The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-03-30

@. system has done for Keokui. and
Keokuk taxpayers. Also, why it shout
not get what little there is left of thia
once prosperous railroad city.
Let me tell you what this G. B. &
@. R. r. has done for Keokuk and
how this octupus has withered al!
destroyed this city's industries
Some years back, coterie of keo-
kuk citizens induced majority OF
voters in this city to vote 2 per cent
tax on her taxpayers to aid the build
ing of the North Road railroad. Great
things We're promised. About $780,
100000 was taken from the taxpayers
by this majority of voters and given
to the corporation. ~he North Road
was taken in by the G.. b. & @. R. R.
and for a short time trains We're run
into this city each morning, returning
In the afternoon, and our merchants
enjoyed quite trade from this ar
rangement from the towns all along
the line. N short lme, all this was
changed. The trains were run in the
opposite direction, leaving Keokuk in
the morning and returning to keokuk
at night. This new arrangement was
made, presumably to give Keokuk
people an opportunity to go to New
Boston, Charleston and Donnellson to
do their shopping. 1t also compelled
the people living all along the line to
spend two nights and one day in Keo-
kuk, if they wished to buy their spring
or fall supplies. But, strange to re-
late, very few in the past ~ years
| have taken advantage of this grand
opportunity.
This is sting No. l. that "stung" us
good and hard and which refuses to be
healed.
| Again. Keokuk was the terminal
of great railroad known as the ST.
Louis, Keokuk and Northwestern. 1t
maintained here machine shops, car
shops, round houses, repair shops.
This being the terminal, all the train
men lived here and Keoluk was pros
porous. Then, this same G. b. G @.
threw out it's octopus arms and bought
in this thriving railroad. Then, lis
ten to our tale of woe. The shops
were removed, the general offices also,
and this system compelled six hun
bred families to give up their posi-
lions or to leave this city. OF GER
tainty the employees of the X line"
were compelled to go where the ..
ordered And SO they went from us.
1t was hard blow to our interests,
and it is doubtful if any other city In
the state, Of its size, could have with
stood the blow. That is sting No. 2,
that stung Keokuk to the very marrow
of her bones
Again Somebody wanted to build
an uptown switch. The city council
was asked to contribute $15,000.00 of
! the tax payers money to aid in its con-
struction Eleven members of the
then city council and the mayor at
! that time, voted them this money.
But, thanks to some of our staunch
citizens, wish we had more of them)
secured an injunction again this griev-
Gus wrong and this donation was
knocked out. This sting got broken
In transmission somewhere, somehow,
and it did not enter the vitals of the
Keokuk tax payer.
Again For years, by every means
and Establishments, known only to a
great corporation, this G. B. & Q. R.
R. tried to get possession of the shops
and grounds of the K line owned by
the taxpayers of Keokuk, but were
beaten off every timo until, by some
ruse, trade or chicanery, they found
city council and mayor that
thought as they thought, namely, that
two great corporations such as the
city of Keokuk and the G. B. & @.
railroad, should not be antagonistic,
and that their interests should not be
inimical Then, 10 and behold! This
city council gave $4,000 worth of
property to this great BENEFICIARY OF
Keokuk, for what, very few know
But the tax payer, who is today strug-
Cling under a burden imposed upon
them for the aiding of railroads will
never live to see those same taxes wip-
ed out, or paid off. 1t is the inheri-
lance of this and future generations
of our city o, what shame that
our then city council saw fit to drive
with a mailet this thorn into the red
blood of the tax payers of the city
of Keokuk.
Again. Our city WAS the terminal
| Vi dLOlu6I. ldliWdy COlil'
pany, whose officers were always glad
to run trains in the interest Of Keo
kuk. They also maintained offices
and many employees here. Once again
this octopus threw out another tntacle
and gobbled up another railroad that
had some interest in Keokuk's vel
fare. Again, more than one hundred
families were forced to leave us be
cause the 20" could notu Sc them here
In the meantime, although we had be
come somewhat hardened TO this
kind of treatment. we could not hell
but feel this new sting.
And, after all these years, and al
these nice things" this g. b. @