Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-01-23
REVIEWER REVIEWED.

,ng in which MI. Tilton DAVIS oeiei"s
no Lexington Coal Mining Company
rom an attack made by the Intelligent :
err, last week, upon tine Missouri
'aciic railroad company, and upon the
Pacific railroad company
lone. Mr.. Davis takes pains to dehhe
he opinions of 8 newspaper as merely
hose of an individual, which we Will
lot now stop to discuss, except to say
hat where the newspaper is known to
ave no personal pecuuiary interest at
take it is presumably alive to the pub
ic good, as the public is its client n
and, Therefore, that its eWs
re at least to be taken as being qulte
disiuterested as are those OF a gen
,eman who is by profession an adVo-
ate, and who is, beside, interested as
,tockholder in the company which ne
.ather unnecessarily defends. His ex-
o~erience as a lawyer will indicate to
hin how much credit is ordinarily
given to sthe swift Witness"
We reiterate, that the lntelligencer
Is not unfrlendIy to the Missouri Pacific
railroad company or to the Lexington
Coal Mining Company. We have
proven this in the past by impartial
and fair treatment. We repeat, that
we are not championing any mans
cause, except, perhaps, as one indl-
vidual's operations ass coal producer
are more largely concerned than any
other. This is only an incident, not
the reason of our opposition to what
we deem an unnecessary and unjust
advance in freight rates. No II
knows better than Mr.. Davis that the
gentleman indicated has not
been friendly to the Intelligencer, and
that it is under no obligation, of friend
ship or otherwise, to defend his inter-
ests. Our only purpose is to defend the
general interests. We regret that the
determinations made against still
smaller dealers were not some timo
ago brought to our attention, when we
should Just as readily have made their
oause our own; and We cannot too
alphabetically say, that no special rate
to that gentleman will satisfy our views
Of what is fair treatment to the pubic
by the railroad. We have no bad feel
ings, even now, against Mr.. Davis OF
either of the companies which he de-
tends. On the contrary, we desire tc
see them all do we'll.
"When the various corporate and
Individual interests" to which Mr.
| Davis alludes, were consolidated int
the present coal company, some OF oul
| people remained in the company, we
heard no complaints, and other private
o~perators were not interfered with, sc
far az we know.
Mr.. Davis denies that the Missouri
Pacific Railway Company has any quar-
rel with an individual. Without de
tending all that has been done by tn
person concerned, we believe we know
that Mfr Davis is in error. The rail
road will in its turn make a grav
mistake if it retaliates upon the indi
yidual in such a way as will give tn
public a right to complain.
In imitation of Mr.. Davis polit
phrase we may be permitted to So!
that it is the thinnest kind of bosf
stuff, drivel, to attempt to defend tn
railroad company for all uncalled &c
advance in the rates of freight, whic
practically does freeze out q coal OPT
%rator, nearly the equal of the Lexin'
ton Coal Company, by setting up th'
the coal company has produced some
, what more coal than it did the previo'
wear. That is all we'll and good and W
areglad oft :wehave printed thefigure:
but the railroad, by its higher freight
prevents the other operator from dom
2 more than a nominal business, wher'
I as he could be doing . business
fifteen or twenty cars a da,
! and over a hundred of his men al
now idle. The coal company b
more orders than 1t can fill. The ra
road company prevents the priva
d operator from filling his orders. '
have seen the letters Of dealers,
o o lstomers, stating this; and other Il
!, ters eountermanding orders alrea'
a given. It doesnot lake muchintelligen
:. to know what an advance Of from Is
, IS cents per ton on coal freights meal
:, If this is not a freezing out proce
:, commend us TO one that is, in ord
. that we may learn something. One {
perience is worth q thousand theori'
We deny that the Intslligencer in a
place or in any manner spoke OF t
recent purchase of coal lands by
% Lexington Coal Mining Company
d m%onopolistic, or anything Of tho kir
J. In making the assertion Mr.. Davis
Or .et up q mau Of straw in order to hs
the pleasure of knocking 1t down az
"a very innocent amusement, viii
- il it pleases him and advances his
,Ition as a stakeholder, he is welco
-. to. We do not entertain the opin
that the purchases alluded to "
!, monopolistic and, instead Of saying
- as Mr.. Davis alleges.w we did say this
"Mr. Gould's purchases OF coal la
=. do not, by any means, give him a I
nopoly of the most available coal lal
There is ten times as much good,
10, cessible coal near Lexington, as
y, Gould owns, and more too
ny Mr.. Davis allegation that the
can be mined 80 cents per ton chea
from the company's new lands, t
from the individuals mines, we
charitable enough to attribute to il
'c rance OF the facts. A large part of
:. company's new coal lies below the
face of the present county road; al
the coal on the Tarletou tract lies !
: enough to be run directly into the c
seq The first will require pumping
; OF hosting machinery; the latter hi
'ers neither.
wn. Mr.. Davis writes, 'Then again
Tue Intelligencer says: THE owners of
10 properties want to know if the
nao Company is to become the owner
anu their property" The Intellige
IL said no such thing. Mr.. DAVIS c
.er- :, M NOV moro ~borouoh,y d;Snla,