The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-01-14
G. H A r L z S TON.
THURSDAY MORNING. JANUARY IA, 1869
The Port Royal Railroad.

The Port Royal Railroad.
IL seems that there are more schemes ane
plots in quiet Columbia-the honored cepi
tai of the State-than were dreamed Of il
our philosophy. The debt of the State II
but five millions-a "fea- bite" as Chancel
lor of the Exchequer Disraeli said Of tn.
English national debt--and the expendi
lures for the current year will be no more
than about threefourths of o million. NJ
wonder, then, that the lobbyists and wire.
pullers are excited to distraction. and tha,
it is gravely proposed to subsidize O rail-
road from Augusta to Port Royal.
The railroad undertakings Of this State
the devious Greenville Railroad, staggering
and faint; the cautious Northeastern, weary
and worn, but making gallant fight with
small means; the mammoth South Carolina,
much abused and more worthy, creeping
steadily to the top Of dividend hill; the in
choate Savannah and Charleston, which has
swallowed many millions and will not swal-
low more; the litigant Augusta, whose motto
is never despair; the small fry of Laurens,
and Kings Mountain, and Coalields, and
Anderson, and the like, of whom least said
is best;-all these undertakings, by their
wealth, their success, and their mighty fu-
ture-always to be the future tempt the
ring in Columbia to new adventures. and
encourage them to spend more money-not
their own.
A railroad creates traffic. AS soon as
the iron rails are spiked in place, and the
steam giant snorts through swamp and bar
rem, men spring from the virgin soil, pines
become fields of tasselled corn, and feecy
cotton mantles the ground where the oaks
were wont to grow. And this not in CEN
tury or decade, but in year or month.
AT least, 80 seem to think these wiseacres
who preach this new route to the sea.
Perhaps it is that what is not enough for
one must be enough for two. AS the trains
roll from Augusta to Port Royal and frsm
Augusta to Charleston, carrying the freights
of the South and West, the new conner NAV
find all the business she needs, and the old
conner be none the worse; for by the reas-
oning Of the ring,sthe part y greater than
the whole.
And admitting that this Port Royal line
will have naught of business save neigh
borhood trade, and not scrap of foreign
trade but what it can wrest from the sober
South Carolina, it is at least worth while
to build it 80 that the horn Of Port Roval
may be exalted.
There is grand harbor and great depth
Of water, and there are fine building sites
and thousands Of acres Of land-owned by
patriots, and to be sold when folks are fools
enough to buy--and surely there should be
built up city which shall rival Charleston
and relieve her Of the trade which she has
not means to conduct This Charleston has
twenty millions Of dollars worth Of real es-
tate, and twenty millions Of cotton and mer,
chandise trade-all according to tho tax
oooks-and a'population Of forty thousand
eating and drinking men, women and child
rem. And if Port Royal can be created and
Charleston be destroyed, will not the land
speculator be benefited, and will not the
new city, in the course Of ages, be stately,
md rioh, and dulls
For all these things,-to add one more to |
hese railroads which will dc SO much for
hose who own them, to pull down this
'orty thousand city, to put rolls of verdant |
ucre into the hands of our brethren of the |
Softh,--it is plainly the duty Of the State to |
tea thousand dollars q mile to the !
'oad from Port Royal to Augusta The |
money will be as productive as though it
we're flung into the sea; the road will be a |
OBJ and snare throughout; the effect may |
'e ruinous and cannot be advantageous; but |
Mr.. Thisman and Mr.. Thatman will be freed |
rom the cares Of life, and the debt Of South |
'arolina will be made in bulk more worthy
# her fame
But what comes after? There's the rub.
70 Legislators at Columbia!