Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 299, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1910 — AID FOR RAILROAD IS HOPE FOR RENSSELAER. [ARTICLE]

AID FOR RAILROAD IS HOPE FOR RENSSELAER.

If Road Is Never Built Township Will Be Out But Litttt, and Failure May •Mean Great Loss. The Republican favors the voting of a subsidy for the proposed Indiana Northwestern Traction Co. We favor it as a matter of encouraging the construction of the road and believe that failure to vote favorably might have the effect of keeping this or some other road from coming through Rensselaer. It is not necessary that Mr. Purtelle, the promoter, be able financially to build the road. - It is not necessary that his plans at this time are sufficiently formulated to say positively that the road will be built. It is unquestioned that favorable action along the route proposed will mgke it more attractive to moneyed men and that the chance of Rensselaer getting a railroad are much better if the people have signified their willingness to help it along. One thing is certain. The people of Rensselaer want another railroad and want it badly’. And they don’t care who builds it. Mr. Purtelle may be able to interest some company in the financing of the road. He is putting in his time on the project and no one in Rensselaer has been asked to put up a cent for the enterprise prior to this time.

Rensselaer has helped by subscription to have several surveys made and Geo. W. Infield recently secured several hundred dollars in this manner, but the Purtelle route has been surveyed and not a copper solicited in Rensselaer. If the subsidy „is voted and the road is never built, not a cent of it will evtr be collected in taxes. If the road is built then the people of Marion township will declare the money well spent. The Hammond Times continues to hammer at Mr. Puctelle, but what it Is saying is not serious, it indicates that there -are—soittfe—people in Ham--mofid who would like to get Purtelle out of the way so that they could get control of the route he is trying to build. It is quite probable that the jealousies directed toward 'Purtelle will vanish In a short time and Marlon township should not fail to do as it has always done in the past, viz., vote favorably on the proposition and hope for the best. We stand no chance of losing. It has been presented that the matter of a subsidy for any enterprise is wrong in principle. It is probable that every one will aer"" in that matter,' and yet it is a feature of business in which we are all more or less engaged. When a merchant advertises to give out trading stamps he is trying to secure trade by means of a subsidy. When a newspaper engages in a voting contest for securing subscriptions it is a means of subsidy, for many people take the paper who do not care for it, but are subsidized into doing it to help out a friend. The Jasper County Democrat recently conducted one of these contests and states that it cost almost SSOO, but that the purpose was to secure subscriptions. This was a means of subsidy, nothing else and yet the publisher of the Democrat -d? plores subsidies. Only a few months ago the Democrat employed a solicitor to canvass the county for subscriptions. The solicitor provided prizes consisting of a cheap set of glassware and gave these with subscriptions. For his work he Rot the entire subscription price and the Democrat carried the subscriber for a year for nothing; For what? Why, the hope that the subscriber would continue at the expiration of the year to be a subscriber and after that pay the regular A other words the Democrat gave the paper away for one year with the hope of retaining the subscriber. That was Subsidizing the subscriber. The Republican believes that the chances of Rensselaer getting a railroad are materially better if a tax is voted Jn aid of it and no matter who the promoter is or how his proposition may look to some critics, Rensselaer has nothing to lose and everything to gain by voting affirmatively on the proposed aid.