The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-01-25
The Great Railroad Proects--Our In
dustry and Prospects

The Great Railroad Proiects--Our IN
dustry and Prospects
The two grand enterprises now pcnu'us
IN tho legislative body ofthe state en'a.so
:. ;rnnor,snc. and capacity TO promote 'no
Ip, -o,r.re Of the State - they are
soAs Both--in addition to open
q. far Virginia cities extensive trade WIN
.ne West and Northwest-pierce the most
r.,,.,,e coal measures ia the Cnien. They
..;m Inns afford to our cities and towns new
.,;,nulu, TO embark In manufacturing en-
,erprises. They viii afford supply OF coa'
tba, x;ll enable Virginia to multiply I'M
mensely her machine power, and the new
condition of her social and labor system
will admirably dispose our people to make
available in the highest degree the grand
OPPORTUNITIES thus afforded to them.
The abolition Of slavery extinguishes an
object Of investment which absorbed the
capital of this country. As long as it lasted
the people were compelled by the force Of
the institution and the habits and general
economy 1t necessarily entailed to invest
money In slaves and in lands, and TO
devote the capital of the country almost
exclusively to the pursuit of agriculture.
This made us utterly dependent on other
countries for all manufactures, and pre-
vented the development of our mineral
wealth. while it checked all manufacturing
enterprise. Now the profits Of farming
will seek new modes Of investment. THESE
thew will find in stocks Of all sorts, III
manufactures, and in improving lands ana
increasing the uses of machinery. AS Mr..
ROBERT W. HUGHES, in pamphlet which
he has Just laid before both Houses OF our
Legislature, very forcibly says: "Hereai-
"ter. when q southern man makes a
"few thousand dollars, he will be unable
"to invest it in negroes; but will purchase
ga steam engine and build factory. The
asame capital which would purchase five
"pegroes will now build mill of seventy
give horse power; and instead of having,
"as formerly, the labor Of FIVE men at his
command, the same capitalist will now
shave the labor power of Jfve hundred men.
1--WE have, therefore, at last prospect
"of great, rapid, and most enriching
"industrial development"
Mr.. HUGHEs's pamphlet is presented in
support of the scheme of connecting
our Southwestern railroad line with the
Kentucky system of railroads through the
Virginia and Kentucky railroad, OF which
he is president. He arranges his argumen
with remarkable discretion, and SO bring
forward his enterprise with reference TO II
prospective effects on the industry and re
sources of the State as to convince an
man that he does not over-estimate II
Importance. What he says on the leadin
subjects of coal and iron applies both to tn
Southwestern line by Cumberland gay
and that to the Ohio by the James Rive
and Kanawha valleys. They ooth WI
transport an immense amount Oh coai on
iron-the two great agents in promotii
the wealth and power of nations. M
HUGHES, illustrating the manner in whit
these great agencies operate, refers
Great Britain. The machine power OF tn
81 seven men, i /" So that that the machine pow,
Of Great Britain is equivalent to that
5s1, 100000 Of men. Mr.. HUGHES says
"All the other countries in the world tC
"gether scarcely possess a power equal t
"this"; and he proceeds, by extracts fror
late English writer's, to account for thi
wonderful development of mechanics
power. We copy two of these.
One of the ablest of these writer
(JEvoNs) ascribes the prosperity and ma
terial power Of England to two causes
namely:
a. The cheapness and excellence of he
Goals.
"2. The proximity Of her Goals, iron ores
and huxes Tor lmestones) to each other.
/" As the source Of steam and iron, coal is al
powerful. This age has been called the IRON
AGE, and II is true that iron is the materia
of our great mechanical novelties. II is the
fulcrnm and lever of our great works while
steam is the motive power. But coal alone
can command In sufficient abundance either
the iron or the steam: and coal therefore com
mands this age. 1t stands above all com
modities. II is the material energy of the
country-the universal aid-the factor in
everything With coal, almost any feat is
f'ssiOie, VI easy without IL we SnOulQ Oe
thrown back into laborious poverty OF
early times"
Professor Page, the learned English geolo.
gist, enforces these truths in more elevated
and eloquent terms: $50 long as man de
ponds upon the forests for his fuel, his mas
terry over the metals is limited, and his me-.
chanical appliances restricted. But when he
has,once learned the uses of coal, and can OBJ
tain IL in fair supplies, his metal working
powers expand; and his forges, factories,
steam engines steamships, gas-works, rail
roads, and electric teiegraphs become the ne
cessary developments Of this new acquire
ment. Once acquainted with these and silni.
TAT appliances, man takes a stand on higher
PLATFORM gains a new ascendancy over the
powers OF nature, and oyercOmes In a great
measure the obstacles which time and nature
oppose 10 his operations. There is no artif-
cial heat SO compact, SO portable, SO safe, and
90 readily available as coal no substance SO
adaptive. so strong, and SO enduring as iron.
These two substances, coal and iron, have been
the main factors in all recent progress, and
that which most broadly distinguishes the
Britain OF the present from the Britain Of the
preceding centuries is the extended and ex
tending use Of these substances through the
fundamentally Of the steam engine"
1t Is matter Of great state pride, Is
well a. one Of hope and confidence in the
future, that Virginia has these two great
agencies so fortuitously disposed in their
local positions towards each other. The
two great conduits to which we refer in this
article win facilitate their transportation,
and give to the people the means Of EN-.
ploying them for the expansion of the labor
Of the State and the multiplication of her
wealth and political weight In the repub-
lie. To complete these works, then, the
state should leave nothing undone that is