The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-05-18

The Whig continues to charge the Chcsa-
peake and Ohio Railroad Company with op-
position to consolidation. Without under
taking to speak for that company further
than to express our opinion, based on its
acts as far as we know them, we say that if
the Wing means that the company has Of
its own motion, or through any authorized
agency, made any effort to influence the
Legislature on the subject Of consolidation,
we are satisfied that it is altogether mis-
taken.
The original plan of the consolidationists
was to occupy the road-bed previously
granted to the Chesapeake and Ohio road
from Clifton Forge to Lynchburg. The
company regarded this proposition as an
infringement Of its rights, and proceeded
to oppose it with energy. Further than
simply to protect its rights in this particu-
lar we do not think the company has gone.
Whatever we may think of consolidation,
we do not see the justice of the continued
attempt to excite resentment towards this
company. 1t is under the management of
gentlemen living out of the State, but who
reside, nevertheless, in city having
no interests, we believe, incompatible with
ours. They furnish the money to build the
road, and its management was awarded to
them as a guarantee against mismanage-
ment, misrepresentation, and extravaganza
for the profits Of the enterprise to these
gentlemen depend entirely upon the sue
cessful administration of the affairs of the
road. In this respect their interests and
ours are in entire sympathy. The State
and the stockholders living in Virginia can
richly afford to give the managers all they
can make by judicious management Of the
great work, since the benefits that will
enure to the State and people from such
management will not only reimburse them
for the sacrifice, but confer the most
magnificent and enduring benefits upon
them. The cutlery against foreign
corporations we do not think liberal.
We should invite capitalists to invest their
money in Virginia. Every dollar they
plant in our soil binds them to that extent
to do what they can to advance the pros
perity of the State. Our railroads are gen.
orally built by foreign capital, and we cam
not make great deal by throwing susp1-
cions upon them. True, it has not been the
custom to give capitalists out Of the State a
participation id the management of roads
in which they made investments. In
the case Of the Chesapeake and Ohio we
have departed from the old rule, and con-
fded that road to men Of means, great en-
terprise, unsurpassed practical judgment
and energy. The result, we are satisfied, viii
show the wisdom Of the step. We shall
have two hundred miles of railroad com
pleted in two years, when under
our own management it took thirty
three years to build the two hun
dred miles that are now completed
Some difference. 1t would have been mucl
better for the State had a foreign compan,
built these latter two hundred miles. Th
road, finished even twenty years ago, would
have gone far towards paying off the publ,
debt by this time.
We think it is nothing more than simple
justice to say that the gentlemen composing
the present directory of the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroad have acted in very dis
Greet and becoEaing manner. They have
taken no part in the railroad squabbles of
the State further than to protect their own
rights. Save days business visit from Mr..
HUNTINGTON, We believe none of the out
side directory have been to Richmond this
winter.