The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-05-17
ENT.
Let Us Extend the Car" RI.

sary from commercial standpoint
to pay some attention to the i'm
portance Of making a connecting
link to the canal. The project Of
the present canal is familiar to the
readers of the BANNER. Ofcourse
the first purpose that pr0mptef
the construction of the canal wa.
to secure drainage and commercial
advantages for Franklin. !
When the subject was originally
agitated, and the great advantages
to Franklin's commerce we're being
discussed it was thought/that the
canal would be brought right ur
to the commercial doors of this
town. The shreWdest business
ability and tue best commercial
prophets, all t2ok apparent inter.
est in just Where the Franklin
terminal point of the canal should
be. The people became very en-
thusiastlc over the proposition and
affairs concerning the new con.
meeting link between Franklin and
the commerce of the vast country
which this canal would bring
them. The tax payers of the town
OF Franklin were wrought up to
the point where they almost unan,
lmously voted a q mill tax for a
period of 20 years for the purpose
of helping the town in a CONNER.
c!al way, as we'll as for drainage
purposes.
The same old story is the sequel
bonds were issued and the money
secured to open up this new means
of commercial traffic. Instead,
however, of bringing the canal up
to the depot. as was thought it
would he, the canal is at least one
mile from Franklin and the prob
abilities are it will always remain
there. The town of Franklin was
given a ten foot ditch, for drainage
purposes, which at present is filed
up and of no use at all to the town.
The road leading to where the
canal is now located is during bad
weather, always heavy and often
impossible. 1t would require at
times a flying machine to reach
the canal from Franklin. The
present facilities for reaching it
are as difficult for heavy traffic, as
the poor Beers have for transport
ing captured guns over the prac-
tically impossible bogs Of the
Transvaal.
Let the business men of Frank.
lin take the matter up, discuss it
and either by private subscriptions
Or by small special tax voted
secure in some way sufficient
means of bringing this present
useless waterway to the town, right
nto the limits direct. We appre-
,iate the fact that a majority of
The citizens of the town feel that
hey are paying enough taxes,
)ut this canal question is an
one to every business
nan and property owner in the
own, and we believe if we cannot
get up the required amount by |
private subscriptions to extend
he canal to the town it would be |
ar better to vote, say a one mill
AK for four or five years, than let
he canal remain where it is. Let |
he canal reach a point on the rail.
Dad track near the depot, or at
whatever point may best be de.
ignated. Here then could bel
'uilt canning factory and oyster
Establishment that would be real
'enefit to Franklin as it is, it is
vorse than useless from the fact
hat the people are deriving no
'enefit whatever while they are
,eing taxed 2 10 mills for the
Of the bonds formerly is
ued. By having this waterway
in and the cannery and
yster establishment made a per-
lament fixture the city could
tilize all the oyster shells for paw
ng and street purposes instead of
aging enormous prices for shells
hat should have been lying
round in monster heaps-a sur
lus for shipment to other cities.
'uch an institution would be more
han self-sustaining, give employ
,ent to many deserving people
nd naturally develop into a bust
ess that would invite foreign,
rofitable investment. This canal
7as supposed to have been con.
tructed not only for commercial
lterests but for drainage pur-
oses. The people of Franklin
tho are now engaged in paying
f these bonds in useless taxation,
O doubt believe that the old
'aterway is doing its work we'll
8 a constant ndraiNer.'