Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-18
The Georeia Midland RaiIroad.

The business men Of Columbus and At
lanta appear TO be very much in earnest
about building the proposed Georgia Mid
land railroad. At present all the railroad
outlets from Columbus are under the con-
+ troll of one c0rpOrati0n-the Central-and
(. Is only stating well-knOwn fact when
/ it's said tina; the business men Of that city
have for a number OF years been very
FESTIVE under this condition Of affairs.
( Atlanta, with her usual quick perception
OF the benefits to be derived By another
/ railroad, has taken hold of the Georgia
Midland in earnest, and if the road has to
be- built on promises and bonds alone, il
can be probably put down as a fact that
il VIII be built, and Atlanta business
men will receive the benefits of another
line.
A little over three years ago a company
under the name of the savannah and
Pacific Snort Line Railway Com
pany applied for a charter to build
a railroad from Savannah to Column
bus, through the counties Of Chatham,
Bryan, Bnlloch, Tattnall, Montgomery,
Laurens, Dodge, Pulaski, Dooly, Sumter,
Webster, Schley, Marion, Chattahoochee
and MusCoQee a tier of counties as good
as any in the state and capable of rapid
development. The charter was obtained.
but nothing further was done. Some of
the projectors claimed that no interest
could be aroused in savannah in the pro-
posed enterprise. OF course there is a
large interest represented in this city
in the two railroads which have their
termini here. 1t includes not only the
stockholders, but also the officers and en-
ployes. These two roads have been build
ing feeders to their main lines and doing
all that is possible to advance their own
prosperity and indirectly that of Sa-
vannah. The citizens, however, have
contributed, directly, but little towards
any of the extensions, except, probably,
by taking few bonds. They have left to
the Central railroad and the Savannah,
Florida and Western railway the whole
duty Of looking after the cIty's railroad
interests and protecting Savannah against
the rivalry of other cities. These rail
roads have other cities whose interests
have also to be looked after, and they cannot
always favor Savannah above the others.
The duty, therefore, of looking after the
business interests Of CITY is with the
business men, and this is well understood
in Atlanta. Her merchants are friendly
with all existing railroads, but are
willing to extend encouragement, if not
aid, to any company that proposes to give
them another commercial artery. People
in other cities are very fond of call
ing attention to what is done 10y the capital
city, apparently forgetting that the men Of
city make 1t what it is. This new
railroad, the Georgia Midland, will be
another lever to push Atlanta forward.
If other cities wish to secure additional
tributary territory and business, they
must follow her example and take hold OF
such enterprises as Will give them In
creased trade. If Savannah wants new
business, other than that which will Il at
urally come to her from the extensions
made by the lines OF railroad which she
already has, her merchants must adopt
the means of getting it which the mer-
chants Of other cities adopt.