Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-12-20
Another Reply to Taxpayer"

unanswered. The shat wager' which
he tries to put up for a bluff I care
nothing for. He might be a personal
friend and if so we might refrain from
criticism, while remarks over a nom de
plume are open for the careful scrutiny
of every one. Iwould prefer therefore
not to know the identity of Taxpayer"
l am the more surprised at his remarks
however when he asserts himself to be
a large property holder and conse-
quently large payer of funds into the
public treasury. His two-penny pessi-
mistic remarks were quite misleading
in this respect His first article was
largely against sewers while his second
one leaves the sewer question for that
of the Broad street bridge and makes
it "bugaboo" and deplores the me-
glect of drainage or sewerage. Why
not be consistent? Now as to the
Broad street bridge. Is there a need
for it? Mr.. Howard offers to donate
enough of his lands across the creek for
any manufacturing enterprise that will
employ certain amount of labor. 1t
is certainly not to Mr.. Howard's inter-
est to vote for measure that will en-
able him to donate his property. None
of the other councilmen who voied for
the bridge donation have any possible
personal ends to serve. Let us go
step further. The Keystone Powder
Company have invested fifty thousand
dollars in their plant. They employ
regularly eleven laborers-much of the
time more. None of these receive less
than two dollars day-some of them
more. They pay them for labor alone
nearly six hundred dollars a month and
about seven thousand dollars q year.
What becomes of this money? Nearly
every dollar of it is left with the mer-
chants of Emporium. Where does the
money come from? 1t is picked up
from anywhere in the United States
and brought here for the benefit of our
people. This bridge and road leads to
their property. And yet Taxpayer"
calls this private bridge that benefits
only few. A hundred dollars is a
mighty small investment for the bor-
ough to make even for this much pros
perity. But there is still more in sight.
Nothing has been said of the profits of
The business that goes into the hands of
the stock holders; this we have no
means of estimating, but we do know
that it will be largely left with the peo-
pie of Emporium. Further still: this
bridge and road makes easy access to a
large agricultural area. AS it is now
it accommodates eight farmers who
each produce from the soil and are
creators of wealth to the amount of not
less than three hundred dollars year,
lone man claims to have sold that much
butter in year, some of them five
hundred dollars year. But put it at
three hundred dollars and we have
twenty -four hundred dollars a year that
are wrested from mother earth and left
where? Why, almost entirely with the
people of Emporium, and yet this
Broad street bridge is only private
benefit.
But let us go still further. Open up
little over mile of new road an ex-
tension of that now built and it will ac
commodate and make easy of access
the farmers of thirty-two families, the
combined products of which will crowd
hard onto ten thousand dollars each
year. Where does it come from? WHY,
out of the ground and out of the mus
cles and brains of men along this road.
Where does the money go to? Almost
exclusively into the Golfers of the peo-
pie of Emporium. There is room along
this road for fully four times this many
more farms. For all this benefit the
borough of Emporium pays the liberal
(?) sum of one hundred dollars. Tt
would have been a much wiser admin.
istration if the borough of Emporium
had built the entire bridge instead of
lying supinely by until urged to give
the pittance of one hundred dollars.
Why will men be so blind to their
own interests as to persistently oppose
prosperity waiting to follow into their
very doors. Suppose we compare
little. How many people are accom-
modated by the roads between here and
Sterling Run. Beginning at the Wiley
farm house, including Britton Hill, Oak
Hill, Hunts Run, and Chapman Hill,
and leave out Cameron town, we find
but twenty six families. See the roads
and bridges that are built for them.
between Emporium and Beechwood
school house, along West Greek, there
are forty-three families, Between the
Portage bridge at upper end of w. N.
Y. u p. yard, and Sizerville school
house there are but twenty families.
With those comparisons how can any
one consistently say that Broad street
bridge and road are not worthy of the
liberal support of the borough of EN-
DOrium. How oan apuona o,a