The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-10-06
yauoo CITY Railroad.


MEssRs EDrroRs OF THE CLARION No
one will deny what was claimed by 'Busi>
ness, in last weeks CLARION that. increased
trade will bring increased wealth, and that
the Yazoo City Road would be an important
stan in that direction Il is not so clear,
however, that it would give us competing
line with the n. Q. St. L. & @. Railroad,
on which we could demand reduction oil
fifty per cent. upon present rates OF ffeignt.
Unlike the Duluth Railroad this would
R(rin and end somewhere, but 1t WOULD De
rsther a circuitous route for compressed
cotton destined for Providence for many
wears to come The question before the
community Is, shall we now cote to tax
ourselves 500, 900 to aid in building THIS
road The assessed value of property, real
and personal, in the corporate limits Oh
Jackson. on which taxes are actually
Maid is about S1,500,000. Now the
nronosition is. shall we give SlSO,O0O,
10 this enterprise during the next ten
wears. principal and interest, which Is an
average of twelve dollars per annum on
each thousand dollars worth OF property!
Are we in a condition 10 stand 1t Are we
ready to add to our present taxes $Io,VOo
per annum. for if we honestly intend to pay
the bonds at maturity, this Is what viii DC
required. ~.
same common sense business pilHOAP'0S '
govern individuals.
Already in debt about $4,000, and our
streets in a wretched condition, Vlgor-
Gus effort is being made by our excellent
Board of Aldermen, this year, to bring city
scrip that has been hawked about the streets
at 80 to 10 cents, up to par, ana Ior the n[ ~
time since the war the bonds are worth ~
cents. =
An individual who had been struggling
for fifteen wears to rid himself of a large
debt his threadbare and patched clothes
Swing evidence of his self-deniai who,
lust as he was emerging from his bondage,
should plunge into greater debt than ever
upon so slender hope OF return, would De
regarded unworthy of credit,
Ifthe Yazoo City Railroad caunot be built
by voluntary subscription made by capital
lists and those who would be the largest ben
ficiaries of all the trade it would bring, 1t Is
because they cannot see the bonanza IN 1t
Chat some imagine, and the propltious time
for building it has not arrived. 1t has been
suggested by friends of the enterprise that
loo, 900 dollars Jackson City Bonds would
be carried at par. If no one can be found
willing TO subscribe to the enterprise, 1T Is
not probable that many will be found to
take the bonds at par, the motive being SIM
ply to aid the road, when those bonds have
no market value abroad and could not be
sold for more than 80 to 20 cents at home.
c. p. Huntington of the Greenville mar
row-puare saws that this road would cost |
SIC, 900 per mile so the 100000 jackson !
Bonds would build say six to eight miles,
and Yazoo City would do about the same
thing But suppose the two towns would 1
build one-half the road, which half shall it }
be? Shall we build from Jackson only and I
stock and run it? Yazoo City would not /
consent to that. She is quite as ambitious /
for increased trade as we are, and just as
sanguine that it will bring increased wealth \
within her walls, and having already double |
our cotton receipts and a reliable river at
her door, she has better ground for hope /
than we have,
Where would the money come from to ,
complete the gap? Gen. Martin has Just !
returned from the North Unable to borrow !
one dollar on thG3 ilrst mortgage bonds of the
Natcnrs route.
The population of the bonds voted by
some of our counties to the Memphis and |
Selma Road some years ago has not been /
forgotten, to say nothing of divers other i'll
advised railroad schemes in this State that |
nave gone TO wreck anu ruin dlbcT getting
the peoples money.
For example, the Vicksburg and Canton |
Railroad, for which Madison county has the |
pleasure of paying $75, 900 and interest and |
getting nothing in return. If the proposed 4
road is ever built it must be by the property /
owners in Kinds and Yazoo and at a cost, |
if all the money is borrowed, of a million /
of dollars. Our part of this money can be I
more iudiciouslY used. 1t would be too 1
C.ranlx,5s I'm ,i,,-
on theories at cost of one dollar and a /
half per bushel, which could have been I
purchased in the market at one third that |
sum-
If it did not gravitate towards Yazoo
City on account of her river opening we |
would get some increased trade over what
now comes by wagon, but it offers us moth
ing towards the present great desderatum
of Jackson, which is some way Of shipping
cotton North by line in competition with
the n. o., St. l.. and @. Railroad.
If we can afford to invest 500, 600 in /
anything, l suggest it be tendeged to the
proposing TO purchase the V.
and Nj. Railroad for their new stock
at par for which we would have
a strong voice in the control of
that road and might contract with
years to come. A change of management
of the road, we are credibly informed, is in
the very pear future.
Or would it not be as we'll to give it to
the Natchez road, in the hope of completing
it to Jackson?
From the present outlook, that road will I,
not reach Jackson dnring the present cen
tury and being in for two hundred thous-
and dollars, on scheme which is drawing
the trade of Kinds county to Natchez, it
may be well to go step further, in the hope
that in this way we may remedy, in some
degree, the evils into which we have already |
been unwittingly drawn.
TAX PAYER