The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-10-10
vi Bono?


patience and your space while reply
ing to our friend, Zone of the Peo-
pie, !" who, it seems, still fears that
his liberties are in danger of being
encroached upon by railway corpor-
ations in the exercise of their legal
rights and privileges. We should
not thus again presume to weary
you We're it not for the fact that he
has kindly invited asso to do, assur-
ing us that we should have the full
benefit, at least, of his attentive
ears.
Now, we thank our friend for this
kind invitation, and, knowing that
as IL rule, editors have very large
hearts, large heads, and still larger
patience. We accept. The pleasure of
accepting Is, however, somewhat
married by his gentle reminder, or,
one might say, his mild insinuation
that we labor in the interest of cor
ruption, oppression and greed, and
are utterly unable to cope with him
in his heTculean efforts to destroy
these and maintain civil liberties.
We freely confess our weakness and
| incompetency for the task we have
| assumed Other pens, We know, are
vastly more able than ours to COM
bat error and ''spread the light of
| truth and Justice. None are more
| willing. Excuse us, therefore, when
we proffer our willingness for our
ability, and then, like Davy Crockett,
| go ahead
Our frie,.d pref;aces his indictment
against railways by quoting Il para
graph from the Raleigh correspon-
| dence Of the Wilmington Messenger.
to the effect that the railway men
| hated to set. any mention of their ai-
fairs i'll the papers, and that they
kept ap-books in which they pre-
served newspaper clippings And
| further. that any editor that had the
teElerity to express an opinion in OPP
| position to their policy was forth
with placed on the blacklist and
| doomed TO financial destruction.
Now let us ask this question :
| Whattvi,lence has he OF the truth
fulness Of the assertion made by this;
correspondent? None, of course. He
believes it, however, and quotes it
because it suits his purpose. When
II man gets the consent Of his mind
to believe Il thing. or when it suits
his purpose to believer thing, it can
not be too absurd or preposterous
for his credulity.
We are sorry to have to take away
the pleasure which our friend evident
ly finds i'll this mythical scrnp-book
| He has. however, invited Us to bring
him the light. We, in the limited
space which the editor has allotted
us for a useless discussion that will
tend to the benefit of no one, pro-
pose to do it. This scrap-book ex-
lists only III the imagination, and it
takes an Imagination more vivid
than ours to believe that the editors
are endangered by it, financially or
| otherwise.
We had hoped that ere this the mud
at tie BrookstOwn crossing would
be dried up, and likewise the com
plant. But it seems as il this was
not the case, for our friend again re-
fers to it. Now, he must know, as
we'll as every one else, that the Leg
islature, and mind you it VAS com
posed to a very large extent of farm
ers, gave the Richmond & Danville
the right to ''rear the pile in the
highway Now what wrong did they
commit when they made use of the
privileges granted them by law
Does my friend expect or demand
that they forego their legal rights
and privileges, because they, to Il
limited extent, conflict with his con
venience? If he does, let me assure
him that he expects too much.
We are assured that we are not I,
competent witness in this matter. In
return, let US assure our friend that
we are Il competent witness; that we
know that the Brookstown crossing
was made according to the require
ments OF the law; that it was just
such Il crossing as he will find any
where else where the conditions are
similar We said before that it was
not as good as the old road, and it
is hardly necessary to again reiter'
ate it, But it seems to us, however
that they ought to be satisfied with
a road constructed according to the
requirements of the law and not ex
pect mecadamized road in lieu of q
dirt one.
If our friend would be specific il
his charges, if he would but point
out the wrongs committed by rail
| way COfpOFdliOIlS, we WOuiu KNOW
better how to answer him. In tn,
absence of any specific charge W,
would like to ask him this question
What has the Richmond & Danvill,
or any other railway corporation
done that is subversive of civil liber
ty or the rights of the people?
Our friend requests us to justify
if we can, the ways of "railwa,
kings. y Will he please show u.
something that needs Justification
Our impression is that most of thes
magistrates are peacable, law abid
ing and liberty-loving citizens. w
believe they atteni to their own bus
mess and allow others the same PR
vilege.
Il But our friend believes that ther
i is danger threatening us. In this Ii
I is right, but it is not from railroad
or other corporations. When h
r thinks they have the power or at
r thority to do him harm, then h
labors under a grave misappreher
sion. They have not. We will tie
: him where the danger turks. 1t is i
] the Congress and Supre me Court
4 ~