Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-01-26
Railroad Meeting.

AoS ioiaeuic houi'i 3 tsiio q OheA o01 Al WV
construction of Railroad from Winchester
to Salem, and for the completion fthe Gov
ington Il Ohio Railroad.
On motion of II. NJ Bell, Esq, Hon. A.
II. II. Stuart was called to the Chair, and
on motion of Bolivar Christian, Esq, Messrs
r. Mauzy W. a. II. Lynn and A. M.
CARRIER, Jr, were appointed Secretaries.
Mr.. Stuart on taking the Chair, explained
the object Of the meeting, and, in a speech
marked with ability, demonstrated the deep
and vast interests the citizens of this great
Valley have in the construction and compile
ton Of the proposed railroads.
On motion Of Bolivar Christian, ESQ, the
Chair appointed a Committee to prepare res
olutions expressive of the sense Of the meet
ing,
The Chair appointed the following gentle
mon to constitute that Committee.
Bolivar Christian, II. w Shelley, II. NJ.
Bell, Absalom Koyner, David Fultz, II. L..
Galaher and j. NJ McCue.
Mr.. Shelley requested Mr.. Fultz to adj
dress the meeting, during the retirement of
the Committee.
Mr.. Fultz delivered practical speech, in
favor of granting the charter for the con-
struction of Railroad up the Valley, and
denounced in strong terms the narrow, con-
tracted policy which had governed our Leg
islature in the past.
Maj. Jno. b. Watts then proceeded to ad-
dress the meeting, and suspended his remarks
when the Committee, through their Chair
man, announced their readiness to report.
| The Committee submitted the following
preamble and resolutions:
"The people of Augusta, in sympathy with
the people Of the whole Valley, so long the
highway of contending armies, and regarding
it as vital to our interest, in order to rebuild
our ruined homes and desolated lands. C1st)
to introduce foreign capital for want of which
we are so utterly crippled, (2nd) to induce
immigration with the means to purchase our
surplus lands and the labor to develop our
yet untested resources, and (3D in order to
do this, to construct railroads to connect us
with the teeming traffic Of the West and
North to introduce from the plaster de-
posts of the Southwest that fertilizer so nee
essary to restore the waste Of our limestone
lands; aud Eastward to give to our products
the cheapest and speediest access to the mar
kets of our seaboard cities:
But while thus inviting capital from abroad
we 50 appreciate the exhaustless value of the
resources Of our Valley as to hold it but
right to require of this capital, as a recon-
pense, such terms and conditions of its invest
ment here. as will prevent any invidious dis
elimination against Virginia interests, but
will leave our local traffic and travel free
to 90 wherever interest Or affection may in
vite:
And remembering that thirty years ago
when foreign capital tempted the Valley with
the magnificent proffer Of railways through
out all her limits to the Ohio and Tennessee
lines, not only without any taxation, but
with actually a perpetual bonus to the State
Treasury for the privilege, the people Of the
Valley in a spirit of patriotism postponed
their private interest to an appeal from Eas
tern Virginia to await for facilities to ''bet-
ter markets in Virginia" We have waited
in vain until generation has passed away,
and many Of our most enterprlsng citizens
in despair have sought more favored lands
but now that the Virginia treasury and tax
payers are so hopelessly unable to provide us
the facil ties so indispensable to our resusci-
tation-we ask in simple Justice, to be per-
mitted to look elsewhere for that aid so need
ed to drive the genius of despair from the
ashes of our desolated homes Therefore,
Resolved:
/. That the construction of railroad I'M
der a continuous charter, or by the extension
and connection of existing improvements,
Throughout the Valley Of Virginia from Win
chester to Salem is Of vital Importance to the
people Of the Valley.
2. That the development Of the resources
of this bounteous Valley, is to that extent the
development of the resources of Virginia,
and we repudiate the policy which opposes
all improvements that do not point to
some particular section regardless of the in
terests of other sections, as policy which
prostrates the energies of the people, dwarfs
the resources and in the end retards the de-
velopment of the whole Commonwealth.
3. liz the completion of the Covington
and Ohio Railroa,.. to tie Ohio River, is
work of incalculablo and indispensable 'mpor-
lance to the interest Of the whole Common
wealth.
f. That we claim the right to demand the
privilege of having these great improvements
promptly undertaken, and completed as they
may now be, without cost or charge to the
public treasury, and that our Representatives
in the General Assembly are hereby reques-
ted to use every exertion to secure the con-
struction of these Improvements.
Mr. Fultz, offered the following substitute
for the report of the Committee:
cit is only by contrasting our condition
after, with what it was before the war, that
we can fully realize the extent of our losses.
Then our farms were well stocked and in a
fine state of cultivation and with well Or
ganized system Of labor we were blessed with
abundant harvests; now they are dilapidated,
the enclosures, and, in many instances, the
buildings are destroyed and with deranged
system of labor which promises but E55sSey if
any, surplus products. Then we had
sound convertible currency; now what little
money we have is deprecated and distrusted.
Then we We're in high credit; now what lit
tie remains IS aboet to be swept from us by
the policy Of the stay law. Then lighter tax
alton never rested upon free people; now
its accumulated weight, National and State,