The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-12-20
rreight Trains IN tine Streets.


If this city is ever great--as we hope
aud firmly believe it will belt must sub
nit to the introduction Of railroad freight
trains in the most active business thorough
fares-i. g., those thoroughfares where the
heavy freights are either received or sent
off. we said the city must "submt " to
this-we may say the city will demand it
as absolutely necessary for the successful
management and direction of a heavy
wholesale trade.
1t is time we were adopting this system
Of employing the freight lines, and dis
cerding as far as possible the intermediate
hauling by carts and drays of articles Of
great weight from shipping to dep0ts, or
from warehouses to either. Cheap trans
portation is now the order of the day, and
that community which is burdened with
unnecessary handling Of staple and heavy
articles, and unnecessary drayage, must
seriously suffer in the grand competition
for the general commerce of the country.
We are sure that every man Of business
in this city will concur fully in these pro-
positions. Yet, in the measures proposed
with reference to the continuation Of the
Danville railroad to the York River depot,
there is as much difference among those
called practical men as there would be in
q congress of doctors. We trust that they
will compare views with that calmness and
harmony which should mark the con-
ferences of gentlemen all desiring to &C
complish the same result, and we have not
doubt that, acting in this spirit, they will
be able to agree.
If, however, the suggestions of the first
part Of this article are carried out pro-
perly, the track must be laid along Dock
street. There the chief freighting bust
ness is done there the Central as well as
the Danvile railroad will ultimately have
to freight its trains; and there the public
necessity will take them as certain as any
event in the future. 1t is q wide street.
Room is abundant-much more SO than in
almost any Of the business streets ira
versed by railroads in the northern cities.
In those cities business men all want to
get the railway tracks near them. The
locomotive comes within a few squares OF
the Astor House in New York. 1t goes at
the rate of fifteen or twenty miles an hour
through Newark and Wilmington, Della
ware-both considerably larger than Rich
mond Business houses lay down switches
from the main tracks in the most active
business sections Of the principal cities,
they are furnished with cars, load them
themselves, and the railroad companies
take them away. OF course this could
only be done where the largest heavy
freighting is accumulated in the very heart
Of commerce.
Gentlemen's fears are fanciful. The
locomotive is docile animal. His great
power is revolutiopizing trade and con-
centrating commerce and wealth in a man.
ner amazing, even now to us, who have
witnessed his achievements for SO many
wears! AS we avail ourselves of his power
we may hope to prosper. But to regard
such an agent with jealousy-to elbow
him from the path where his services
would be most valuable-cannot now be
regarded by wise and practical men as
anything short of utter blindness and sui
cidal folly.