The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-03-17
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SATURDAY MORNING. MARCH II, tseo

AWpMnu Qt0f~tty.
SATURDAY MORNING. MARCH u, isSo. |
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A city Nallread.
There seems to Be natural propensity In |
the mass Of mankind to resist the intrusion OF
all new tAsas. The majority doubtless belong
to that class whom IL has become fashionsble
to stisnatise - old fosies Every invention
Of which We have any account has met with
stubborn opposition in the beginning HAIR.
oRRAvss was burnt out OF house and home
for iuventisg the spinning jenny WATT wish
I'd that he had never been horn, on account Of
the trouble his mechanical engines brought
upon him FULTON was laughed At as an en-
,husiast and visionary, and G EoRog SrErHxN.
CON was llraid 10 say that he expected to OBJ
tain speed Of moro than ten miles an hour
on the Arst railroad he was employed to build.
Even when the merit Of inventions has been
tested elsewhere, they find opposition In every
new quarter into which an attempt 10 made To
introduce them. The late WITHHELD I. IuS-
STALL was accustomed to say that he fought
through hrs, in overcoming the opposiuo" ne
found Arrayed against the Danville Railroad.
and ~ All know how hard ii was to convince
the public that it was possible to light thisci
periment has succeeded against all opposition,
people eet ashamed of their doubts. and won.
der how they ever could have done without
the improvement. But tins Is only aIteT sue
cess has crowned the work.
We DO not know that there is any organized
opposition to the introduction Of railroad
ito the city; law has been passed author
izing it; but we hear many say it cannot sue
op~lA hal Ia - " VI
we beard about the introduction Of gas. 1t is
the Identical objection urged against every
thing new that ever was proposed for the i'm
provement Of the city. 1t has been pressed SO
often, and so often been proved to be without
foundation, that we have no confidence in it
whatever in the present case. Why may it
net succeed Because, say the cavaliers. there
will be but few people to ride on it, and twill
not, therefore, pay. Even one line Of omni-
buses is with difficulty kept up, and the car
riages are by no means always full. This is
the very same objection that was made to
every railroad which now comes to the city
We were told that the stages could easily
enough accommodate all the travel Well,
how did all these people that now travel on
the cars contrive to travel when there was
nothing but stages to carry them The an.
swer is they did not travel at all. They stayed
At home for the most part. and only travelled
once year to places which perhaps they now
visit once a week. The railway stimulates
travel. 1t operates like fire upon terapin's
back. 1t moves thousands who would other
wise be immovable. So it has proved every
where with these city railways. Everybody
rides on them they are always crowded. Per-
sons that walked before, ride on them. Persons
hot etirr haY. arid Oar
sons who took the omnibus before now take
the cars. Locomotion is always stimulated
by them to the fever point.
We ought to have q railroad, at least, from
Rockets As far up as the terminus of the bust
ness portion of Main street, and then along
some Of the cross streets, and up Broad street
The two great thoroughfares Of the city would
thus be sufficiently united, for a beginning
Hereafter, more might be done-sufiicien,
unto the day is the evil thereof-but. for The
present that would do very well. Objection,
have been made to the ascending nature of the
ground, in one or two places. But these as
cents are not sleeper than those to be found il
Boston, and surely our mules and horses ar,
~ good AS Yankee animals of similar descrip
ton. We should think such a road would b
about three miles long. Now, such iron as i
would be proper to lay, would give about fifty
tons to the mile, costing SIS the ton. Thi
would be g., $50 per mile for the iron. Tn
work would be comparatively light. Their
is NO grading to be done, and the paving (al
ways imperatively necessary, even where tn
road is extended into the cOuntry,) is airead!
furnished. After purchasing the iron, no
thing farther 10 necessary than to purchase tn,
stills and lay them. The paving on each sid,
keeps the rails in their places, SO that the ex
pense Of iron chairs may he dispensed with
We know not the expense OF such labor a
will be required; but we are confident tina
while confined to the city, the entire worI
will not 60 much over Si,WO a mile. In tn,
country, when the road shall have been ex
tended in that quarter, the cost will, we pre-
sumo, be something more for there it will b.
necessary to pave
We have not read the law, but underst TAM
1t 10 very good law. The next thing is I,
get the stock taken, If the city do not take i,
which we think would be the preferable mod
Of dealing with the matter. 1t will then hav
the whole subject under its own control, an,
there will be no conflict of interests, resulting
in injury to the public. II, however, it shout,
decline, the stocks, we should think, wonl,
speedily be taken by private persons. w
have no data by which TO form an estimate O
the per eentage paid by such stocks. In tn
Northern cities they have been, thus far, tn
subject Of continual spec ulation, and chang
hands so frequently that their intrinsic valu
cannot we'll be made out We would mentor
however, that, in the city Of Philadelphia
two hundred and seventy miles of railwa
have been authorized by law, and that a larg
proportion Of it has been laid down already
A. the thing progressed gradually, and coul
have been stopped at any stage Of the proceed
ing, the inference is that it could not hav
gone SO far unless it had been found to be de
cidedly profitable.