The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-03-13
THAT BRIDGE AGAIN.


The question was then one of bust
ness, and the only reason that the
bridge has not already been built is
found in the fact that the Santa Fe
road was not at that time in a position
to make a contract. This obstruction
has been removed, and all that is
necessary now is to do that which we
have done before-raise the amount
necessary to guarantee the project.
The only question now to be decided
is: Can we raise the $3.50, 900 neces-
sarya
There IS no better way 10 judge the
future than by the past, and the history
of the bridge project of 1895 clearly
demonstrates that the task is not too
great, and that it can be performed.
Times are hard, business is dull, and
the wheels of IN are at a stand
still. But these conditions existed q
gear ago. The bridge committee then
raised s16s, 600, and 1t did so at a time
when financial storms were raging in
every quarter OF this nation. Lexing-
ton subscribed the money at q time
when factories were being closed,
banks becoming insolvent, and busi-
ness in all lines was depressed.
If in the midst of the greatest panic
since 1873 the citizens of Lexington
could afford to make a solvent sub
~scription of $3.50, 900, surely they ear
afford to do so now.
No zane man will deny that Lexing-
ton today needs that bridge as much as
it did one or two years ago No BUSH
ness man will deny that the building of
it and the opening of the new territory
will largely increase the volume of his
business. No property holder win
deny that il would enhance the value
of Lexington real estate al least 20 per
cent.
As a business proposition the build
ing of the bridge is a rational one.
There is also a moral side to the ques-
ton, which the fathers and mothers of
this town can hardly overlook. If
they ask themselves what is to become
of the Lexington boy, they must answe r
that If Lexington docs not take upon
herself a new commercial life, he must
seek employment elsewhere. 1t must
be admitted, for it is true, that there
are firms in Lexington today who FORM
erly employed twice the number Of
young men at double the salary they
are paying today. 1t must also be
admitted that there has never been q
time ia Lexington's history when so
many of her yeung men were without
employment and without prospects of
employment here. Unless the Lexing-
ton boy lave capital, or is unusually
fortunate, he is compelled to seek
other fields of labor.
One of the saddest scenes that can
be enacted in the drama of life is that
of a young man leaving the influences
of home, the councils of father and
mother, and breaking the ties of friend
ship, to 60 out into the cold world
among strangers to carve u his des-
tiny. When a boy leaves the influences
of his home, the kindly admonitions of
his loved ones, and leaps into the rush
ing tide of business in q city, he
becomes Invested of the greatest CAPT
tai upon which to do business-that Of
q family's bonored name. And the
Admonitions of home become oft times
but a blurred and blotted page upon
memory's tablet.
The boy who leaves his home to go
to the city finds the temptations of life
doubled and the incentives not to yield
decreased. 1t is too often the case
hat he yields to the temptation and
wrecks his life.
While it can be said that Lexington
has not offered many inducements TO
her young men, yet it is true that those
who have remained here, where family
name and family pride have been
incentives to ambition and honor, have
been more successful, morally and
financially, than those who have
sought employment elsewhere. !
The lesson surely teaches that Lex :
ingtou fathers and mothers should do
all in their power to open mp new :
avenues of employment and new fields
labor for the Lexington boy.
The bridge will accomplish this pnr- I
pose. It viii bring railroads; it will !
bring factories; it will enlarge our
colleges and schools; it will increase !
the volume of the business of the firms !
now here, and it will bring new ones. '
Every line of business, from the hum I
blest to the highest, will be ~broadened I
and enlarged. There will be more of !
your boys in our banks, more of them =
in our stores, more of them in our .
more of them in our Offices 2
and more of them following the profess .
here. The boy who has been idle, .
with no hopes of employment, will find !
opened. the father who is able I
to start his boy with capital will find I
here for its investment. The
tide that carries our boys from home 8
win be turned this way. n
This is the moral side of 1t. It is ii
paramount TO any other Issue now Q
before Jus. It must be settled, and I
right. It must be settled in the Il
interest OF the Lexington boy. IL
After q quiet sleep of twenty years, a
Lexington should again place herself I.
IN a position where with outstretched Ii
arms she can bid her young men II
remain in the city of their nativity and ri
prosper. "a
Lon Stephens has been a great dig o
to his enemies. They Of
we're so hopeful that he would make a h
Door governor The state has never p
n better governor than IL haa in e