The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-02-06
Grsaii's state gaariial.
MONDAY EVENING, FEB 6, 1871
SPIRIT OF THE moKNlNG pmEss. |

sP1Hir Of THE MORNING PRE-,
The Dispotch has two ideas--one is
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and /
other the cultivation of fish in the Pc
mac. Those are its pets and hobbi
They are both good in their way; bl
then, they are not the sole hope of our cit
Though we may receive flesh from Il
bills and good red-herring from the sea
yet we must have salt from some 9th
source, or we shall not be saved. The sa
we want is capital to start our manufactu
ing enterprises at Richmond, and to estat
lish business houses, enlarge the city an
make it attractive. at present Burkes
vile and Gordonsville offer quito as man
inducements for travellers to stop overnigh
at their hotels, and visit their theatres anc
topera-houses, or pass two or three days il
looking around at their works of art. public
buildings, libraries, parks, and other OBJ
Jects of interest, and establishing business
relations with their merchants, as our CITY.
A man starts from the Ohio, or anywhere
West or South, in Chesapeake car for
richmond. On the way he picks up one
OF our papers and looks over its adver-
Using columns. He searches in vain for
anything to afford him nights ann Sc
ment should be stop here, and SO be passes
on through to Philadelphia or New York.
where he can combine both bushes and
pieasure-the two-fold object of his trip.
But should no happen to stop, he is
carried away down town, away up town, or
srodnd town, through filthy little alley
ways, over the toughest kind of cobble-
stones, past rows of miserable shanties. to
our only hotels, from the windows of
which be gazes out upon and admires the
magnificence of Butchertown, or enjoys
the distant beauties of Church Hill. Com |
ing down stairs in the morning, he goes |
out into the city, but fails to 6nd anything
to interest him in Richmond, votes it a |
dull place, slow town, with a selfish
people, who will neither eat hay, nor suf-
Ter others to approach their manger; and,
after wandering around awhile ia loneli-
ness, he again seeks the disagreeable quar-
ter of the town in which our first-eass ho-
tells are located ,-retires to bis ROOM for
there is nobody to talk to,--and if there
were anybody, we are all so suspicious of
strangers he would not heed or give
him civil word. Night comes, and he
inquiries the way to the theatre or opera,
or lecture room, Or some place of amuse-
ment. He is told that Richmond is too
moral to have such places. That ours is a
,ity of churches, and does not support
'uch devils workshop as the playhouse,
md that the only place Of amusement We
lave is ga little theatre around the corner" /,
Which of course he attends and finds it to
70 10 every respect place of entertain
nent worthy of the city. His ideas of
richmond, are carried far abroad and the q q
Experiences he relates are not very strong
Inducements to other travellers to tarry,
ven night with us. Our railroads will
ring people and trade this way, but un-
sss we can entertain and interest them
nth something more than dull SER .
1on on Sunday and the little "Acade- II
ny of Music" during the work, land -
re had almost forgotten them, the "Skat- p
,g Rink" and our cold, barn-like theatre, r
'hich is open only enthusiastically they a
nil most certainly learn to pass on &
trough, and we shall indeed be but flag ?
tation. Puritanisms and sel6shness are i
ur distinguishing virtues. So long as +
70 can keep the Heather out of the city, Pr
nd remain good Pharisees, and con- y
act with Peter V. Daniel and Com y;
lodore McCready, as middlemen, to do u,
Il our business for us with the outside S
arbarians, we shall be pare and happy. il
We need neither toll nor spin. True, we %
lall be very poor, but what of that? To to
good is to be happy; and surely peo
10 who turn their city into monastery, in
ust be paragons of saintliness and pinks n,
moral propriety. The Chesapeake and e
hio road will have to pass US by, we IN
ar, on the one side, even as the South ar
de consolidation line has done on the Ia
her; and we see no hope for Richmond, r,
Mess her people arouse from their SUM ..
Or, and go to work themselves epergeti-
lly in the establishment of manufactures. -
be thunder of trains passing through r
ay awake them +; and, therefore, we shall l.
elcome as many railroads as can be built, 7,
neither by New York, or by Pennsyl- -
mia, or by any other capitalists, 10 the Il
,pe that they may arouse US to action. 10
The Dispatch, in speaking of this favor wi
, road, for which it does all the printing. "a "a
d which passes through its splendid farm
ar White Sulphur, says: J
In the strife and complication of railroad :,
ojects and interests, amid the intoxicating |
citement of the strategy of railroad kings,
der which many seem to lose their places du
d not to understand exactly where and to TO
lom they belong, the Dispatch has one star
,ich is its guide, and which can never mis- ser ser
I'd it. That bright and super-eminent illum- a oa
tor of its path is the Chesapeake and Ohio rea
ilroad. 1t is refreshing in the hour of con. lie
sion and conflict to see it dispensing its clear
ht aud steadily rejecting The bright promises in
Virginia and of this her greatest city, the
lich is emnenty entitled to her concern and i st
pport. 81,
The Chesapeake and Ohio railroad is rapidly ant
preaching completion. For the energy and she
irit with which the Western half Of it is y
essed, and the speed with which it will be :,
mpeted, it throws all other enterprises in this
ate and the South entirely in the shade. II
terprise, the mastery control of means and bal
zee, and wonderful rapidity of railroad
Instruction entitle man to wear the crown Ha
railroad king, that crown belongs to some OF
dy connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio o Sst
ilroad; bat it belongs to q man remarkable MI e.,
ke for his reticence and modesty That man Of
Mr.. Huntington, the president of the com i
ny; a man who had won his fame before he T
tered upon the Virginia theatre BY his gil TN
ntic achievements upon the Pacific Railway.
Well, we want some outlet for the trade !,
n ppnpla that are RI coma over thic road |