| Show ABOUT RAiLROADS Within the past few days the air and the newspapers have been full of rumors ful concerning con-cerning the probable extension of eastern railways to Salt Lake Some of our Denver Den-ver exchanges talk if it as wore almost set tied that two and perhaps three lines perlaps lnes would bo at once brought to this city We like these rumors They aro more or less encouraging en-couraging and they give tho newspaper and the citizens something to talk about and then when nothing comes from them nobody has been harmed in the least and not a dollar has been lost by anybody Bu has I never occurred to our readers that if = L J1 these stories are revived and published in almost identical terms about twice a year And then has it notalso occurred that there is mighty little advance by the roads between be-tween times Perhaps the public forgets all about the rumors in six months and thinks that the promised extensions are new every time they appear THE HERALD wouldnt for anything like to be considered as taking a pessimistic view of the matter but we have encountered so many announcements an-nouncements of these railroad extensions during the past decade and have seen none of them materialize that we cannot take much stock in promises of railroad building build-ing i u which are not accompanied by dirttnrowmg Then the enthusiasm passing off between rumors the fact is orced upon us that Salt Lake is favored with two through lines of railway from the ast both well equipped and both fairly veil managed and neither making any too much money While the roads have no uuse to complain of the patronage we imagine im-agine that either line could manage all the t raffle and then at the present rates not be bothered by surplus earnings We think of these things and are compelled to ask if be owners of other railroads are going to i nsistupon coming here and dividing the I business 1 Do railroad companies as a rule indulge in that sort of things Are they in the habit when there i s not enough business for two of dividing the traffic among four or iivoJ And still let us hope that the Burlington the Rock Island the Santa Fo and all the I others will come to Salt Lake We will make money out of them i we are unable to let them make money out of us What this city needs more than another railway from the east is a road leading west a line which will overcome a monopoly mon-opoly and give us a competitive outlet to the Pacific Half a dozen additional roads from the east wouldnt help this city as much as one going west where it would open a fairly rich country and make it tributary to Salt Lake and would also bring us into communication with those who want to deal with us and with whom we want to deal A road connecting Salt Lake with Los Angeles is what we hanker for more than for any more paralleling to the east 1 |
