Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-04-09
RAILROADS AND RESOURCES OF NORTH
CAROLINA. ....t j.

|
Extracts from Speech of r. W. Lassiter
| Of GranriNe, an The North Carolina Sen
dte March 11th, on the bill TO incorporat
The Eastern and Western Railroad. 81.
Mr.. PRESIDENT: Eight years ago we wer,
a prosperous and happy people, with fer
tile and healthy climate. We had all tina
We could wish. But she storm of wa
came over and blighted us. It's anger ha
gone from us, but it has left us paralyzed
How shall our strength be renewed Mus
we sit down and weep over the past, o.
will we spring up with the bright rising
sun of the future By what means are W.
80 regain, and, indeed. far surpass the en-
viable position of former days? This ha
been subject of anxious thought with m,
since the war. have lopged to see tn,
evidence of returning prosperity and hap
plness among our people. [ have careful
ly investigated the causes Of prosperity il
other sections. [ have looked to the fa
West and Northwest. and inquired. how il
1t that those young States grow up SO rap
Idly Their soil is not better, and thei
climate is less genial, and yet they rise w
IN the morning, and by the evening they
are great nation. The secret is soon told
They are new, enterprising people, an6
they go ont to bear down the forest and
break up the soil, and by the aid of ma
chlnery make immense crops and chequel
their States over with railroads to carry
their products to the markets of the world
And they erect and operate factories tc
turn everything to the best account By
these means they are encouraged to indus
try and enterprise. They talk faster, think
faster, work faster, and grow larger They
do not sit down on some wasted land and
say, I" 1t Is not worth while for ne to make
more than consume, for l have no market |
can make enough to live on, and that is as
much as anybody around me does" But
they strive to make the most of everything
and each strives to make more than the
other, and then while their harvests are
IN atnring they build railroad to carry the
immense yield to the best market. Look
at those new States which rose up as of
yesterday, and see them chequering them
selves over with railroads. Indianapolis,
the capital of Indiana, comparatively
new State, has twenty railroads centering
there. And how many has Raleigh, the
capital Of one Of the old thirteen ? There
the men that need the roads build them
and pay for them and use them and get
their money back and get the road clear,
and the more they have, the more they
have found out that really it costs nothing
TO build them, that is to say, they build
them themselves, and pay themselves for
doing it. They pay tax one day to build
the road and they get it back the next day
for building it and have the road to boot.
L give those who are alarmed about rail
roads and taxes a problem to work.
If the State collect $1,000 900 tax out of
a county to build railroad to-day, and
spends 500, 600 In the same county to
build the road tomorrow, how much less
money will the county have tomorrow than
it had to-day d? And still another problem {:
If d county is taxed 800, 900 to build
railroad to day and sets all :he money
back to morrow for building it and then
has $780, 900 railroad besides, how much
does the county make by the operation :?
Clearly, 500, 900 railroad. From this,
of course, must be deducted so much as
will have to go out of the county to buy
iron, &c. But this is repaid hundred
fold by the spirit Of energy which is in
fused into the population and the means
for every Improvement and by the further
fact that it brings ont the boarded capital,
sets it afoat and makes it productive The
capitalist is stimulated and puts out his
money, and the laborer gets hold of it.
Cry taxes Why? It is better that every
idle, boarded dollar should be taxed out of
its den and set to work for the benefit of
the community, as we'll as of the capitalist.
Five hundred dollars taken out of safe
and SET 10 work, in the way of machinery
and improvements, will do the work of
many men. The man who locks up his
in lis safe and goes out to work
himself is unwise. His money can do more
work than lie can. Judicious management
in giving direction to our system of inter-
nal improvements will place us in the pos
session Of advantages equal to any, and
to most of the other States. It
has been often urged that the commerce of
North Carolina must forever be circum-
scribed, because it had become common
to say the coast was iron bound" But
when the transports and fleet of the Fed
eral army came with its immense supplies
to General Sherman, the delusion was for
q time dispelled. Admit that our harbors
are not so safe as some, yet remember that
we are near enough to the great emporium
Of commerce and trade for profitable pur-
poses. Weldon is the same distance from
New York that Buffalo is, in the same
State. The great Erie Canal was COM
menced and carried on through the great
est opposition De Wit Clinton at cost of
S36, 900, 600. and so powerful were its adj
in developing Western New York,
that now that section gives employment to
the canal and double track railroad along
by its side.
With climate more favorable, a water
power superior and mineral wealth yet
unknown, as to the extent of its resources,
gold, silver, iron, coal. copper,
&c. ank particular sections, such as the
valley of the Deep River. capable of sup
porting its million of inhabitants, the
rapid increase of the wealth of Pennsylva-
MIA, upon the opening of her Coal Fields,
by railroads and canals. is but plain ex-
ample pointing out the way to North Caro-
lima. Up to 1868, Pennsylvania had spent
SAG, 900, 900 for internal improvements
leading to her coal, and the benefits fow-
ing therefrom induced the highest state of
in that great State.
North Carolina, situated on line from
Memphis to the Atlantic Ocean, land Mem
phis, the center of the great cotton grow
ing region, which produces at least !, $780, |
300 bales,) is in the route Of the Southern
Pacific Railroad with an area of $4,000
square miles and by the census of 1860, a
cash value in farms of $143, 900, 600 as
against SCI, 100000 in 1850, nearly double
in ten years. It was in these ten years that
mr. Raiirna6 svCtan WAS commanded -