Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-03-23

AZ yoar trade vii! pass 20 California VIXEN You have
Established your great line ri ansAilaniic steamers.
Then, sir. should suppns. that upon freight Snn pas
s-ngprs, IL the Baltimore and Ohio .ar rad 10 any cfl'
ierion might calculate receipt oil i've millions
| OF dolars.
Well -ir what will it cost t. comp'-t. this rosd' -
Why The Very sbis nngnrsr oi HAT line put the
Goa, Of IT, estimating tor single track. nj twelve
millions III dOar-; aud. sir. the work that has been
done has actually come within the estimate OF the
engineer being about Ten per cent 80 far as gone.
| lower than the estimate | am told sir, by that
| ,ip.er whose estimate believe may be rs safely re-
| lied upon "a that Of any other engineer in the
| country, that for about two millions Of dol
| lara he can grade Il second Track, and that
| he can put in operation your first and &c.
| cond track Tor about sixteen millions. Then, sir.
You have profit arising from 1t OF hve millions ot
dollars; and supposiug tw" millions anu nan 10 he
necessary for carrying on me ioao 3"u 'nro wv"
and half millions Left which will be yield OF about
fifteen per cent Oh the capital WE'LL sir, II there If
any truth in all these statements, and IN the working
of other roads well the cost OF carrying them
| on. this must yield at least ten per cent.
But sir that is not ali-ihat il not half o! the re-
| ceipts Of this road Let me ask this Legislature
what is the capacity OF the canal extending from
| Richmond to buchanan, and almost completed 10
JacksOu's Riverl AIN tod it is three millions OF
tons a year. Suppose that you complete i: TO Gov.
ington, il will connect with this Covington and
| Ohio road and what then will it receive II
| you have q double track it will receive two
and half millions Of tons; If single track
about one million. Suppose that you carry
your freight at one cent per mile, for two nun
| dred miles. the yield would be two million OF dol
arsi There two millions OF freight thrown upon
your canal by means Of the building Of the Coviug
ion and Ohio Rail Road. This canal ia literally n
State work almost all this stock and the loans TO that
enterprise being the property Of the Stale; so that
| you make your canal a profitable investment and
| you bring into your treasury two millions nf dollars
annually by the completion Of The Covingion and
Ohio Rail Road, and by causing the canal To inter
sect at Govugton. iou have three million of dol
lars worth of stock in the Central Rail Road and this,
too, you will make tn yield large returns by throw
ing the great travel which will pass over this line
into it, for; sir my word upon it, 1t there ID any truth
in estimates, it will increase the receipts OF that road
S5OU, 900 year.
Then sir can there be doubt abou. IT, that direct
" and indirectly appropriations to this ros would
yield 1T least per cant. into the treasury II that
is so is there any Virglnlan who ought not TO come
up and assist IN the completion Of this great work.
II il were only To devrlupe the resource ut the State
and enhance the value of property they ought to do
it, ] say, il ths effect Of the building of the great
Virginia and Tennessee line, which, as scheme Of
finance alone, will yield more than seven Per Cent into
the treasury before two year,; say if the effec. Of
the construction of that rond has been to increase the
assessment of the land in fourteen countless twenty
FIVE millions of dollars what will be the benefit which
will arise from the construction OF this great line,
assuming the ratio of increase to be the same as that
have no donbt bnt that the effect of the construction
of the Covingon and Ohio Railroad, upon the value
of the land along its route will be- even greater than
has resulted from the construction OF the Virginia
aud Tennessee road
The section of the State through which the Covng
ton and OHIO Railroad passes, has for thirty years
been the firm friend of all the Improvement in the
South West. They frat built for her turnpikes, then
a MacsdAnizsd road throughout her whole extent.
and finally upon that, put down arailroad and can
ha 10 fh4f INV sfnb NJ
State could now Iesl himself justified in refusing TO
vote for this appropriation! Ii cannot be that there is
constituency in that portion of the State that would
tolerate such H course in her representatives.
This sir ia 4 line al well known, that ! suppose il
is scarcely necessary 10 dwell at greater length upon
s merits. IL is ihs one that the mighty Washington
himself the father of his country. pointed out cen
fury ago "a the great line that wa- Ia devel"pn the
resources of Virginia, and make her the prosperous
State that abe ought TO be- | was struck the other
day when | looked nj that beautiful monument in
our Square 10 ses again the father Ut his country
with his face turned Ia tli- Legislature, and with hs
finger pointing 10 the West. besseching and imploring
this Legislature TO come up 10 their duy and at once
carry out hs great and important line which is To
add much honor, glory, rrnnwn and wenlih to the
Old Domnior yea, The spirit of the living and the
dead Heaven and earth combine in oslllng you To
this important duty.
Sir The proposition which have submitted, re-
gard a. great and npo tant To the interests Of the
will give The credit of The State until this road can
be completed, by which | may borrow the principal
and interest, and pay the same for its construction,
that from thu profits ar sing from the road. in
twenty years nttcr lis construction, | will pay
every cent of principal and interest required
10 construct said road without resort to single
cent of taXatinn upon The people OF the State; and.
thereafter will be able 10 put into your treasury, at
eas, two million Of dollars annually for the relief OF
the people from taxsti"n.
But one word as to the pending amendment, which
proposes appropriate - 600 U00 In be expended in
the y.nr lS60 The hill givo' sSoO ono 10 be- sHrend
I'D in the years 1879. am Informed. by the IN |
igh;enrd engineer at the Commonwealth, that with
that sum- tho contracts that will hav. 10 be made. will
NECESSARILY expire in December 1883; and If no sum.
in addition, shall be adi.d. that the work at that |
tim. would necessarily have to be discontinued. But |
if nm appropriation be had for 1860, :h1 contracts
under that would over the year 1859, and con- |
tractors would be able in January 1850 to hire their
hands at the regular hiring season. and by this |
m.hna saving o2 per cent. would be etfscted upon
the whnl- amount tx pended upon the work, for the
reason that if the work discontinued in 1859 it |
would have to be recommended, and the hands hired
nj All announcement season OF the yanr which would
necessarily increase the charg' aud il could not be
expected that the Legislature of 1899 go would make
An appropriation for the e-psnse OF said work sooner
than the oh of February 1861 Ther. jore, due re
csrd to tho interests OF thu State would demand an
appropriation for the year 1861.
trust the House will pasa the bill with the amend
ment which have offered !