Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-06-13

sonable to ask a binding guarantee that
the roads headquarters forever remain
in this city under penalty of forfeiture
of the franchise and a claim on the
assets but it is not reasonable to ask
men who are rislling their money In
promoting the enterprise to pay the
city, $4,000 in case they fail to build
within three years, and lose all they
have themselves put in. They may sell
their franchise it is true, so
may any other set of men
who would ever incorporate, yet
we may safely trust these ead-
ing local business interests TO make the
| best terms for Marshalltown that any
set os men would or could make. For
eign capital must come here to build
| this road, and it seems preferable to
Marshalltown interests that 1t come as
a loan to Marshalltown business men,
asking only its dividends, than as the
original investment on the part OF
strangers. who are operating from a
rival town as a center with every
| temptation to favor that town in its
| mana cement. 1t is also fair to ask the
| new company to say what 1T VIII DO
| in regard to paving, altho the state law
! now defines that pretty fully and 1T is
| not unreasonable to ask that the iran
chise expire automatically, within
three wears, if the road is not built,
without action by the council, but 1t is
| not fair to "knock" and insinuate with
out good grounds for the public well
I! fare.
SO far as this newspaper is concern
ed. 1T is not going to exert itself as d
special champion for this interurpan
scheme If the business men ana
property owners of this city cannot see
in what direction their interests lle'
we are willing that they take the con-
sequences If the Des Moines ROAD
comes in here and our people begin 10
ride to Des Mones to trade on cheap
trolley excursion rates. our merchants
will suffer more than we WILL we nave
no freight to ship out OF mere, ana IL
doesn't make any difference to us III
rates who ownes or who operates an
inter,irban. We believe we can see, tho.
how every merchant, every factory ana
every shipper in this city could be mn
mea sura bly, benefited by an interurban
owned and controlled by Marshalltown
citizens, bonded up to it's neck, II neces-
sary. that would connect this city with
the Milwaukee railroad, and would pos
sibly extend on north toward Conrad,
Beaman, Grundy Center ano Eldora.
and connect with the great ROCK IS
land system and possibly with the I'M
nois Central at Parkersburg. distance
of less than forty miles from here. Des
Moines business men should not De
trusted to do this for MarshalltoWn.
1t is useless to ask this company TO
guarantee to run it's road thru one CIT
izen's real estate addition, around by
another's suburban home. or right Dy
any farmers front door, for the incor-
porators do not yet know what routes
their engineers will settle upon, or
what routes will prove the most prof.
liable. Farmers who are Offering stock
subscriptions upon these condltlons are
asking the impossible. What Marshall
town citizens ought to do is to vote
this francise under reasonable safe
guards and then everybody put IN ms
mite TO raise the money with which
to build and control that portion OF the
road when would always prove the key
to the situation. If they don't and II
MIR. Bradford's some other company,
like the Polk people of Des Moines,
comes in, every shipper in this town can
lust trust to luck that shipping con-
ditions will not do him more harm than
good.