The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-03
opinion on the matter which would exclude

ferent parts of the State to argue matter
which was already settled. He hoped thai
all the members Of the Board were pre-
pared to hear, consider, and decide upof
all that might be said, and trusted thai
those who were opposed to consolidation
might he heard before this matter was ad
judged.
Governor Peirpoint.-My object was t.
state the convictions Of the Board upor
the propositions before il, and its determi
nation to hear all that was to be said. Ht
hoped that the Board was not q bunch Of
dough, but that they had their own OPT
Mons. He hoped that the Board had dis
erection enough to distinguish between the
wheat and the chaf which was offered
them.
Mr.. Goode, OF Norfolk, announced him
self a friend of consolidation. The qucs
ton concerned the people of the whole
State, and was not whether the interests OF
localities should be looked to, or whether
| A or B or G should be elected president
The Board had met to appoint proxies tc
represent the State at the meeting OF
stockholders Of the Virginia and Tennes
see railroad on the 10th of next month, and
the great question there would be the con.
solidation. The stockholders of the Nor.
folk and Petersburg road had adopted reso.
lutions favorable to it, and had appointed
a committee to attend that meeting OF
stockholders, and that committee will
bring that question into that meeting. The
speaker said he spoke not as railroad man
nor as a feed counsel Of corporation, but as
Virginiau who was anxious for the good
Of the whole people OF the State. Fol
many years they had been striving to
gain the trade ofthe Mississippi Valley, and
had patiently waited get it. In lS4S the
people of Tennessee had said if Virginia
would run line to Tennessee they would
take it from there and carry it to the Mis-
sissippi Valley. In reply to this, the Le-
giSlature Of Virginia passed bill charter
ing the Virginia and Tennessee railroad.
The next year the Legislature passed Il
bill giving any railroad a right to connect
with the Virginia and Tennessee railroad
at either terminus, and directing that that
road should not offer any obstacle to the
passage of freight or passengers, and that
its cars should be used in common with the
roads connecting with it. The grand OBJ
jcct then was the building up Of Il grand
continuous line from the seaboard to the
Mississippi Valley. The people commenced
waking up. The people of Petersburg
asked for q charter to run road to Lynch
burg, and it was granted on the express
stipulation that the guage should be the
same as the Virginia and Tennessee railroad.
So, too, with the Norfolk and Petersburg
railroad. Did not all this prove that the
Legislature intended one grand line to the
Mississippi Valley, Has this object been
accomplished What has been done So
far from having continuous line, we have
nothing Of the sort.
Look at Richmond; it is ctiectnally cut
off from southwestern Virginia. Can any
Richmond merchant get through receipt
to dcp6ts on the Virginia and Tennessee
railroad! If his goods come the other
way, can he get receipt beyond Lynch
burg The speaker knew the fact that
merchandise started from Norfolk for
points on the Virginia and Tennessee rail-
road reached its destination the day after
goods for Knoxville, Tennessee, which
were shipped on the same train had been
received. At Lynchburg they are trans
fcrrcd to other cars, weighed, ETC., which
keeps them for twelve hours, and then
they have another twelve hours rest at
Central depot. The remedy for all this is to
have one head to manage the whole line.
1t may he said, would it not be better, in
stead of consolidating under one head, to
have better organization than now exists
for each road. Let us take warning from
the past. We all know that railroad prcsi-
dents think they are petty monarchs Of all
ln, nd al
while they wranglc over tariffs and time
tables the public waits.
The consolidation now proposed is not
one of interests or stockholders, but one
which is only intended for the better man
agement of the roads in it. In Great
Britain to-day there are forty-tirc railroad
companies, running over 1858 miles of
track, with 1877 stations and at any of
these stations citizen may deposit freight
and get receipt for its passage over any
road of the forty-fvc, They are all under
an "associated management" but all have
their presidents and directors. Look at
the Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad.
Nothing but consolidation saved that. 1t
was valued at $2,600,000, and after con-
solidation its value reached $4,000 900, and
its stock rose from Sc to $l0i. The New
York Central road is also the child Of con-
solidation. The railroads of a State do not
belong to the Board of Public Works, nor
to the directors, but to the people OF the
State. He had been commissioner APP
pointed to confer with the people of SOUTH
western Virginia, and had been informed
by gentlemen that such was the dlScrlml-
nation against them that they were pre-
pairing to haul produce thirty miles over to
Lynchburg rather than be driven into sub
hitting to such discrimination. They
have iron, coal, and gypsum. They
have hay enough to feed all the stock
In Virginia, and might come to the
market Of Richmond this morning and
find nothing but northern hay. All this
is due to the olious discrimination against
way travel. lie would not dctain the
Board to describe the vast trade of the
Mississippi Valley. 1t would build up
cities if the railroad communication was
free and unrestricted. 1t would give us a
strength with the railroads united which
we would never have if they were divided.
1t would give us power to efectually resist
the efforts of cities outside Of the State to
draw trade from it. That mammoth cor
poration the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
has its eye on the Southwest, and the city
of Baltimore would be glad to see Rich
mond, Petersburg, and Norfolk become
mere wayside stations. Last year, when
the State was in distress, she came knock
ing at the door; and he was not afraid TO
say that the last Legislature had given
away to her its birthright. lie begged tnst
the petty iealousies between Virginia Giles