The Paducah sun., 1906-03-16
and Enthusiastic Meeting of
Commercial Club Last Night
PADUCAH'S LEADING BUSINESS MEN
HEAR SEVERAL FINE ADDRESSES
Progress is the Watchword and All Promise to Re-.
double Their Efforts


incident of his first visit to the city,
and said it was a very hard thing for
him to find anyone who could give
him the least bit of Information, in
formation that every citizen should
have at his finger tips, about the
town. II asked the clerk at your ho-
tel where | could get a map of Padu-
cah, as | wanted TO get my bearings
and study the surroundings of the
city. The clerk die not know, did not
know if there ever was a map of the
city; did not know If the book stores
had them, in fact seemed to know
nothing about Paducah. As an IL
lustration further along this line, |
asked today one of your citizens, sew
sral in fact, If they could tell me
when Paducah was founded, and by
whom, and the history of the town
when it was a village, and none of
Them knew. Something about its
name, and other little details, how
many of you know? You would be
surprised at your ignorance"
Mr. BleecKer pieaded for more
pride in such matters, estimating it
as a requisite of good citizenship.
Mr. Charles X. Wheeler's address
Dn THE Unity of the People" was a
Plea for organized work for the good
Of Paducah, a plea for cooperation
with the Commercial club in its eff
forts to add to the material prosperi-
" of the city and its citizens He
)aid his respects TO The critics who
stand ON the street corners and belit-
tie the work of the enterprising citi-
Eens and the organizations in the city
that are doing all they can to pro-
mote the interests of the city. TITS
workers, enthusiastic, heart and soul
workers. and not critics, we want"
he declared. at is easy enough to
criticize. IT'S the unhappy faculty we
all possess, but | plead with you all
pay no heed to the critics, but
work, work with the single purpose,
the veal of Paducah and you will
reap your own reward"
Mr.. w. +. Bradshaw. Srs address.
Agricultural Possibilities of Me-
Cracken County" was brief, but full
Of good ideas and thought. He asked
for greater attention to the needs of
he farmer. He pointed out the fact
that the farm is the very greatest
source of wealth in the country to-
day, "the value of the products of
the farms last year were greater than
The entire capitalization OF the banks
and railroads OF the country, and this
loes not take into consideration the
value of the lands. We have good
ands in this county" he said. 1T is
rue some are bad, but our county is
an average county, and we need only
proper directed efforts to reap BEN
efits that are the results of proper
development of the lands"
Mr.. Saunders A. f'owler's address
On "Ohio River improvement and Its
Value to Paducah" furnished some
very interesting, and to most of his
auditors, surprising information.
There is more tonnage originating
at Piutsburg than enters the harbor
of Liverpool" he said. The tonnage
of shipments down the Ohio river
last year was over forty million tons,
which is twice as much as goes
through the Suez canal, and the cost
of moving this freight IS only .32
mills. Let us compare this with the
cost of railroad transportation to
get a good idea of just what benefits
the waterways are to the Shippers.
The average cost per ton, per mile,
on the railroads ofthe country last
year was T.5 mills Look at the con-
irast: On the Ohio 1t was .32 mills,
and on the Mississippi ii was even
less, Il mill. If this is the case now,
.he question is. what will be the
rate when we have the nine foot
stage in the river all the year? This
IS the great work this association is
now engaged ON. getting congress 10
order the continuous contract sys-
tenn of construction work done until
we have completed the task. 1t will
fcontinued ON Page Fonr.l