Anon

1858 · ref. 69335 — NP Allegheny County PA 1858. Broadside 49 x 23 cm. Text in two columns with caption title in large bold type. Old fold lines a few tiny holes and some toning previous owner's pencil margin notes. The text reads in part: "From necessity Fellow Citizens we are compelled to talk to you through the medium of Hand-Bills and Circulars the Newspaper Press of the County having been bought by the Railroads and Bondholders." The anonymous author warns fellow taxpayers their hard earned money is being plundered to finance the debts of "worthless and defaulting Rail Road Companies -- viz: The Steubenville Allegeheny Valley and Chartiers." The appeal challenges taxpayers to use their votes to elect a Commissioner and Treasurer who "will not suffer the tax to be levied or assessed." Statistics related to the debts for the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny as well as the county totalling $5500000 are given. Noted are roads "repudiated" in 1856 and 1857 and an estimate for ones that "will repudiate in 1858" helping to date this piece. "Will you cast your Suffrages for a Ticket pledged to enforce the collection of these Taxes. or will you rather use the power of the ballot box. to compel the Robbers who have been plundering you to surrender their ill-gotten Gains. The 1850s were an era of increasing infrastructure investments in railroads at least partially financed through taxes and bonds. The Pennsylvania Railroad chartered by the state legislature in 1846 ran its first excursion train to Pittsburgh in 1851. The Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad chartered two years later began to use a station at Allegheny City in 1851. The two lines were connected by a bridge across the Allegheny River in 1858. The pencil notes on this copy posit a question: "What would City Property be worth without Public improvements." see: William Kenneth Schusler's essay part of his doctoral dissertation "The Railroad Comes to Pittsburgh". unknown