Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1883 — 10,000 Miles of Narrow Gauge Coming to Rensselaer. [ARTICLE]

10,000 Miles of Narrow Gauge Coming to Rensselaer.

We give in another place quite an extended account of Emi Kennedy’s big narrow gauge railroad scheme/ From the Indianapolis Journal we learn that seventeen stockholders of the company met Friday at Indianapolis and elected directors and officers. At the meeting it was decided to build about 11,000 miles of road audio issue capita] stock to the amount of 360,000,000. One of the circulars issued by the company loads out in this manner. “The People’s Railway company of America—from the people, by the people, and for the people. A chance to elevate, a chance to co-operate, a chance to alleviate, a chance to emigrate, a chance to speculate." Beaders of Tnp Republican'are of course at liberty to form their own opinions as to the merits of the scheme, end if the majority of them, as we suppose they will, set down' the whole thing as a wild and impractible dream of visionary enthusiasts, their’s will be but, what seems to us, the natural conclusion under the circumstances.

On the first day of next month the voters of Marion township will vote upon the question of appropriating $17,400 to aid the Rochester, Rensselaer & St. Louis Railway Company. The company offers, if the tax is voted, to build the road through the township, and the town of Rensselaer, before any of the tax will become due. ' Many a fine town has been “split wide open” so to speak, and suffered irreparable and unending injury, ere this, by permitting, through lack of a little wise liberality, a railroad to pass them by on the other side. Look at Fowler, in Benton county, for instance. Fowler, the boastful and the pretentious! Fowler, the fruitful mother of candidates! That town, for lack of a few paltry thousands of dollars, permitted the Chicago & Great Southern road to pass within two miles of the limits of the town, and has thus sustained injuries, immediate and prospective, direct and- indirect, through damage directly inflicted, and loss of benefits that would have accrued, which are simply incalculable in their extent, and unending in their duration. Arid look at Rensselaer itself. What man’of business, or of public spirit, is there in this town who

does not, figuratively speaking, tear his hair and vote himself kicked whenever he thinks of the new railroad. through Beaver Prairie, and the booming young towns which are springing up along its line, and waxing fat and insolent upon business taken from Rensse- . laer? Mount Airy, for instance. Why, the -very name of the place ■' Will serve as a perpetual reminder of the wind it has knocked out of Rensselaer's rigging! This question of voting a tax de-, mands, and should receive, the earnest attention 1 of every voter in the township. It should be decided upon its merits, as a matter of • dollars and cents, and of public convenience, rather than by shortsighted parsimoniousness and blind predjudices against “cussed monopolies” and “soulless corporations. ” / Don’t let us be obliged to say With Othello, that: “Like the base Judean, we have thrown away a peaflricher than our whole tribe. ” Or, in language equally forcible, if hot so poetic, let us not bite off

our nasal organs to spite the rest of ouf countenances, or twist the neck of the goose which is anxious to lay ns a whole nestful of golden gooseberries. The Republican suggests the advisability of calling a mass convention of the voters of Marion township, Rt an early day, for the purpose of giving the subject a thorough discussion.

. TwcSrailroad companies were incorporated at Indianapolis last Thursday. The directors were the same in both companies. Their names are Edwin Evans, Henry M. Williams, William Rodgers, Montgomery Hamilton, August C. Trentman, Geo. W. Pixley and Chas. McCulloch. The name of one of the companies is the Fort Wayne, Peoria, & Galesburg Railway Company, and is organized for the purpose of building a double track narrow gauge road, extending from the Indiana and Illinois state line to Fort Wayne, running through the counties of Newton, Jasper, Pulaski, Fulton, Miami, Wabash, Whitley, Huntington and Allen. A line of railroad which would intersect all these counties could not easily miss Rensselaer. These companies are the outgrowth of a most gigantic narrow gauge scheme which certain parties have been working up, in Indianapolis for some time past. The scheme certainly possessess the element of novelty in an eminent degree. The following account of the plan'we quote from the Indianapolis Journal of last Friday:

“For a month or more past there have beenrumors afloat of a stupendous ‘railroad scheme, whereby everybody who engaged in it was to become enormously rich. The old trunk lines were to have their usefulness forever destroyed, and various other great reforms jwere to be instituted. . On the sth ot the present month the Journal contained an outline of the scheme, and considerable information about it, the substance of which is as follows: Two double-track narrow-gauge roads are to be built, traversing the country in opposite directions, from New York to San Francisco, and from Chicago to New Orleans, or, as the circulars state, ‘ ‘from ocean to ocean and from lake to gulf.” Eight series of stock of $25,000,000 each are to be issued, and the bonded debt on double-track road properly equipped is to be but $20,000 to the mile; on single track, $12,000. Indiana will be allowed but 100 stockholders, and the organizers of the scheme say that seventy-five of these stockholders can be residents of Indianapolis. About the time of this publication petitions were circulated in business circles calling for a convention to be held in this city yesterday. So far as is known the convention was held yesterday, a number of gentleman who signed the call received postal cards informing them that the meeting would be held at Plymouth Hall last night. During the evening a Journal reporter dropped over there and informed the doorkeeper that he was a capitalist and desired to purchase a few railroads, but his assumed disguise was too thin, and he was gently but firmly invited not to come in, the invitation being emphasized by the door slamming in his face. From various sources it was learned that the new company is to be known as “The People’s Railroad Company of America,” Every employe of the company is to be a stockholder, and the profits are to be divided upon this basis. It was stated last night that California capitalists were willing, yea in feverish anxiety, to advance the money to get the colossal scheme in active operation. Emi Kennedy, of this city, seems to be the prime mover in the matter, and among the other stockholders are “Plan” Eunchanan, S. L. Hinton. S. Souls, W. F. Hays, Fred Horton, and others. The capital stock is to be $200,000,000, and 10,000 miles of narrow-gauge are to be built. It is expected that the new railroad system will do away with all the old establish ed fines, and various other glittering promises are made. The scheme, in all its details, is not very explicit, but so far as can be gathered, it is a gener-

al uprising against railroad monopolies, so as to give every man a railroad, or at least an interest in one, for himself. None of Colonel Seller’s enterprises ever equalled it in magnitude or promise—and now is the time to invest. After the meeting last night, a Journal reporter corralled delegate and askqd him about it. He said the meeting was altogether secret, but that a public meeting would be held at 11 o’clock this morning. He was not very well acquainted with the details of the scheme himself, further than that he had been receiving $4 a day, and traveling expenses, to solicit stock, and had procured subscriptions to the amount of $40,000. The scheme, he said, did not originate with Mr. Kennedy, but with San Francisco capitalists who sorely felt the oppressions of the Central Pacific. As soon as they were convinced that the people generally would go into the scheme and would subscribe $10,000,000 in stock, they would at once put in $90,000,000 and commence active operations, Stock is to be issued to the poor people in 850 shares, face value, for which they were to pay S3O in twelve monthly installments of $2.50 each. The Journal’s informant said further that at the meeting last night there were capitalists from all parts of the country, and that everybody was enthusiastic. At present there are 201 stockholders who are life delegates to all conventions that may be held, and after $5,000,000 has been subscribed in any State a State organization will be effected. The object of the present meeting is to organization and to send men throughout the length and breadth of the land to organize the people.” •