The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-03-03
-,.,,,oeea Destruction Of the Southern
Trade of Richmond.

proposed Destruction OF the southe'i
Trade of Richmond.
Tho legislature of Virginia VIII greatly
,,,.,ake and underestimate its mission
:, should bind its faith or direct Its action
tn exclusive encouragement of any one
railway interest of the State. There muS'
be diverse interests. Nature created theti'
geography records them, and experience
enforces them. It is nonsense TO say tnat
they cal, be made Identical, and 1t Is iolls
to fear that they must be antagonlstic.
Nothing of the sort. Each has its des'
tiny. There is no occasion for rivalry De-
tween routes leading in opposite directions.
More than that, there is no possibility OF
such competition unless some aonormai
and improper influences be eSerted 70 pro-
duce that result.
If creation were to be remodelled, if chaos
were resstabliShed, and the Virginia Legis-
lature should be entrusted with the task
and power of evolving order by determine
ton of situations and directions, then per-
haps there might be some excuse for an
idea which entertains the purpose Of alter
ing those things which the food left estsb-
lished. -...,..... .s. "a .......,ssr we
But faithful and generally able as our
General Assembly has been, there seems no
immediate prospect Of its being entrusted
with this special mission; and therefore we
think that whether in search Of the line oil
policy or the line of duty, its members
should seek guidance rather from the can.
dies Of the past and the gas-lanps of the
present than from any dimly probable re-
Hector which the future may seem to
possess
The problems of railway policy which
have been presented for the solution OF the
present Legislature have offered new fea-
lures, il is true but there has been nothing
either in the principles underlying them,
or in the results to flow from them, which
need bewilder the mind once fixed upon a
decision as to what is right. ....
Long aso-years before most of those
who now control the destinies of the Com
monwealth had lite, movement, or being
the projectors of the railway system of Viz
gnia laid down q theory which should
govern this branch of the State develop.
ment. The idea they conceived has been
received rs orthodox, has been accepted in
theory. has been executed in practice. II
has controlled the conception, the autho.
rization, the construction, and The opera
ton of our railroads and other avenues o.
trade. To its adoption we owe the Chesa
peake and Ohio road and the james River
and Kanawha canal. TO its continued pre-
servation we are indebted for that granC
arrangement which links the Virginia coast
to the great garden of the Southwest
What was the theory Of our predecessors
and what is the system which expresses it
That the east and west, and north and
south lines of the State should be entirely
independent of each other; that the former
should be built and managed for the
primary object Of creating large CONNER
cal intel est on our coast, and that the latter
should be constructed and managed so as
to secure the great through travel between
the ultimate eastern and the great Atlantic
port, and to feed our Virginia markets with
supplies from adjacent sections.
There aoas no possibility Of competition,
no contemplation Of antagoniSm. On the
contrary, to prevent such result it was
fist, and has since been, wisely ordered
that different widths of track should OBJ.
tain.
And now when such for forty years has
been the theory and practice of Vagina,
when millions have been spent to maintain
the correctness Of both opinion and action,
what do we find?
A company, fostered and maintained by
the concurrence of the people generally in
this belief, coming forward to dispute the
very foundation upon which itself rests,
and asking permission from the Legislature
to throw from its main length an obstruct-
Ing arm into the line Of our northern and
southern connections.
The proposition offered ny Mr.. WooD in
the House yesterday is the case to which
we allude. 1t utilities the entire record of
our representatives, repudiates the whole
past Of Virginia, destroys every existing
capacity Of the two largest cities in the
State to protect themselves, entirely dis.
regards and opposes the wishes Of a DOW
crful section, and justifes suspicion that
Its projectors are in league with powers
which know none but foreign objects.
The subject is one which our Senators
and Representatives would do well to
study. If the Atlantic, Mississippi and
Ohio Company is prepared to sacrifice the
southern business of Richmond to its own
obligations to Mr.. ROBINSON, to its own in
capacity to take advantage of charter al
ready granted it to occupy ground between
Richmond and Petersburg, or to a simple
desire to take from the DanuiHe road the
freight no,o recetued from Burker,lle, why
the sooner this city understands these facts
the better. 49, " =
And If neither of these suppositions are
based on reality, why does not General MA.
HONE accept liberal terms of transit over
the track of the present Richmond and Pc.
tersburg Company? Such have been Of:
Tered, and still are open to him.
# ...r.l #r" .
The Funding System.