Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-19
OMNIBUS QUIET
OF THE WASHES
Still Have Designs on First Ave-
nue., Despite Public Protest
to Contrary.
AGENT LEAVES THE FIELD
Drop Efforts to Secure Right of Way
Consent on Fifth-Eighteenth
Route.

An ominous silence attaches to the
Rock Island Southern entrance plans,
and it is to be expected that there
should be inquiry on the part of the
public as to what means the promoters
of that line are taking looking to Sc
curing the needed right-of-way within
the municipal limits. The Argus sug-
ested the other day in a reference to
the peculiar maneuvers of the Walsh
interests that they were not acting in
good faith with a community that had
more than generously received them
and their project.
The Washes have gone on record
as stating that they had dropped First
avenue from consideration as an en-
trance route, doing so in response to
community sentiment, which demand
ed that the one rail outlet to the west
end of town be reserved for
an Independent line to be used by the
trains OF any and all roads doing bust
ness in the city, and those that may
desire to come here in the future.
That independent enterprise is the
Belt railroad.
Agents Have Disappeared.
The Washes have withdrawn their
right-ofway agents from Rock Island
at a time when they were making
seemingly satisfactory Roadway on the
Fifth avenue and Eighteenth street
route, despite that the petitions that
were laid before owners of property
were not at all definite or specific The
Washes were warned of the INSULT
cheney of these petition forms, and
they knew that remedying them would
have brought the consent signatures
more rapidly. The result was that a
number of owners on Eighteenth street
requested the city countil IT, have their
names stricken from the Southern
right-of-way petitions This did not
seem to have worried the Washes ser
lously
Still Have Designs.
The Argus now has it on fairly good au-
thority, that the Washes never have
abandoned their designs on First ave
nue. : that their operations along other
routes were in the nature of a ruse
to kill time and allow the protest that
followed their efforts to follow the
course mapped out for the public Belt
to smooth over. Whether the Washes
are entertaining a hope that the coun. |
citl. after the April election, will re-
gard the Belt rights on First avenue in |
a different light than the body as pres |
emily composed does, is not known. but |
The Argus reiterates the thought taat |
if there is a doubt where any of the |
aldermanic candidates stand on this /
proposition, it is up to the Rock Island |
Industrial commission to put them on |
record before election day.
Sentiment One Way.
The Argus, however, cannot believe |
that any alderman would have the au-
1acity, even though his sympathies !
might lean in that direction. tC vote |
against the practically unan''non5 SEN
timent of the community, and that is |
that First avenue be reserved for the !
Belt line as against the Southern or
any other corporation.
The Argus has no qIl~reI with the |
Southern promoters, or those advanc-
ing the interest of any other railroad,
but 1t cannot refrain from entering
note Of disapproval Of the present mys-
terious actions of the washes. There |
is no necessity for their working in
the dark. The city of Rock Island |
wants interurbans, no mater Who fur
nishes them. 1t is willing to help the
Washes secure rights IN Fifth avenue