The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-10-07

Marshall Pass and sent the
bill" back to the House. The House
refused to concur in the Senate amend
ments and asked the Senate to recede.
The Senate refused to recede and
asked for a Conference Committee.
Speaker Cole appointed Colgate OF
Fremont, Davis OF El Paso and Boon
Bast of Kiowa, all very strong op-
ponents Of the "bill". The President
of the Senate appointed Senators Fin
cher and Starkweather, strong advo-
Gates Of the ''bill". This was the
last night OF the session. Our plan.
on the part of the House. was to hold
this "bilr in conference till the
House adjourned, but an item in the
general appropriation bill" held mp
the House SO it was impossible to
force an adjournment. The commit
tee got the bill" about i've o'clock
P. M. and we were in session till after
midnight when Senator Fincher dis
covered our plan and he knew we
could dc it with the Speaker on our
side. so he went over to the Senate
and moved that the Senate recede
from its amendments and pass the
"bill' as II came from the House, and
the Senate backed down and passed
the bill" as it came from the House
The bill" as 1t is now Is a harm
less no account measure. because 1t
hasn't a penny to buy a stamp with.
The money that has been expended
to put this Bond Issue before the
people has been contributed by the
Commercial interests Of Denver. But
II the Bond Issue carries 1t becomes
the greatest commission of the State
expending $1S.500.0o0 OF the peoples
money and employing a great army of
employees that will eat up the sub
stance of our people. It would utterly
destroy the Denver & Rio Grande
Railroad that now passes through Fre-
mont County. II would take Canon
City and Florence and all the towns
along said road in Fremont County
OF OF the trans-continental line and
put them on q branch, doing the bus
ness they might get from the terri
tory from Leadville to Pueblo. Remem-
ber It would shorten the distance from
Grand Junction to Denver 1876 miles.
There would be very little freight and
passenger traffic on this road when
this tunnel would be built and a great
continental line established directly
west from Denver. The Denver Il
Rio Grande railroad is a wonderful
asset to this County at the present
time. II pays an enormous tax into
our treasury. 1t keeps up many of
our rural schools. 1t carries thou
sands of trans-continental passengers
yearly that pass through our beauti-
full towns and cities. To cripple II
would be to destroy the very life artery
OF our commercial prosperity.
There is another phase to this
question. II is manifestly wrong to
ask the property holder Of this county
to contribute money to enhance the
commercial interest Of Denver. Den.
yer is rich. There is enough idle
capital In Denver to finance the build
ing Of this tunnel and she ought to
do It. 30, she stands like q blind
on the street and begs the
rest OF the State to come to her aid
to overcome some natural object that
other cities not as large nor as
wealthy as Denver would laugh at and
overcome.
This same subject came up in the
18th General Assembly. At that time
1t was a Tunnel Commission. now II
10 q railroad Commission. At that
time the bill" called for . Bond Issue
Of S4.500.00o. Denver thought that
amount would dig the tunnel under
James Peak. It is very strange to re-
late that the Journal Of the House Of
the 18th General Assembly shows that
our representatives from Fremont
voted for the "bill". while our
Hon Matt N. Lines. held true
to the welfare Of his constituents
against q force that almost camped
on his bread line. and voted and
worked against the infamous "bill".
The bill became law and the
Bond Issue was submitted 20 the
people at the general election OF 1912
and the people Of the State turned II
down. Fremont County cast 1000 votes
against 1t and 1877 for it.
We must do better than that this
ear. Since 1912 Denver has increased
in population. The Northwest has in
creased. The Northern part OF the
state has increased in greater numbers
than the southern part
In my opinion this Bond Issue has
a fair chance to carry unless the
and southwestern parts of
the state line up solidly against It.
George z. Colgate