The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-09-04
Nitbmunh pispatth.
The yame. 6iver and Kanswha Improve.

<AAs
The yame. River and Kanawha Improve
ment.
In our remarks upon the new phaze IN
" hich this great scheme presents itself since
the contract with the French Company, we
observed that the Legislature still retained
the power of prescribing the tolls, &c. To
certain extent this is true; but 1t is not true
in the wide and general sense in which we
wished it to be understood. The Legislature
retains the power of prescribing the maxinx,n
and ,a;n,r,ans rates OF toll--it can say they
shall not exceed certain specified sum per
ton, and shall not be brought down below n
certain other specified sum. But between
these limits the company is, aud must be, left
to its discretion. 1t il obvious that tolls
must, In every work of the kind, especially In
one surrounded by rivals as this viii oe, oe
left 20 settle themselves, and they VIII 40 "
ma law as unerring as that which MAKES
Snter seek It's proper level. III 'ney 90 p"'
[wn 400 low. the company will do losing
S.,u.ss Ard will. in the end, he compelled 10
.nsnaon the Improvement. Ii they be put mp
49,, she effect will be to drive OF trade
. ,,ronar mean is the point upon which they
m inevitably settle, as that which secures
~. ,.rse.t amount of trade and the most GER
81, enumeration In tue case under
confederation, there can be little danger
ths, the tolls will ever approach the figure at
which they now stand upon the James River
and Kanawha improvement 1t is proposed to
deepen the canal to seven feet of water-a depth
amply sufficient TO accommodate vessels OF
1--WE or six hundred tons. There will also be
a great reduc ton Of cost in propeliing, and a
correspondence increase of speed. Now, here are
three Observation-Disclosures of freight, increase OF
speed, and reduction ofeost In propelling-toat
when combined, necessarily render reduc-
ton of toll possible, provided the company be
disposed TO make 1t. That they will be so in
the present case, Is certain.
In the flrst place, they enter the lists with
four formidable competing lines: the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad, The Pennsylvania
Railroad, the Erie Canal, and the Memphis
line couuec ting the Southern seaboard with the
Mississippi River. 1t is main object with
them. in the second place, for reasons hereaf-
ter to be explained, to develop the resources OF
the great West to the utmost extent of their
power,even though the experiment should force
them 10 reduce tolls SO low as to make their
dividends less than they would otherwise be.
But of this they feel no apprehension what
ever They expect to render transportation
so easy and so swift, and TO increase the ton
mage TO such an extent, as TO be able to reduce
the tolls TO four or five mills per ton, whereas
at present, it stands at four cents. That is &c
say, they expect to carry eight or ten tons for
the same remunerau ton thst the present com.
pany receive for transporting one ton, or, (to
make our meaning SO plain that eyeryb body
can see it al once,D the farmer Oh James River
and its vicinity who pays ten dollars now for q
certain amount of transportation, can have the
same amount done under the new order Of
things for one dollar. This company intend
TO make money by the amount Of bushes:
they do, not by the high prices they charge fol
doing It, That they will be enabled 10 do SO
any man who will take into consideration the
boundiess and inexhaustible country TO which
a mighty canal will afford them access, will
easily comprehend. The Erie Canal, which il
frozen over half the year, lets into the city OF
New York. so we understand, 100000 tons
per aunum Why this improvement should
be limited TO such figure, seeing that
II will never be entirely closed TO naviga.
ton a week in any one year, and that il
is accessible to half the country which the
Erie commands, and to five times as much
more which lies greatly beyond the reach OF
that Improvement we confess we are not able
10 understand. But admit, for the sake of ar
gument, that 100000 is the limit. At four
mills per ton per mile, this would give us
twelve thousand dollars per mile. Supposine
the Improvement TO be five hundred miles
long. we should have for its total annual rev.
enue, at this rate, $4,000, COZ THE interest on
500 OOa 600 at the rate of six per cent per an.
nun, In the meantime, it is very certain thai
fha r,ar ~ ns hat
cum. The estimate, we believe, does not EN-.
brace much more than tenth of it. Admit
however. that it should cost 10000, 0OO,and thai
only one-ffth of the tonnage named above
should pass along it. Still we have 81 00t
q. the interest on $50 100000, the full legal
rate of six per cent.
We know that our anticipations with regard
TO the amount of tonnage will be deemed ex-
trayagant. We do not regard them as at all
So Nevertheless, having advanced an opinion,
we bow 10 the law which holds US bound to
the proof In the first place, then, there is the
great Valley of the kanawha, Astounding in
coal, of a quality SO excellent that nothing
approaching it has ever yet been extracted
from the bowels of the earth-in iron of I'M
approachable excellence-of salt in quantities
sufficient TO supply the wants of half man.
kind-of wheat and corn, limited in quantity
only by the industry of the farmer-of ran ges
for hogs, cattle, sheep, and every animal that
is slaughtered for the sustenance of man, al
most unlimited. Now, ii is the possession Of
iron and coal in great abundance, with the
skill and industry to use them TO the utmost
advantage, that has made Great Britain the
wealthiest and one of the most powerful ma =
tons On the face of the earth. The iron
mandatory il, Of all other manufactures,
the most important. Iron is, indeed, and has
been in all ages, the great civilizer of mankind.
The history Of iron is, in fact, the history OF
human progress. Let any man reflect upon
the subject, and he will find himself lost in its
overwhelming magnitude. Iron enters into ev-
cry employment and avocation of a mans life
1t is the king metal. 1t digs up the geld with
which the world is shaped; it moulds 1t into
the form in which it rules the human race. II
is as important In building a pyramid as in
fashiontng the tiny skif Of little child
II 1. used alike in the hut and the palace. ii
fashions the cradle in which our infancy il
rocked. and the coffin in which we are con-
signed to our last home upon earth. 1t CON-
noses alike the weapons Of war and the i'm.
elements Of peace-the cannon that thuh-
dered at Soiferino, and the instruments ex.
hibited at the last Agricultural Fair. A
man must use 1t. whether he wish TO pare
his own nails or TO cut his neighbours throat
To estimate its value, in it's fullest ex tent, lei
ms imagine for q moment that every bit Of II
was swept from the earth, by some unaccount.
able and unimaginable catastrophe. In what
what sort of condition would the human race
bel In the course Of one generation, 1t would
retro1rade a thousand years With her u II
limited capacity to supply this all-powerful
and all.necessary agent of human skill and
human energy. II Is not wonderful that Eng