Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-01-02
TIE TWO RAILROADS.

that our people, collectively, desire
them. If they are built through our
borders it will be for the reason, only,
that their owners believe that their
construction will prove profitable. In
all we have done or said upon this sub
ject, either at home or elsewhere, this
thought has been uppermost with us,
and it should be SO with the people Of
Lexington. No Micawber- like policy
will do in these days. The person
who waits for something to turn up
is very apt, in street parlance, 'to get
left; : and the man who imagines that
the spot Of earth which he tnhabits
thereby becomes the hub as it were,
about which all things revolve, and to
which all things must center, is an
idiot. If a man or a community want
benefit they must not only be up and
doing to secure it, but they must be
able to prove that there will be a guild
pro quo. With these truisms laid down
for premises we have something to say
upon the railroad question.
While cooperation OH the part of the
c., Il. s. Q. and st. Joseph roads to
build the bridge is desirable it is not
absolutely necessary. Under perfectly
natural conditions, growing out of the
present situation of each, might come
the necessity for one or the other of
them to build the bridge alone. Either
road is financially able to build it. Of
the c., B. s. Q. road we have recent
character, which, while we cannot
make it public, comes to us in a direct
and reliable form. That road is sure at
an early day to be extended southwest.
and it is almost as certain that when it
is SO extended it will come through
Lexington. 1t cannot afford to leave
u%noccupied the territory between its
present terminus and Fort Scott, in
which it is now offered very valuable
connections. The St. Joseph road, if
cut loose from the Wabash, will of
itself sooner or later be compelled to
come into Lexington.
These facts prompt us to say to the
managers of both roads, that there can
never be a better time for them to cross
the Missouri river. There is nc good
reason why they should not do this in
harmony, sharing the expense of the
bridge. Or, if they will only agree to
traffic arrangements owe it, the bridge
can easily be built without either road
putting a dollar in it.
We see some difficulties in the way.
The St. Joseph people are anxious for
a connection with the g. & A. 1t is
only fair to presume that the G. & A.
is just as anxious to get into St. Jo-
seph, a city of fifty thousand people,
with some of the largest wholesale
houses and manufactures in the state,
and whose business the clearing house
returns prove is growing faster than
any other. The c., B. & @. is one o.
the most powerful railroad organiza-
tions that enters St. Joseph. 1t con
trolls its Chicago business. 1t will
natui ally object to making an alliance
with a railroad that will place it in 8
position to compete with it for freights
to Chicago. The longer haul will make
no ditference-the G. & A. completes
now for Kansas City and st. Louis
passenger and freight business.
though it carries it a roundabout way
through Illinois. Bnt the e., B. 6 q.
would not materially object to the st,
| Joseph road making q connection will
the G 6 A. for local aud St. Louii
business, as under existing circum.
stances that road gives this business t.
the Wabash. Why, then, cannot the two
roads come to all agreement upon thu
terms above indicated? They could
prove very materially helpful to each
other if they would; and even though
the c., B. & q. is a big fish and tn
St. Joseph road a little one, still tn
latter is such a stiff -spined creature
that it cannot be either swallowed o
driven from the branch against it
will. The C B. & q. will unques
tionably find for its southwest road al
entrance into Kansas City. This ALI
ance will give it an easy and natura
entrance into st. Joseph. Bridge
across the Missouri river cannot we.
be built every few miles. Here S,
Joseph has an Cutstretched arm, tn
wrist of which rests upon the bank G
the river opposite Lexington. Sh
wants the hand to grasp ours upon thi
side of the stream. Why cannot tn
&c, B. & Q. seize all the advantage
that the situation offers and aid in tn
accomplishment of this object?
The second difficulty is one whic
we fear more than the one mentione
above, but nothing is to be made, ths
we a see, by covering it up. W
had better face, discuss and if possib.
vanquish it. There can be no sort
doubt that the St.Joseph road has don
business enough to make it pay had nj
the book keeping been peculiar. Fo
instance, if the st. Joseph road is cal
ed upon to pay its pro rata for trail
smashed somewhere on the syster
near Lake Erie; and if on the 9th,
hand it gets only its pro rata per mi
of freights, the miles being counte
from Toledo to st. Joseph; and if,
addition, extraordinary repairs pr
i upon the road by reason of the lessee
negligence OF it for years are charge
d up to the lessor, then it becomes vel
plain why the road does not pa,
Operate it independently and evel
: one of these conditions will disappea
Only the other day Mr.. Talmage in
> letter to us stated that the Waba
would, he thought, be glad to get l.
of the St. Joseph road. But may III
this have been only a ruse de guerre in
Ii system of wreckags for the purpose
u absorption? The Wabash stock h
Il been rhn down very low, maybe nea
{ ly low enough, but the St. Joseph pc
pie, as substantial as the town t
which they are named, are able to ov
their road and hold it, even witlo
i uiVidends. The DANGER lins RIGHT he,