Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-21
HON. PETER SMITH.
The Father of Fort Worth Pays a Pleas
ant Visit to Sherman.
He is Rounded up by a Regis ter Man and Talks
of the City, and Expresses an Opinion
on the Commission.
Sherman Register.


sive populace there will the name of
Peter Smith be familiar, for no man has
done more to show what town can do
by energy and get up than he has, and
Fort Worth with Its varied and growing
interests, its miles of graded and paved
, thoroughfares its sewerage, its railroads
and its prospects is an undying monu-
ment to the tireIess handiwOrk of Peter
Smith, and the progressive people of
Fort Worth among whom he, as mayor
of the city, was leader. In fact, Col.
Smith is man who always labors in be-
half of his people and has always been
successful.
Yesterday afternoon a Register repre-
sentative saw Col. Smith at the Union
depot, where he was waiting to catch the
fast express for Fort Worth.
'well, colonel, - ventured the re-
porter, "what do you think of Sherman
since your last visit.
"You have beautiful little city, full
of life and energy, and with wealth
enough, If it is judiciously used, to make
q large place. 1 don't expect there is
another city in the whole state blessed
with any finer surroundings than Sher-
man possesses, and that of itself is no
small item. 1 drove over the city this
afternoon and Improvements are notice.
able in all directions. l notice too that
you are blessed with good schools and
splendid buildings, this is much
in your favor. By-the-way, you
need street improvement in Sher-
man. Over in Fort Worth
when we first began to make pretensions
toward making a city of ourselves we
had bad streets. We effected big loan
and put the proceeds on the streets and
in putting in good, substantial stone
curbing. We graveled and rocked our
streets and to-day have thoroughfares
second to none in the state, and have
streets which cost US eighteen cents per
sgnaEs xerd just as good as that which
cost S2!60. Excellent streets can be
made by having them surfaced off by a
competent engineer with the proper
slopes, etc. Cover it then with broken
rock and fill in with gravel. Street and
sewer building is what first gave Fort
Worth an impetus and put her on the
way toward making the best town in the
state, with prospects unexcelled. -
"But hash t Fort Worth s growth been
aided much by the railroads she has GEN.
tering there?' interposed the reporter.
"Well, yes, to a great extent Fort
Worth, as we'll as the whole state for
that matter, owes more TO the railroads
than to any other agency for her present
grandeur and advancement. Railroads
are doing great deal for the Western
country, in which we are particularly in
terested. Why, there are a great many
counties out west just as fertile and pro-
ductlve as your own county here, but
which cannot be farmed to an advan-
tage without railroads. For instance,
last year there was not less than 70 ,OC0
bushels of wheat raised in the vicinity of
Seymour. There were no mills of any
consequence to grind it up, because
without means of transportation fuel, an
ever needed commodity, can not be
secured. 1t would cost the producer
twenty-five cents per bushel to have
hauled this wheat from Seymour to
Wichita Falls. This was enough to dis
courage farming in a county with an
almost unlimited supply of good rich
soil, but railroad Is now being built
out from Wichita Falls and hundreds of
new farms are being opened up and put
in cultivation. This is the influence of
railroads. Fort Worth, when she built
the Denver road, did a good thing for
herself and a great deal more for the
whole west. We are now building line
TO Jacksboro, and are hopeful of getting
the Sherman extension of the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas
"Do you apprehend that the recent
West Texas immigration movement will
result in much good for that section?''
81 think so from the fact that it has
gotten them all to pulling together, if for
NJ, AI,n,, 30 =,
ing up under the impetus given by bright
railroad prospects, several lines being in
course of construction through that sec
ton and as many more projected.
'What effect do you think the enact
ment of a railroad commission law would
have on the railroad building IN Texas?"
81 think it will have the effect of re-
tarding the railroad building in progress
and in contemplation. The government
of our country is in the hands of three
branches now the legislative, the judicial
and the executive. The legislative branch
form and enact the law, the judicial
branch decides how it effects all litigants
or interests and the executive branch
carries into effect the orders or decisions
of the court. 1 think that in these three
branches there is power enough to man
HesS ohy AAtSlCsby uALAOhb nv CoSlhE LuO
already ponderous machinery of govern
ment. Railroads are not unlike other
great undertakings; they are controlled
by circumstances. One railroad located
in a densely populated section
might be able because of loaded trains
each way to make money at rates which
would bankrupt and completely swamp
roads in the sparsely settled districts.
Some people can never realize that road
which originally cost $40, 900 per mile
has TO be built twice over again before
it is permanent, and that the
bonds which were neeessitsted in order
TO secure money to build the roads bear
an interest which eat up all the profits
and leaves virtually nothing for the in
vestors against whom the commission
will operate. as the interest must be paid
no matter what the receipts of the road
are. Loan and trust companies collect
interest to the very limit of the usurY
law. 1t is true money gotten from them
sometimes enables man to improve
property, but these mortgage holders are
not the public bsnefactors, the railroads
are. They pocket their 10 per cent. in
terest and no commission is asked for to
regulate them. There will be constant
appeals from a commission subject to the
judicial branch, hence a world of tire
some litigation would be engendsrod. A