Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-01-21
Covington and Ohio Railroad.
, the People Of Augusta'.-

|
To the People of Augusta'::
You will be called on very soon to decide
whether you are willing to make small con
tribution out of your abundance, to secure the
completion of that great enterprise, the success
of which is not only the best measure to restore
the waning prosperity of the State, but, as
propose to prove to you, will doubly and trebly
repay you for all that is asked of your county.
| By special invitation | attended your Decem-
Der court for the purpose of addressing the peo-
ple but as suitable opportunity for doing SO
was not presented, [ take this method of dis
charging the duty which my official connection
with the subject imposes on me.
was surprised to find so many erroneous i'm
pressions prevailing, which, in the absence of
| proper Information, would naturally make you
unwilling to subscribe
l. The contract for building the road has not
been made by the Central Railroad Company
Such work as this, requiring the borrowing
of at least ten millions dollars, could not be un-
dertaken by this Company without very sub
stantial aid.
| The stockholders have prescribed as condi-
| ton that no portion of the work shall be put
under contract until three million five hundred
| thousand dollars Of stock shall have been sub.
scribed; and If they had not required that sum,
the acts of the Legislature of Virginia and West
VHSlpld pIOLlUlt Tie COfltHlSSlOHtIS W uldhe d
contract unless the contracting party has raised
three millions of dollars You will therefore
see that unless your county assumes her just
proportion OF the requisite amount of subscrlp
ton, you have no right to expect that the road
will be constructed
2. 1t is believed by many that the three hun
dred thousand dollars proposed to be subscrlb-
ed is to be paid up at once by tax on the peo-
pie. 1t is not expected that any part OF the
subscription is to be called for in money, but
the bonds Of the county, payable thirty years
from their date, if your court SO decide, will be
received in payment of your subscription, at no
greater discount than ten per cent no matter
how much less than that would be their value
if put on the market.
3d. This contribution is not to be called tor at
one time not more than one fourth of the bonds
and consequently not more than one-fourth OF
the interest, will be wanted the first year; you
are not to make gift OF these bonds, but to
have stock issued for them, on which you have
guarantee that eight per cent. dividends will
be paid annually after the road is completed to
the Ohio river, which dividend you will have
made up, if necessary, out Of the profits OF the
present road, although the old stockholders may
get nothing
THIS ROAD OUGHT TO HAVE AS LARGE REVE-
NUE. AS ANY NORTHERN LINES.
You not only have the guarantee of getting
eight per cent. on your stock, but there can
scarcely be doubt that you will get more when
the road is opened to the coal region OF West
Virginia, and the western and northwestern
States, teeming as they are with population and
wealth Why will it not do as large business
as any of the roads now leading from Northern
cities. 1t is not only nearer from all the centres
of trade in the West and Northwest to Rich
mond, than to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New
York, but the superiority of its grades are
equivalent to many more miles IN distance.
ADVANTAGE OF CLIMATE AND GRADES.
The Southern location of the road is another
great advantage. It is not liable to be obstruct-
ed, as is sometimes the case by SHOWS on North
ern lines of transportation The closing of canals
at the North for nearly half the year, will send
a vast amount of trade to this line. Some few
weeks ago the New York Herald said: I'VE
have intelligence that the Erie Canal has been
frozen up and probably closed for the season.
In one stretch alone on this main artery ct In
terror navigation, viz from Syracuse to Troy
it is estimated that not less than four naaltion
bushels Of gram, besides a vast amount OF other
produce will be locked in until Spring. We also
learn that the Delaware and Hudson canal IS
closed by ice locking up orer 10000. bushels OF
codL Another New York paper OF very recent
udtC odJS. GU WLlttOtS LOGtttIS tCO' L1V P'o0
perty, Including ten million bushels Of grain as
ice bound on the Erie canal, and much OF 1t
perishable, consisting Of apples and potatoes
Twenty Thousand bushels Of potatoes are at
Frankfort frozen, and One Hundred Thousand
bushels more are at Utlc0!
The PENNSYLVANIA Central and the Baltimore
and Ohio Roads have not only to encounter the
seventies Of colder climate, but have to cross
the Allegheny Mountains, with grades tor many
miles varying from 95 to ll6 feet to the mile,
difficulties equivalent to proportionate increase
OF distance, while on the Covington and Ohio
Road from the Ohio Eastward, for two hundred
miles, there is no grade exceeding 20 feet to the
mile, the mountain is crossed by grade OF 293
feet and then it is descending all the way to
COvlngton.
DISTANCES, TOO, ARE ALL IN OUR FAVOR.
Take Chicago as a centre for the Northwest:
1t is true that there are some short unfinished
gaps of railroad to be filed up, but the laws Of
trade, operating like the laws of gravitatlon,
wilt force them to be finished. AS water flows
by the straightest descending channel, as stone
dropped falls to the ground by the most direct
line, the trade from that region will come to this
road in the valley of the Kanawha as soon as it
is finished, because it not only has the easiest
grades, but it is the shortest route and will
therefore be the cheapest
MILES MILES.
Chicago to Richmond less than to