The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1881-03-03
nAfLaoApa.

and no little Is being said Ivy The press ava
the public to their dotfiment That tho road'
ara in bad shape no one can deny, md u Is
natural that thore should be gruinbling and
complaining; but there proiwo sides 70 every
QUESTION. We have had On unprecedented
winter. Never before in the memory OF any
man in Texas hayo we had such continuous
cold and rainy weather. We have hrd per-
haps colder spells, always short ones, put
never before 80 much of rain, seet ahu
snow. From some time in October
up to this time, it has rained or showed OF
sleeted eyery week md almost every day.
The consequence has been ruinous 10 railroad
beds and il has prevented repairs from oe'hg
done. The railroad arrangements In 'he
state have, ia u great measure, been power
less to help themselves. The unusual ana
wonderful prosperity Of the country, every
interest being in aourshing condition, mon
ey being plentiful and capital seeking invest
ment eyerywhere and in all directions, rail-
roading enterprises have kept pace with inc
tunes and everywhere throughout the entire
country old lines of railroad are beng ex-
tended and building branches, while
new ones have sprung into existence and all
are being crowded through. What has been
the consequence? Every foundry, rolhng
mill and machine shop has been pushed 70
It's utmost capacity, and with full quota o.
II Il
hands is running day and night, and this has
been the case for more than q year, and there
/. rot one of them that has not orders ahe"o
for eight, or ten, or dozen months. we
know that the Texas & Pacific ordered tofty
new engines for its road, contracting tor
them to all be finished last August, and 1t
has only been able, up to this time, to get
twenty-five of those engines. Out OF live
hundred tons Of steel rails to have
been delivered last October, II
I succeeded in getting four hundred tons, al
though four months have passed since the
time they were TO have been delivered. The
Texas 81 Pacific and the Houston d Texas
Central have both been and are still extend
ing their lines. They are going out into the
great northwest, penetrating splendid
region and opening it up to population and
to cultivation. They are bringing US people
to settle our waste places, and doing more
than any other organization to increase the
wealth of the state and build it up CONNER
cially. Well, the "Sunset route
and the International roads are extend
ing their lines, too, toward the
Rio Grande and are opening up the west
When we remember these facts, and consider
the terrible weather we have had, and the
further fact that here in Texas we have moi
the material with which to make first-clasi
railroad beds, we Ought to make some allow
ance for the railroad. Railroad men, the
gentlemen who have their money invested II
railroad enterprises and who manage ano
control them, are universally gentlemen o.
ability, of character, of first class business
habits. They are invariably of the pushing
moving, energetic, thinking practical men O.
toe country, and we may reasonably know
| LNhL LutJ hlo ilOb soihSS ~ ~
their offices and let their roads go to uttel
ruin, Just from pure csreleasness and heed
lessness. Railroad men have hard money
sense. ard no ono knows better than thy dc
that it doesn't pay to have locomotives enc
passenger and freight cars amashed up int
scrap iron and X. Vdling wood, to say nothing
ofthe worry and expense and cost OF dsmr-'
suits. Men who own railroads don't built
them and run trains for fun or glory, bat to
make money, and it is to their interest Z
save their engines and their cars and to pro
tect their passengers from hurt, sad
they could help it, there would not be amil'
of bad railroad track in Texas. The road
cannot get the material for repairs tho en-
gnes nor the cars as fast as they need shem
and while we can deplore the frequency Q
wrecks, and the delays in mails and in travel
we ought to make some allowance for tn
railroad compsoies, remembering the ox'gen
cies oe Lao ,ino1, aaa re aiacnltie' The,
have to meet and combat.