The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-07
From the Parkersburg State Journal.l
What West Virginia Needs.

Our great want is productive industry.
We must make something to sell. A
State or nation which has the balance
OF trade against it will always be poor;
it cannot prosper as long as it buys
more than it sells. Our farms must be
made to produce more than the farmer
consumes before the farmer can make
money. If we use more coal or iron or
lumber than we produce, we are losing
money just as long as this is the case,
so far as these articles are concerned,
and so of everything else. We have
talked of our inexhanstible coal fields,
our fertile lands, our abundance of the
best timber that grows, our beds of iron
ore, and the extent Of our undeveloped
oil territory, until the people of other
States are ready to laugh at us. We
may continue to boast about these
things until the crack ofdoom, but they
will be OF no advantage to US until
they are developed and put into market
When this is done We may boast to
some purpose, and bring about results
that cannot fail to enrich US as peo-
pie. That we have natural undeveloped
wealth enough to make US great
State is unquestioned, but capital, labor
and skill are needed to give it shape and
value for use.
In travelling up the magnificent Ka
nawha Valley to Charleston two weeks
ago, on one OF the steamers which run
between that place and Gallipolis, Ohio,
we had a striking illustration of the
truth of what we have said in the be-
ginning of this article. On the boat we
found large quantities Of worked floor
ing boards, panel doors, shutters and
window sash, wagon hubs, spokes, and
other kinds of carriage and wagon stuff,
furniture, cast iron hollow-ware, and
even considerable amounts Of farm pro.
duce. Nearly all these articles came
from the State of Ohio. What is still
more remarkable, we saw boat load OF
sawed white pine timber, brought from
the State of Michigan. for the bridges on
the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.
We were informed that nearly every
boat going to Charleston was laden with
the productions of other States, and that
thew returned with comparatively little
freight. The Kanawha VALLEY ought
to raise produce enough for its entire
population and have thousands of dol
lars worth to sell besides, and Charles
ton should manufacture every one ofthe
articles we nave enumerated, instead OF
sending for them to the State OF Ohio or
elsewhere. If the Kanawha Valley
keeps on at this depicting process it
may become Paradise, but it will be a
Paradise only for the money lender.
There are enterprising men in
that Valley laboring hard to turn
the tide of trade in the oppo-
site direction from the one we have
named, and we sincerely hope they may
succeed. Our own city would not be
the worse Of a few men like them, in
addition to those we already have. AS
a people we should bend all our ener-
gies for the establishment of manufac-
tories at desirable points; the construc-
ton of works of internal improvement,
and to secure a more thorough and sci
entific cultivation of the soil. This
party in power or that one may assist
us somewhat; but to achieve these re-
suits we must depend more upon our
selves than the policy Of any political
party. 1t is an old but true proverb
that God helps those who help them
selves"