The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-19
THE NEW ORLEANS DEMoORAT TUESDAY, MARCH 10. 1878.

Shall we deliberately fold our arms and weep
over the ruins of our lost trader Or shall we
make some manly effort to regain Or, II we
are unable to render any assistance In recov
|ering commerce SO vital to our interests,
shall we commit the folly Of preventing 9th
ers from attempting TO bring 1t to our city?
Shall VIC refuse to our neighborfng State,
whose trade is 80 essential to our prosperity,
the privilege of extending her lines within our
borders in order to bring her vast commerce
to our port and receive In return the large
supplies which we are SO DESTROYS Of furnish
Ing her!
The object Of the construction of the New
Orleans, Texas and Colorado Railway Is to es-
tablsh these close commercial relations The
incorporators are taken almost entirely from
amongst our most prominent merchants and
other citizens. The charter requires that the
Office and domicile of the company shall be in
the city of New Orleans, and that majority
Of the directors shall be citizens and residents
Of Louisiana. No assistance Is sought from
the State. and only such Is asked from the
parishes through which the road will pass
as may be voted by the taxpayers on real and
personal property. 1t asks no exclusive privi-
leges, but, on the contrary, by being sub
jected to the action Of the Legislature in
regulating excessive charges for freight or
passenger fares. 1t can never become an OPP
pressive monopoly to the people Of the dis
trict through which 1t passes. There Is no
feature of It's charter that Is obnoxious to the
severest criticism.
1t Is proposed that the line Of this railway
beginning at New Orleans, shall pass through
Opelousas; thence In a line rs direct as pos
sible to the town Of Palestine, in Texas, and
thence to the city of Dallas, where 1t will con-
meet with a railway leading northwestward
through the pan handle Of Texas to its con-
nections with Denver city, in Colorado
1t will be seen that this road will thus con-
meet centrally at Palestine with the entire
railway system of Texas. The advantages of
such central connection for economical
freights are manifest.
At Dallas the road will connect with the
Texas and Pacific as ell as with the Hous
ton and Texas Contra abroad, and with it's
own northwestern extension through the pan
handle, It's total proposed length in the State
of Texas alone being about 500 miles.
II 1t be supposed that only one-fourth Of
the land for a distance OF twenty miles on
each side Of the road should hereafter be
under cultivation, that area alone will be
susceptible Of yielding at half bale to the
acre, 100000 bales of cotton; or at twenty
bushels to the acre, 64,o0O,OOO bushels of
wheat, or more wheat than was grown in 1870
in the States of Indiana Illinois and Wiscon-
sin combined. From this we may form some
conception of the vast commerce which, be-
fore the lapse of many years, single line
of railway may bring to New Orleans. But
when the products of the country through
which the road will pass are added to those
which are received through It's connections
from Kansas and Colorado, the interests of
Now Orleans in this enterprise attain mag
nitude which cannot well be exaggerated.