The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-08-16
Local Interests andsRailroads.

Railroads have produced great reYolll-
ton, social, commercial, and political: yet
their agencies are not fully developed, nor
have the laws which must finally control
them been fully understood. In this coun-
try the area is so immense, and the trade
between distant points so active, that the
minds of railroad officials have been con-
fused. The magnitude and grandeur OF
railroad agencies have diverted their atten-
ton from intervening interests and matters
of minor extent, but very serious import
ance. CHANGING from the rising to the set
ting sun, they forget the intervening space,
and devote their plans and actions to the
extremes.
There must be n corrective OF this pre-
yailing disposition of railroad management.
Railroads took the place of land-carriage by
the wagons and teams Of old times. These
permeated the entire country, and distribu-
ted equally to the extent Of their capacity
the benefits of commerce. 1t is but just TO
the people that the agency which sue
ceeds the old means of transportation
should be fair and equal in the dspcnSation
of its benefits. Communities should not
be deprived of the advantages of their near
ness to market by subjecting them to
charges for transportation greater than
those imposed upon populations hundred
miles further off.
1t will be found ultimately by AL roads
that the building up of the local trade is
their true policy. Railroad companies may
be compared to the owners of immense
estates. All the territory near enough to
their lines to use them for transportation
may be considered as managed for their
benefit. 1t is their interest that it should
be rapidly improved and peopled. For
thus their transportation and travel are
ultiphed, and their revenues continually
increased. The managers of the estate
should be stimulated to increase its pro-
G.iction. Every inducement should be Of
fered for this purpose. II there is any arti-
Gle Of value, either agricultural or mineral,
that cannot pay the tariff upon it, and must
be lost, that tariff should be lowered until
it, 50 to speak, lifts up the article and con
veys it to market, makingit thing Of value
instead of an incumbrance upon the earth
Thus the railroad company may make itsel
as a thrifty landlord, its receipts multiply
ing In geometrical order-its line shown!
its own liberal policy in the well-tillet
farms, the bright and happy villages, tn
lively, contented, and thrifty population
that at every station appear to look aite
the brisk commerce which has grown u,
through an enlightened and wise policy.
This policy has broader benefits. It in
creases the growth and wealth of the Stat
and promotes the industry and public vii
tue Of the communities who are its benef
aa. s4s stimulates industry, encourage
economy, and diminishes idleness. Wit
thjs enlightened view guiding and govern
ING the rulers of great roads, and with tn
ultimate adoption OF the narrow gauge roa
TO supply the wants of wide strips of cour
trv intervening between the trunk railways
we NAV imagine perfect state Of railroa
transportation, and the equal and gener'
EXTENSION of railway facilities to the Who'll
of society.
In this State we proceed slowly toward
this hberalized system. A little light ha
been shed, and some relaxation in the hars
dealings with local interests has taken place
,rbere il great room for improvement.
We confess that, owing to the prostratio
Of our State and the strange direction give
to our railway routes, much difficulty nj
arisen In the way OF better policy tina
that which has prevailed. But this dif!
Guilty 10 gradually diminishing, and fe'