The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-05-20

It will be seen from articles repub-
lished from the Knoxville papers that
Colonel Boone is having a big fight in
the interest of his Black Diamond
Railroad.
When we consider the fact that this
| Southland and all of its business in
terest, from a railroad standpoint, is
in the tentacles. of that giant octopus,
the Southern Railway Company, we
shall be surprised if the people of
Knoxville and Knox county do not
rally to his support.
Why should all railroad business be
in its deadly embrace? All the South
Atlantic ports are bottled up, and for
whose benefit, the people's2 Nay,
verify. For years the South and West
have been made to pay tribute to the
East, in the way Of high tariff on
manufactured goods; but the South
having recently realized her strength
and skill to engage in manufacturing,
to the disadvantage Of Eastern manu-
facturies, in cotton goods, with far
reaching sagacity Northern and East
ern capital have combined to control
Southern railroad interests, so as to
defect commerce from Southern ports,
and thereby continue to build Up
Northern and Eastern cities and their
commerce at the expense of the South
and West.
A double track road from Chicago
to the South Atlantic would split this
octopus half in two, and build up
Southern ports. Does any one sup
pose the o%riginators Of this tributary
system will allow this to be done
without a fight? Nay, verify. Boone
has entered the lists, and proposes a
fight to a finish. His cause is the
peoples cause.
Look at a map Of the country,
taking the Charlotte Air Line road
as a base line, from S~partanburg, s. c.,
to Ashville, N. c., thence to Knox
vile, thence to Chattanooga, thence
to Atlanta, Ga, thence to Spartan
burg, the beginning point. Here is
territory as large nearly as the State
of South Carolina one of the richest
sections in the South entirely en-
circled by the Southern Railway Com
pauy; the whole Of its business in
their grasp !; a sectionrich in minerals
water-powers running to waste, which
if developed can furnish sufficient
horsepower to manufacture all the
cotton of the South. 1t is not to the
interest, it seems, Of the octopus to
have another road open up this terri
tory, and therefore, any scheme pro-
posed, looking to that end, is met
with disfavor. The Southern Rail-
way Company are very much like the
dog in the manger. But let it be
understood, they have no patent right
on this country, and while it is con-
ceeded they control a large amount of
money, yet we do not believe Wall
street controls all the money in the
world, but as long as we are content
to allow them to make us pay tribute
they will do it at our expense.
Colonel Boone has entered the list
to fight this octopus, andi if the people
will back Boone to the finish, then
there are men who will back the people
in developing this section of the
country.
We think Pats experience with the
Muscovy duck is appropos. The
Muscovy duck was a new bird to sPat,
who had been ordered to feed the
poultry. Day after day the duck
would shovel up the corn with his
broad bill. Pat watched his chance,
seized the avaricious duck, took out
his pocket knife and with great DELHI
Grafton trimmed down the broad bill
to a point, and then casting it from
his hands in disgust, remarked:
"Faith, and now you'll take your
chance with that old g%ame-cock.'
Boone proposes to build another road
OF course, it will trim the freight bills
of the avaricious railroad duck, and,
naturally it will object to the opera
tion and will make a considerable flop
ping with its wings, and quackings, to
scare away the people.
It is to be hoped that Boone will
get all the backing he wants from the
people, for that means success.