The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-06-21
Richmond-The River and the Roads.
~, ,,.so,, NJ Richmopd Ia q matter OF

The condition Of Richmond Is matter OF
tha ~deerest interest to the people OF. ell
virginia. and of more or less anxiety to her
own citizens. II Richmond cannot DC buiiS
up into great city, then may Sirginia give
up all hope Of an important commerce OF
her own--or big city within her BORDERS
to furnish market for her farmers az sfle,F
own doors or to work up the r'eh oies "' '.'
which her mines abound. visionary
ra,h,;e .,e,,cy. controlled by men and COM
munities who drew the money OUT VI .no
public treasury to build roads 10 grasas
sectional sentiment, has much retarded the
only true and solid growth upon which the
wealth of the State could securely rest.
This visionary sectionalism has lett an im-
preston which it will take time TO eiiace.
II hncers around us. and still finds visiona-
ries in our midst who run after q, deiusloh
with the zeal Of enthusiasm.
But the natural forces which are directed
towards this city viii, with the energy ana
enterprise IF her citizens, in very Few
years triumph over the temporary perfef-
sion Of the public policy.
Recently recoverable we may say that
we have recovered--from the calainities OF
war, and fame, and almost famine, we ma
our city with multitude Of lines transport
inc freights across the State from northern
cities at rates so low that her own MGR
chants cannot send goods to towns south ana
west Of her rs cheaply as they can be sent
to those towns from northern citles nun
tireds. Of miles further from them. She nhos
that she has no voice in the management OF
any railroad, and can only trust to the force
Of anpeal and argument to procure some
modification of freight lists, which, If not
conceived in hostility to her, are as hurt
full as though they had been born IN
malice and ill-will. Every dollar OF
stock held by the city Of Richmond
in railroads was sold during the war
to clothe and feed the suffering and hungry
soldiers of the Confederacy, and yet south
ern patronage is claimed and given, to her
disadvantage, to northern communities on
the score of sympathy with the South.
From the Chesapeake bay TO the base OF
the Blue Ridge there is scheming and COM
peting and reducing Of through freights
adverse to the local interests of Virginia !;
and Richmond, the only city upon which
the State can base her hope of commerce,
has no voice in any railroad, and no man OF
great intellect and practical skill is working
to protect her. Naturally she should have
her hero-eyery such town has one. Where
is hers? She has had men capable OF be-
coming heroes, but they. were led off to
small conceits and limited fields Of indivi-
dual benefit, and left opportunities for inn
mortal fame as the builders of the CONNER
cial and physical greatness of their State
unoccupied. Some Of the achievements OF
those who might have secured such lame
are still whiting away the resources ana
power Of their native State.
Thus we stand. But we feel warranted
by the grand labor performed by this COM
munity since the war in believing that it Is
capable of meeting and triumphing over the
exigency, great as it is, in which we are
placed. They have passed through fire and
have come forth strong and resolute. They
lifted up their city out Of its ashes more
solid and beautiful than ever. and have
struggled through political oppression, po-
verify, and the injurious measures OF corpo-
rations which owed their existence to the
State, and to which Richmond contributed
more money than any other four cities IN
the State, and to-day are stronger and more
prosperous than at any time since the war.
The population Of this city is increasing,
and SO are her trade and her manufacturing
industry. This is enough to encourage us
all, and assure us of our power to meet the
exigency and to triumph over it, to the en-
during advantage and pride of the Common
wealth.
In looking at the disadvantages we labor
under we ask, How shall we get over them
PLAINLY, we must get power. That will
put an end to discrimination against us
that will give us control where we need it;
that win give us the full possession of our
geographical advantages.
How shall we get power? 1st. BY deep.
ening James river, so that there will be siX-
teen or eighteen feet in its channel. I'd. By
strengthening and shortening our lines of
communication with the West by the Nir-
ginia and Tennessee and the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroads. This effected, the sea-
going ships at Richmond will be brought so
much nearer the great points Of production
in the interior that their products, whether
Of fields or mines, must inevitably be
brought here. Only we must have COM
pleted the first great work OF deepening
James river SO that the exit of transports
ton from Richmond to the sea shall be easy
and safe.
These done, and Richmond becomes the
permanent terminus of the great Chesa-
peake and Ohio railroad. Our relation to
the great consolidated line we know must
be friendly and fair on both sides. What
ever irritability may now exist bearing
upon this relation must be temporary and
soon subside. In General MALONE we con-
6de. He is not Il sectional partisan, and is
not SO unpatriotic as to withhold justice
from the largest city in his native State. He
is, moreover, sagacious man-one Of in
domitable energy-and who will not fail in
the great struggle to swell the commerce Of
: Virginia to avail himself of the most effec-
tual means to do 80. He will not work in
hostility to the natural forces SO plainly In
dicated in behalf of the supremacy Of Vir-
ginia in physical power.
So, then, let us see. We shall have a
channel to the sea deep enough for all pur-
poses. We shall, by building hundred
miles of road to Lynchburg, be put in the
possession Of the advantages Of great high.
xyav enual In tho Baltimore and Ohio rail.