The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-04

| have positive knowledge, and this
encourages me to hope that you may
be mi taken about this debauchery
business, of which of course l am
not supposed to know anything.
In your first article you say, mot
until the bill reached the House was
there any one found who had the
courage to oppose it," or words to
that effect, when, in fact, it met a
determined, persistent opposition in
the Senate, and was discussed two or
three days before it passed that body.
In your last you say the company
gets ten years on a balance of four
hundred thousand dollars" The
company in fact, pays upwards of
one hundred thousand dollars on or
before the first day OF July, 1878,
and gives its ten year bonds for the
remaining three hundred and odd
thousand dollars, with interest from
date. We may have done wrong /;
we may not have represented by our
votes the will of our constituents /;
but no one said or did anything to
influence my decision, as to how |
should vote on the question.
The policy indicated in .yotT article
may be correct. 1t may be to the in
terest of Garrett county to fill up
the ditch" to cut off every avenue
of trade except with Baltimore city;
to destroy all competition, and to
place our county at the tender mercy
Of the great corporation, and then by
niggardly and vindictive treatment
goad it into Kindness to us. This
may have been the wish of our con-
stituents, but if so, we were not APP
prised of it.
l was not aware that any great in
ternal improvement, such as the
Chesapeake and Ohio canal, because,
peradVenture it may incidentally
benefit some place other than Balti-
more city, it ought therefore to be
closed up. According to my theory
the more railroads and canals we
have leading to the great centres of
trade the better will be our markets,
and the cheaper our products will be
transported. l should not object to
having direct railroad or canal COM
municatiOn with Richmond, New
York and Philadelphia, while your
theory would confine us to single
city and a single line of railroad.
AS l said in my former letter, we
have low rates to the canal from
there we have competing rates we
had concessions looking to the estab-
lishment of competing railway lines
to our neighborhOOd, and the COM
pany submitted to taxation. Besides,
was the settlement of vcXed uuCS-
ton in which the railroad was not
wholly in the wrong.
The experiment of legislating for
cheap freights has been tried in the
west lately and found wanting and |
believe it has been generally conced-
ed that competition affords the only
reliable solution to the problem of
low freights. Therefore let us hold
on to the canal let us encourage the
extension Of any competeting rail-
roads ; let us at the same time avail
ourselves of all advantages, to any
of our interests, offered by the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad.
And now in conclusion, and final
ly, for myself | have this to say
voted for the railroad bill inteti0n-
ally it was not an accident. l voted
for it because | thought it was ri9M,
and | have not heard or read any
thing since to convince me of the
contrary, and | want whatever Of
censure or opprobium attaches to
that act to rest on me. | consulted my
own Judgment, and acted on my own
responsibility and voted conscien-
tiously. 1t should be borne in mind
however, that the result was not con-
tingent on our votes; that the requi-
site constitutional majority had been
obtained for the bill long before our
names were called, and if we had
voted differently, the result would
have been precisely the same.
l am getting tired OF this subject.
If you are still disposed to insist
that we haye been corrupted, l am
ready to be Investigated and if that is
not satisfactory, to ''step down and
out"
Yours, very truly,
GEO. w. WILSON.