Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-09-26

through my efforts, bill deprlvlng jurors
: any compensation, which had passed bot
| branches OF the Legislature during my absenc
on account OF sickness, was defeated by tt
+ Veto of the Governor. Had this bill met wit
) the approval of the Executive and became
law, you would have been dragged from yor
pows and workshops to sit for day
and weeks without any remuneration for 10:
OF time and expenses necessarily incurred fl
board &C., and all this before salaried Judge
Commonwealth Attorney, and feed lawyers.
; l further affirm that principally through N
efforts the only measures for the relief of th
debtor class passed the legislature. | am sur
that you are satisfied that even the meagre re
lief afforded by these bills has prevented muc
sacrifice OF property and suffering.
VALLEY RAILROAD BILL.
Although an earnest advocate of internal i'm
provements, | defeated in the House of Dele
gates bill authorizing vote upon a sub
scription of 100000 by the people of August,
to the Valley Rail Road. My reasons for op
position to the bill were purely of represen
tatlve character-I was satisfied, as subsequen
events proved, that the people of Augusti
was question affecting their property, and
deemed it to be my duty as their representa-
tive to carry out what [ was satisfied were their
wishes on the subject After the defeat OF
this bill in the House, the friends of the Shen-
| andoah Valley Rail Road united with those of
the Valley Rail Road, and got bill through
the Senate by unanimous vote, authorizing a
subscription to both roads. The prestige of
the vote by which it passed the Senate and the
combination of the friends of both roads, made
defeat In the House next to an impossibility.-
Under these circumstances | assented to the
passage of the bill, with proviso, that the
IL Il.
tending the vote, and with the further under
standing that the submission should be final
ity of Rail Road subscriptions so far as the
people of the county of Augusta were con-
cerned. Another reason that induced me to
accept OF this compromise was because the
Shenandoah Valley Railroad had right, by a
bill previously passed, to submit question Of
subscription to that road, to the people of Au-
gusta-and by the terms of the compromise
they waived, forever afterward, the right of
submission. l know that my position on this
subject has been greatly misunderstood by the
people OF Augusta, and that at the hands of
some, l have received much censure; but real
ly, after the combination of the friends of both
roads and the unanimous passage of the bill in
the Senate, opposition was useless, and all that
was left to me was to obtain the best terms that
could be had, or in other words to take half
loaf q e. the expenses OF eectron) rather
than to get no bread at all. Had obstinately
held out, and subjected the people to the ex-
pense of this Railroad election, | would not
only have subjected them to unnecessary ex-
pense, but would have plainly violated the old
maxim-no less true in legislation than in 9TH
er business matters-''if you cannot get all you
want, take the next best thing you can get"
CONSOLIDATION.
| have also been greatly misrepresented on
the question Of Consolidation. This has been
held up to you as huge monster, raw-head
and bloody bones, when in truth, consolidation
had been made a fixed fact before | ever
too by the votes Of your entire delegation of
the preceding session. The only vital issue
growing out of the bill passed, while [ was
member of the Legislature, was the question
as to what amount OF compensation the State
should receive for relinquishng her interest in
the Southside Roads of Virginia. You have
been told that | voted to give away five mil
lions of dollars, although the ablest opponent
of the bill stated on the floor of the house of
Delegates that he considered the compensation
ample. The interest held by the State in the
entire roads, at its nominal value, was some
thing less than five millions of dollars, and
consisted of deprecated claims and stocks
worth on the market not exceeding one million
of dollars The present value of the consider
alton given by the consolidated roads amounts
to more than two millions of dollars, payable
in State bonds or money at the option of the
consolidated roads.
The consideration, in my judgement, was
ample and in view of the fact that the State
had surrendered to Roads on the North side of
James River nine millions of dollars, without
receiving any consideration at all, it was not
unreasonable to sell the State interest in Roads
on the South side, for its legitimate market
value, especially when it was sold to Virgin
lans, engaged In great enterprise for the de-
velopment OF the resources.of the State. But,
fellow-citizens, are you aware of the fact that
the opponents of this measure, to-wit; the
friends of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail
Road, who have raised all of this clamor
against me, have by their efforts taken from
the State of Virginia over Five Millions of
Dollars, to-wit: the entire Covington and Ohio
Rail Road, without paying one single dollar
consideration therefor; and have also taken
her blue ridge tunnel, that cost her little less
than two millions of dollars, for the paltry con-
sideraton of six hundred thousand dollars
payable in State bonds, which they bought up
at from 40 to so cents On the dollar? If you
are, L think you will agree with me that they
to talk about robbing the State of anything =
But, besides all this there was a dagger con-
ceaed in the bosoms of the opponents of the
consolidation bill, that was intended In case
their opposition succeeded, to be plunged into
the very vtals of your material interests. 1t
was not only their purpose to sell the Virginia
and Tennessee Road to foreign corporation
that had no other interests than cutting Vir-
ginia and building up foreign cities at her ex-
pense, but behind the scene sat Mr.. Hunting
ton 4 Co., with their eyes fixed on the South
side and Norfolk and Petersburg Roads, to
gobbe them up when the propitious moment
arrived, and thus fulfill the cherished hope of
Mr.. Huntington's S road, along line which his
Chief Engineer had some years before written
to the President of the Consolidated Company,
was the only destiny that the Chesapeake and
Ohio Rail Road had.
Take up the map of Virginia and you will
find that if the link between Clifton Forge and
the city of Lynchburg is completed, the pos
session of the South side and Norfolk and Pc
tersburg Roads, by the Chesapeake and Ohio
Road, would give it straight shoot from the
Ohio River to Norfolk-the finest harbor on
the Atlantic sea-board. Not only would it
give them straight shoot to the sea-board, but
would save from 20 to 80 miles of actual dis
| tance, with continuous grade of only 26 feet
to the mile, over the entire ine-whereas,
| they have now to contend with grades of so OF
| 90 feet to the mile between the town Of
Charlottesville and Clifton Forge, over the
road that passes through your county.
Thus it is apparent that had they succeeded
in their designs, the Chesapeake and Ohio
Road, running as it does through your county
would have been practically killed, and if no
abandoned entirely would have been compelled
to rely solely upon local traffic, and thus be
| II