The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-06-23

ture Welded, and undertook to Justify
4 their action, as before stated. This
action, which passed both Houses, by a
very small majority, and was most
seriously and Justly rebuked by the pro-
test signed and entered upon the journal
of the Senate by thirteen distinguished,
able and fair minded members of that
! BODY. The act became a law with the
| Objectionable restriction embodied there
/ in This was done with the fact staring
the Legislature full in the face, that
| Mississippi has been striving for years
| to inaugurate system for supervising
railroads and avoid the evils OF monopo-
| lies And the further fact that we had
| just reached point, where We could
feel secure, upon the late decision OF the
! Supreme Court of the United States, de-
claring the act of the Mississippi Legis
lature of 1884, upon that subject. con-
stitutional. Such legislation, establish
ing this monopoly and in disregard OF
the interest OF our own people, at the
suggestion of the sci elfishness of the Rlch-
mond Company, must strike every patrl-
otic Mississippian, whether located on
the Tennessee line or on the Gulf Coast,
As incomprehensible and egregiously an
| lust. But when considered from the
standpoint of Marshall county man, 1t
becomes an enormity, and scarcely sus-
ceptible of explanation upon the score
of good faith.
The Richmond Company proposes to
complete and operate railroad connect
| ing Memphis, Tenn, with Birmingham,
Ala, penetrating coal fields in the latter
State, owned by certain capitalists con
stituting said company or owning con
| trolling interest therein.
| That the interest in the cOai helds OF
Alabama, was the prompting incentive
of the Richmond capitalists to pur-
chase and complete the road to Birming-
ham. is verified by the public announce
ment at a banquet given in Memphis on
the I4th of May last, in honor of the
Vice President of the Company, by a
gentleman who doubtless understands
the motives and purposes of the Compa
nv. and who was regarded as the leader
of the corps of lobbyists who was at
Jackson during the contest in the Legis-
lature over the subject of the charter,
in the interest of said Richmond Com
pany; he said
"In December last Il party OF gentle
''men in Virginia interested in Alabama
"mines purchased a controlling interest
Sin the line" The road is
zone depending on the mineral wealth
"of North Alabama at one end and the
business spirit Of Memphis at the
"other."
This road will have no connections
west of the Mississippi River, nor south
east from Birmingham, except by spe-
cial favor of the trunk lines of railway
connecting at these points Then 1t
starts at Memphis and ends at an lnte-
rior town in Alabama, with no facilities
Of reaching beyond either point. but de-
pendent upon other railway systems, for
traffic aud business, except such as may
result from local trade, and the car
ryiDg of their own coal to market 1t Is
universally acknowledged that the local
business of railroad is comparatively
a very small affair-whereas the Kansas
City Company having extended Its road
south east from Memphis, its present
eastern terminus, to Birmingham, and
thence to the Atlantic, 1T becomes
great national thoroughfare from ocean
to ocean. In comparison with which the
Memphis, Birmingham and Atlantic,
will be but little more than side-track.
This view OF the subject addresses itself
to the communities of the several coun-
ties through which the road may be
constructed.
To Marshall county it assumes a much
more vital phase. The Kansas City
Company constructs its road twelve
miles or more north or south of Holly
Springs, and at the crossing of the L. q.
railway, a rival town will spring up,
which, in all probability, will divert and
deplete the arteries of commerce, and
reduce Holly Springs TO state OF de-
pendence and vassalage, and as conse-
quence the whole county becomes
divided into rival communities and
neighborhoods, and all to advance no gen
eraI good, but to crafty the selfish pur
pose of railroad company to which the
Legislature has yielded its participation
and accomplished its consummation.
1t is understood that there was an
organized lobby, consisting of attorneys
and others, active and no doubt paid in
the interest of this injustice and wrong
through whose influence it was accom-
plished. II have not heard it intimated,
nor do / believe, that the use of money
or other corrupt means was resorted to,
with or by any member OF either House,
to effect this result, but it is neverthe
less true that they yielded to influences
of some sort, honestly no doubt, which
cannot be justified by an intelligent,
impartial public sentiment, and think
[ am warranted in predicting that, if
either of our Representatives or any
other citizen of the county, favored or
aided in the perpetr ton of this gigan-
tic wrong, they may prepare themselves
for the positive and unrelenting con
demnation of their course by all good
citizens who are not in some way con-
nected in interest with the NJ. B. & A.
r. r. Company.
am sure / reflect the sentiment of
nine tenths of the citizens of this coun
ty. when | assert that the restriction of
the twenty-four mile belt, embodied in
the act, cannot be justified upon any
principle of fairness; that the same does
not reflect their wishes, did great injus-
tice to the Kansas City Company, and
fastened upon our people an irreparable
wrong-a wrong calculated to create
the impression that Marshall county
people are inimical to the Kansas City
Company, who propose to build rail-
road through her borders. No such SEN
timent has ever existed, but on the
contrary, our people have looked with
vivid hope and anticipation to the time,
when by means of the Kansas City,
Springfield & Memphis r. r. Company,
seeking and obtaining a terminus upon
the Atlantic seaboard, penetrating Gen.
trally our county and crossing the /. G.
railroad at the county seat, would place
us in possession of all the advantages
consequent upon location on two great
trunk lines of railway, which had been
the anxious and intense desire of our
people for many years, and they still
hope for its successful and speedy con-
summation, notwithstanding the unjust
and unwise action of our Legislature.
FAIR PLAY.
P. S.-Let it not be forgotten that
onr Senator, Thomas Nj. Kemp, made
bold, manly and persistent fight in op
position to the odions feature of the act,
introduced therein, by the aSimonton
amendment" for which he is entitled,
and will receive the gratitude OF brave
and grateful constituency. r. L.
Why the Case was Dismissed.
A young man was arrested for kissing
a pretty girl, and she was on the
witness stand.
.You say said the attorney for the
dcfcndapt athaf the vo,lup man Kissed