Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-03-24

city means his own prosperity, as well
Las the pros ,erity of all other citizens.
| When business is brisk, and city Is
! termed prosperous, property values IN :
crease exchanges are made frequently
and the ger eral tone of business and
life in the community is raised.
The present effort to secure an in
terurban railway for Marshalltown
grew out of the dinner given by the
Commercial Club in F'inkle's hall in the
! fall of 1902. At this dinner Mr. George
| +. Kirby n ade a speech in which he
advocated most warmly the making Of
an effort to secure an interurban rail-
way. This speech was followed by
Others. and the direct result of this
conference was the organization or
| the present railway company. The
/ following named gentlemen comprise
the company at the present time, and
are paying all expenses incurred IN
the promotion of the company, taking
lcommon stock in the company at par
J for the money paid OUT Messrs. A. G..
lGHck, of Britain & Co.; Charles r..
J Speers, of the A. Il. Shorthill Com
pany: Charles G. Click of the Lennox
Manufactu ing Company; l.. r. Will
lard AMI Charles Hull, of
the H. Wizards Sons Com
pany; George r. Estabrook, of the
Fisher Governor Company; f. c. Will.
of the Mcbride & Will Drug
Company; T.. e. Click, of the
Iowa Artificial Ice and Refriger
ating Company A. ID. Meeker. of the
Meeker Laundry Company; l.. G. Nor
ris, OF the Let's, Fletcher Company;
III. p. Denael, late of Densel & Wilbur;
Colonel j. NJ Parker, T.. A. Ferrin, w.
T.. Snider OF Davenport; and Frank
| b. Ufer, of Toledo. @. The latter two
are men already interested in inter-
urbans, know their value when built,
have faith in the successful promo
| ton of the Marshalltown enterprise
and are willing to risk their money
as an investment. The high standing
and chara cter and general reputation
for fair and honest dealing of these
men ought to be sufficient answer to
the claim that anything but fair dealing
is being attempted in this movement.
| These men are actuated by the motive
/ to benefit the town In which they live;
and, believing In an interurban rail-
way, they are willing to expend the
necessary money for the preliminary.
\
pany for this money. We are salts
| fed OF this and have implicit confidence
! in their motives.
AS to the necessity of the public
taking all equity we have the state
ment of che of the most prominent en-
gineering and construction companies
of the east, that local money must be
invested In the road if 1t is to be con-
4 l.
| Co., of New York City, thru their
representative. Mr. II. j. Douds. made
this statement in January of this year.
upon the occasion of his visit to the
| city. Tie same statement was made
on Mr. Ferrin's eastern trip, and is
embodied in the contract with White
& Co.
| AS to the local employment Of men,
from the best of information obtainable
we wouhl say that during the constrlc-
ton per cd, from 800 to 400 men and
/ from seSenty-five to $50 teams will
find steady employment for several
months. In the operation of the road
from fifty to seventy-live men will find
constant employment
In advance OF definite estimates of
/ the cost of construction ii is impos-
sible to state with any degree of ac-
curacy the amount of money that would
be put in circulation for the construc-
ton of this line. It is safe. however,
to place the estimate at from 100000
to 100000. This money would be ex-
pended for rails, ties. poles, copper
| wire, machinery, grading, bridging and
| all the other necessary things to be
used in the construction of a railway.
| A very large proportion of the cost will
| be paid out for labor. which of course.
Iwould be distributed locally. Under the
| franchise granted to the company last
summer the power station and general
offices OF the company must be located
in Marshalltown. The station and ma
chinery plant will cost in the neighbour
hood of $150000, or nearly three times
ais much as the tax asked from the
city.
1t is quite evident that the COM
pany would desire to run it's cars to the
center Of the city, in order to secure
patronage: this will necessitate the con-
struction of one-half mile or more of
track Within the limits of the city.
In answer to the question relative to
whether the larger tax payers have
signed this petition, and what will be
the effect upon the amount of their tax
the following names may be seen upon
one of the petitions: George r. Kirby,
j. r. Woodbury. d. r. Denmead, T. J.
Fletcher, P. S. Balch. A. F. Falch,
George A. Turner, H. Fl. Reaman, O. H.
Hole. David Lennox, George Howe, III.
Willard, C. T. La Plant, A. E. Wilbur
and many others. The taxes of these
gentlemen will be increased three-sev-
enths of the present amount they pay.
These gentlemen are, of course, all ia
vorable to the proposition, or they
would not have signed the petition.
In general, the taxation in city
means public improvements. If there
were no taxes we would have no public
schools, no paved streets. no water
works With these improvements prop
erty values naturally increase. since
the value of property depends entirely
upon the surroundings. An interurban
railway would bring additional people |
to the city, and the more visitors the |
city has the more the business done. |
People who visit Marshalltown are Of /
ten impressed with it's beauties and adj
vantages and many new families are |
brought to the city in this way. Ev-
cry one who has the interests of his /
town at heart should sign the petitions |
that are being circulated.
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MARRIED. /