Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-01-24
rAIkIse TO ras FArlr.,ssEaa.
Yakina SINAI.

tA@@A~~2 - a~1AA@g
Sone Of tie eArpfnr railroad sheets
seem 70 think the Sigssl has no night 20
rs9oies over the eonplst1oa Of the rail-
rosc 70 this point. Just Why it hss not
ms riGhf q not as plain to the Ssyzal a.
u apparently 10 20 those possessed Of
less Information and discernment. II
ne bad nos far the past twenty years
oesn cursed With land grant deg IN the
maRRer ve might have rsioiced over the
completion Of - road threagh here long
SINCE; and IL II had net been for the
fear Of losing its grant by reason of ad-
verse agitation, the Northern Pacifc
scold have deferred construction OF
tne Rad for many years TO come. As
tne sigzal has done It's share Of this
wholesome agitation. Is viii also sxer-
cise tie prvileRe of rejoicing over the
result.
These same critical organs also assert
tnat the Signal "curses the COMPANY"
ana at the same time "oezs them not 10
locate rival town-S Here is where the
Boys allow their zeal to get the better of
tneir yerscity. In the first place, the
S1sHai, while sternly opposing the land
grant and the company's participation
IN politics and other matters IN which il
mas no right TO NEEDLE, has reserved the
more sfalwart work of ''eursinR the
company 10 those who have been
heretofore singing It's praises, In the
second place, the Signal has never BY
the slightest word of intimation be-
so02nt the company not 10 build q rival
Town. On the contrary il has been
SUGGESTED 20 some criticism by some of
the late friends Of the company for not
nnnR into the compsny's new town
project as strongly as into its land grant.
LOIS project Is, As q matter of fact, a
cold blooded, heartlecs undertaking, but
while IL will simply rob the togp lots AT
Yakima OF their speculative value. the
land grant, If allowed to remain in tbs
hands OF unrestrained spectators, will
cloud the pessoe and prosperity of gem
erations yet unborn. Towns like
Yakima may flourish or fade. Time
can make them as time has made.
"But q bold peasantry, their country's
pride,
When onoa destroyed can never be sup
Piled"
That which threatens to make of the
American farmer bringing. tine- serv-
ing tenant instead Of an Intelligent.
high-minded freeholder, is of far more
consequences than that which depreci-
ates the value OF q few town lots. There
are those at Yakima who have invested
in town property the accumulation of
many years Of toll while waiting for
she long promised railroad. and while
enduring the disadvantages imposed by
the land grant. The loss to such persons
will be very great by reason of this
latest speculation on the part of the
company. II, however, in order to GET
railroad, il is necessary for the man
who raises our bread TO be compelled to
pay from i've to twenty dollars an acre
for land which he could otherwise 40
qulre without cost. the Signal fails to
see why others should not sustain a
similar penalty; and although the owner
OF town property sustains his penalty by
way OF depreciation of that which he
owns rather than by advanced cost of
that which he must purchase-although
the farmers penalty is direct while that
of the tswnsman is indirect-i il ia plain
that the latter is as jast as the former,
and even little more 80; for while the
townsman may regret that the ground
surround ing the house in which he lives
is less valuable than it was, he is by no
means as bad off as the farmer who
must toll for years in making payments
to the company for land on which 10
live. HtSe o lmpany makes moi sy by
Its town speculation, those who lose
money on property 10 the old town can
regard it as their little donation toward
building the road. The proprietor of
the Signal will make his donation with
out grumbling, and most certainly with.
ous begging she company not to start
an opposition town.