The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1909-08-12

the cost, we would not advise thel
building of an electric line at this
time. The road may be electrified att
any time in the future.
AS a matter of convenience in perl
forming our work of raising the mon
ey, we have divided the distance OIL
this line into two sections, one from
Oskaloosa to Montezuma, the other
from Montezuma to Tama, and each
section Is not only expected to enter
heart and soul into this work, but to|
cooperate with each other, as their
interests will be mutual. 1t Is our
plan to take pledges along the pro-
posed line to see if the necessary
amount of money can be raised. IL
so the road will be built, If not the
pledges will De returned to the per
sons who signed them and will be null
and void. There will be a bank IN
each town which this line runs
through, appointed as trustee, who
will have full charge of these pledges
as soon as signed, which will assure
their safe return TO the parties who
signed them in case we should not sue
coed in raising the necessary amount
of money to complete this road. The
matter of getting enough pledges sign
ed along the proposed line, will not
be a hard task if each and every man
does his part, and not depend upon
some one else to do IL for him. For
nfTo a
open country or a community so much
in need of a railroad as this section,
it ought to draw patronage at least
five miles on each side of the line
or ten miles across, so for each mile
you move forward, you have ten sec
tons, or forty quarters, and If each
man owning one hundred and sixty
acres of land will pledge himself for
$500 we would have more money than
we need to build the road, and TO
make up for the nonresident land
owners, we expect the towns ana
cities to do their part, and make up
any deficiency there may be. As
stated before, we are not asking any
donations. There Will be issued on
the line, first mortgage gold bonds
to the extent of $4,000 per mile, for.
each mile of line built bearing per
cent interest, payable semi-annually
The bonds will be issued in donations
of $500 each, and man may pledge
himself for one or as many as he sees
fit, and we propose to give these
bonds full voting power, IN place of
the stock, and 1t is further proposed
that there shall be seven directors
to govern this road, five of when are
to be selected from the men who sign
these pledges, the other two places
are to be filled by the undersigned.
In this way the men who sign the pied
ges will have complete control of this
property, as the bonds will have the
voting power, but we must be retained
in the active operation of this road
as the stock of the company is to goI
to us for the promotion work of this
line, and to make the stock WORTH
anything we must operate this road
in such a way that it will pay al
fixed charges, and per cent interest
on the bonds before we can receive
any dividends on our stock. The es
timte time to construct this Zine is
one year, barring all strikes or inabil
ity to get material, therefore the
bonds will bear no interest the first
year, as there will be no earnings to-
pay interest with, while construction
work is going on. After the first year
there should Ne no question about the
road earning interest on the bonds
and paying all lxed charges if careful
ly managed.
We hereby submit to you for your
consideration and comparison an aD-
stract report of the Fort Dodge, DeE
Moines & Southern railway, as it was
given under oath to the state board
of railway commissioners at Des
Moines. On June Z, 1909, they FLED
their first annual report with the