Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-02-18
York and Boston, They do our business q


exchange and of commerce And why have
we no centre of trade and of foreign commerceg
No mart to control exchange? 1t is because we
have not brought the back country Of the West,
by internal improvements, TO our Atlanticfront
We have not reached back to the Ohio River at
Point Pleasant, at the Big Sandy, or at Menu
phis, and piled the pabulums for foreign trade on
quay of commerce on the waters of the Ches-
apeake. Do that and capital and population
will concentrate on some one point of our coast,
aud then a barometer or exchange actLt hdng up.
there. And then we viii be saved this large
tax upon our Bank issues, whichwe now cannot
avoid without ceasing to issue paper money of
.our own at all. Without centre Of trade, our
Banks cannot, and the State cannot prevent or
mitigate much this tar Of srt6ange. 1t alone is
enough to stimulate US to perseverance andendu-
rance, in bearing burthens to achieve our com
mercial independence, and to acquire ultimately
a dominion of capital, populatio and power.
The four great leading lines of primary impor
lance at present are the Goyington and Ohio
Railroad, the Central and the South Western Rail-
road to the Tennessee line, and the James River
and kanawha canal to Coyington, The first is
in danger of being stopped, the other two Rail-
roads are lauguiShing for appropriations or sub
scriptions to the last links of their completion,
and the canal is without funds, without credit,
bound by mortgage and resting its whole
weight upon the arm of the State.
tspeak from personal knowledge, from actual
intercourse with the people in every section of
the State, when | say that very large majority
of them are looking anxiously to tho CONSUME
nation of these main works. Whatever may be
the local and selfish jeaiousies engendered by
apparently conflicting interests, the State en-
m9Sss longs to see these lines brought to their
termini East and West We need not fear the
Willingness of our constituents to bear burth-
ems little while for the sake of the ultimate and
certain good of the Commonwealth None of
them would have past expenditure thrown away
OF unreasOnably added to by the damage of de-
lay. They go farther and would have connection
between the Central and Southwestern Roads
at Covington; for the South side as well as the
North side of the James River, has need ola
link with the Big Bend of the Ohio river. And
if any question arises about gauges, would re-
commend that the CoyinStOn and Ohio Railroad
be graded broad enough to admit of ttro tracks,
one for each gauge of the Central and the South
Western. 1t would add but a fourth or a third
to the cost, and time, trust, will prove that We
will have need of ten instead of two tracks in
connection with the great net work of improve
ments in the Northwest.
The James River and Kanawha Company is
indebted to the State more than So, 0OO,0 600, and
the State is liable for the company to the amount
of about two and one-half millions more; the
aggregate is in round numbers about IS, 613,-
o0O. The company is unable to move step fur
Their in its works without aid from the Legisla-
ture. 1t has not the means to pay the interest
on its bonds for the next year; it is without
credit; because it is mortgagcd to the State, aud
much of its work, if left without aid, will go to
decay and cause enormous loss. 1t is supposed
that the cost of completing the work to Coying-
ton will be about $S,000,000, which must be
advanced by the State TO avoid this and the
necessity of any new loan or taxation by the
State it is proposed that the capital stock of the
company shall be increased to the amount of
$4,000 shares, of which the State shall take CO.,
600 in payment Of her debt and liabilities due
by the canal, and the remaining 10000 shares
be sold, if practicable, to private persons, thus
committing the debt and liability of the State
into stock of the Company. By this means the
Company will at the end of the two years be in
receipt of nett revenue of $4,000 per an
mum, and with credit adequate to complete
the work to Coyington without any further
charge to the State. Once finished to CoYing-
ton and the Covington land Ohio Railroad COM
pleted, the revenue, it is reasonably supposed,
will pay the interest upon the tohole investment.
is contcnded that the canal ought to be sold
under the mortgage. If it be, how then? The
capital of the Company is $5,000,000, of which
the State owns three millions, and individuals
she will have to give her $4,000, 900 worth of
debts and liabilities for the private s., 000,0
because she can get nothing else And. when
she has done that she must then add to her eX-
penditure the $3,000,000 necessary to complete
the work, or all her OutlayS will be entirely
thrown away, and then, too, she will have to lay
a tax for that amount of appropriation and de
priye the private stockholders of two millions
invested on the faith of the State. Thiseyiew
presents the proposed alternative as the best
1t forwards the work, it relieves the company,
takes no more burthen on the State than it has
already incurred, avoids the necessity for a tax,
may complete the canal to Covington, and does
justice to private stockholders
have thus, in the present emergency, throw
together some reasons for the recommendations
now make:
1st-To appropriate Immediately asum sufti-
cicnt to carry on the Covington and Ohio Rail
road steadily and economically, for the next two
years.
sd-To enlarge the subscription to the South
Western Railroad, so as to complete the same to
the Tennessee line.
3rd.-To enlarge equally the subscriptions
to the Central Railroad, so as to enable that
Company to progress with its work for the next
two years
4th.-To authorize the Covington and Ohio
Railroad to be constructed with grade broad
enough for two tracks, and with view to con-
nexion with the Southwestern Railroad at the
most eligible points, and to accommodate, re-
spectiyely, the gauges ofthe Southwestern and
Central Roads.
5th.-To direct the Board of Public Works
to fix mi,timum tariff of tolls upon all the
railroads and canals, in which the State is par
ty, so that the State revenue may not BIZ re-
duced by vicious competition between State
lines And to direct the Commissioners of the
Sinking Fund also, not to divert that fund, I'M
der any pretcxt or construction whatsoever,
from its sole constitutional purpose of sinking
the principal and paving the interest fthe pub
lie debt.
6th.-To authorize advertisement for State
loans, instead of sale of bonds.
18th. To organize system ofreyenue for the
oyster fundum of the State.
Sth. To increase the rate of taxes in conformi-
ty to the laws requiring these additional sub
ScriptionS appropriations undergraduates.
9th. And lastly, to digest these and other
measures, recommend the two Houses to e9-
tend the session of the General Assembly, for