOlinsonvillc, which
Is about one hundred miles distant.
Although you have not realized what
you expected from the building of rail-
roads, yet ] am satisfied the roads al
ready built will he OF great service to
you and the time will come when you
Will not regret that they were built and
that You aided In building them. |
know this Is not the impression now In
Cairo, but future events will, think. JUS
lily the opinion which express. now
even think the Cairo and Tennessee River
railroad stands upon much higher and
better basis than any Of them, and will be
OF much more service to you. Yours.
WV, i. SYkEs