Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-07-18

of work is only some POO feet-a less amount
than the construction contract called for and
a considerable portion of which has been
built, for the good Of the road, at greater eH-
| pense than the putting in Of ellis and cul-
verts" would have involved. So utterly wild
and reckless are all Of Mr.. Davenport's state
ments in regard to the construction work of
| the road that the only charitable view which
can be taken of them is to suppose that the
| gentleman writes from hearshy, or from his
| own vivid imagination, without ever having
made the slightest examination of the work
/ for himself
| The facts in regard TO this construction work
are, in short, precisely these The company
was and is limited in its means to the expendi-
ture of IA certain amount Of money aud bonds.
| The officers were obliged to base their outlay
upon these means, the problem being to get
/ the best possible road for the money at com
mand. The road, when completed according
to the contract, will be a good and satisfacto-
/ ~ piece of work, entirely su efficient for the
needs of new local line As it be-
| gins TO earn money and setu es down to
business basis, its surplus earn ings can be ap-
/ piled, as is the case with all new roads to
such betterments and improvements as prove
| 10 be needed or desirable. The construction
/ contract Of the road was based strictly on the
means at the company's command, ard this
contract We fully believe Harris Bros. a Co.
| are, up to his time, carrying out faithfully
and to the letter Neither from our own OBJ
/ servation, or from information from any re
! 1io1, 4 eli 81
reason for suspecting them Of bad faith, and
we can ind no words strong enough TO ex-
press our condemnation of a man who under
these circumstances, deliberately charges
/ them and the officers of the road and all the
friends Of the enterprise with being "ras-
Gals who have foisted railroad swindle up
on the peo pie Of the West river valley"
On what ground the statement is made that
three of the directors Of the road have re
fused longer to serve the company. we shall
not try to conjecture, preferring to avoid any
line of inquiry which might lead us to form
disagreeable conclusions in regard to the
/ painstaking veracity Of very honorable
/ gentleman We only know that at this writ
ing neither the clerk nor the president Of the
road have any knowledge of the resignation
or the intended resignation, Of any one or
more Of the directors What the board Of
directors think of MI Davenport attack Is
shown hy their statement elsewhere published
over their own signatures.
Il Mr. Davenport is really so honest" in
his convictions and if his sympathy for the
poor "tax-payers" is so sincere as he would
have Us believe, it is at least very unfortunate
for him that he allowed his article 10 take
such a form as to appear to candid and decent
men like a malicious and outrageous attack on
the road its construction and management, at
time when such an attack if it could have
any effect at all, could only be disastrous to
the company. From the whole spirit and an
linus which shows itself il this attack the
conclusion is inevitable that for the sake Of
gratifying his own well-kuowu and persistent
hostility to the new road, he would be willing.
even now, to see it, construction blocked and
every dollar Of the money which the towns
have put into it thrown away. And this is
the worst feature of this violent and malig-
nant outburst for, if it were possible by any
means to create such 4 distrust among the tax
payers of the several interested towns as to
.
due from them, or il any other way to cause
the present construction contract to fall
through, the sums already paid IN, which
amount to about three -ffths of the whole
money voted or subscribed, would be nbso-
lutely and irrecoverably lost and thrown away.
The money would have been spent, but there
would be no railroad and not a dollars worth
OF property to show for it, What do the tax
payers, be they friends or opponents of the
road, think Of tactics which, if legitimatcly
worked out, would result in the loss of every
dollar tlu- far paid out Oh account Of this
road, viii no earthly chance for any future
benefit from it
Mr.. Davenport opens his attack with the
assertion that il is patent that the people and
towns from Brattleboro to Londonderry are
being grossly and outrageously swindled' in
this enterprise he talks about 'rascals' and
''swiudliug' all the way through, and he vol
untoers the suggestion that THE PHGSIE,
among others, enjoys the swindle." The
difference between US and Mr.. Davenport in
this respect is Just this He has never been
a friend of the enterprise, while We have from
the first heartily believed in it, and lent it all
the aid in our power While he would, ap-
parently, be willing to See the people swim
died" out Of every dollar of the money which
they have already put into it, just as success
il in full view, we desire to see this money
saved to them, the road completed, and the
property made profitable and remuneratiyo on
their hands. First and last We shall stand by
the road, and the taJ-payerS, and just as soon
as We discover anything crooked or rotten We
shall expose it but We shall not cry swim
die at the crack Of anybody's whip, or be-
cause any enemy of the road seeks TO cover
his real purpose by shouting Honesty" with
a bigger mouth than We can command.
Whether the world was made for "B. d.
Harris alone, is a conundrum which VT give
up. As to Caesar, it is pretty certain that he
made his mark in the world and for a time
had things very much his own way Whether,
by means Of his present enormously prohta-
bic q railroad contract, Mr. Harris viii be
enabled to play the part Of a second Caesar
in this quarter of the world, We cannot under
take to say but it does seem TO be pretty
definitely settled, in the light of past events,
that neither Windham county, the town Of
Brattleboro, nor the State Of Vermont, was
made for Charles n. Davenport to boss OF
''lulldoze, and We have faith to believe that
it will prove to be equally certain that the
Brattleboro a Whitehall railroad was neither
begun, continued nor finished for him or his
hackers 10 rule or ruin at their own sweet
will
A Base and Dirty Forgery"
Down in Okalona, Miss, town Of some