The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-25

SuAASJ halfway SOupdDy. 1QlS
communication is intended for the
benefit of all who take any stock in
the glibly uttered remark often heard,
to the effect that no railway on this
island can possibly pay in the life of
the present generation at least.
People who assist in giving currency
to this stereotyped opinion may be
assured that scarcely a railway is
built through new or undeveloped
territory anywhere, without the en-
terprise having to live down just
such cheap talk as the sample in
question regarding the Oahu Rail
road. The present writer has wit
messed the advent Of railroads in
several such cases, everyone of which
was met in its inception and promo
ton by the croak that it would
never pay" Yet the unvarying re-
suit has been, to the certain know
ledge of the same observer, that the
roads rapidly passed the unremun-
erative stage into profitable career.
This observation applies equally we'll
to several other railroad projects,
some Of really vast magnitude, whose
progress throughout has been
watched in the newspapers. Not
that all railroad schemes result in
big dividends, for too many Of bril-
liant prospectus have had their
affairs fall into the hands of the re-
ceiver in bankruptcy, there to remain
perhaps indefinitely. Bad manage
ment, undue competition, the failure
of resources in the territory served
by the line, or some other unforeseen
cause, may produce such a disap-
pointing result. Still, the fact that
railroads have failed does not justify
people, without knowledge or exper-
fence of what they are talking about,
in predicting disaster for any partic-
ular scheme. Some who venture to
give reasons for their perhaps IN
conscious or unintentiOnal Clearing"
of projected railroad stock only
''Open their mouth to put their foot
in it'' still worse. They sheer at the
smallness of the "back country" and
the limited population, and the arid
appearance of the soil, along the
proposed railroad route. Such flip
pant crOakers must remember that
If the country IS small so is
the proposed railroad-not more
than fifteen miles being i'm
mediately contemplated that the
population to be served is not linn
tied in proportion to the necessary
expenditure, but in that respect
standing unusually high in com
parison with some of the nnoet pros
porous lines =. -oosonaple .s 40 @H y,
"o,,,,,, -, ~ s1H operation in other
CO cupntries, and, lastly, that with the
inexpensive facilities for getting
natural products to market, to be
supplied in the railway, there will
be a degree of encouragement given
to land settlement as will justify
all the necessary expense of irriga-
ton that will make the desert bios
som like the rose. This is one of the
ways in which the Oahu Railroad is
bound to make traffic for itself.
Another is in respect to opening up
new territory for agreeable home
sites to those whose avocations are
in the close and dusty and noisy
city. If this line does not promote
resources for its own maintenance
and the production of dividends, in
the ways above mentioned and 9TH
erwise, it will work contrary to
ninety-nine in a hundred of similar
enterprises the world over. Com
munications are the life of a coun-
try, truth that, while illustrated in
common roads, is illuminated in
railroads. The land options offered
by the promoters of the Oahu Rail
road show disposition most com
mendable to make the line not only
a revenue-getting investment to the
stockholders, but public benefit in
which citizens of limited means may
share outside of carrying convent
ences and indirect stimulus to trade
aud industry. They have set before
them an opportunity not often pre-
sented in an individual lifetime,
without an endless amount OF roam
ing, to procure homesteads for their
families in a wholesome and delight
ful quarter, to be brought within
easy access of their employment in
town with the help of the very
money that buys the land. As fur
Their information on this part of the
project will be published shortly,
additional remarks thereon will then
be appropriate.
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No More TheatricaIs.
New York Sheriff Ito condemned