The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1867-12-11

che Great s}uestioHbefore our Pe0ple-An-
other able letter from Clinton Read and
be convinced!
EDITORS aVALLKY VlRGINIAN," II
Gentlemen LIN previous numbers I have
to lay before my Countymen the
immense advantages to Virginia, and to Au-
gusta county in particular, which will flow
from the extension of our Railroad to the Ohio
River; to demonstrate the signal success OF
the scheme, and the rich rewards of it to the
by reference to those States who,
under obstacles infinitely greater than any
that We have to encounter, have already sought
and obtained, without single failurs, the
trade ofthe great Mississippi Valley; have
thereby built themselves up and enriched the
companies who did the work. l have point
ed them to their favorite project, the Valley
Railroad, the necessity Of which every man
acknowledges, and shown how the extension OF
the Central Railroad to the Ohio will at once
ncccssitate the building Of the Valley Road
with foreign capital have shown how the
inexhaustible Coal fields of Greenbrier and
Kanawha will DO made tributary to the Iron
interests Of Augusta. But all this does not
shadow forth in its just proportions the vital
interest that Augusta has in the proposed ex-
tension.
A part of the project is the construction OF
an air line Of Railroad from Charlottesville or
its ne;ghborhood to MISUNDERSTANDING
the distance from here to the city Of Rich
mond-our natural market, by a distance OF
thirty miles-and running over tract almost
level between Charlottesville and Richmond.
What will this work be worth annually to this
great, productive and growing County? How
| many tons Of produce will thus save the pay
ment of freight over thirty miles of distance
each way ? How many Of our people will save
thirty miles Of fare as passengers over the
road? Count it up ye croakers, and see
whether many Of the most earnest among you,
by these savings alone, would not more than
| pay those dreaded taxes, the thought of which
turns you SO pale. Taxes! Why, what will
they be? For the first four or FIVE years, in
terest will haveIto be paid on portions, and at
last upon all, Of your 100000 Of bonds
Say upon one fourth of it the first year upon
one.half of it the second year; upon three
fourths of it the third year, and on the whole
of it the fourth year. Then the road will be
completed, and you are guaranteed eight per
cent of dividends. forever, which will meet the
whole interest.
Interest on one-fourth, viz $75 600 at the end Of
LIST year, after subscribing, $1,000
| e on $150,OO0 at the end of I'd year, SIS, 600
/" on 4 1925, 600 at the end of Sd year, $4,000
| on $500. 900 OF the end Of 4th year, S24, 900
Making in four years, 100000
How much of this sum will be received in
dividends during the four years while the
road is in course of construction cannot well
be estimated. But the engineers say that
$500 900 will finish it to the White Sulphur
Springs, and at that point it must receive
|vast accession to its business, from the increa-
sed travel, and from the various products Of
the rich counties of Grcenbrier, Monroe, Po-
cahontas, &c. As it progresses down the
Greenbrier, New River, and to the navigable
waters at the falls Of Kanawha, this business
must continue to increase in almost geometri-
cal proportion, and long before its completion.
So that it would be safe to say that the diyi-
dends of the stockholding counties would pay
a very considerable proportion of the interest
on their bonds during the first four years.
In addition, the rise in the value Of your
lands in prospect Of such an improvement, the
increase your population from the same
cause; the increase and added variety Of bust
ness and industry among you, would make the
burthens of your little debt of $50 900, a mere
feather. Ifnone of those advantages are re-
allied during the first four or five years of
construction, what is to hinder this great
County, nearly out of debt, from borrowing
these small instalments of interest as they fall
due, and thus, without taxation, steering
through to the completion of the enterprise?
Then, who can doubt, with the experience of
other States before him, that in the course Of
a very few years, the dividends OF our stock
will not only keep down the interest Of our
bonds, but extinguish the principal !?
| Let me again urge upon the people Of my
County, that this is no venture in the dark
but that the noble enterprise of our sister
States, has long since, rendered its triumph
ant results as certain as mathematical demon
STATIONS. Why run the risk of losing for
ever the golden opportunity now offered for
our acceptance X . s..A.~s .77<s
Remember that the State of Virginia has
not alone power over this subject. Every act
of hers requires the cooperation of West Vir-
ginia. The two States now cooperate in
most generous charter for the construction of
this road. But how long will this be the case
West Virginia is already represented as i'm
patient Of delay and as looking in another d.
rection for an outlet, which she is determined
to have and that soon. Their Commissioners
at the last meeting Of the stockholders of the
Central Railroad, heartily concurred with ours
in granting to the Central Railroad Company
time, until the first of May next, to raise an
unconditional subscription Of three and a-half
millions of dollars of stock, in which event the
Commissioners of both States are bound to
give the contract for the extension of the road
to the Central Company Unless Augusta
subscribes, the requisite subscription cannot
be raised. The responsibility Of failure is
upon us. Will We take it? Augusta, here
tofore the large-hearted advocate Of State i'm
provemert, the patriotic County who has
stood up in all times for the honor and glory
IF har Stafo-yil1 cha nrova rooroo nj ,,orr nm