The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-04-05
The Railroad Wars.

at heart than those Of the State Of Virg'
mia, our views upon the situation have
been more general than special. We
would have shut of the whole consiue'",
lion Of railroads by tho present session OF
the LEGISLATURE of Virginia. The recon
struct;on and restoration OF Virginia &c
her Mace of equality with the other states
in the Union was q matter OF such Sa'a'
importance and required such calnness anu
concentration of mental power that no mat
tar foreign to it or not inseparabie from IL
should have been allowed to enter either
branch of the General Assembly; and VIC
confess our surprise at the eagerness with
which bill after bill has been brought for
ward-bills that might and should have
waited until the State was fairly restored
and ready to give her attention to her do
rnest;c affairs. We are satisfied that these
bills and the activity Of lobby men,
bcrs" have to some extent disconnected
the Legislature and caused delay in some
matters relating to the re-Sstabishment OF
the civil authority that has resulted disas-
trously.
Fully impressed with this opinion, had
ye the power we should have summoned
the lobbyists by the blast of q horn, ana
ordered them out Of the city, with O com
mand not to appear here again until the
State was resstablished and all the depart
ments of her Government in full operation.
What is wanted for Virginia is time.
This is not the day for inundating the
Legislature with local concerns and railroad
wars. The great deluge has not fairly sub
sided, What exact fern the surface will
present when the dove gracefully drops the
olive branch we cannot foresee, and there
fore we cannot now determine what policy
will be proper. Could we wait till then we
would be better protected from blunders,
and Virginia herself would be better able
to shield her true interests from injury.
In her hour of chrysali. weakness, before
her limbs are fairly formed, she is in great
danger of becoming victim to voracious
enemies. Give her two years-nay, even
one-aud she will probably be cafe and
able to shape her policy with wisdom and
success, so as to encourage domestic indus
try, protect her own commerce, and facili-
tate the building up of great cities within
her own borders, giving her farmers such
markets for all their products ut home as
will enable them to get promptly the re-
ward of their labor, and thus rapidly to
improve their lands and enhance immense
~ the revenues of the State.
Oh, for this time-this time to revive
and reinvigorete Virginia-this time to pre-
pare for the shaping of her own policy and
. the efficient protection of her own inte-
rests.
If the Legislature saw the present in
this light it could soon rid itself OF all an
noyanee, all diversion of it's mind and Ia
Dor from the only subjects which should
now engage it's attention. Those subjects,
under their most favorable aspects, should
be adjourned to future day. But, pre-
scented as they are now, they are full OF
complications and dangers. We have
studied them with some labor, and the more
We consider them the more we are im-
pressed with the impolicy of legislating
upon them now. We have considered them
separately, and their relations to one an
other, and when endeavoring to combine
$wo or more interests We have suddenly
found snake in the grass that threatened
poison to the State. With o medley of i'll
devised lines-built out of the State Trea-
sury-located by those who did not pay for
them-we have schemes for consolidating
them and making them more powerful for
injury. In all the State there are but
three roads which promise any important
addition to its wealth. They are the Rich-
mond and Danville road, the Virginia and
Tennessee road, and the Chesapeake and
Ohio railroad. The rest arc merely local, or
engaged in quitting things through with
out leaving to the State more than the dust
shaken from their wheels as they pass
through staring crowds and dull towns
whose disappointment at not growing very
great is but poorly consoled by the refiec
ton that they have the chance of ride
and looking at the cars as they 20 by. TIL,
main North and South line is a mere pas
senger line. 1t was projected by grea
man, who, had he built, as he might have
done, road to the Ohio, would have built
to himself monument that would have
been as enduring as the State. The Orange
and Alexandria line takes away from the
State its life blood, transferring to dis
lance the market for the Virginia farmer
who should have it at his door. Not even
Alexandria thrives upon it's frcishts. And
we see our own citizens bending in supplica-
ton before corporation out Of the State beg,
ging help to make railroads, for which help
they pledge the trade and the jewels OF
their State. What else is it 1t may be
said zoe borrow money to build railroads
and give to outside capitalists control of our
highways. All, but the argument there ID
that the roads themselves ale profitable
not that they will convey freights and trade
for outside communities to the injury Of
our own. But when we apply to great
city legislature to subscribe on behalf of
their people to road, even on the southern
border of Virginia, we inevitably back the
appeal by the promise that the investment
will richly reward the community on be-
half Of which the subscrintion is modo