The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-02-07
SPIRIT OF THE MORNING PRESS.

that chlmera, Win us nerculean cluO,
if it were the veritsbe hydra. Bewa
neighbor, that you do not fall heir to {
tabled shirt which proved the her
death. With an air of injured innocent
that would well become "young g
from the country" it shows how it W
deceived and seduced, if not "raped i
tirely," by the Phladelphians:
As soon as we came to comprehend the FL
import of the devices of the Pennsylvania a
venturers, we were convinced that they invol
ed the vital interests of this Common we alth
that under the pretence of building roads an
investing money in the State, they were a
tempting to get existing roads for mere son
Ito swamp the interest of the State and a
private stockholders not in their ring, in thos
roads, and to operate them for the sole and e,
elusive benefit Of Philadelphia. Thus impress
ed, we have felt it high and solemn duty /
light en- the intriguants, and put our peopl
and Legislature on their guard.
Well, we'll f; that's all right No on
doubts the purity of your motives. 1t il
not necessary for you to defend yoursel
before this community, which has know
you from infancy to second childhood, anc
life. You were the dupe of designing Phil.
adelphia sharpers and Pennsylvania adj
venturers, II but are no longer their victim
So there's an end of it. Your eyes have
been opened aud now all you have to do is
to keep them open.
But speaking Of New jersey having grown
rich by taxing travel through her borders,
was the tax of fifty cents ahead she
assessed upon each passenger, the only
source of profit to that State Did not
the people reap any benefit by the increase
of business, and the enhancement of the
value of their property ? and would not
it have been better perhaps for that State
ifshe had never put that tax upon passen-
gers going through ? But Virginia is not
in the position of New Jersey. There was
but step across her territory between
New York and Philadelphia, and there was
really no hating place midway.
Here, however, we have Richmond and
other points at regular and proper inter-
walls, which can be built up into CONNER
clal and business Importance. Here travel
ers will stop, if we can offer them induce
ments; while in New Jersey they would
not even stop to eat dinner. The indirect
tax we will collect will be larger per head
than the direct assessment by New Jersey.
But why waste argument2 It is so plain
that Virginia will be benefited by this
road, and by all roads, that it would ap>
pear like reflection upon the common
sense of the people for us to enter into
serious argument to prove fact so self
evident and universally admitted.
The Dispatch very coolly discourses of |
the mildness of our climate, as seated by
blazing fire its hale sssenior looks out upon
the hills covered With snow But our
neighbor is right. Richmond has the best
climate we have ever tried, and our expe-
rience has been varied in this land of |
ours. We prefer it to Louisiana or Texas,
or Mexico on the one hand and to the /
shores of the Northern lakes on the other. /
Indeed we think it the golden nean---the
very place for an earthly paradise. When |
it comes to be better known through our |
railroads running North and South passing |
the different zones Of mperature, its
excellent qualities will be better appre-
ciated.
That is one good thing our all-rail line |
to Washington will do for us. Thousands |
of people will pass to and fro from New |
England to Florida each year, and they |
win, by personal observation, learn some
thing good of our people and soil and eli |
mate. The Dispatch says in opening its
remarks:
Strangers who sojourn brief time in Rich |
mond hardly ever fail to express their admiras |
tion for its grateful temperature and lovely |
scenery. This has been quite noticeable the |
present season. Very many travellers just |
from the unacceptable cline Of the North have
been quite enthused by the "etheriai mildness"
which prevailed here. Nor are the summers /
of Richmond exhaustive. The thermometer does |
test term in New York. Nor is the heat of |
that kind which enervates and prostrates |
man.
At all seasons we have here the happy me-
dunn, which is most cheering and most favora- |
BILE to the active energies Of men in all pur-
suits. So no city in the Union can excel |
Richmond in healthfuness. Daniel Webster
celebrated the delicious summer climate and
graceful shade trees of Richmond in his letters |
to the manager of his Marshfeld farm. Those |
charming letters are well rem embered by /
many.
Then it foreshadows our future, W hen we I
shall be connected with the West by our
Ohio and Chesapeake railway-with the
teeming valley of the upper Mississippi
and closes, glowingly, as follows:
Abreast of the city sweeps the tide moved by
the Atlantic, and this gives us an outlet to sea
soon to be deepeled to eighteen feet. With
this access to the ocean, and with the railroads
which connect this city Tor soon willy with the
South and the West, there will be no obstruc
tion to our commerce. Manufacturing enter
prise will here find the raw material accumu
lated in the most ready and cheapest manner,
and also a ready market for the fabrics of man
ufacturing industry.
No man can look upon this theatre, and en-
joy the grateful temperature that prevails
here, without feeling that Richmond must be-
come great city. The natural stimulus to
industry and enterprise, with the aids of those
completed, will force its people to the business
activity and unfageing enterprise that will
insure to their city that growth and opulence /
that will make her queen city of the Middle
States
But the West will not bring us popula-
ton. 1t will, in fact, take that from us.
We may feed that section with muscle and
manufactures, and it may feed us with
grain; but in order to obtain the means to
do all this we must look elsewhere for
money and mentor capital and immi-
grafton and, therefore, while we SEX to
make the West tributary, we should not
be unmindful Of the fact that our source
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