The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-01-22

must be asibSsea sshsr 70 Aia ignorance Of South
err Interests, or his want Of sincerity IN their sup
port. Xh the denuncistion q southern men Tor
thsir waat Of devotion 70 the South, has been tho
ayorite work ofihs senior editor OF the Southern
Press The elEscts Of this insane course, upon
the posilion AID influence of the papers have At
last 6econss appaseut 6oured by disappointment
maddened by the refusal Of patriotic Southern
shareholders to follow the lead OF such paper,
the Southern Press has become sort Of lshmael-
itish concern, with it's hands against every one
hut the fororn squad Of disunionsts OF which It
is the appropriate organ. Quiet, respectable men
Of both the great political parties entertain feeng:
of no more esteem for il than for the National
Era. The Southern Press might have been ser
sicsabls TO the South. but by its course y has
proved far TO the contrary, The meddIing imPer-
Thence of the senior editor of that paper as far az
Virginia is concerned, has been simply source
of amusement to those 70 whom the interests Of
the Old Dominion are entrusted.
Now, ii we were the Enquirer we would
"ncyer give it up so.' 1t is worse than its
blunders in calculation. For there are good
many people besides the Enquirer that are
quite ignorant Of figures, and they might have
been inystifed still longer, and might never have
arrived, for it was almost incredible, at the full
measure of the Enquirsr's incapacity. But
every body can understand the temper Of this the
Enquirers last article and can easily infer, that
he who begins an argument on statistics, and
ends in such q manner, must have been reduced
in his resources to the last extremity" Here
tofore it has borrowed the New York figures OF
arithmetic, but its plumbers in them, having been
exposed and detected, has resorted to the Five
Points at New York for figures Of speech, and
after intense labor for fortnight, has succeeded
in poor imitation of what any old woman Of
that locality could accomplish impromptu.
We could not have been tempted into pro-
tracted controversy with the Enquirer, even If
it had attempted to be decorous, except on u
question Of great Importance to Virginia, and
other States Of the South--the question Of State
internal Improvements which more than one
Southern editor, and politician has attempted to
exhibit himself like a Jackdaw in Northern plum
age. We would not prolong this controversy,
if the last Comptrollers report in New York
had not furnished some new facts on the sub
ject which enable us to present very plain,
brief, and triumphant confirmation of all we have
maintained.
The Enquirer took several positions. 1t as.
serted that the New York canals, paid over seven
per cent. on their cost, that they paid fourteen
per cent.-that they had paid their whole cost,
that they were now clear proft-nay, the
other day, since the Comptroller's report ap-
peared, the Enquirer asserted that the total pro-
perty of New York ,had advanced last year, sixty
four millions of dollars in value, owing to a re-
duction of twenty per cent. in the tolls, without
diminishing the income Of the works! An ex-
plot in finance so sublime, that we wonder the
State don't reduce her tolls Immediately twenty
per cent. more, and make another speculation OF
sixty-fo millions forthwith. Why with such
a contrivance for making money, what need has
New York of any thing more The Enquirer
has asserted 30 many, and such different propo.
sitons on this subject, that we are tempted to
doubt, whether such multfarious absurdty could
emanate from one mind, however fertile in folly
There must be coterie of caculators engaged
In this argument for the Enquirer, which is
equal to forty horse power in the manufac-
ture of profits If there is such a coterie, Vir
ginla is fortunate Well may she submit to the
loss of California She can dispense with pla.
GERS and taxes, she has only to put this body OF
calculators in motion, and they can go through
the mountains with canals and rail roads to the
Ohio by day light.
For the sake, however, Of old fashioned reason.
ers like ourselves, we must be INDUCED moment
in looking at the last New York Comptroler's
report for 1850. 1t states that,
Adopting the last year as a criterion, the
present value of the canals is equal to capital
of $44,l7O 1903, investe ed at six per cent interest
The average nett income for the last five years
is $2,5is,O44 81, which is equal to capital OF
$4l ,967,4l4 so, at six per cent interest.
The entire cost of all the canals, including
the expenditure on the Erie enlargement, the
tennessee Valley and Black River canals, to
sOth September last was $35,ll5,237 75.'
1t thus appears, that If the average of tolls
realized for the last FIVE years can be relied on
in future, the State will have made profit by
the canals of $6a5l, IT. provided the tolls hith-
erto have paid the interest on the money ex-
pended But as that amount Of tolls has been
secured only by subectng the railroads along
the same country to the payment to the State
Of canal tolls, it is rather certain thai the same
tolls cannot be obtained without keeping up that
imposition on the railroads The tolls on the
canal amount to about half the cost of trans
portation-so that the railroads. In their present
competition with the canals, are subject not only
TO all their own expenses, but to the payment
extra, Of half the price Of transportation on the
canals, for the privilege Of carrying freight.
What would be thought in Virginia if the
State, after having made turnpike, should re-
fuse to permit railroad company to transport
freight in the same region Of country, unless
they paid to the State as much as the tolls would
amount to if sent by turnpike