The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-02-12
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA.
SATURDAY, February 10, 1865.
SENATE.


RICHMOND, February 10, 1855
To me- Senate and House Of Delegates Of ptTg'nt" :
| Gentlemen, There are two proposition 5
! ha1ore your honorable bodies for railroad
charters. One from Danville 10 Lynceapurs'
I the other to connect Winchester with Saleih'
| in Roanoke county.
| deem il nv duty to express any opinion TO you
on this subject. Not knowing the appllcatiohs
4 were contemplated at this session, L ala hot
allude to them in my annual message out ~ =
deem each proposition so vitality affecting aii
I the great interests of the State, not oniy now,
but for all time to come, that should aeelll
/ myself criminally derelict III my duty 10 Tue
people of the State were sliently 10 let ms ,,
/ acts pass without trying to impress you WIN
| the great wrong they will work 10 the people
and future prosperity OF Virginia.
The road from Danville to Lynchburg con,
meets at the latter place with the orange a.a
Alexandria railroad, and makes direct commu,
| nication from Baltimore to the Caroiinas ana
! Central Georgia. This is Il shorter route from
Baltimore than through Richmond over the
Danyille road to Danyille. The fledhoh'
road is common TO the two routes
For breyitv, will call the other road the
| Shenandoah Valley road. rms starts from
Salem, on the Virginia ana tennessee loau
| about seventy miles west OF Lyhchpt'ls L"i'9
down the Valley to Winchester, thence 10
| M,rnar,s Ferry there connecting with the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad seventy hlhe
miles west of Baltimore. Inns taley Io3u
tans the Virginia and Tennessee ROAD heaIlS
in the centre; it crosses the jane a Rnckhr;d@e
| COMMITTEES: crosses the Virginia central III
! Augusta county; ii occupies portion Oh ,H II!
| unfinished part of the Manassas Gap ROAD III
the Valley. and passes over the Winchester ana
farmers Ferry road 10 the Baltimore and
Ohio road. .,, boob,
in the railroads which are to be lnlurlously
affected by the construction OF these TWO
millions
and in the canal, twelve millions OF dollars
Have any or all of these improvements more
business than they can do? Have ther ueNl-
dends been so renumeratlve that puoiiv cn NY
calls for lessening their profits by opening new
competition to prevent monopoly? None OF
these things exist.
By the events Of the late war, the iron and
material from the Manassas Gap ROAD N. nave &c
/ largely in debt, and is i'll the market to borrow
money 10 put il in repair: The Virginia ana
! Tennessee is III like condition. The Callal Is
I inst entering on the experimental sustaining
! itself The Southside and Norfolk roads are
not i'm full working condition, ana EarGe
amount of money must be obtained on creait
to repair one of them before II can be paced IN
a self sus aiming position. The DanNlLc ROAD Is
STRUGGLING for existence, and only by borrow
r ing money can the main stem ana the Ileu-
mont branch be repaired. ~
1t cannot be said that the crippled condition
of these roads is owing entirely 10 the dlsas-
tiers of the late war. Their Indebtedness was
ontracted before the war. None OIL llen h;lu
| ever made any considerable dividends. Their
great want was through connectons-only
one having connections outside OF the State.
| The Norfolk and Petersburg road was
| finished only short time before the war,
| which completed the line from the Seaooard
| to the southwest, but 1T had not time 10 real
| iZe the benefits of the through trade. Inc
| Ianyille road, by the events OF the late war,
has gained North Carolina connection which
will be of great value, and make lhe ROAD
| remuneratiye if it is not destroyed by the
diversion of the trade it should command
| The Central road was living on the falth Oh It's
Covington and Ohio connections. ....
Our population in the State Is sparse (most
of the labor was performed by slaves, VINO dld
| not travel on railroads. the roads therefore
| could not be profitable unless they had
| na;ntS hoyond tho limits of the State. The
| hone of the completion of the Coyington road
with the extension Of the other roads into
Tennessee and North Carolina, had encouraged
| the friends of these great lines 10 DelleVe tnat
| the people would be justified in their large
investments. But the two new roaas you are tr
\ asked to charter, if made, will dry up the
springs of promised prosperity and leave the
| great interests intended 10 be built mp by
| them to linger and famish i'll the future:
No company would build Rilroad from
| Lynchburg TO DanSille for the business be-
tween those two points-such road would not
pay the running expenses after IL was con
l stTucted; nor would it subserSe the interests
i
| interests of Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, or
! Alexandria, be subserved thereby neither or
| them would contribute dollar 10 the WoIk
1t is publicly claimed that the baltimore ana
Ohio Railroad Company Will fufnish the
money 10 build this road. 1t IS then, the IN,
tercst of Baltimore and the State of Maryland
that is to be subseryed by the construction OF
this mountaineering trade and traVel from the
Danyille, the Southsde, and the Norfolk ROADS,
over the Orange and Alexandria road, o the
1afr nf
Richmond, Petersburg, and Norfolk. Inc
States interest in the Orange and Alexandra
| road, in stock and bonds, is one million two
hundred and seyenty-four thousand five hun
dred dollars Its interest in the Danyille
road alone is nearly double that amount, in
addition 10 the three fifths IL owns Ill the
Southside and Norfolk roads
II is also demonstrable that railroad from
Winchester to Salem would not be renunera-
tive TO the stockholders il confined TO the trade
and travel furnished along its line much less
would ii be so, having the Virginia ana Ten
nessee railroad TO compete win az SaleIl,
the James River canal in Botetourt and ROCK.
bridge counties the Virginia Central railroad
i'm Augusta and the Manassas Gap railroad III
Shenandoah county. Nor would lhose HSlhg
on the line of this road construct II Tor any
supposed additional value IL wouia give 70
their property. II is, then, manifest that II Is
for some other object, and TO subserIe some
other interest, that these charters are applied
for. Ii is, indeed claimed that the Baltimore
ana OulO - aioo " ou'Ah
this road 1t is not alone the trade and travel
ON the line Of this proposed road that Balti-
more and the Baltimore and Ohio railroad are
reaching after, but the business, also, OF the
great southwest - Tennessee, northwestern
Georgia. Alabama, and other southwestern
States. That partof the Virginia and Tonnes
see railroad lying west of Salem would not be
injured by the construction of this road It's
stock, however, would soon be boughty and
the road controlled by the Baltimore interest
Inc completion Of the Covington railroad Is
,oSKea 40 with great interest by every man
Mno mas sirginias welfare al heart but IL Is
a,'nost inevitable that, Ii the Valley is thrown
open, the Covineton road will become n tribu.
Those who undertake the work will first
S9un' the cost and secure these interests
NEE, Wnere we have been paying high freights
nna IaIes on our Imperfect railroads, we
road, - 49, $500
SIX years ago -four was Carried from Buriing.
ton, IN Iowa, by rail- 70 New York and Boston