Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1869 — The Railroad Question. [ARTICLE]

The Railroad Question.

Vflfc tw* week publish notice of «Ut election to be held on Bat unlay, J.IV t7Th. ph>x., for tlic purpose oi' voting n (tax levy on the county, of to aid in the construction ortfcc proiioscd Indianapolis, De.|phi anirtiOiioiigo llnilroud. Tlu: tftat the levy shall not exceed "two per cent, upon the amount of taxnM* property of the county” as shown by the duplicate ofYlte nrecefling year, and there cau be Diitonc-lialf the amount thus voted for levied the first year, orj in other words, tlic people may vote to levy a tax equal to two per rent, of the value of the taxables of the county, to be paid in two yoar*. Hot the statute further prevWoa that none of the moneys thus raised*oan be paid over to the railroad company “until the railroad to be to constructed shall hare best, permanently located, and work thereon d->ne and paid for by the company equal to the amount of the donatio t the* made ' and not more titan one-half the amount “until the iron is laid and a train 0 f cars shall have passed orer the entire lenyth thereof in such rowdy." Now, wkh this understanding, can the tax be raised ? We think there is no doubt of it. The length of the road in Jasper county will be about thirty-three miles; it will travers the host portion of onr territory; and it will benefit the majority of the people living here more tliau any other route yet projected. For these reasons the people living along the line of the road, or near it, will vote “For the Appropriation.”— Thou there arc good general reasons ahy people living in remote party of the county should favor this enterprise, one of which is that it will increase the value of lands and property Aver and beside which it passes, thmfliettcr equalising the taxes. In this county not less than one-third of all the real eatatc is owned by non-resi-dents—wealthy speculators—who have never contrinuted one dime for public improvements; most of lltcsc lands were bought at Government price, $1.25 per aerc, and the increase in value they expect to realize is not made by them, but by the honest, hard-working farmer who improves the lauds adjoining. Thus the jioor man who owns forty op Ay fa tv acres, living in his log cabin, coarsely clad and indif ferently fed, labors cnsrlv and late; summer and winter, ditching, mauling rails and building fcncc% improves the rich speculator's property without getting a cent’s benefit. Now there is a chance to maku the speculator donate something of his vast riches to the public good. With this railroad through the county the population will double inj two years and the value of taxables will increase in a still ?;reater ratio, (the road itself will >e valued abover SIOO,OOO, which is clear gain,} so that we who live hn*pe now Witt scarcely led the additional tax.