The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1888-07-20
The Egis & Intelligencer
Bel AIT, Nd, July 70, 1888.
DEER CREEK AND SUsQUEHANSA
RAILROAD.

The effort now being made to build this road
may justly be regarded as the last that will be
made in this generation to accomplish an object
so desirable. The conservatism OF the people OF
Hartford county, is remarkable. Forty years
ago, when the growing sentiment In opposition
10 the slave labor system had endangered the
stability of that kind OF property, particularly
in view OF the nearRess OF the free State OF Penn.
sylvania, 1t was wise in the people OF Hartford
to be conservative; for II was evident that such
a change was marching onward in their affairs
rs indicated the necessity of cautious action
But now nearly generation has passed away
since what was then a cloud on our future be-
came the beacon light TO guide our people To a
higher plane OF public morals and 10 measure
of material prosperity beyond the dreams OF our
fathers. Yet the ideas of the past influence a
large portion of our people, and they seem to
sigh for the days when the wrecks of good men
waited for a treat on the porches of the grOR
shops where the chief trade OF the county was
centred, and from which the eye could take in u
The progress of the county has been rapid and
great, but it ought to have been greater and more
rapid. The influence of a few men in the pro-
motion of Improvement in the county has been
widely felt, and while they may not have earned
the rewards due 10 large benevolence, they sure
Iy deserve the confidence of their fellow citizens
as guides 1T to follow.
In the line OF farming, involving the improve
ment of worn out lands. no man has done 80 much
Tor Hartford county, las VIM Woosey Forty years
ago he outraged the public Judgment by seeding
no field with grain without first applying twenty
five dollars per acre in bone dust and guano.-
Speedy ruin was confidently predicted for him :
but the strong common sense that told him that
land, has brUughrhm an ample fortune, while he
taught our pepole the folly of the old system
and the wisdom OF the new. He taught them
this practically, for they saw him grapple, with
out capital, with sedge-grown wilderness, and
they saw him cause that wilderness, not to bios
som as rose, literally, but almost to groan with
Its loads of grain, and almost to tremble under
the tread of well-fed herds.
This one mans example has added millions of
dollars to the wealth of Hartford county,
and farmers who outlive him should place his
marble statue in their county town.
The late Cheyney Hoskins was also an enter
prsing citizen, and his efforts In the organization
of our County Fire Insurance Company, have re-
suited in great advantage to the county. His
labors in improving the roads, likewise deserve
recollection, well as his earnest efforts towards
the extension OF the Baltimore Central Railroad
through our county from Philadelphia to Belt-
more.
Itsoems strange our people will not learn
Tney seem stupid, yet they are not so for while
they ignore the necessities of the times we live
in, their general intelligence Is marked. They
have seen the struggle of years result in the
starting OF Bank at Bel Air, less than six years
ago. The stock was taken in large part by peo-
Pile of other parts of the State, while 1t seemed
as II those who were begged and bribed into tax.
ing little oft, were conscious OF doing foolish
thing.
Yet behold the result
la 1--WE years and a-half. besides promoting the
public wealth to a large degree, the bank has
earned, and fairly earned, for Its stockh oders,
the enormous profit of more than fifteen per cent.
per year, on their capital.
Think OF the travel, the labor, the persuasion.
the begging, the public meetings, the wonderful
pecuniary stratagems 1t required to induce our
people to invest a little OF their surplus money
In the narrow-gauge Railroad, and then behold
the growth OF the county, and the quickening of
the general intelligence, resulting from that
road. and then say whether or not the money has
been well spent.
Now we are again in labor. We have presented
to our people an opportunity to take such a step
forward as we have never taken yet the same
ancient ideas meet the men who now endeavor to
build the Deer Creek aud Susquehanna Railroad
that met the men who labored for the Fire In
suTance Company, for tho Agricultural Society,
for the Narrow Gauge Railroad aud for the
Bank.
The offer is made to run through the most
beautiful and the richest part of the county,
Railroad connecting not only tho two great cities
OF Philadelphia and Baltimore. but connecting
also the rich and populous northern States with
the growing giants of the teeming South.
Only the right of way and the little sum of
$4,000 are required to insure the grand result,
and OF the right of way more than two-thirds N
the distance is secured. or tho money, about
$4,000 have been strained from grooming peo-
pie.
The people of Hartford county own more than
thirty millions of dollars in real and personal
want OF $4,000. Ten thousand dollars is the one
thirtieth OF one cent In the one hundred dollars
OF the thirty millions they own, yet they forget
the prosperity the Bank has brought; they for
get the fine stock the Agricultural Society has
brought; they forget the cheap safety from loss
forget the active county town and the business
activity the Narrow Gauge Railroad has brought.
and they refuse to awaken from the slumber OF
the past.
hut few days remain in which the offer can
be embraced and the people OF the county, il they
opportunity that will not return to them in this
generation.