Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-11-23

Anu yety pccauSe if1R' OHEoe taao SenNSa"
from Charleston) we're such out-and-out greenies
in potato-culturO, ergo, the Blue Ridge Railroad
is to bo attended by as complete failure 1t will
take a plain man, unverscd in tho logic of the
schools some timo to mako out that argument.
There is sort of transcendentalsm about it which
NC have striveu in vain to compass
But we were further Of opinion that other no.
tions of Mr. GREGG resembled this potato-patch
idea, and hence cur plural phrase, "potato-patch
probabilities" intended to designate that entire
family of practcnlitics which amount to little or
nothing when analysed in times unerring cruci-
BILE. Of this complexion, was the practicality put
forth by Mr.. GREGG some years ago, that Plank
Roads would soon supcrsede Railroads in many
localities, and, especially, that Plank Road
alongside the South Carolina Railroad, from Ham
burg to Charleston, would not only be self-sus-
timing investment but profitable one. So like
wsse was prophetic practicality we have heard
attributed.to this gentleman when cotton was Mt
or cents, e., that it never would rise again.
So also tho project of draining somo swamps in
two or three parishes of the owcountry instead Of
prosecuting that truly great work, the Blue Ridge
Rairond. So, too, the policy Of keeping outside
bacon high, to force tho cotton planter to raise
his own hogs, having no care for that large class
of our population who neither raise cotton nor
hogs. All these we have designated for convent
cnce sake, as above; and in doing so We have
meant no more disparagement than they merited.
But o few words to the speech in hand. Wenum-
Der the points we mako.
l. Mr. GREGG, it appears, does not deny that
tho Bank of the State will be able to meet the in
ness the State may incur by the prosecution
- road. Where then is the scare-crow of
10 fact of our fathers having wasted, as the
ss 1t prove, BY the most Distant approxma.
d. at the blue Ridge Road will be work Of
slnllar uselessness,-no more than Mr.. GREGc's
ignorance of the potato culture proves it,
8. Mn. GnEGG's assertion that Estate capital
will alone be relied OF" is sheer surmisc,-gucss-
work.
t. If the fact Lc (us tho speaker says) that the
Nashville 4 Chattanooga Ruad injured Charleston,
it docs not show that The Blue Ridge Road will do
so. But We doubt the accuracy of the statement
5. The suggestion that the question be tested at
tho ballot-bux is good one.
6. No State, says the speaker can manage
railroad and yet, in the breath, ho is obliged
to admit that Georgia is now doing so with emil
ncnt success. Are South Carolinians less reliable
or lees skilful in monetary matters than Gcorgi-
ans?
!, The hing st South Carolina Railroad stock is
strange and unaccountable, when it is so well
known that this road declares continually the most
respectable dividends, and that its stock ranks ny
high in the market as any railroad in the Union,
with perhaps one or two exceptions.
s. The argument based on the difficulty Of get
ting justice amay from home is truly specimen
Of the small potato. Is it not moreover delicate
compliment to our sister southern communities in
this ago Of law and liberty and justicc7
Q. Mn. GREGG, an urowed opponent Of tho Blue
Ridge Road, admits that :" it might possibly bring
bacon to one-half Of Edgeield District ten cents
hunlrcd cheaper very low allowance of
course. But take even that and what does it
show? That The man who buys five hundred lbs.
Of bacon year will got back So cents Of his years
taxrs THAT tho mar who buys five thousand lbs.
will get back five dollars, and 50 on,-nearly cou-
balancing the increase Df taxation elsewhere
given by our speaker. Remember, this is at Mr..
G's own estimate or the gain to accrue. Every
one will perceive that he puts it far below the
probable notch.
10. The suggestions about the trade and travel
Of the Blue Ridge Road were all urged against tho
S"uth Carolina road i'll its inciPicncy. There were
then, as there are now, old fuSies hanging on the
wheels Of progress and cndcaroring to stop tho
worlds advance in civilization. Thirty years
hence, these opponents Of the Blue Ridge enter
prize will be seen in the samc ludicrous light, MS
those arc, now Kho predicted that the South Caro-
lima Road was 4 monstrOns absurdily which never
could, by any possibility, sustu in itself
II. Mr.. GREca is already pledged to subscribe
ten thousand dollars 10 railroad in this district
Are We mistaken in suppoSng, that this subscrip-
.i"n is promised to the projected Hamburg Co.
lumhiu Road provided it runs ny Graniterllc?
And if it dOrs run by Granitevlc, Of what value
will it be to the district nt largo?
II. The speaker talks of building this rond for
Charleston, US if the whole State was not to bo
benefited iy its completion. Such one sided po-
sii"ns will be duly apprecated by nm intelligent
people.
lS 0ao lH0rc point. Maj"r GwrSs, says Mr..
GREGG, would be his (Mr. l's) first choice if he
were going to build railroad" 0f course he re-
CARDS bin as altogether reliublc. Yet, Immediate
ly, Mr.. GnEGG turns around aud says that Mr..
GwfSS's estimates of the cost of the Blue Ridge
Road arc entirely too low. Now, which Of the
two arc We to crcdit,-Mr. GwYSS, who is consid-
cred by the speaker himself rs one of the hest en-
gincers in the United States, and who knows all
about this road or Mr.. GREGG, who sits down ut
kalmia and contradcts the engineer, without hav-
ing the slightest personal knowledge Of tho mat
ter in hand
With these brief objections, we presont the
speech of MIR. GrgGG to the public, usking for
him n fair and impartial hearing The circum-
stance Of the speaker having once (nnd rather re-
Gently too) declared that Rail Rond from Char
lesion to tho Interior would result in great good
to the State, if begun ut this end, viz: at Char
lesion or at Deaufort,-this circumstance, we say,
may possibly be regarded by somo as slightly
against his present wholesale denial of
amy benefit likely to accrue from the Bluo-Ridge
Road.