The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1876-01-13

THURSDAY. JANUARY ls, 1860
woRT1HINGT0N's soPPoRTUvJTE.
The Southern Minnesota Railroad IS
Worthington's opportunity. 1.-THE road
comes here, Worthington becomes from
that day \ railroad center and an i'm
portant inland city. If it goes north
of ~, the railroad center for this sec
tion Of country will he at the point of
crossing the Sioux City road. Worth
ington can better afford to pay the
whole bonus herself, than TO let the road
go north of us. About one-half the
tax will fall upon Worthington in any
event, for about that per cent. of the
realty on the tax list is in Worthington.
We say, it would pay Worthingtonto
vote = ten per cent. bonus on her realty
and make up the ten per cent. on the
rest Of the realty in the county by sub
scription, rather than to let the road
60 north Of us.
But Of course Wortllington will not
be asked to do this. The surrounding
country will, if anything, he benefited
moro than tile town, and will not hest
tate to bear its share of the small bur-
den necessary to secure the road.
There are two sides to this question,
~ there are to all others, and now let
u9 look for 4 moment Mt some of the
objections raised:
!. Some are opposed to the road COM
Ing at al, If it is to lie extended. west
Of ~, as it will cut off our Rock Coun-
ty and Dakota trade. To this we reply
that we must, to a great extent, lose
that trade, whether we get the road or
not. II the road goes north of US, it
will 60 through Murray and Pilestone
Counties to Sioux Falls. And even if
1t should not so to Sioux Falls, or near
enough to afford an outlet for that re-
gion, the Sioux City and Pembina road
will be extended to Sioux Falls proba-
bly, before the year is over, thus turning
the Sioux Falls trade to Sioux City, un-
less there is railroad in this direction.
Remember, we cannot hold the retail
trade of those western counties, in any
event. And if the Southern Minnesota
comes to Wortllington, the increase in
our trade from Murray County and
from Spirit Lake, Iowa, will more than
balance our loss from Dakota and Rock
County. Besides, the rapid settlement
Of our own county win bring us al in
crease Of retail trade greater than I'LL
our present trade from the west. An
other thing TO remember: no city was
ever made by retail trade. Worthing-
ton can only become city by becoming
jobbing nd..manufacturing place, or
distributing center.
2. Some want the road built. hut are
opposed to paying bonus. These again
are Of two classes: ~ those who think
the road will come anyhow, bonus or
not, and therefore THAT it is foolish to
pay them any bonus; and ~ those who
are opposed to ever levying " tax to pay
q railroad bonus. We reply to the first
c)ass that the road, when extended,
will probably follow the route where it's
lands lie, unless there he some strong
inducement to make it come south of
the lands; and that there is an intima-
ton in one of Mr.. Easton's letters that
the road cannot, at this time, be built at
all, unless aided by bonus. 70 the Sec
ond class, we reply, that there lave
been cases where communities have
been swindled, or badly deceived, by
levying tax to aid railroads, but for
every such case, there are twenty where
the voting of bonus has been the max
ing Of a town or county. The adj
vantages or disadvantages depend upon
circumstances, and to oppose all bo-
muses. because in one case they worked
badly, is unwise and sometimes suicidal.
There is one argument i'll favor of the
immediate extension of the Southern
Minnesota which cannot be too strongly
urged. AS a means of tiding us clear
over the grasslopper bar, it would he
like flood tide. Employment would
he given to all men and teams needing
work; a market at high rates would he
created for all the corn and oats and
much of the produce raised in this sec.
ton of country, and the expenditure Of
money in our midst would keep up
healthy circulation in the veins of bust
ness during the dull period Of the year
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Legislature has already takel
steps toward the re-districting of the
q State for Legislative purposes. II
II very generally felt and conceded that
this portion of the State should have
more representatives, while it would
not probably he advisable to increase
the aggregate. e" ':''.' :.
But we do not of course want any
such apportionment as the Window
Reporter maps out. It names one rep.
resentative for each of the counties of
Martin, Watonwan, Jackson and Cot
tonwood, and but one for tie two coun-
ttes OF Mobiles and Rock and one for
Murray and "Pipestone. The popala.
ton of Cottonwood and Mobiles IS
about the same, and if Mobiles gets the