Evening journal., 1912-04-27
GEORGETOWN
WANTS ROAD

tCof--- ;ued from First Page)
ence with the Board of Trade. He said
to me; 1 want pay for my land. and
want good price for it. too. but
sooner than lose the road altogether
would surely give General dupont
the right of way through all of it,
Ihis is the standing of most of the
people who are making any opposi-
ton or criticism here in this section.
That man told the truth, not only
about himself but about lot of other
people just like him in other parts of
the State. 1t is a shame that this
should be so, but it is the truth, and
you sax that you are after the exact
truth of~the situation. This man also
told me: 1T goes right through my
land, and cuts it in half, and if it does
go through, can afford to give them
half of it. and then sell the other half
for more than the value of the whole
business.
81 had a farm out there. about %
acres, which / sold about three
months before the line was surveyed
through it. If Istill owned it, would
gladly give the right of way, or the
whole farm, for that matter, IL it
would have been the means of secur-
lIk lnt lOdu " tue
BENEFIT TO COMMUNITY.
Il can conceive of nothing that the
balance of the right of way could be
used for which would not be of Just
that much more benefit to the COM
munity. Let It be a railroad; that
will help all Of us: let it be a trolley
line. L shall welcome the day it
comes. and so will everyone else in
this county; let it be a pipe line. also,
and that, too, will bring with it both
welcome from us and a financial
betterment to us. What does it detract
from the benefit to Delaware to have
that road that there is a possibility Of
General DUPONT making a million
from the rest of it? Not one iota. Let
him make it, and welcome. He would
deserve all he could possibly make,
and more, too.
DOOMED BUSINESS.
"The dupont road doomed business
while it was with us: It paid out large
sums in wages. and made extensive
purchases from us. Both helped bust
ness conditions wonderfully. The men
spent their money here where they
were stationed They had to buy
clothing and shoes and supplies of
every nature. Thus their presence
and the effect of the cause for their
presence we're both felt In their re-
f1ex action upon general business con-
ditions. In my store the road expend-
ed over $3.50 a month, and the en-
ployes much in addition. The closing
of operations has meant a business
loss to Georgetown merchants OF at
least from $4,000 to $4,000 a month,
and I am speaking conservauvely at
that. Just think Of what that means
to town of this size, to cut off from
the business men $4,000 a month Had
work on the road been going full blast
there would have been much more
business done than that amount.
"It was not a question of the end OF
the employment of labor and the IN
crease of business when the road OF
itself was completed; but there were
undoubtedly other things In the mind
of Mr.. dupont than the building oil
the driveway alone, otherwise ne
\ would simply have acquired enough
land to have laid the road, and then
stopped; out you can rest assured nc
must have intended to have built other
lines of trolley or railroad or some
similar operation along the rest OF
the right of way. and that would nave
! meant the continuous employment o.
labor for a long time to come. Tha'
would have meant also continuation
of good business improvement al
along the line.
STIMULATE BODYBUILDING.
Another feature from which every
body would have received much di
rect benefit would have been the mat
ter of lateral roads. The construction
of such road as is planned for thu
boulevard would have meant in tim'
the improvement Of the lateral road
crossing it. II is also fair to presume
that in the event of Mr. duPonts plant
contemplating trolley or railroad line
along the route towns and farming
and fruit districts lying on both side
!. of the road within miles would hav'
. heen tapped by connecting lines whicl
would have required the improvement
of the existing roads and shortly WI
would have had the finest system o
county roads in this country. Surel.
they are not going to let this oppor
tunity for general State enrichmen
go by the board2
More people than the business mel
!, of Georgetown were benefited by tn
!, road while 1t was in course of con
\ struction ! know of many families II
: this town who, had It not been for tn
revenue derived from boarding mel
employed on the road would have hal
a a much harder time during the winte
r than they did have And this too /
! cut off with the rest tell you peopl
a here want that road completed
4 "I come into intimate business an
presonal contact with people TO
ls miles around here and / have heard @
r. no one who has been unfairly treat
VI ed in the matter of remuneration 70
10 land taken for road purposes. Prac
% tically all Of them have received NOR
N than an adequate return for thei
.g property snd no one has any protes
to make along that score"