The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-30

Kan5s aud Western Railroad Company,
it was Il )ught proper TO present to the
pubs -r~h facts as NV De deemed nee
essary ,oremove any prejudice that may
exist, - may arise, against the PROPOSE
ton. The undersigned was appointeda
corc,Gittee of one, to prepare a state
ment o. the facts in the case, for publ
cation, and l will proceed to give as
cOnciseiy as possible the circumstances
that make the voting of these bonds a
necessity. The railroad committee of
the board of trade, Of (which l have the
honor to be chair IN, in connection
with Il number of enterpriSing citizens,
worked long and persistently to induce
the Santa Fe railroad company to ex-
tend their system to this point, promiS-
ing them as much aid as other points
could offer. They finally succeeded in
getting the following proposition from
the vice president of the road:
''f your people will vote aid to the
amount of four thousand dollars per
mile. and give us in addition twenty
thousand dollars in city bonds for the
purchase of terminal facilities. such as
depot grounds, right OF way through
your city, &C., we will build our Strong
City branch tn Abilene and have the
road Il operation by July LIST, 1887"
Tbs was joyful news, and We at once
went to work to get the guarantee
sigueG, that we would do as they pro-
posed. This had to be done hurriedly,
as il Lad to be forwarded to Boston that
SAM night in order to reach the board
of directors, then in session there. Not
witLscanding the short time, from four
O'clocll i'll the afternoon until nine fifty
that night, Mr.. Lebold and myself Sc
cured the names or nearly every business
man W the city, every one of whom
signed it gladly and it is safe tOSay had
we tire, we could have secured the sig
natures Of the entire population Of the
city, So anxious was everyone to get the
road. You will readily see by the above
that this is no new proposition, but that
ii was IN the original proposition and is
q par of our contract with the Santa
Fe roId. | viii also state that it is
identical with the proposition made to
the Santa Fe by Salina, To induce them
to brild to that city, and they still hold
out TIE same inducement. \ careful
estimate of the cost of right of way in
this city, makes it probable that it will
reach double the sum named. In addi-
ton 20 the advantages that will accrue
to this community in the way of cheap
er coal, cheaper lumber and better pri-
ceS tor our produce, we will have here
the end of division, which means the
employment of large number of men,
- in fnX
to AT amount many times greater than
the aid asked. The same arguments
that apply to voting county aid, apply
with equal force to city aid, for without
this re will either not get the read at
all, q; # we do. it will mean no shops,
no coal depot, no special advantages
that all towns who vote such aid en-
JOY; End some adjacent city, less in size
perhaps, but more enterpriSing, will
reap all these advantages to our loss.
Some Rave said 1--WE will get the road
anyway, whether we vote the bonds or
not" Is this fair or even a safe posi-
ton &c take? 1t is not the latter for
the reasons just given above; it is not
fair i1r the reason that it is an Obliga-
ton that we are i'll honor bound to full
I'll a part of our original contract, and
as binding on us as our promise to vote
county bonds to the amount of $4,000,
which we did with the aid of our enter
priSiug farmers. l have no doubt the
bonds will carry, but we should give
the proposition that hearty support
that was given to the county bonds.
We IlIISt be consistent, and not refuse
to dc what we so urgently and success
fully persuaded our county friends to
do. Let us turn out and give the prop
OsitiGn rOusing support, such as will
at least compare with that given by the
couiGy to their part of the contract.
Respectfully,
THEO. MOSHER,
Chairman r. II. Committee