Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-01-21
THE RAILROAD QUESTION.
IIew Roanoke WIFE Realize or Her
lnveBtment-Roply TO I'M. III. c.

anu 100 utIle Drdiu, tllIS iellOW may
run mad, but If with too much brain
and too little blood, he do, I'll be o
cursr OF mad-men. Here's Agamem-
non, an honest fellow and one that
loves quails, but he has not SO much
foresight as ear-wax. What hath wit
larded with malice and malice forced
with wit turned him to 1t was Aga
memnon himself who spoke of this
same fellow:
When rank Thersites opes his mas
tiff jaws,
We shall hear music, wit and oracle. p"
II Thersites lived in this most lucky
town he should have due occasion to
envy the power of railing of NJ ! h. c.,
at the struggling Roanoke andiSouth-
ern railroad, at which our small Roa-
noke world can but shake itself with
- laughter
When m. H. c." locks horns with
railroad monopolies and hurls dyna-
mite bombs at the most important
enterprise that has ever been initiated
by our people, it is time to unfurl the
old flag and command the - peace.
Now, we are not Thersites. nor are
we given to railing or indeed to any
form of cruelty. Yet the sight of the
prehistoric Saurian, NJ. II. c., spat-
tering the Roanoke and Southern
railroad and its projectors, the ablest,
the most solid, the most responsible
anu the most reliable business men in
our midst-with mud, makes us feel
l;l,o N hnoo on him
When the planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander
What plaques and what portends,
what mutiny
What raging of the sea, shaking of
the earth
Commotion in the winds, rights
change horrors
Direst, and crack the unity and mar
ried calm
of the Magic City ~
Mr. Editor, this has been a remark
able winter anyhow. There seems to
be superabundancc Of electricity in
the air, stimulating NJ. Fl. Z. to a very
carnival of railing, and for what ?
Because construction company IS
to build the road? Because the site of
the depot does not perforce suit his
fastidious tastes, and because the road
will not pledge itself that it will not
want any more money? Who ever
heard of such narrow views Of the
public veal? Let us ask if there had
been such securities demanded, if
there would have ever been railroad
in this state or in this nation? All
great arteries of trade, Mr.. Editor,
have relation to some point and
some object. Capitalists do not start
or build railroads for fun they do
not project railroads allowing their
ends to remain suspended in the
air. Cities do not subscribe to these
improvements without we'll defined
object,-the advancement OF the inter
ests of its citizens.
Who cares who builds the railroad:
Somebody has it to do, whether you
call it q construction company or
what not. What we do want is the
road! Every mercantile man wants it ;
every mechanic wants 1t ::
every property holder wants it; every
hotel man wants it: every lawyer
doctor, preacher and editor wants it,
because it will improve the city, that's
why?
But, says NJ. H. C., would Mr.. Trout
loan his best friend $4,000 on his YER
bal promise to return it in six months?
He might, or he might not, it depends
greatly upon who the friend was. 1t
Is q notorious fact that men loan
money every day, and do not take
the sign of an obligation in return,
but rely upon the good faith of the
borrower.
But let us illustrate: Suppose NJ.
H. c., we're to start q newspaper Ill
the city of Roanoke and send out his
agents for subscription, fifty cents per
month Invariably in advance" Sup.
pose he were to say that his enterprise
would be of great benefit to the city
and the people had reason to believe
so, and his record showed that he
could be trusted: Are you going to
keep back the newspaper, because you
ure not willing to let him have part
of his subscription in advance and
thus say, Your enterprise is hum
bug. You want to puff John Jones.
You are not going to puff me in your
paper: | won't subscribe" Suppose
YOU were honest in establishing this
enterprise, ard it was to all your ma
terial interests, and indeed, it was
vital to you that it should be done.
Don't you know how you would feel
when some fellow would accuse you
of getting up "one-sided show" for
your own benefit alone2 You would
instantly ask isn't my interest and
my word worth something 2"
What right has the city to demand
that the road will ask no more. wheD
she has it in her power at all times 10
refuse more? 1t is but q poor COM
mentary upon the intelligence of this
people to have their lips pad-locked
upon q subscription, when they are
80 amply protected by their funde
mental law, the charter. Would M.
Fl. c., put thumb-screw upon the
intelligence of the people of the city
of Roanoke? AS to the stock of the
city, no sensible man expects it to be
worth much at least for years. 1t is
not from the stock that the city is to
get its return; it is from the increase
Of business and the enhancement Of
the value of property from very
small increase of taxation, hardly, as
it were, to be felt.
AS to a Land company and the Con-
struction company and the Roanoke
and Southern railroad company being
all three birds in one nest, }" we say the
people don't care whether they are III
zone nest" or three or half dozen
''nests.n We want the road and