Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-01-16
THE WISDOM OF MEN.
They FOreshadowed What Rail-
roads Would Do For Audrain
"A Dark Cloud Over
the Land.

against nefSeII 10 De CnIIecteO WIN
accruing semi-annual interest by
the hated and remorseless methods
of Ia, alton, equal to $50 per each
man, woman and child in all hei
borders. And this. too, when our
people had neither personal prop,
erty or money. and more than two
thirds of all the occupied lands in
the county were under mortgages
or deeds of trust for more than
their full value Added to this
was the further fact that the coun.
ty was already encumbered with a
bonded debt of say $4,000 for our
Court House and it's adornments,
then in process of construction.
Standing to-day and lookii =
back ward one can hardly see how
the County Court would assume
the responsibility o issue its bonds
and then create the liability. But
it was done with results heretofore
hInted. Audrain needed eastern
railroad connections. She must
have them at all costs or fall be-
hind in the race of life. Her clear.
visioned men saw this and 80
argued. As we see the county to-
day, with the c. & A railroad run
ming through it and its full de-
velopments, we~are compelled to
admit the wisdom of the men who
thus argued and acted.
1t is not to be forgotten that
many excellent cltiz-ns opposed
the creation of the debt. They
took the circumstances of the
county as / have suggested and
then argued that it was not able to
bear such financial burdens. Grand
as she was she could not make
"brick without straw )" that each
wear so much of this debt would
fall due and must be paid, and as
the rule ii ere was every third year
the crops failed and thus the farm
er's homestead would be endanger-
ed for the tenefit of corporations.
There was great plsusibility in the
argument and many were persnad-
ed by it. We shall soon see what
a world of trouble came from such
public education.
For, bat three or four INSTALL
ments of interest had matured and
been paid and the financial agents
of the county were making arrange
ments to discharge maturing prin-
cipai when the panic of 1873 struck
the land with a cyclone of disas
ter-bankruptcy and ruin. Black
Friday in Wall Street became a
dark cleud over the whole land.
The equal of this panic was never
known. 1t paralyzed the industry
Df nations and unsettled the bal
ances of the commercial world.
Such was its effects upon Audrain
county that inside of five years it
changed one-h half the personel oil
her population. Men who had
deeds of trusts on their farms found
their equities of redemption value
less and abandoned their homes
tor new ones, east or west. Other
people came in and took their
places.
Audrain has always had her
wise men. There are home made
and street corner polltl-
clans ready upon every occasion to
save town, county or State, as the
demand might be. When the
panic struck US and before the frs,
.hade of il had fully passed or its
effects measured, they were heard
1--WE told you 80 !" awe
told you if you laid this railroad
debt upon the people it would
bring bankruptcy and ruin and
here we find both sooner than we
here" The remedy
Is notification, or scaling down the
debt, or refunding, or this or that
or the other medicament, as those
wise men might happen to think
but all this class said it could not
and must not be honestly paid.
II goes without the saying that
these were troubious days for the
county. Could she survive the
storm +? There were many who de-
clared both that she could and
To do 50 required pay
men,, whether principal or interest,
as it fell due, Of every installment.
There must not be reputation,
there should not be a protest /.
in and out of the news
in and out of the county
office and court room, in
church and school house, upon the
street and stump, grew warm, elo-
III mt, bitter, threatening even.
On these Issues new alignment
,f parties were to be made and one
set of statesmen rui ed and another
made famous. But before such
disaster befell our local politicians,
he whole problem was solved
without shipwreck, dishonor or
protest. With this result few men,
,fiiclally. had much to do. Hon.
B. L. Locke, who had been County
Clerk for years before the railroad
was dreamed of, and remained such
until after the last dollar of the
iebt was paid and every bond
burned, was one of them.
The great American humorist