Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-07-19
THE NORTHERN NECK RAIL
ROAD.
PLUCK, Va, July 16.

! ROAD.
PLUCK, Va, July 16.
To the Editor of the Alexandria Gazette:
As our county (King George is flood
ed with circular calculated to gull oul
people into voting for subscription oi
$25,0OO to a certain railroad projec
through the Northern Neck of Vir
ginia, beg space in your widely read
journal to voice my humble opposition
to, and warn our people against, this
"green goods scheme"
The rich are often called upon to do
mated to the poor, but this is reversing
the natural order of things when it asks
the poor to donate to the rich. We are
too poor to pay what we already owe
while the railroad company, which is
rich and fully able to build and operate
the road (as it admits), wants us to sub.
scribe the S25 600 for friendship sake
Now let the people vote for the sub
scription and they will find out when it
is too late to remedy the evil, that
like our State debt, it will be for old &C.
quaintance sake.
With the incubator (steel vault) and
the new Jail to pay for in addition to
our other taxes, it will be found impos-
| sible for US to pay the annual interest,
81, ,250, on the bonds. Therefore the
$25, 900 with the accumulated interest
| will at maturity, 80 years, amount
to $62, ,500-an unwelcome heritage
to our children, and which
would continue to increase until
our posterity would only avoid the
..shylock's call, when the sound oi
Gabriel's horn wound up the ball.
| I havn't the time or space here to no.
tice all the "musquito curtain argu-
ment," but will come at once to the
gist of this ''Epistle of Railroad Prom
ises." In the first paragraph we are
told that ''the taxes alone from the
railroad will more than doubly pay the
interest on our boGds," and in the fifth
paragraph it says, sail we have to do is
to pay the interest Isl, $50 year, and
our children of the next generation pay
off the bonds" "Talk is cheap, but
money buys the sheep" If the railroad
will do as it says by obligating itself to
"pay annually in taxes more than
double the interest on our bonds, then
we will have no interest on bonds to
pay. Now let's "fgger her up." Ac-
cepting the railroads figures as basi :,
(which are ''good enough for all prac-
tical purposes'0 we would find the
amount of bonds to be $4,000; 5 per
cent. interest for 80 years-bond ma
turity-$37 500, which, with the princi-
pal, makes $62, 800. Twenty and one
third miles of railroad at $4,000 per
mile would represent taxable value
of $345. .666. The county levy of 60
cents and the public school tax of 20
cents for thirty years to bond maturity
make total tax of $50, $50, from which,
deducting bonds and interest (S62, 500
would leave balance due us Of
$2O, O,450.
In other words, if we make the rail-
road obligate itself to do as it says, in
its "Epistle of Promises we will have
nothing to pay, but will secure to our
children 'ssinking fund" of 500, ,450,
and make the railroad princely pres.
ent of $62, 500 when our bonds mature.
Whereas, if we subscribe s25, 900 to the
railroad and let the railroad off with
"cheap talk" then the railroad will
have a Sinking fund" of $62, 500 to be
borne by our children. Those doubt
ing this are reminded of our State
debt, which was brought on us in the
same way, and afterwards funded and
acknowledgement and readjusted"
costing the citizens of Virginia mil
lions of dollars in political and legisla-
tive wrangling, and leaving the debt
still unpaid.
care not how many railroads are
run through our county, but l am op..
posed to mortgaging the hard learned
property of our people to railroad
company, or any other corporation,
without some better guarantee reim-
bursement than this road offers. 1t
has been affirmed by those more cap
able than myself of knowing that
no sane people will run railroad on
q narrow strip between two navigable
rivers, because water transportation
is cheaper than land, and in competi-
I tion the railroad must go down-to the
ruin of those subscribing.
The business of railroad is to push
| its branches wherever it will pay; and
they employ the best mathematical
talent. They have the map and census
of the United States before them to
show where it will pay to run a road
and where they are satisfied it will pay
they go into our legislative halls. secure
their charters and run their roads mo
lens volens."
But when they ask for subscriptions
under the guise of friendship" but
really to force the people to patronizt
them to the exclusion of cheaper
more comfortable and more convenient
mode of transportation, it is the bes
evidence that the railroad will not pay
It matters not how high the rates o
transportation may be on the railroad
if we subscribe, it forces us to leave the
cheaper water transportation at o.
near our doors, and haul from 5 to Ii
miles to railroad depot, knowing tha
If the railroad goes down for want o
patronage we and our prosterity g
]. down with it. Fellow citizens of Kine
George county please have this in YOU
minds ON the 25th of I,Iu and Won uil