Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-06-15
Objections Answered.

against pOllueu lhueDteuneSs, WnlCn
is raised by some of our citizens
whenever public schools, railroads
or anything else are to be paid for.
The first of these objections-for
they can hardly be called arguments,
was answered by letter in Fridays
issue from Gen. Echols, in which he
says the G. o. & S. w. will be glad to
make contract by which they will
have an inlet to the business done at
this point aud that the terms agreed
upon will be favorable to Hopkins
vile, whose trade that road desires
to compete for. 1t is silly to talk of
an absolute guaranty. There can be
no certain guaranty in any business
venture. Sensible men know that
competition is the life of trade and
observation teaches that there can be
no just discrimination where there
are competing lines of railway. Hop
kinsVille with $50 votes in the stock
Of the Ii. & c. Il. r., can have per-
haps a controlling voice in the man
agement Of the enterprise and while
this is the case there can be no great
risks to take by aiding the road.
I
Those who wish 10 lie supjnely upon
their backs waiting for something to
turn up that more nearly accords
with their ideas should remember
that procrastination is what has al
ready made vacant store houses on
some of our principal streets 1t cam
not be denied that trade is being di-
verted from its natural channels TO
other markets, simply because we
cannot secure reasonable rates to ship
our freight into and out of the city.
Shall we be lethargic while our city
is being encircled by a railroad that
is doing us the greatest injury and
which it is now claimed has recently
made arrangements to resume work
in its construction We think not
and we believe the people realize
that now is the time TO act. AS to
the second objection: 1t must be
borne in mind that there is no law to
authorize the district to vote to aid
any competing railway connection to
Hopkinsville and that it will be two
years before such law could be
passed. The law under which this
proposition is made is special act
authorizing a vote in the city alone.
If there is any other act under which
district aid might be secured it is a
law applicable to some other compa-
ny not in existence and which would
not authorize aid to be extended to
secure the competing line we so much
need. So this objection is utterly
futile. At the same time it is highly
probably that the district outside of
the city would vote against any such
proposition, which opposition added
to negative votes in the city would
defeat any measure looking to relief.
The people of Hopkinsville should
aid the road. They have their money
invested here, they principally suffer
from exorbitant freight charges and
they are interested in securing such
relief as will enable them to success
fully compete for the trade that
should naturally come TO us. And il
this they cannot afford TO acknow.
ledge their inability to meet the ISSUE
squarely, by adopting measure tina
would put the matter into the hands
of the county court two years hence
which in all probability would decline
to allow vote to be taken in the dis
trict, since not one member of the
court is resident of that part of the
district outside of the city.
In regard to the additional taxa
ton, there is no need to be alarmed
The bonds could be easily floated a
A per cent, and levy of 30 cents OIL
the 800 would pay the interest and
leave 81 800 year TO go into sink
ing fund to redeem the bonds at ma
turity. The rate of city taxation is now
| $1.65, 10 cents of which is to pay thu
interest on the school bonds. Ovel
half of these have been called in anC
in two years all of them will be pait
off, so that the taxes will be lessenet
10 cents by 1883. After one levy the
rate would not be more than $l.S0 and
might be even lower, as the
property will naturally enhance in
value as soon as the road is built. On
the other hand the benefits to be de.
rived Will be ten times as great tC
each citizen as the increase of his
taxes. In coal alone lie will save
double as much as he will pay fol
the road.
We cannot see how any live, pro-
gressive citizen should vote against
the proposition. We cannot see why
even the most cautious financier
should want better thing. We pay
nothing until we get the road and
then have controlling voice in max
ing its contracts, as the estimated
cost of the G. Il o. branch does not
reach $4,000, while the stock owned
by the city is to be preferred stock 10
the amount of $4,000.