Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-03-20
From the COlu umbla Statesman.I

/
no trouble in securing purchasers for
the bonds provided we secure the
81 900 per mile and rlght-of-way as
If You can build this road with the
and So 900 per mile secur-
ed, why can it not be built by these
railroad magnates without 1t?
"There are many reasons why, but
two simple ones will be sufficient,
think, for every thinking mind. First,
the right of.way and $1,000 per mile
will be worth nearly one million of dol
lars. Second, the public sentiment
will be clearly shown to be favorable to
the building of the road; the co-opera-
ton of the people assured and patron-
age, which might naturally and legiti-
inately drift to other roads, be secured,
all of which will be worth more than
both the right-of-way and the snbscrip-
ton asked.
Do you expect to build the road as
an Independent line, or do you expect
it to 60 into the hands of a foreign cor
poratiOn, as all our roads have!
"We expect the stock (Which, of
course, controls the rOad) to be held
and kept in the hands of the people
along the line, or at the terminal points
the two great cities, st. Louis and
Kansas City-so that we may not be
subject to the exorbitant and discrimi-
mating charges as now made by foreign
corporations"
Will the $4,000 per mile you are ask
ing our people to take, have any voice
in the control of the road?
"Certainly; just the same voice as
any other stock, as far as it goes, when
certificates of stock are issued"
What do yOu think the stock will be
worth when issued?
"Of course cannot tell, but it seems
to me that our local business should be
| much better than the Chicago Sc Alton
for St. Louis to Kansas City, and their
stock is SO valuable that it is rarely
| offered on the market, being worth
$40 to $l55. When this road was
built, the citizens of Saline county, IN
a private capacity, subscribed $15O, 600
of its stock, and those who now hold
it will not sell it because it is a good
dividend-paying stock, and its market
value is increasing. l, therefore, see
no reason why the stock in our road
should not become as valuable property
| in short time as this stock"
How do you propose to raise the
So 900 per mile?
"By requesting the citizens in each
county and town along the line to sub
scribe stock, to be paid for only on con-
dition that the road be built through
their respective counties. and cars rum
ming"
What advantage will it be to the
town and county to have this road
built3
sThe advantages and immense bene-
fits that would accrue to both town
and county are too many and varied TO
be answered in short interview ;
hence will only mention few. Take,
for instance, the prices of land in
Boone county. In 1854, when first
landed here, over 81 years ago, the
lands adjacent to Columbia were worth
more than they are now; whereas
those in the northern portion of the
county, along the lines of railroad run
ming east and west, have advanced
from government prices to 1926 and
$50 per acre; and the advance in value
Of town property in Centralia and 9TH
er like towns has been prOpOrtiOnate.
In Columbia, however, where we have
no east and west line OF railroad, the
same character of real estate is not
worth as much as it was in "a, not
outstanding we have trebled our
population, secured the location of the
Agricultural College; have made large
additions to the State Univ ersity and
female colleges, built four or five gravel
roads and our Columbia branch road
(running north and south) to Centra-
liza, beside many other important pub
lie improvements. Then on the other
hand, take Audrain, Saline or any
other county in the state where they
have an east and west line of railroad
aud you will find their lands have ad-
vanced in the same proportion as those
, in the northern part of Boone.
s'The lands through which this pro-
posed road is to run are superior in
many respects, to the lands in the
northern portion of our county, auC
their nearness TO this town, which hat
all the facilities for education that may
! be found anywhere, ought to make
them worth from $40 to $75 per acre
YOu will naturally ask me, however
how this railroad is to enhance theil
, value. l answer, first. because people
travel, as l have already intimated
, mostly east and west, and not north
, and south. and when they pass ovel
! and through these magnificent lands
. along the line of the proposed road
they will be at once struck and attract
ed with their beauty and fertility. In
regard to our town, no place on the
continent can excel il in the beauty
!, and healthfulness of its location; and
|, surrounded as it is with inexhaustible
coal fields, fine forests of hard timber
inexhaustible quarries of splendid
\ building stone, with an underlying
fountain of the purest water, it pos
:esses all the advantages essential tt
make it a most desirable place for res
, idence, and one of the finest manufac
turing points in all the west. Add t.
, all this, its splendid educational advan
{ tages: its refined, elevated society, an(
, there is no place under the broad cano
py of heaven more attractive or desira
BILE 10 locate in than our own beauiifu
, town; and, in my judgment, within
few years our town would be double,
, in population, and quadrupled in busi
hess.
t "My long residence and intimate as
V sociation with the people of our tow
and county, warrants me III the con
victiOn that they will not tail in givin
to this enterprise the aid aud enconr
agement necessary to insure its sue
cess"
l. For the information of all person
# who may wish to take the stock of thi
,e company, we append the forr
/. of the agreement between tn
t. company and those taking capitt
le stock:
,f In consideration of =. .. . shares of til
s. capital stock of the St. Louis Kanss
: City Short Line Railway Compan,
l .............., hereby agree All