Year: 1872

To the Editors oi tho 1ntelllgencer.


A great many questions have been
asked and objections raised by your cor.
respondents touching the Wheeling &
Lake Erie Railroad and the Railroad
Bridge enterprises. 1t must be apparent
to the careful reader that many Of these
arc prompted more by a desire TO damage
these projects than q sincere desire 10 be
informed or convinced


The sweeping contradiction OF all the
statements In the Prospectus Of President
Wood, Of the w. s. L. E., by one Of your
correspondents, betrays great ignorance
or reckless disregard Of truth and fair.
ness. Whatever effect these articles may
have on the voters Of Wheeling, It Is dc.
srablc in the interests Of the road elsc-
where that they should not be regarded
as candid and inControvertible truths.


If the citizens Of Wheeling are deter.
mined to drive that road elsewhere; Il
they are determined TO repel the friendly
and good faith overtures Of the company
to get an entrance to and eastern
outlet through the city, so be it.
It has always been the desire Of the off.
GERS and friends Of that road to get to
Wheeling. They would have preferred
that the city subscription had been left
untrammeled with the conditions imposed
by the legislative act, but as that seemed
TO be so manilestly the will Of the people
and the Council, the road at once tried TO
so shape matters as 10 comply with the
conditions. lfthey can be met 1t will pro-
mote the interests Of the city and the
road. Since the road cannot get into the
city under the spirit Of the legislative sane.
ton, without the building OF a bridge, the
company are IN good faith preparing to aid
that enterprise for the aid they expect
from the city. How the company can af.
ford to give 100000 TO the bridge for the
$3OO,000 they expect from the city Is not
so difficult problem, II your correspond.
ents and querists will reflect a moment,
For the 100000 subscribed BY the
city, the contractors furnish $500
and receive therefor 100000 OF
stock and $450,000 in the bonds
OF the company. This realizes TO
the company for tine construction and
equipment Of the road, one million and
fifty thousand dollars. With the bridge
and the eastern connections afforded by
il 10 the road here in the city, the road
can increase its bonded Indebtedness
$4,000 per mile and float 1t as easily as
the present bonded indebtedness, without
the bridge. With this they can take $780,
900 in the stock o! the bridge and still be
the gamers by $650000 As the one sub.
scription will not and can not be made
without the other, the making of each
secures both enterprises. As to the argu.
ment that council can not be trusted,
when will the time come that the same
arguments may not be made? When
will the time come that the captious OBJ.
lection cannot be made that every MEM
Der Of council is not like Caesars wife
above suspicion9 These gentlemen are
prominent citizens Of our city, they were
chosen by the people, they are ali under
oath to faithfully and honestly guard the
city's interests. Who Is it that has been
guilty of jobbery and corruption2 Let
him be pointed out and spotted, but for
goodness sake do not let US repel a great
public enterprise through mere guess
that our city fathers are corrupt and dis
honest. .f


AS to the desirableness Of the road
scarcely any more argument Is needed.
Many able editorials and communications
in all our city papers have attested it.
One Of your correspondents denies that
there Is any coal, ore sandstone or much
OF anything ellc on the road,-denies that
1t is well located, that it has eighteen
towns on it, and ! suppose denies gener.
ally, because he don't know. Now is it
possible that all menlare liars and .scoun-
drels who favor these enterprises? Does
any man who knows Joel Wood, who has
been our next door neighbor for forty
years, suppose or believe that he would
deliberately attach his name 10 state.
ment so untruthful as your correspondent
would have your readers believe. The
State geologist and many eminently re.
spectacle citizens on the line, the active
observations Of the President Of the road
and others of our city who have been
over the line frequently, the statistics Of
tho Secretary of the State Of Ohio and bIr.
Stanton at the Court House meeting, oil
attest the richness Of the route in miner.
ais, agriculture, sc. There are twenty
towns between Wheeling and Sandusky,
right on the line Of the road having an ag.
Vregate population OF thirty thousand too
hundred and forty. .one-.averaging town OF
over 1900 population 10 every eight miles
Of road, to say nothing Of such towns as
Mt. Pleasant, Smithtieid, York, and many
others near which 1t runs, and whose
trade 1t will secure. "All recognize the
Iact that the best field for Wheeling rail.
road enterprise lies to tho northwest. Il
Is there We find very large section of
Ohio unoccupied by railways pointing to
the southeast. 1t is impossible that such
road running through such country
should not be profitable by reason OF the
local trade alone. But what a field II
would open up for the merchants and
manufacturers Of our city" What an i'm.
petus 1t would, give to labor and business.


"Yet Wheeling has been for two years
deliberatlng whether she will take o dol.
lar stock in this road or whether she will
keep the dollar and do without the road.


How much longer Is this blind and ia.
tuitOus Indifference 10 last? twill come
to Wheeling il Wheeling wants 1t. II not,
1t will 60 TO some other point on the Ohio
and leave Wheeling to add one more po.


ignant regret TO those she now feels over


former blunders"


An adverse vote on the first of June,
may damage Wheeling much more than


the road, though favorable vote would


encourage and strengthen the road ali


all along the line. do not now propose


to be drawn into a controversy as 10 The


relative merits Of these enterprises and tbS


Tuscarawas road. Il Is notthe ouestiof


we arc now to decide, and II will be timt
enough to examine the strength OF the las


named enterprise when 1t is organized ant