Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1870-07-29
PASTURES TOWNSHIP.


SUB COMMITTEES. Sbert, Chair
man: D B Taylor, Kennerly Craig. A K
Clayton, S e Mugsn, J W Sitlingtop, N
Ryan, Jas Cross. Brown Allen, J G Slower,
Ephr Gs.ding. Maj VIM NJ Tate, Saml H
Bell, NJ S Cease, W D Rippetoe, Mr. Lack
ey, Henry Forrer, VIM Kunkle, VIM Arm
strong, r S Crsig, B 0 Furgsson, John
Sbouff, r N Wallace, Caleb Crons, DIR D
Bashaw, Luke Woodward, L r Boswell,
J S Guy, G. W McCutchen, Col + r Ster-
rett, G S Thompson, A Knowles, DR. A
Wilson, A B Lightner, John Roudsbusb,
D A Seig
By the
CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
TO THE VOTERS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
On the 9Th day of August next you will be
called on to determine by your votes, whether
you will subscribe 5000, 900 to the Stock of the
Valley Railroad Company. We have been APP
pointed Central Committee to use such proper
means and arguments and to disseminate such
information as will induce you to respond favor.
ably to the question to be submitted for your de-
cision. You will understand us, then, as ap-
preaching you in no partisan spirit, as the advo-
Gates of individual or sectional interests, hut
as friends of the proposition, that great line of
Railroad shall be carried thirty four miles through
the heart of Augusta county, and that you, who
we think, will be recipients of immense benefits
to flow from the construction of this Road, shall
help to make it. In various ways you have Civ
en- your confidence to many of us in times past ;
we think we have not heretofore deceived you by
our counsels, and we now unite land in this we
are sustained, we believe, by every citizen of the
county, in whom. at any time, you ever reposed
cran frItst \ in tn
vote for the subscription. We are influenced in
giving this advice, by considerations too nuner
Gus to be stated here in detail but we have care
fully pondered them ... -
Communities are generally Influenced in their
actions by two considerations: First, do honor
and good repute urge us to follow certain line
of conduct? and Second, does self-interest in
cline us in that direction? We are convinced
that both of these considerations demand that
you shall vote for this subscription.
Augusta county is the Empire county of Vir-
ginia; it is the most populous and wealthy coun-
ty in the State 1t has for many years been the
favored recipient of public monies, freely spent
in its borders; it has been distinguished by its
support, and advocacy of internal improvements,
and for its public spirit; it las for many years
past been earnestly desiring the construction of
great Railroad thoroughfare through the VAL
ley; it has, in connection with delegations from
all the Valley counties, gone, by its delegates in
large numbers, on two occasions, to the city of
Baltimore once under the immediate auspices
and personal lead of Gen Robert E. Lee, Ito
whom the construction of this road is an object
of peculiar interest:) and has urged and en-
treated Baltimore to aid in this great enterprise.
The efforts of her citizens in this regard, after
an earnest struggle, have been successful. Bal
timole has agreed to subscribe one million of
dollars, the Baltimore & Ohio Company has
agreed to subscribe another million, nay, more,
the sister counties along the line of the Road,
have subscribed $S00,0oO and the Town of
Staunton 100000. All this has been done, in
furtherance and part performance of what Au-
gusta county has demanded for many years
should be doGe, and vet all this must go for
naught-must fall as water poured on the sand,
without the cooperation of Augusta. All the
other subscriptions are conditional, and unless
an additional sum be subscribed by Augusta or
some other county or town in the Valley, they
must all fail. We know of no other county which
can or will subscribe an additional sum. We
confess that we shall feel humbled and wounded
in our reputation, as Augusta county men, if we
turn our backs on our friends at the crisis of tr
al, and refuse to unite with them; and the more
so, should the refusal be made for the reason urg
ed by some for pursuing this line Of conduct,
that this that somebody else will do the work and
we will get the benefits and pay nothing for
them. Take an illustration of this:-Six Eeigh-
bors want road made thro a district ofceuntry
for the accommodation aud convenience of ALL
five of them raise and are ready to expend the
means, on their part, to complete the road. The
sixth man, who happens to live midway between
the terminal points, says to his neighbors-T
want the road very much, it will be great bless
ing to me, but as think you are bound to have
it any how, without my contributions will do
nothing and either live without the road, or en-
Joy it at at your expense" This we say is not
the utterance of an Augusta county man of the
olden time and we trust no such thought will
be cherished and acted on by any of our peo-
pie. H u5 .-
Again self-.nterest governs communities
This is too wide field for comment here, but we
venture 70 say, that there is not a judicious man
in the county who will deny that, to the county
as whole, the construction and working of this
road will be immensely beneficial In the con-
struction Of 1t, simply, $l,25Q, oo0-(the far
greater portion of it other peoples money must
be spent in Augusta county. We all know how
the property holders and laboring men must
thrive and prosper in the midst of such an outlay
In the working of 1T, who can enumerate the
blessings it will confer upon our people? Located
as we will be just at the point of intersection of
the Chesapeake Ohio and the Valley Railroads,
just at the point of competition, our county in
its length and breadth will feel in all its inter
ests the effect Of reduced rates of transportation
on all its products and imports-its flour, corn,
bacon, beef, hay, live stock, iron and the many
products 1t senas abfaaa and on the plaster, salt,
fertilizers agricultural implements and merchan-
disc it imports. Two great rival markets. Balti-
more and Richmond, will compete for our trade;
two great rival lines will compete for our trans
portation Who can doubt that the cost Of trans
portation will be greatly reduced? If reduced
even slightly it will pay thetax; ten cents on
one dollar on ton of plaster 1.-TWO dollars can
easily be saved) will reduce the cost of that art
lie about $1,000. Consider, i'll addition, the
saving in hay freight on live stock and other
tonnage, and we must be of opinion that this
will be no gift, but wise and pay
ng investment.
A great deal has been said about the burden of
he tag. TIE real and personal property Of the
whole county of Augusta, on tbs basis of the as
of 1856, in part, is valued at Sl2, 4o7,
595. BY the census of 1860, the real and person.
u property of the comfy, exclusive of slaves,
was estimated at SIG, 900, 900 in round numbers;
md by the report of the Auditor of Virginia of
1861, the value of the real estate of the county
was $l4 1926, 39a, and of the personal property
slo,olY,aas. This lat incl e! the value Of
slaves, the number of which was 4,76S, which if
at $500 would produce the sum of ST.
354, 900, showing an aggregate Of about $22,-
100000 of real and personal property in the en-
tire county. 4 pqrtien Of thig pereonal property
however, was not taxable.
But on the basis of 1856 alone, 10 pay the in
Lerest, the tax will be Is cents on each hundred
dollars worth of property. So that if a man is
worth 1000, he will pay 81 so tax; if he is
worth $40, 900, he will pay $l5 90 tax; if he is
WORTH sac, 900, ha will pay &3Q 90 tax-no more,
no ess-eyen if no INCOME at all be derived d.
rectly from the road. But here we have the cons
tract rendered to us by the Orange, Alexandria 4
Manassas Railroad Company, to take our road
md work it at their owl expense and pay us for
the use of the Valley Road sixty per cent. of the
gross receipts. That is: $50 of every 500 Of
gross amounts for fare and fret ht received The
road will begin to pay, then, as SOON as it is FIN.
ished, section by section.
Again: The subscription of Augusta will SCI
cure the prompt completion of the whole line, and