The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-05-30
THE RETALIATION OF A DREAH.

passes all understanding upon good
mans face, their mistakes, their inn
patience and eagerness to an
ticipste the waiting yeas, a
well MS the disipp lintments that
corrode and eat into hearts loaded
down with cares and anxieties. Ii
1880 when DR.. Porter inaugu arateC
the great work OF municipal reform
that has since been so succ essfully car
risd forward by Mr.. Hadden, Memphis
was everywhere marked by the anti
cipations aud disappointmeuts of pre-
vious generations, Nho, quickened by
the spectacle Of the greatest of al
rivers pushing with resistless tide tc
the consummation of its das.iuy, de-
sired torealize as with the magic powel
OF Aladdin the dream that had beer
revealed to them by the founders @
Memphis, that some day it was to ri
val its namesake on the dreamy Nile
They built, ss they believed
for their own profit, but they
pissed away into the land
the ancient Egyptians dreamed of as
the dwelling place Of immortal fouls
before they could realize their expsc
tstions. Time brought to many oi
them bitter aud heart-breaking disap
pointments and the curse OF unlocked
for public cstastrophes, weighted with
the maledictions OF disease and d 9atb,
pushed them, thousands OF them, into
untimely graves. 1t needs no gre It
effort Of the imagination to coDjure
up the host that since 1850 has
marched with steady step and un-
broken column into the hereafter,
leaving us who remain the heirs of
their hopes and fears. Many OF
us who remain had put
our hands to the plow with
then and Fad seen them sink ere the
turrow had been fairly begun. But
they went to reat from their LAHORE,
leaving us the example OF a nobIa,
self-pcss sssed courage that, dominat-
ing all misfortune, urged them forward
with ths work OF making a city, the
fullness Of whose fruiton was another
ever-pressnt stimulus. Neither ex.
ample nor stimulus were lest upon us.
1t is already an old story, the stsadi-
ness with which reform once inaugu-
rated was pursued, and we al now see
that as our own confidence in the fu-
ture OF the city revived and was
strengthened by our works our fell
low-citiz sns in every pa't of the Union
were slowly but surely won to have
confidence in us. They saw that with
confidence in the future and reliance
in our own energies we had taken
steps, each one dependent upon its
preceding fellow, by which we built
an iUpenetrable wall between cur
selves and epidemic disease,
made enduring highways for our
city commerce, and agreed with
our creditors establishing our
credit above par, several points
higher than it had ever stood
before. But before this had all been
accomplished, and while we were still
in the agonies of long-deferred hope,
there came into the life Of the city,
full-handed, silent, modest man,
backed by great enterprise, by a
railroad that was to link us with the
great Northwest, and take us from the
beaten track Of cotton. Gen. Nettle-
ton came to Memphis as a messenger
full OF cheer and encouragement and
breaking the spell of cotton, released
our energies from thTaldom to one
idea. The Kansas City, Springfield
aud Memphis railroad came to the
city at time when its encouragement
was most needed, and emphasized the
reform in municipal management by
a greater reform in trade. 1t was a
blessing in itself to be followed by an
activity in railroad construction here
and Eert abouts q eater than our dream.
ers ever summoned forth in fheir
brightest moments OF fancy. The silent,
modest man comes to us again; now
when We have reached another
crisis in our history, and he comas
fuli-handed. He comes TO real ze
for us the dream Of many OF our pre-
decessors, and build a bridge over and !
above the swittruuning river that |
divides a continent, and for genera
tions defed the ingenuity and the |
power of man to span. He comes to |
do this great work, work that is to
seal the destiny of Memphis as the |
future greatest commercial city of the |
Mississippi Valley, asking only that
We give him the same measure of |
good will as encouraged him in the |
venture that bound us by lines of |
sleel with the most progressive city of |
the farther West. For this he has
not had to wait. He is already a.
sured of it. The notable meeting held |
yesterday at the Cotton Exchange,
at which most OF our inteli-
gent and influential merchants
were present, adopted reso'u-
tions making it lain that Nettleton's
name is guarantee to them OF fair
and honorable dealing, end that his
promise has all the weight Of a sol
emnly legalized compact. He has
always lived up to his pledges and is,
therefore, worthy of the u qualified
indorsement which he received yes
tsrdsy, and which, no doubt, will
have immediate weight with Con-
gress to push the char er, which
is the only thing now stand
ing between the company and the
beginning of work upon the bridge.
And thus there is realized for tue
people of Memphis the consummation
Of great enterprise, the necessity of
which was first made PLATA when, two
generations now gone, the militia Y
road was laid out from Hop field as
the highway for the adventurous
pioneers who founded the State OF Ar
kansas snd for the trOOps that were II