The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-05-23

right OF personal liberty, tho stability OF
society and government will be de-
stroyed and no material work or sys-
tenn of works can then secure to US en-
during prosperity and wealth.
THE ROAD.
It Ia to be regretted that so
many Of the opponents OF the
levy of the tax for the aid OF the road
have Joined in q war upon this great
enterprise itself, Certainly every rail-
road has not been success, nor have
these works always accomplished the
results expected or predicted OF them.
The remarks OF DIR. d. Warren Brickell
on the effect Of too much railroad build
Ing in England and in the North
and West, contained in his very
able article. printed in the DEM
ooRAT yesterday morning, are true
beyond question. Previous to 1873
the North and West went wild over
railroads. Vast debts were created for
their construction; towns and counties
pledged their credit and the property
of their people for their aid; railroads
were built in every direction and to
every town and crossroad. A vast
amount of corruption and profiigacy
were engendered in this wild and reck-
less, we may say railroad fanaticism,
and great amount Of fictitious wealth
created on which the business OF the
whole country was largely based. OF
necessity, q great and terrible crash
came, bringing with it indiscriminate
ruin and suffering, and wide spread
business and financial depression from
which the country has not yet re-
covered. The progress Of the revi-
val has been slow certainly; but
1t is going on and will be
complete in a few years, or per-
haps in less time. All the roads
that were built will not be paying
roads; some Of them are beyond
doubt dead, hopeless failures. But we
believe that the railroad system OF the
United States, as whole, will prove
magnificent success, and constitute In
large part the bases Of the future mate
rial wealth and prosperity Of the coun-
try. The crisis of 1873 destroyed and
swept away the fictitious values which
had been created in the wild prosecu-
ton OF railway building, and these
great works rest now upon a surer and
firmer financial foundation, and they
must be in the future indispensable
agencies to the growth and develop
ment Of the agricultural and CONNER
cial resources and wealth Of this won
derful country.
Louisiana is almost entirely without
railroads, and her people, her towns
and cities, depend for transportation
and travel almost entirely upon her
rivers and bayous. Her lands are Of
wonderful fertility; but her avenues to
market are expensive, tedious, and at
seasons Of the year, unavailable. The
thrifty emigrant considers these facts
In his choice Of a home and goes else.
where. Our great metropolis, sitting on
the sea, and with great natural advan-
tages, is surrounded, fanked and cut off
from the trade of adjacent territory by
the railroads Of st. Louis and other
cities, which have captured millions OF
its former commerce, and it has lost its
ancient prestige.
We believe that the completion Of the
railroad system Of the State will be
greatly instrumental in restoring the
commercial Importance OF New Orleans
and in developing the resources Of the
State, and we regard the New Orleans
Pacific as, the most important part Of
that system.
A glance at any good railroad map
will make this fact very evident. Such
a map will chow the great railroad sys-
tenn OF Northern and Eastern Texas,
passing through regions Of boundless
fertility and converging upon Shreve-
port, in this State, with great lines
stretching northeasterly through Ar
kansas and Missouri to st. Louis, and
southwesterly to Galveston, on the
Texas coast. Outside of these roads
lies the State of Louisiana. Indeed.
the Galveston and st. Louis lines seem
to constitute a dead line." across
which the commerce Of Texas dares not
or cannot pass toward this city.
Another glance at the map shows that
though this is the case, it would be
practical scheme for New Orleans to
reach out and capture the situation. st.
Louis is six hundred miles distant from
the Texas trade, New Orleans but three
hundred. Lines of railroad run through
the Northern tier Of Texas counties to
Marshall and Shreveport; another
division of the Texas Pacific from Fort
Worth to Shreveport, and another road
traverses Arkansas and connects with
these. New Orleans, then, it is very