Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-05-30
The Valley Railroad.

The following, from the Baltimore Gazette,
is encouraging, and looks like work. We hope
soon to see hundreds of hands engaged on this
great work between Staunton and Harrison
burg:
From the assurances made by gentlemen
from Augusta county, that the sum of fifty
thousand dollars required by the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad will be promptly subscribed,
there IS every reason to believe that the Valley
Road will soon be put under contract, and COM
pleted as far as Staunton. Indeed, the con-
struction of this portion of the road is almost
matter of necessity, for without it the branch
from Harper's Ferry to Harrisonburg is com
paratively valueless. 1t is indispensable that
the road should be continued to Staunton.
where it will connect with the Chesapeake and
Ohio Road, and be in condition to command
something more than local travel and traffic
At this point the Valley Road will stop. at
least, for the present. A changed condition of
things has brought with it change of views,
and the Baltimore and Ohio Road has ceased
to desire connection about which it was. ap-
parenty, SO anxious three years ago.
Baltimore has always been particularly up-
fortunate about Its Southern railroad connec-
tons. The curse of our first blunder. made
years ago, when we neglected to avail our
selves of the choice of routes which VIRGINIA
placed at our disposal, and failed to secure the
subscription she literally offered US, still seems
to stick to u.s. and we are to-day, after a lapse
OF more than quarter OF century, without
close connections with those portions of the
country with which we are united bv ties of
sympathy and interest and upon the trade of
which the business prosperity of our CITY has
chiefly depended.
1t is all very well for us to bring grain and
pork to this port, and to have an increased de-
mand for sugar and Coffee But the wholesale
merchants who thrive, and the large dealers
and refners who grow rich, are few In number,
compared with the hundreds of jobbers and re-
tail merchants who depend exclusively On
Southern patronage Tor their out of town trade.
1t is not Western men who make our streets
busy, who patr0nlze our stores, who fill our
hotels, and who give life to our places of amuse-
ment. On the contrary, there is probably less
personal Western custom here to-day than
| there was five and twenty years ago, and, al
though it will undoubtedly grow again. now
that our city, which has grown and Drospered
without Western assistance, is in q position 10
command Western trade by the advantages it
offers, it is no less evident that our Southern
trade would have grown much more ranidlv.
had we made one-half the effort to encouraec
1t that we have done to secure the business of
the West. We have had Wheeling Branch
and Parkersburg Branch for years, and We
have added to it Marietta and CINCINNATI
Branch, all three of which would have been
bankrupt before this time, if the road which
constructed them had depended On the travel
and traffic they commanded and had not been
sustained by enormous profits realized bv the
business Of the Cumberland coal region. and
by such other trade as resulted naturally from
the development OF Baltimore, due chiefly to
its large and growing Southern business. That
they are beginning to be profitable no is due
| much more to the fact that Baltimore is valll-
able to them than they are indispensable to
Baltimore.
When We reflect upon these things, it is ip,-
possible not to be struck with and admire I'll e
policy OF the Pennsylvania Railroad in regard
to its Southern connections. 1t is striking out
boldly for new fields, over routes which at pres
ent command little freight business. But the
experiences OF this road have taught its astu te
managers that there are problems in railroad
transportation which have never vet been
solved, and that, with improved management,
superior machinery and more durable rails, it
Is even yet impossible to tell to what low fig
ures railroad freights may safely be reduced
Although they may not compete successfully
with water transportation still, they can do so
| for several months In the year, and there is
| every reason to believe that, within compar-
atlvely short period, a life and activity will be
given to Virginia roads, which has never before
| been witnessed in that State.
Can any one doubt the sagacity Of this pei
icy? Suppose the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road had embraced it at the close Of the war,
when Virginia offered us everything we asked
Suppose we had commenced the Valley Road
and had obtained the control of the Virgin ia
| and Tennessee Road, as we then could have
done, and through it have struck down through
Tennessee to Memphis, and through Georgia
and Alabama to New Orleans, can any ole
doubt thai We should by this time have built
up vast and profitable trade, and made Bal
timore market, frequented by hosts of visit
ors from all parts of the South
We should notonly have benefited ourselves,
bat we should have aided those who looked
naturally to US for assistance. Il will all come,
no doubt, and probably soon now ; but ii
would have been much more satisfactory to us
to have inaugurated policy which would have
proved profitable as well as credtable, rather
than to wait until we are driven info il by conf
petition, as we undoubtedly shall be. We
might have led. We must, it seem s, rest COZ
tent with following.