The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1906-10-19

! lldl VIC ult uldhluB
doing no harm in carrying out our
project of a railroad that shall bring
Cairo closer to New York in the mat
ter of railroad mileageT
Perfectly sure. That railroad is i'm
peratively needed. 1t will develop a
very rich agricultural region which has
been practically shut off from the
world There is traffic enough for the
road already within sight To make IL
pay. When il is built il will compel
cheapenlng of freight rates, to the ad-
vantage OF the whole country"
You are right, of course" answered
Duncan rehectively. 81 have gone over
that subject very conscientiously. /
am convinced that the road can carry
the debt that must be incurred In build
Ing II and that II will pay its way.
If | had any serious doubt OF that |
should have nothing to do with the
thing"
las il u.s." responded Hallam, you've
got the heavy end of the log to carry.
so far as work Is concerned. When
are you going to begin your cam
paign|
almost Immediately. I've got ev-
erything in the bank into satisfactory
shape now, and three days hence l
shall begin "A speaking tour in the In
terror counties. I'll make Ii even more
talking tour than speaking one,
for while "A public speech, if it is per
suasive enough, may influence many,
II is the quieter talking to individuals
and small groups that does most to
win votes. I've already secured the
cooperation of all the country editors,
but they need stirring up OF course
you and Stafford and Tandy will take
care of Cairo and Alexander county"
This proposed railroad was one clear
ly destined TO be of the utmost conse-
quence to Cairo and to the region
through which the line must run. The
method by which 1t was planned TO Sc
cure its construction was the one then
In general use throughout the west. 1t
may be simply explained. Everybody
concerned was asked to subscribe TO
what might properly have been called
an lnducement fund The subscrip-
tions were meant TO be gifts made TO
secure the benefit Of the railroads con
structiOn. More important than these
personal subscriptions and vastly
greater in amount were the subscrp-
tons Of counties, cities and towns.
Under the law as IL then existed each
county, city or town if ito people so
voted, could lend its credit" to an en-
terprise of this kind by issuing its own
bonds. When a sufficient sum was
raised in this way an effort was made,
usually In New York, to secure the
forming of construction company.
The whole volume Of the subscriptions
was offered as an nducement TO such
a construction company to undertake
the building of the road. Usually the
construction company was to have In
addition considerable share Of the
stock OF the road when completed
The city. county and town subscrip-
tons OF course depended upon the re-
suits Of special elections held for that
sole purpose.
In this case the personal subscrip-
lions had been satisfactory, and there
was no doubt that the two terminal
cities and the counties in which they
lay would vote the bonds asked OF
them, but there was grave doubt as to
the results In the rural counties. In
each OF which a special election was TO
be held month or two later. II was
Guilford Duncans task to remove that
doubt. to persuade the voters to favor
the proposed subscriptions and Incl
dentally to secure rights Of way. sta
ton sites. etc, by gift from the land
owners
During the next two months he toll
ed ceaselessly at this task, going to
Cairo only once week to keep in
touch with his bank and to pass the
Sundays with Barbara.
Tandy also worked in the county
towns, where he had IA good deal of in
iuence. He had been made president
OF the proposed railroad and was sup
posed to be very earnestly interested
I'm it, He was so-in his own way and
with purposes of his own.
Duncan's campaign was a tireless
one. and it proved successful When
the elections occurred every county
and every town voted in favor of the
proposed subscription, but some of
them did SO by majorities so narrow
as to show clearly how great the need
OF Duncan's work had been
Worse STILL" he said to Hallam a
few weeks later, the smallneSs of the
majorities in two or three counties Is
n threat 10 us and warming The
county authorities are putting all sorts
of absurd provisions into their sub
scriptions. and they will give Us trou-
BILE If our construction company fails
In the smallest particular to meet these
requirements
Just what are the conditionsT
ooh. every sort of thing. In every
county ii is provided that we shall
somewhere break ground for construc
ton before the last of January, less
than two months hence, or forfeit the
subscription. That gives us too little
time for organization. but we can meet
that requirement 10y sending a gang
Of men at our own expense TO do a