The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-03-06
THE CANAL MEETING.

Che Ottawa Republican, pipes exceeding
small" IN manitesting misquito jealousy be
cause the call for a ship canal meeting was
first gwen to the FREE TRADER for insertion
instead of the RepuLlicda, or because no cspe'
cal request was sent to the latter to copy 1t;
and he makes an especially degrading eXhlbl-
ton of himself in casting slur upon the
movement by stigmatzng it as "ntended Tor
a political boom for some one" The mlldest
epthet we can apply to such liuleness is to
call it shameful.
/ And we are amazed that a man occupying
Mr.. Culcn's positiop-that of an aspirant to
represent this district in congress-should pro
fcss Ignorance of the source from which this
call enanaed. The readers Of the FREE IRA
DER were duly advised some months ago, that
an important convention in favor Of the i'm
prevent OF western water ways was held at
Quincy, and that among others from this re-
gion J. X. Shaver, Esq, of Rutland, attended
the convention. That convention effected IA
permanent organization, and among others
placed j Il. Shaver on its executive commit
tee, charging said committee with the duty
among others Of calling meetings in their re-
spectlve localities to agitate in favor OF the va
rious improvements the convention decided to
be OF pressing national importance. 1t was
! therefore manly from Mr.. Shaver that the sug-
gcstion came of tins call for a ship canal meet
/ ing at Ottawa. lIecame here and interviewed
a number of our leading men on the subject,
! Mr. Cullen we presume among the rest, but
| found no sympathy or disposition to cooperate
/ with HIM IN the matter with any warmth or
earnestness except on the part of Wash. Bush
nell, Mayor Nicholson, Dr. Harris and few
Others, principally members of the Ottawa
Business Mems Association, and through these
the call for meeting on the 18th inst. was de-
cided upon, the matter of making the neces-
sary arrangements, advertising, &c, being left
by Mr. Shaver with the gentlemen we have in
dictated. And it was of course at their request
that the call was inserted, within few hours
after 1t had been agreed upon, in last week.
FREE TRADER Being matter of supreme
public importance, yet one in which all were
alike interested, it probably never occurred to
these gentlemen that etiquette required that
every newspaper in the district should be spec
tally invited to notice matter that so entirely
concerned everybody. Least OF all could it
have entered their minds that to man of Mr..
Cullen's aspirations a matter in which he
ought to feel the deepest interest and with
which be ought to be perfectly familiar, could
present itself in the pitiful light Of political
boom for some one"
We are willing to admit now, however, since
the mat ter is forced upon US i'll this light, that
this ship canal movement may have good
deal of significance in connection with Mr..
Cullens congressional aspirations. The PEG
PIE of this congressional district and the
whole canal and river region have for years
felt a very deep interest in the ship canal ques
ton, but somehow they were so unfortunate
in their congressman that they never could
get hearing at Washington on the subject
1t is true, Mr.. Cook, after great deal of hard
work, finally got in an entering wedge in the
shape of an $800s0 appropriation for the I'M
provcment of the Illinois river, and the appro-
pIlation has been repeated in each subsequent
river and harbor bill with scrupulous reguari-
ty. The ship canal, however, has always been
singularly ignored. Soon after our present
congressman Hayes-took his seat, some
one in the canal office at Lockport, We under
stand, took the pains toprepare maps, surveys,
figures, &c, going minutely into all the details
of the proposed ship canal and forwarded
them to Mr.. Hayes, but they were never heard
of; and about a year ago when the people
around here began to manifest renewed IN
terest IN the subjcctan inquiry was made OF MIR,
Hayes in regard to these papers, and he con.
fessed that he had lost or mislaid them and re-
quested that new set be sent him-papers the
preparation OF which was worth four or five
hundred dollars--agan probably to be mis-
laid!
Now rs one result of the present renewal OF
the ship canal agitation it would be very lncom-
pletc indeed if 1t didn't put stop to sending
such men to congress. We have men who are
heart and soul IN this business.
Such men are Mr.. j. X. Shaver and Washing
ton Bushnell, for instance, and while we have
such men our opinion Is that the people OF
this district will not care to return TO congress
a man who "mislays" his facts, or man who
casts slur on the movement by stigmatizing !
it as a political boom for some one" like Mr.
Cullen.
TROUBLE IN SAN FRANCISCO.