Mexico weekly ledger., 1914-06-11
e-xTxMEKT or JUDGE soTTs
ON xLEcTRic LINE.

=
ON ELECTRIC LINE.
Mexico. Mo- luna 4. IA
To the Editcrs q tn Ledger
Regardlng the electric railroad pro
position, I desire 70 state that
tho implied but kindly editorial crit
Iclsm Of the owners OF the rod IN
each OF the Mexico dafiss. and the
very unkind criticism IN ofhsr quar-
tiers call for a brief statemsnt q
facss-9et we forgeL~
OF the present owners OF the
road only five were ever members Of
TIC old company. They consettet
nnly onsfourth of the board OF 30
men who tried to run that CON-
pam and not one Of them ever had
the management or control Of its
affairs before it went into he hands
Of the receiver.
Again when the sale Of the road
took place. the people who had
put money into 4 for bonds had
a chance to organize and buy It. but
I'D not do e. We begged them TO
do Il. and offered TO put up half
OF the money and give them o
troll II they would put up the other
half, What right have they nov to
dictate to US IS so what We shall
do with the roahf This much. al
least They IN common With tho gen
eral public have the right to ex-
pect OF as that we win al
least exercise commo sense IN deal
ing with parties desiring to undertak
the task OF extending the raad. Are
We doing that! Let the facts speah
for themselves
Last week Mr.. F. s. Mordaunt d
Chicago came here and looked ovel
he south end Of the road and made
rs a conditional offer to buy 4
FOR ten thousand dollars. The condi
ton was that the report Of an ex
pert that he would send here b
Investigate. would show that
road from Mexico to Columbia wonli
pay.
Now let's see whether that wa
a reasonable offer or not. We have
felt that we ought to sell tina en-
OF the road to anybody that pay
enough for II to assure US tina
they would build at least some road
and not sell II for second hand ma
terial. We know It's value 70
that purpose.
There are out there four hundre
and twenty tons Of rails and fis
plates worth $1,000 a to
on cars for shipment at Me,
leo $4,000
Eleven thousand pounds OF
copper wire worth Is cents e
| pound 1650.C
Over ten thousand ties worth
% cents a piece 25OoC
Two hundred and se~yenty-five
trolley poles worth $500
each 550.l
I Cross arms. insulators. etc
worth 1904
About six miles Of excellent
fence worth sOo.t
Total issood
Deduct two thousand dollars Il
the expense Of taking up and loadir
and he would stii have @ hand
some profit on his investment. An
body who cares to take the troub
can verify these figures. That m
terial bought new and most Of It I
good as new. would cost us TWEEN
thousand dollars. In addition
ibis material be would get a rot
bed stu In good condition tn
would cost him more than $40, 900.
to say nothing Of rightofway q
gineering and other expenses incide
TO railroad building.
Now. we don't know anything abe
y Mr.. Mordaunf except what Mr. Rol
son has told u.s.. and he does n
know anything about him exceptwh
Mfr. Trescott has told him. N
Trescott is connected with a |
Louis Supply House for electric
material. Not knowing who
what kind OF people we r dealinI
with. we have decided that the Z
ly sensible thing to do is to ma
them pay for the road mor tina
they could clear on it for secoE
hand material. We have offered
to them for the sum Of $125oo.o
d cash. If they won't give that
: 1t. then. in our opinion they don
IL intend to try to build 3 railroad.
u We think 1t Is their time nov
either to put UP or shut up.
W. W. Bolts.