Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-05-08
MORE ABOUT LOWER
END BRIDGE CONTROVERSY

Drury, May Editor Argus, Rock
Island: The Muscatine Daily News
Tribune of April - contains an ar
ticle written by Henry Jane, of that
city. the head lines of which are:
I"Work of Renewal. 1t has been au-
thorized by the Muscatine Bridge
company; entails an expense of
80. 900. 1t will require 6O,OOO feet of
oak lumber and $4,000 feet of string
ers-'
Mr.. Jane SAYS it viii take 800. 900
feet of oak lumber to floor the bridge.
And, that the cost of renewal will
approximate $4,000. Then. he says,
the grade of lumber such as will be
used to floor the bridge will cost $50
per thousand feet. Now let us see
how he figures: First. 100000 feet
nj $50 per thousand Will amount To
SIC. 800. Then 10000 feet of string
erS (Which | think Will he pine) at
$50 per thousand will amount To
$500 making a total of Sl4.1OO. Now.
then, when Mr.. Jane says the cost
will approximate $1,000 he means
that the cost will be somewhere near
80. 900: that *. il may he less. but not
more. But why oak lumber should
be so high l do not understand. If
my memory serves me right, when
the bridge floor was renewed few
years ago the lumber cost about SIS
per thousand feet. You will notice.
by his method of calculation, that he
* $500 short. | cannot understand
how he made such a mistake, for
cannot think il was intentional.
Mr.. Jane refers to ex-senator Nc
Mutt. who saws his opinion as a law
yer and legislator is that the bridge
company is not sincere, but is in
tended for bluff" If the above
figures are anything To judge from.
think Mr.. McNutt's opinion savOrs
somewhat of truth. l think il would
have been better for the citizens of
Drury to have sent their petition to
the secretary of war in place of the
board of supervisors of Rock Island
county.
1t is true that the secretary of war
may dictate to the bridge company
as to how they shall conduct the
bridge and how much toll they may
charge. But, at the same time, they
will find that the supervisors have
something to say about the landing
on either side. no matter whether it
be bridge or ferry.
To explain: \ few weeks since
when G. w. McCasl1rin, of Rock. Is
land. visited Drury for the purpose
of assisting the citizens of Drury to
draft a petition to be sent to the
board of supervisors. he came by
rail to Muscatine and from there to
Foster by team. When he crossed the
bridge he was charged so cents for
team and driver and Is cents for him.
self; which was 10 cents in excess of
regular rates Mr.. Jane. when asked
about it, claimed to know nothing
about it, but said if the charge had
been made it must have been on ac-
count of a speech G. w. carried in his
pocket Whether it is true that Is
cents was charged / do not know,
neither do / make the statement for
fact.
Within the last two weeks there has
been a survey made from New Bos-
ton to Milan or Rock Island for a
railroad of some kind, and the far
mers along the route are very much
pleased. They think they see an OPP
ening for n better market.
Mr.. Lillibridge says one reason
why the feed yard on the Illinois side
was done away with was on account
of ''boot-legging" carried on there.
Judging from present indications he
has fixed "boot-Iegging," for the yard
is a thing of the past, and dealers in
''wet goods in Muscatine are down
i'm the mouth on account of it. Some
place their loss at 20 per cent, When
asked the reason, they say farmers
have no place to tie on the Illinois
side, so if they come to Muscatine
they are forced to drive over, toll
80 cents. when if they walked across
it would be Is cents, leaving balance
of IS cents to be spent. How? Ac-
corning to Mr.. Lillibridge's theory
it would go for little consolation"
THOMAS THORP.