The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-06-23

TUESDAY ......JUNE %, 1858.
Railroad from Washington 70 Mopie'
very important bill has been intro
arced into the United States Senate by Mr..
povfsoy the object Of which is to complete
. oont;rnons road from Washington to Mo-
h;Ic and thence to New Orleans, with the
view Of establishing it as general post
route and military road. In order to In
sure this line, it is provided that the Go
yernment shall lend its bonds to the several
companies whose works are not completed.
The first section is as follows:
That there be, and hereby is, granted to
the Georgia and South Carolina Airline
Railroad Company bonds Of the United
States to the amount Of $4,000, 600 to aid in
the construction of the road Of said COM.
pany between Atlanta, Ga, and Charlotte,
n. c., or such other northern terminus as
may De determined by the management OF
said company and to the Alexandria and
Fredericksburg Railway Company bonds OF
the United States to the amount Of 81, 000,-
600 to aid in the completion of its road
from Alexandria, Va, to q point of juno
ton with the Richmond, Fredericksburg
and Potomac railroad at or near the city OF
Fredericksburg, Va; said bonds to mature
in thirty years from their date, bearing in
terest at six per centum per annum, pay
able semi-annually in the city OF New
York"
The second section requires each company
to secure the Government by first mort
gage bonds bearing six per cent, equal to the
amount it receives from the Government.
The third section provides that the COST
of the roads over and above the amount OF
the Government bonds shall be paid by the
companies, and the Secretary Of the Trea-
sury is directed, when twenty miles of either
road are completed to deliver such portion
of bonds as the distance of twenty miles
will bear to the whole length Of each road
respectively, and shall receive from SAID
companies like amount Of their first mort
gage bonds.
The fourth section requires that the Geor-
gia and South Carolina Airline Railroad
Company shall complete their line of road
from Charlotte to Atlanta within three years
from the passage of this act, and the said
Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway
Company shall complete its line of road
within eighteen months from the passage OF
this act, and if not so completed, the said
roads, or either of them, shall stand forfeit
ed to the United States, to be disposed Of as
Congress may direct and also provides for
the payment of interest on the bonds, &C.
The,ffth section provides for the payment
of interest, forfeiture in case Of non-pay-
ment, SC. and the sixth declares that the
said Georgia and South Carolina Airline
railroad, and the said Alexandria and
Fredericksburg railroad, when completed,
together with the Richmond, Fredericks-
burg and Potomac railroad, the Richmond
and Danville railroad, the Piedmont rail
road, the North Carolina railroad, the At
lanta and West Point railroad, the West
Point and Montgomery railroad, the Mont
gomery and Mobile railroad, and the Wash
ington, Alexandria and Georgetown rail
road, shall be a general post-route and mill
tary road from Washington city to Mobile.
The bill was referred to the Committee on
the Pacific Railroad. 1t is q very impor-
tant bill, and has an especial interest for
this section of country. In conformity with
the idea Of the Capitalization of the ma
tional authority, lines Of railway from the
national metropolis have been projected in
several directions. OF course if this means
of consolidation is adopted the South will
not be left out of the "ring"; and the line
marked out in this bill is one that must be
established as part of the system. Sooner
or later, we doubt not, this system will be
matured. Yet for some three years several
projects that are intended to form part of
it have been pending without making much
Roadway.
1t is time the South had shared to some
extent in the credit of the Government, or in
grants of lands for purpose of internal i'm
provements. Millions of bonds and millions
of acres of land have been voted to north
ern and western roads, while thus far the
South has actually received nothing. Be-
fore the war an act was passed by Congress
voting away vast amount of land to the
railroads of the States. Those in the South
were cut off from their shares by the war;
and there is pending now proposition to
withdraw from them altogether the quotas
assigned to them.
We shall see in due time what Congress
will do on this subject. But If it under
takes to carry out the system Of roads radi-
ating from Washington, the South must Of
necessity be brought in amongst the sections
receiving the aid of Government bonds in
the prosecution Of its main lines. q"