The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-12-01
The Water-Line


inclined to read any paragraph with the
above Introduction. The "water-line
has been the theme of thousand edito-
rails. No fact ever presented to the world
stood out SO damaging in its effect upon the
force and power of the pen editorial. so
vast an amount Of argument, appeal, de-
clamation, and of every form OF editorial
etfusion devoted to one theme with such
poverty of results was never before known
in the world. The pen may be mighter
than the sword in general sense, but IN
this particular case, had the honorable edl-
tors taken swords IN their hands instead OF
pens. and worked as steadily upon the
canal itself as they have in writing about
il, they would have cut the great "water
line 3" through to the Ohio long ere this.
AS it is, it is hard to see how even they have
survived their incessant elaboration OF the
subject. The editors and their readers
had they not been men of good phys'cal
organization, would long since have SUBJ
sided into inanition from water on the
brain!
And vet the water-line is the greatest OF
all the improvements in Virginia. It's COM
pletion 10 the Ohio would fix her fate as
the greatest among the States in physicai
power, as she has been in her moral ana
political dignity.
Will it ever be completedl We believe
it will. But the prospects are not bright.
The company is unable, from It's own
poverty, to do much, and nothing can oe
expected from Virginia. She is too Ike
her own children to incur any DEBT al lhls
time, even if rival interests who are ever
ready to plumber the treasury, would con-
sent to another effort by the State for this
important work.
The National lnteNigmcer, fully appreci-
ating its great value, urges the people 70
undertake the work themselves, those
along the route Of the canal appropriating
a part of their lands to its construction.
We imagine this would go but little
WAY lOh Is lII
Our neighbors of the Wig are venti-
lating and tavoring, very properly, scheme
projected last winter for placing the canal
upon the basis Of national work, and, as
such, invoking the aid Of the Federal Go
verument in its construction. 1t certainly
is national work il any proposed artery
of communication between the East ana
the West-betwecn the Atlantic and the
Mississippi-can be so called. Indeed It's
claims to be SO considered are greater
than those of any other yet conceived.
Mr.. HORACE DAY, OF New York, is the
inventor of plan for elevat'ng ana letting
1own canal boats to and fro between the
foot of an incline and the summit level, in
reservoirs drawn upon track.
His explanation shows that the operation
bv his plan is as minutes compared with
the hours required by the locking system
70 attain a like elevation. If Mr.. DAYS
,lan is feasible, all the difficulty about
water for the summit level of the James
River and kanawha canal is removed. The
level when filled is not diminished by the
of boats. A boat lifts up to that
level exactly as much water as it requires
to 90 down from it. The only diminution
of supply is from evaporation and leakage,
which may he readily restored by rains and
such mountain rills Us can be used for the
purpose.
If Congress may DC impressed with the
Importance of this great work, the aid ne
cessary TO its construction will be but as a
drop in the bucket of the vast fund annu-
ally voted to schemes that are concocted as
much for individual gain and opulence as
for anything else. In the view Of the con-
and banding together the Union,
now so decidedly tending to the Empire,
this line will become the main artery Of the
very heart of the nation. This ought GER
tanly to commend the work to the most
liberal support of the most ultra Radicals.
Nothing would unite the East and the West
more powerfully and enduringly than this
work.
The present Congress will, We apprchend,
be disposed to pay but little attention to
this subject. Party warfare and passion
will absorb the most of its time.