Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-04-23
TO FLOAT BONDS IF
100000 is RAISED
BOARD ACCEPTS PROPOSITION
AND WILL START CAMPAIGN;
LoNDoNERs TO DISPOSE OF
100000 IN BONDS.

Iowa City, April 22.-(Special) -
Three hundred thousand dollars to be
raised by Ottumwa, Iowa City and in
iervening points before July 1, 1910,
and on March /, 1918, completed in
terurban railroad will connect the ter
minal points Of this proposed route.
Such was the substance Of the offer
made by Robert G. Campbell Of Lon
don, England, to the directors Of the
Ottumwa-Iowa City Interurban Co, in
a meeting held yesterday afternoon at
the St. James hotel. Dependent on the
sale of this amount of stock, Mr..
Campbell pledged the London Bond
Ing Syndicate, which he represents, to
loat the bonds for the company to ap-
proximately 100000. This proposi-
ton was accepted by the board of di-
rectors, and Frank Tanner, D. T. Dar
Wis and M. O'Riley of Iowa City were
appointed an executive committee
with power to act. The personnel of
the board of directors and the def
niteness Of the plans which they for
mulated in their meeting .yester-
day leaves no doubt as to the genu-
ineness Of their intentions, and the
one obstacle which stands in the way
of the immediate construction of the
interurban line is lack of funds. This
difficulty, it is hoped, will be speed
lily eliminated by generous subscrlp-
tions for stock and the campaign has
already been launched to secure the
100000 before July 1 necessary to OBJ
tain the financial backing Of the Lon
don promoters.
r, OF ho yooootir q
were Frank Tanner, D. T. Davis, Ros-
coe Wilson, M. O'Riley and DR.. S. J..
Smith Of Iowa City; August e. Steff1n
and Charles Kindt of Davenport; l..
G. Skaever OF Kalena; w. T. Hamilton
of Wellman, and Robert c. Campbell
of London, England. Two members Of
the board of directors from Ottumwa,
F. W. Simmons and Major T. P. Spill
man, were not in attendance. Their
absence was very much regretted.
Points Touched BY Line.
Preliminary surveys for the interur-
ban have already been made and the
line will touch the following inter-
mediary points: :-Farson, Pekin, Ollie,
A ,coading to the contract drawn up In
the conference. the directors pledge
themselves to raise 100000 before
July /, 1910, and by the same date Sc
sure options on all necessary right-of-
way They estimate that 100000 or
this amount can be raised In Iowa
City and an equal amount in Ottum-
wa. and the remaining one-third sub
scribed for by interested parties liv-
ing at the intermediary points. If this
amount Of subscriptions and the ne
cessary options are secured by July /,
then the directors are given until the
first Of September to arrange the de-
tails OF organization and close the
deal. August e. Stefan of Davenport,
president of the Construction COM
pany, will then begin work immediate
ly with the intention of running the
first car through from one termtnus
to the other in not less than eightee1
months, or by March 1, 1918. Robert
G. Campbell representing the London
Bonding Syndicate, pledged his firm to
commence furnishing funds thirty
days after actual construction had be-
gun. All subscriptions signed for do
not become payable until the road has
been completed. but each subscription
must be satisfactorily guaranteed be-
fore 1t Will be accepted.
Frank Tanner will go to Davenport
today to sign contracts authoriz-
Ing the sale Of bonds and giving power
Of construction. This act will close
all preliminary formality and put the
proposition on basis dependent only
on the raising Of the subscription
stock. Iowa City promoters feel little
doubt about the ability OF their city
to pledge its share of this amount, for
an equal sum was recently secured on
a tentative proposition to build an in
terurban to Davenport. This project
seems to have fallen through because
of inertia at the other end o. the line,
and many Of these subscriptions will
probably be turned over to the more
assured line to Ottumwa.
The financial solidarity of the
board Of directors is easily establish
Cd by a glance at its personnel All
the Iowa City members are men Of
considerable financial rating and
heavily interested in mercantile and
manufacturing pursuits. L. G. Shaev-
er is president of the Kalona Saw