The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1876-03-02


BONUS OR NO BON Iax
HERsEY, Eel, e, 1870.
EDITOR ADVANCE: Havi travelled
quite extensively the past " through
Hnne1 Sta Isekot4, eb1 |ka aend
ansaS3 an rnaking mi NY o1 eryat Ans
az causes nd >effectsN'it MY MOI be
t,jss 1lruhe t9giye TIE vot1 QaSNos
b1es County my views on the all absorb
ing question, Bonus or no bonus to the
Southern Minnesota Railroad. Al
though am in favor of public improve
ments, have discovered in my travels
that there is a limit which is dangerous
for any community to pass. know of
several towns i'll Nebraska with an
Sc, 900 school house and from three to
five scholars to district, and you can
look until VanEs Head Rolaass AND sea
q settlement. Y0u ask the cause. The
adsWeris, - Foo many bonds,''
TOO much taa. 4 Upon. further-inquiry
you will find that, some few st1ecNlGtors,
acting upon the plan often quoted, in
the columns of the ADVANCE, '..the,
way'to permanently reduce taxation. is
them for the present. (. have
prQcesdsd TO- fn their own, pockets, at,
the expense pt depopqlat Ing t!ie leoan-'
try. thrust the voters of Mobiles Cour-,
tyI will eyer I've on the alert, and never
vote for lilly measure that ill, directly
or Indirectly, lead to Suclia catastrophe.
The voters Of Mobiles County are called
upon tO'Voteat the next annual election
on q measure that Involves the bonding
Of the county to the amount Of $40, 600,
which,, with the interest and expenses,
will amount to more than 500, 900, for
the benefit of the Southern Minnesota
Railroad, which will soon he; followed.
by the building of an expensive Court
House, and other public buildings,
costing as much if not more of the tax
payers hard-earned money. According
to the figures in the ADVANCE Of Feb.
18th, the interest ON the railroad bonds
will increase the rate OF tpxation 37{
per cert. II that is SO, it does not take
much of ascllolar to see that the inter-
est on the Whole indebtedness Of Mobiles
County will very soon nearly double
our taxes. If the interest will double
our taxes what. shall we do when the
principal falls due. <Some of our lead
ing county officers answer this question
very satisfactorily by saying that they
| care nothing; about the payment of the
principal, as they do not expect to- lie
here then. / respect their honesty, and
will insure them plenty of company, rs
hear MANY farmers saying that they
are ready to sell their farms 70: what
they can get as soon as the railroad
bonds are issued, and many will vote
for the bonds, hoping that the new rail
road will bring some immigrant who
will buy their farms and let them out
of the scrape. will now call the at
tention OF The voters Of Mobiles County
to some of the many absurd arguments
in favor of the bords. BY reading the
ADVANCE of Feb. 10th, you are led to
imagine that by the building of the
Southern Minnesota Railroad Worth
}ingtOn will become one Of the most I'M
i; pOrtant suburbs Of Chicago; the Saint
Paul and Sioux City Railroad will lie
compelled to run their trains past w or.
thnxton without stopping; you will
notice that the full rates of fare and
/ freight on the st. Paul and Sioux City
Railroad will he saved by tile Southern
Minnesota Railroad. l ask any man to
examine those figures and he, will say,
as I do, that's too thin. for it is /;
we'll known fact that any railroad ruin.
ming through q sparsely settled country
will be compelled to charge the highest
tariff allowed by law, aud even then
they often fall into the hands of 4 Re.
ceirer. l will review some of theiigures
found in the ADVANCE of Feb. ~ and
II. Instead Of having passenger fart
the same from Chicago to Worthington
via the Southern Minnesota, it will be
about as follows: !:
Worthingto,i to Lacrosse, go miles CSC, 4!2a
Lacrosse to Chicago, 2SS0 miles e93]5c.... 70
Total. =. Observation-Disclosures. $!95t
While the fare VII, st. Paul is only
$40. 10 AFreights will he in the same
proportion, from the fact that no rail.
road can materially reduce the rates Of
freight and fare until t. the = country
through which they RUN has improved
to sucll!anr extent? as to give them {;
large amount Of business, and statistics
fs!lOw that the rates OF the Southern
l Minnesota on bulk grain is considerably
Il higher titan the st. Paul and Sioux City;
The time from Worthington to Chi.
cagO will lie tile same VIII the Southern
7 Minnesota Railroad as viii st. Paul; us
I the Southern Minnesota trains will con.
meet with the same train ut. La Crosse
as the st. Paul and Sioux City does ut
st. Paul. ? So, II we. .can, sage nothing
i'll fare, freight nor time, where is the
money coming from to pay the bonds.
Echo answers 'ifrcm the: Taxpayers
| Were it not for the fact. that Duluth is
not only about 125 miles from st. Paul
with facilities for shipping grain: equal
to Milwaukee; or Chicago, and the rates
Of freight from Duluth to Buffalo as
low as either of those places, it is pos
sible that the Southern Minnes0t;. Rail
road might carry some wheat from
|WOrthinyton. liz view iof all these
facts, that the Southern Minnesota be
4 ing built to Wortliington will liiater;.lly
effect the price of wheat is;perfectly ab
4 surd. If there ;lre any doubts Of this
statement, ImOst respectfully ask WHY
the wheat from tile Dakota ,SOutheri
Railroad and Sioux City should ;be car
| ried oyer the Sioux City and st., Pau
Railroad when they have two tmucl
better routes to; Chicago, than thu
Southern Minnesota ever can be. ....'
T. 10 show that a competition of. rail
roads: will not insure free fare :lnt
freights, I will refer You to Omaha
The distance from Omaha to! Chicago
| by nero1te is 49l miles. There ;lrt
five different routes, v;iiying III dis
!, tance from 494 ito about 700 miles. The
Efare is, the same ($15) on all five iof tllt
i roads..' You will perceive; tl,atatlle far.
: for 404 miles, witllfive competing:roads
! Ills GOcents more than from W0rtl,ing
1 ton to- Chicago (586 miles) without any
II competition. l can arrive at but ont