Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-02-03

At the rooms of the Davenport Business
Mems association resolutions were
adopted and. as the Davenport Star of
this morning says. hurried in hot haste
to Washington urging that the new line
be given the right To cross the govern
ment." otherwise the Rock Island
bridge. The Star SAYS of the meet
ing:
| You people don't know half of the
| Davenport K Suburban. You don't
know that we have all kinds of money
back of us. The Davenport & Subur-
ban has a capital stock of 1.4O0. 900.
and we have our contracts ready. Our
| finances are secured and at our dis
| posal and our road IS ready to be built
when the government grants the petit
ton to allow us to cross the govern
ment bridge We have rails already
down within 50 feet of the Iowa side
of that bridge We have contracts to
build from Monmouth To Galesburg and
lGalesburg To Rock Island. to join the
Davenport x Suburban on this side of
the river and complete big interurban
| 10 MuScatine
"Emphatcally as given above. J. w.
| Walsh. of the Davenport & Suburban
| Railway company, brought before the
meeting of the Davenport business men
in the rooms of the Business Mems as
sociation yesterday afternoon the plan
| Of the new corporation to extend its
| lines until il makes the tri-citieS the
center of a big interurban system. The
| Davenport d Suburban was asking the
| Endorsement of the Davenport business
men in its fight TO cross the govern
ment bridge. and it got it in the form
of resolution, adopted only after an
| hour and half of debate. which
| brought out strong arguments for and
against the proposition. The prepon-
derance of opinion was with the new
company Chiefly the questions assert
ed themselves that if the road was
what it claimed TO be and if it was real
~ going To build to Monmouth it should
have the bridge; if ii was asking the
right merely under the cloak of branch
ing out and then becoming competi-
| tor of the Tri-City Railway company in
the three cities the effort should be
turned down. Most of those present
took tie first view of the matter, few
took the second. and the third view
expressed by some of the men who are
today conducting the largest business
houses in Davenport, was:
GIVE us street railways, interur-
bans railroads and every possible
means of getting trade into Davenport.
We don't care about the length or ex
tent of your lines or whether YOU will
be a competitor of any existing line or
not Give us more roads and lower
fares, and get the people into Daven-
port.
Hot off the pad the resolutions were
hurried into a telegraph office and
fired into Washington. The ID. & S.
vas not going TO let grass grow under
its feet. 1t was determined to get
there, and when the good will of the
business men had been secured it was
necessary to give the secretary of war
all the facts The resolutions went to
the secretary just as they had been
drafted. whit the names of NJ. J. Eagal,
Henry Vollmer, \. Il. McGuirk and II.
j. Won Maur. the committee which drew
them up, attached.
The meeting was called to order at
go o'clock by j. A. lie Claire, and II.
T. Walsh was chosen chairman. Mr..
lie Claire was made secretary of the
meeting. II was not formal meeting
of the Business Mems association, but
of the business men of Davenport call
ed to consider Il question vital to tn =
interests of every citizen of Davenport
Henry Vollmer made the first move N
explaining in n few words that il was
without doubt against the unanimous.
At.fr, Of IL Of tn,
postpone this action or To 20 against
the project. He thought the business
should be done at once. and the ID. & s.
indorsed in its effort to cross the gov
crnment bridge
M. j. Eagal moved that Il committee
of five be named to draft resolutions to
be sent to the secretary of war. A. T.
McGuirk seconded the motion. and the
chair appointed NJ. j. Eagal. Henry
Vollmer, a. II. McGuirk, y. ID. Ely and
II. J. Won Nour on the committee.
The committee returned with the
following resolution:
Resolved. BY a mass meeting of
the citizens of Davenport, Iowa. he'd !
at the rooms of the Daven~--t Business |
Mems association on the md day of !
February, 1905, that the secretary of !
war of the United States government |
be most earnestly requested TO grant |
unto the Davenport & Suburban Rail- |
way company right, under reasonable |
regulations. TO pass over the govern !
ment island and bridges between Dav-
export, Iowa, and Rock Island and Mo
line, Ill.
Resolved, That a copy of these |
resolutions be telegraphed to the sec
rotary of war and our senators and rep
resentatives at Washington, D. c."