The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-23

tiOh anu Steel. That mystic taltSman-
''the black diamond'i-Whose touch
changes the inanimate stones to things
OF life and beauty-whose cabalistic
power eVokeS from the caves of the
mountains those mighty giants whose
tireless limbs move heaven and earth
the engine, the furnace and the mill.
OF these tiTeless and obedient Slaves.
England own S3, 900, ,0OoM,s each one of
whom does the duty of ten strong men.
to pull the car, paddle the steamer,
turn the mill, work the loom, and per :
form thousand artistic labors, which
ignorant men cannot perform; to
weave the glossy fleece of wool; fashion
the costly lace from the cotton grown
by rude barbarians; shape the needle
or polish the sword or gun.
When Western Virginia reaches this
stage of development, and why may
she not? America shall own her as its
crowning glory! Born amid battle and
strife, her loyal mountaineers have won
imperishable renown for brave deeds
and stern patriotism. Shall she not
reap the fruits of her strength and re-
nown by inspiring her children still
with energy, enterprise and true radi-
cal reform. viii she rest contented
with the jewels she has won, and allow
her strength to relax in Incidence, or
give back her power to the evil influ-
ence of slavery and oppression. Samp-
mics are in wait, take care lest they
shear thy strength and set the PhiIis-
tine upon thee.
The old oppression which has held
the world in chains for ages, and which
still domineers at the South, still strives
to keep the spirit of freed ON from your
mountains; to bar your itch valleys
and precious mountains from the sons
of labor; to Danish enterprise, and
quench the energy of your children by
monopolizing their strength and filch-
ing the fruits of their toll.
Spare yourselves and them from the
evils of the false and pernicious pol
icy, which has to this day laid the
fairest portions of our continent
in wilderness or In poverty, which has
not only prevented the people from ac-
quiriug Independence and wealth, but
poor and pOIUerieSS. Old Virginia is
older than Massachusetts, and nRtur-
ally thousand times richer in soils
and minerals, but to-day, Massachu-
sets is rich, and Virginia is poor. La
Dor, energy and enterprise have had
free scope in New England, while in
the South labor, energy and enterprise
are and have been in chains. The
Northwest is comparatively "A child of
to-day, side by side with the Southeast,
but the West towers n giant above
the South. Cincinnati and Chicago are
free cities and they are great cities,
though only n few days old, when
compared with Richmond and New
Orleans.
Let West Virginia open her doors
freely TO the labor and capital of the
world and give free vent to her native
energy and strength, and her growth
will rival that of Illinois or California.
Let the world know that West Nir-
ginia is now, and ever will, remain n
free State, where labor is untrammeIed
by laws or usages, and rewarded by
the JLEI fruits Of ats toll. Spread before
il the story of your wealth in minerals,
and timber, your opulence in soils and
pastures your magnificent water-pow-
er and your vast and varied manufac-
turing availabilities, with your genial
and saiubrious CLINE. These facts are
not now known to the hardy adventu-
rers who are pouring from the East,
over the Rocky Mountains, into tho in
hospitable wilds of the far west.
Did they know of the fair fields for
enterprise so near at home, they would
not pass the inviting smiles of West
Virginia, to go far beyond and find
hardship and sorrow instead of wealth
and fortune.
Millions of dollars are now being
squandered in fancy gold and silver
stocks, in the almost inaccessible
mountains of the far West. "The dis
tance lends enchantment" tothose wild
speculations. Enormous dividends are
promised, but never realized. Men are
blinded by glitter, instead of gold they
scott at ten or twenty per cent. return
from their investment, yet are compell-
ed to take less than nOthing-eVen to
the loss of the principal. Investments
in West Virginia, at the present day,
simply in lands, would yield from ten
to one hundred per cent. per annum, on
the original investment for years to
come, in coal lands, timber lands, oil
lands, iron lnads, farm lands and man
ufacturing sites.
Railroads are being projected and
erected over the entire contiDent-even
beyond the pale of civilization. Mil
lions are put in lines more for specula-
ton than present profit, while the
most inviting and needed line
ever built in this, or any other
country exists only on paper. Though
the first line for traffic ever even pro-
posed in this country, and proposed,
too, by the first and most eminent en-
gineer, statesman and soldier of any
age or country-by the immortal
Washington himself-it is yet only pro-
posed.
A connecting link between the East
and the West, provided for by nature,
who has hewn the mighty Alleghanies
to their base, and cuta pathway for the
steamboat and the locomotive, from
the Ohio to the Chesapeake. The trade
ofthe vast and teeming West, barred
by the ice of winter, and the heat of
summer, from the Upper Ohio, awaits
the spirit of industry and enterprise,
to flow through its natural channels to
the East, while the trade of the East
awaits to reciprocate through the great
Kanawha valley. The old Dominion
and the old North State look hopefully,
perhaps, but indolently TO the West,
watching with longing eyes and morbid
desire, the golden showers rained on
northern cities. Baltimore, Philadel-
phia, New York and Boston grow fat
on the trade OF the West, while Vir-
ginia stGrVes, and her only consolation
is her pride and stupidity! We say 1t
in sorrow, for we love that glorious
State, and only hate that false pride,
which, in hOmely phrase, "bites its
nose off, to spite its face" For Southern
pride and apathy to-day, Injuries most
the South itself. The labor that would
make her the garden of the world,
that after the war turned Southward,
has again wheeled by the right flank
marching westward, Excelsior! The
great West groans with the tread OF
rushing feet; the Wilds of Colorado,
Nevada, Montana, and Oregon, yield to
the sons OF labor; the snowy peaks of the
Rocky Mountains yield their precious
treasures; the caves OF the far Sierras
are robbed of their glittering ores. All
nature conduces to our wealth and
pleasure, while the sunny fields of the
South still lie scared and red with bat
ties and fire; her children poor and
starving. They have our sympathy,
bnt we cannot barter principle for gain.
We cannot split our tongues or mask
our hearts, and wear false smiles, to
pAmper their morbid pride. The world
is wide; theirs room enough for all.
West Virginia appears to be the only
Southern SIate-originally Southern
e. r.