Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-07-17
THE Election TO-DAY.
a QUESTION OF VITAL INTEREST
TO VOTERS OF THE CITY
AND COUNTY
TO BE SETTLED AT THE POLLS.
A Remarkable Campaign of Misrep-
resentatiOn and FalsehOOd Con-
Quoted Against the Ordinance of
the Board of COmmfssiOners-An
Opportunity Which Citizens Cam
not Afford to Turn Down.

To-day the voters of Ohio county
will ratify or reject the ordinance sub
mitted for their approval by the
Board of County Commissioners. pro-
viding for a subscription of 100000
of the capital stock of the Uniontown,
Waynesburg & West Virginia Rail-
road. Notwithstanding the remarka-
bic campaign of Misrepresentation and
falsehood, conducted by enemies of the
bond issue proposition, 1t Is believed
that the ordinance will receive the
necessary three-fifths, with votes to
spare.
Citizens who favor progress. and
whose interests lie in the line of the
industrial and commercial develop
ment of Wheeling are virtually unit
in their support o. the measure.
The opposition is backed and con-
Quoted by interested parties, who are
not only disappearing the actual
facts in connection with the proposed
railroad, but are spending money to
defeat the ordinance. This opposition
has succeeded in creating hostile
sentiment, which would not exist If
eredence were not given to some OF
the sensational reports which have
been industriously circulated with a
view to killing a proposition which, if
successful, will be of inestimable value
to the community.
The enemies of the ordinance have
given false figures, and in every man
ner have endeavored to mislead the
voters. 1t is not true, for example,
that the bond issue will cost
the city 100000 in interest.
1t is not true that the in
terest will amount to $50. 900 a year
Any school boy knows the bond issue
at 312 per cent means simply $17.500
year. When the interest on the pro-
posed bonds falls due, the interest on
existing bonds, amounting to over s13,-
600 a year will be wiped out because
the bonds will have been paid of. BY
the time the first payment on the new
bonds is due, the Uniontown, Waynes-
burg and West Virginia Railroad will
be fact, and the road will in all like
lihood be paying dividends upon its
stock.
So far as the slanderous reports con-
Meeting the names of reputable citi-
zens with bribery are concerned, they
have reacted on the enemies of the
TIC dHludNlJS vi
Messrs. McGregor and Hare have effec-
tually silenced their traducers, but it
is understood that those who are re
sponsible for the reports will be hunted
out for prosecution.
A sample of the foolish arguments
urged against the new road, is the con-
tention that it should be opposed be
cause it will have its terminus in Bel
laire. AS matter of fact the yards
will be on this side, and all the trade
from the populous region through
which the road will pass, will come to
Wheeling and not to Bellaire How
else could the manufacturing plants on
the other side of the river be served
with coal and coke by the new rail-
road than by completing facilities for
crossing the river? OF course a bridge
will be constructed, and the money to
be paid out for that enterprise will
naturally drift through the ordinary
channels of trade, and benefit the COM
munity generally. Citizens generally
will remember that Wheeling was re-
markedly prosperous while the Termi-
nal system was being constructed, and
that money was plentiful. Even the
enemies of the ordinance with all
the specious arguments against il,
would not say that the people who
come from points along the line of
the u. W. & w. Va. Railroad to do
their shopping. will pass through
Wheeling and spend their money in
Bellaire.
The bridge over the Ohio will enable
the road to connect with the Cleve-
land, Lorain and Wheeling, and the
Wheeling & Lake Erie. without using
the Terminal system, which is cotroll-
ed by the Pennsylvania. The new
road will be independent and will rival
the Pennsylvania. 1t is unnecessary
to add mat railroad competition means
lower freight rates, for every business
man and manufacturer knows that
from experience.
The building of the bridge, enabling
the road to complete western connec-
tons, is one more assurance that the
road will be profitable. Voters certainly
desire the stock subscribed by Ohio
county to pay dividends. The bridge
over the river will add not less than
25 per cent to the value of the road.
Voters should regard it as significant
that the big trunk lines are fighting
the proposed road, and are doing moth
ing to embarrass the projected Pitts
burg, Connellsville & Wheeling road
This enterprise is now being called the
Moundsville and Millsborough line,
since its promoters have open
ly admitted that its eastern ter
minus viii be ct the Greene county
village of Millsborough, twenty miles
distant from the coke fields, and with
no facilities for reaching the fields.
The Moundsville & Millsborough line
is simply a project which means the
shipment of coal to Moundsville, there
to be loaded by tipples for shipment
by river to the southern market. This
cannot be of benefit TO Wheeling. If
the road is even built it may give en-
ployment to a number OF men in
M0undsyille.
The Uniontown, Waynesburg & West
Virginia Railroad, on the other hand.
is a line which will benefit the city Of
Wheeling in innumerable ways. II
will aid the consumers Of coke. the
big iron and steel mills, by reduced
freight rates which viii give them the
cheapest fuel in the world. This viii
enable the manufacturers to run their
mills as long or longer than the mills
in the Pittsburg district are operated.
This means steady employment 70
workingmen. The road viii open up
and make tributary 10 Wheeling. a
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