The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1890-08-28
ACCEPTING A DARE.
The Bristol Courier Falls to Come
to the Scratch.

since tue courier resorts 10 ngufes THE COM
n will make few for it, In the first place, II
he Courier Is as much too high on the price OF
he Bristol depot as IL is too low on the one pro =
posed Tor this place, there Is really lille ditier
nee in the two buildings after all.
The cost of The depot, however is a small +
mater, compared to other things, The impor
.ant question is, how viii they be used and j
right here is whe2e our figuring begins, During ,
The month Of July the local ticket sales at this
office amounted to $,S7S2o or an average OF
Sl57 &c per day. Agent Wade says his Total cash
to Knoxville for July amounted to
SIS, 1902, an average OF $500 per day. July was
hardly up TO tho average and Mr.: Wade says
the business is constantly increasing, aud that
August receipts viii be much larger, And last
Saturday The rece'p.s from freight alone were
$4,000.
The above only includes freight received. The
amount to from 10 10 20 cars daily.
We have mentioned hurriedly and only few
OF the reasons Johnson City has for wanting
large and commodous depot. II Bristol has
more need for one let the Courier "speak now
or forever after hold It's peace" We dare it TO
publish the 6gures,-COMET.
There now, baby don't Ky; it's cal mean,
bad fellow at 'urt ee baby IS sore toe. There now,
there now, don't ky, baby, Does &c baby want
zee red b'lOon
Well, ii the Courier was mistaken in the cost |
OF the Johnson ely depot, why did the citizens |
hold an indignation meeting and send delega |
ton TO Knoxville that succeeded in having the |
estimated cost OF Che depot increased to S5,00OY
How will the denots be used2 During the
month of July the ticket sales at the local Office
OF the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia
and Norfolk and Wes,er railroads amounted TO
Si6l45lO-more than three times the boosted
figure Of your town. The freight receipts at the
same offices amounted to $l7G4l. SS-more than
double your brag figure This makes q grand TO-
| tal OF S32,43693, to say nothing of the 147 car
loads OF freight delivered 10 the South Atlantic
| and OHIO railroad by these roads and not men
| tiOning the freight and passenger business OF
| the South Atlantic and Ohio, which will have
! interest in The handsome new union depot.
1t is not worth while, doar COMET, to rub it I'M
| we would gladly spare you the modification OF
a dollar and cent comparison but you bristled
up and dared us to publish the figures. Now
| copy them and stand up and tell the world that
you have to admit that Bristol is big town
just about two and half times as big as John
son City-for you know 1t Is true.
Ta-ta let us know when you have thoroughly
digested these figures and want some more.
Bye-bye, baby,
Overlooking the emetic in the open
ing paragraph of the Courier's reply,
CD we will proceed to comply with the
request implied in the closing SEN
tence, and work over the above most
"indigested array of facts" ever pre-
scented to a reading public.
A careful perusal has already salts
fed the reader that the Courier, with
its Characteristic fairness, has simply
evaded the issue.
THE COMET endeavored to make {
plain statement, which could be un
derstood by any man with common
sense, but, unaccustomed to dealing
. with great minds, failed to get tb,
combination on the Courier, which
may account for the vague reply O
this Observation-Disclosures a
calibre-breech- loading-moulder-of.pu
lic-opinion.
+ We confined our figures to the loca
, ticket sales and freight receipts OF th
i East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgi
railroad, and dared the Courier to d
c the same. We still dare it to publis
e the correct figures,
it We desire to give Bristol all that
:, is entitled to, but no more, and whe
d the Courier states that the receipts {
+ the ticket office there for July wei
lie. over $4,000, it knows that Bristol
g no more entitled to the credit tina
Johnson City.
le The facts are that Bristol is the tie
minus OF the East Tennessee, Virgin
II and Georgia and Norfolk and Wester
roads, and does the coupon business f
= all points between Chattanooga an
+ Roanoke. In other words, if a passel
- ger starts from any station betwee
i Bristol and Roanoke to a point ives
Il he buys local ticket to Bristol, an
when he reaches there, has to buy
coupon ticket TO his destination. I'll
same is true OF passengers going ca
at from any station on the East Tenne
ne see, Virginia and Georgia, exec
Cleveland, Knoxville, Morristown an
is Johnson City. Bristol gets it all ar
10 claims the credit, when the busine
IS. would naturally go there If it was g
H. open field.
al In our figures we did not incluc
I'd the business done by the East TIE
lg nessee and Western North Carolil
be road, but confined ourselves to Il
ce sale OF tickets from johnson City alol
ad over the East Tennessee, Virginia al
er Georgia road.
ad In the matter OF freight the Couri
"a makes the same mistake, purposel
,al Ignoring our request TO conline its'
lot to the freight received at Bristol oy
in the East Tennessee, Virginia al
he Georgia, it makes statement cove
IS, ing the business of all the roads, aga
is. robbing the neighboring towns OF the
lis credit.
of In its statement the Courier j
III cludes all local freight delivered to t
M Norfolk and Western and freight +
de local stations on the East Tennesst
ce Virginia and Georgia received fro
d. the Norfolk and Western, back charg
no on which are collected at Bristol al
an freight delivered by both roads to t
ye- South Atlantic and Ohio company.
To- our figures we did not include freig
th delivered to the East Tennessee al
no Western North Carolina, viii
th amounted to something over $4,000.
ng When the Courier gets brave enoul
on to make a statement Of the busint
done by the East Tennessee, Virgin
and Georgia road for Bristol alone,
'er shall be pleased to hear from it.
In the meantime, it should bear
ac- mind that the depot referred to is
wv the accommodation OF portion