Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1865-11-14
For the Spectator.
70 the Stockholders Of the Va Central
Railroad.

GENTLEMEN THE time is at hand for the annu-
al meeting of our company and the election OF
officers to serve another year. AS has happened
sometimes, on such occasions before, grumblers
are abroad. Some Of the offices have little mo
ney IN them, and aspirants in favor of change,
filing the ears of the people and even of the gov
eminent, with doleful tales of mismanagement
and losses.
No more suspicious time for the manufacture
devastating war has passed like tornado over
our own happy land, prostrasing, and in many
cases, utterly destroying most interesting in
stitutions--pubhc and private. The Railroads
Of the country were espec tally desolated. They
were seized by military authority, and appropria-
ted to public uses in defiance Of their owners !;
they were attacked and destroyed by hostile ar
miss. Their earnings were more than ami
hilated, and their immense claims against the
government necessarily left unpaid, by the sud-
den and total ruin of the Southern cause.
+! What q foundation was thus laid for the decla-
nation of office seekers And it is eagerly occu-
pied, especially in making assaults on the man
| agcment Of the Va. Central Railroad. Yet none
Of these fault-fnders attempt an exposition OF
| the manner in which the caamities they com
plain Of might have been averted, much less do
| they call attention to the wonder full energy and
wisdom which has restored our road, in few
months after the war, to almost perfect renova-
ton and usefulness, throughout its whole length
from Richmond to Jackson's River.
| The prevention of the ruin they complain of was
| impossble-its reparation, under the circunl-
stances of loss of labor, and financial embarrass-
ment, would have been impossible, but for the
zeal, efficiency, and wholesouled devotion to the
interests of the company, which characterized the
man, who, for twenty years, has been honored
by the Stockholders with its principal admnistra-
ton. Who distinguished his advent to the Presi-
dency by at once converting our 70 ad from To-
cal and comparatively Insignificant affair, into a
great National Highway, connecting the Atlantic
shores with the waters of the Mississippi, and who
has devoted the best days Of his useful life to the
vigorous and untiring prosecution Of his grand
scheme, and in taking care Of the Interests of
his company, so honestly, so ably, that he has
yet to be called in question for the first drelic-
ton of known duty.
I Many Of the Stockholders Of this Valley re-
member the eloquent appeals of Col. ntaine,
twenty years ago, when he laborously traversed
cur eauiiful country, urging upon us the i'm
portance Of his splendid project, now so nearly
accomplished, and must be satisfied that without
| those faithful labours of his, their Road never
would have assumed the National proportions it
now bears.
Will they-will the rest of the Stockholders
will the generous and magnanimous State of Vir-
ginia, reward such q servant now, by degrading
him from his Office, and filing it with new,
untried, and perhaps Inefficient successor?
humbly think not. Their own magnanimity, the
best interest Of the company and of the public
alike demand it. The feelings Of an old and well
tried public servant, who resolved the Office when
it was SO insignificant thar no else desired it
and has made it by long exertion worthy to bt
coveted; should not be so disregarded
& STOCKHOLDER.