Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-03-04
PROTESTING YET ANXIOUS.

The right Ofway is well nigh secured
in Wetzel. Only one or two farmers of
| property are still holding out against
time and prOgreSS. And not II would
there be, we imagine, who would hold
out for a day longer if he believed that
by so doing ne would defeat the road.
There is a general belief and conf
dence that the road will be built,
and while there is substantial fOun-
dation for this belief, we should not for
get the terms and conditions upon
which the road is promised. There are
plenty of men now living on the line OF
the road above Wheeling who opposed
the building of the road, but who, to-
day, would resist with all their power,
any attempt to destroy or discontinue IL.
And so it would be i'll Wetzel.- Uct-ei
Democrat.
1t has come to bea common occurrence
in our State, that individual opposition
to the progress of railroad projects is
the most formidable obstacle they have
To encounter.
Railroads arr mammoth undertakings
in our state, and require not only a
united effort, but they must generally
go through, if they succeed at all, on a
high wave of popular enthusiasm which
brings svery man and every source Of
aid up to the highest pitch of effort and
support.
One or two land owners along the
line may stand out against the right of
way long enough to delay the work I'M
til the general enthusiasm subsidies, or
otherwise divide the sentiment of their
neighborS, and thus become the. indi-
vidual instruments of defeating the en-
terprise as fully rs though they had COM
plete control Oft.
The examples cited by the Democrat
in the quotation above, are i'll point.
Here is a railroad project that wants
only the right of way to ensure its i'm
mediate construction. 1t would have
been a fixed fact nearly q year ago;
would now, perhaps, be under contract,
if the right of way had been assured and
settled; but the lack of this assurance is
the one obstacle in the way, and the
one obstacle that may possibly defeat it.
1t appears also, that the entire matter,
so far as the right of way is concerned
is resisted by but a very few individuals.
In Wetzel county, the Democrat says,
''only one or two farmers are still hold
ing out against it," Yet these are suffi-
cient to control the whole enterprise in
its present situation. and may possibly
be able to postpone it too long.
1t is a matter of fact too, that the very
persons who thus stand in the way of
the progress of an enterprise Of this
kind, are often the most eager to see it
succeed, if there motives were exposed.
They are holding out, not against the
road per SCI but they want first to
feather their nests" by unreasonable
demands which they think will be ac-
ceeded to rather than that the road
should be allowed to fail.
This is a spirit that cannot be too
, strongly deprecated in this State. We
are not in a condition to afford such a
policy even on the part of a few indi-
vidualS. Our State needs railroads
more than all else. If we get them it
must be by a united effort-by a strong
pull, and a pull altogether. We need
more of the spirit We referred to the
other day among the peopleofthe Black
Hills, who were petitioning Congress to
allow them the privilege ofassessing all
their property to the amount
of ten per cent. of its value
for the purpose Of bailding railroads.