The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-03-15
Ask That Action by City Authori-
ties on Franchise Repeal Or
dinance be Delayed
Cairo Shippers Declare Proposition Not Satisfactor,
Because Iron Mountain is Not Legally in Pos
session Of Cairo & Thebes, Hence Can
Make No Binding Agreement

III tease was HtI1 at tLie Board Oh
.'rade rooms to discuss the foregoing
'roaosition made in behalf OF the iroa
aourtain railroad. I was not a pub
ic meeting, but it is learned that.
lftcr going into the matter very thor
,ug1ly, the concln sus OF opinion was
hat the proposition was r.: s.;;sIac-
orr 1t was poilt2l out that while
he Iron Mountain railroad company
night be in good faith in the matter,
| was not the only party 10 be con-
siGered 1t was merely a Lessee OF
| he Cairo & Thefks railroad property
md what ii might agree to DO today
would not be binding except as L
| natter Of good faith with the reopia.
board of directors might declare
| he Cairo & Thebes an open road one
lay and rescind the declaration the
ext; or when a rev board wa
hosen it might unso what the preyi-
JUS beard had done. Arc t:e pcop.e
If Cairo would have no redress a;
aw, because there is nothing in the
ranchise ordinance requiring that
he Cairo & Thebes shall be an open
road" The only way in which the
open road proposition could be made
Effective permanently if the leaze to
&c Iron Mountain is to stand, would
le to nave it incorporate in the lease
md make the lease conditional upon
t. and this would have to be done
~ the owners of the Cairo G. Thebes
abroad and the holders OF It's STOCK
md bonds.
1t was pointed out further that,
lnce the franchise ordinance was not
iiolated in respect to the open road
roposition, there being nothing In
1he ordinance calling for it, the city
had, strictly speaking, no standing at
law in the controversy relating 10
this subject and it could not repeal
the franchise ordinance on that
gIound. But the city mad strong legal
ground for repeating the ordlnance in
the provision which declared that the
Cairo & Thebes railroad should not
be given over to any railroad when
at that tine "ownel or controlled
criminal facilities in Cairo" 1t was
claimed that tie lease to the lrop
Mountain Railroad was a clear viola
ton OF tails provision, and any acton
which the city might take must be
based upon tais ground Granting
this claim to be true then the Iron
Mountain has no standing as the les
see of the Cairo G. Thebes, for its
lease is of no value, being in viola
tion OF the franchise ordinance; and
4 could therefore not eater into any
binding agreement with the city to
keep the Cairo 6. Thebes an "opien
road"-or any other agreement what
ever relating to the Cairo & Thebes.
In view Of all this, it was tecidec
Il the meeting last night that no,a.
ing could be gained by rae caiay
asked for by Messrs. Smith, Dewey
and Magee, since any proposition
from the Iron Mountain could MOI %
made permanently binding upon thar
company.
1t was decided further that tis
only people VINO could enforce the
open door" proposition with refer
ence to the Cairo & Thebes Wen, L.
A. Smith and his original "assoe,-
ates" in the Cairo & Thebes Co, with
whom written contract to do so
was made by the L. & N. railroad
1t was decided further that the
city council of Cairo OWED 1t 10 the
people of Cairo to aid the contestins
directors of the Cairo & TheDes IN
their fight for the "opcu coor,' by
repeating tine Cairo & Thebes fran
chise ordinance without delay, and
adopting new ordinance In which
the "open door" provision is incor.
porated
Such action would leave the Cairo
& Thebes open, not only to the Iron
Mountain, but to all otlser railroads
as well; and would place the city
n position to enforce the "open door"
At all times which it could not do in
any other way.
ID