The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-14

care 10 interfere with this source Of your
revenue: besides. 1t is all that keeps the
Fredericksburg road from ruinous loss,
and all that keeps my Potomac boats above
water. Now. here you arel My tournl-
Quet is upon your femoral artery at Wei
don. l own and control all the avenues OF
escape which you have from Petersburg or
Richmond northward. You have even been
forced to make use Of my bridge to cross
the Roanoke river; but let that pass. You
cannot carry freight unless let yo,l, and
you shall not do it, for will so order the
Powhatan and York river steamers, and
the Richmond and Fredericksburg road,
that they will give you no connections eX-
ccpt under prohibitory rates. You need
not struggle. tor It would he useless. Give
up this ii rht for freight, and l will literally
work to build up your passenger business.
Accept these terms or choke YOU"
And in accordance with this decree Mr..
Robinson plays his hand. Everything Is
made subordinate to fostering the tonnage
trade over the Seaboard and Roanoke road.
The entire freight earnings Of the Frede-
ricksburg road for 1869 were forty .frc
thousand dollars, not more than half Of the
frequent monthly earnings OF the Seaboard
line. and less, We believe, by large per
centagc than the freight receipts during the
same period of the Richmond and Peters
burg fragment Are not these figures proof
absolute? If not conclusive, let me quote
from the Fredericksburg Ne,rs some revela-
tons as 10 the tariff which obtains OH Mr..
Daniels turnpike. a merchant of Frede-
ricksburg paid S1.25 per ton on guano
from Boston TO Aqua creek, and Isl
tcn cents per ton per mile) thence to
Fredericksburg. \ manufacturer informs
the NegS that he paid fourteen cents
per hundred pounds on sumac from
Hanover 10 Fredericksburg, So miles, while
the Chesapeake and Ohio road charges
three cents per hundred on the same arti-
Gle for the same distance. With all this Pc
terShurg has nothing particular to do, ex-
ccpt that it establishes the truth of our sus
piclonS. -
Mr. Robinson stops our only inlet at Wei
don, and, to make the obstruction perfect,
be has seized every outlet northward; and
here we are, as isolated as if no steam-
whistle had ever awakened the echoes
which once responded to Powhatan
and Opechancanough, and indebted to His
Philadelphia Majesty for every accidental
atom of contribution which trickles
through the cloScy-nettcd sieve.
But, all this beng admitted, it is urged
that we should court and obtain deStruc-
tion in admitting the "unkroken bulk and
locked.car" system of the Pennsylvania
Central.
Let Us be convinced that this is so before
rejectin. the hand which is extended to
sinking Petersburg.
low are we i'll Petersburg or in Rich
mond to he worsted: We get nothing now.
1t all switches off at Weldon for Baltimore
and New York. We do not even have the
satisfaction Of seeing it pass through, nor
Of cudecling our brains and pockets for en-
pedients to stop some Of it.
But" it is said, "you shall have all
rail 10 Washinoton.'' "There are people
ready and able to build it; there is no
occasion for placing this power for evil
in the hands OF foreign adventures,
who may make bad matters worse
Well, perhaps not But who are these
generous people volunteering to help
Us in this emergency? Where do they
ice? Are they T1gmans Why has
the tang nerer occurred to the,I 6encfcent
mindS bet0re2 Maybe they are New
Workers, maybe Baltimoreans. Perhaps
John Garrett, banked in his designs upon
General Malone, seeks another avenue of
approach to our bowels. Perhaps, indeed,
this newly-awakcned generosity may be
traced to Mir. Robinson or Mr.. Daniel, and,
having gotten an "al-ral route" we may
wake up some fine morning and lind our
selves rescued from the frying-pan only to
be committed TO the fender mercies of the
fire. 1t would be wise at least to resolve
these very natural doubts, and find out
arhO our noble would-bc secret benefactors
really are, before rejecting an offer OF help,
which, come from where or whom it may,
cannot add to the miseries OF our present
condition.
The Petersburg people should ponder
this question, and throw their earnest influ-
encc in the direction which mature judg-
ment approves. The present grinding OF
preston must be gotten rid of, or we will
perish of emptiness. How, IS another
matter.
The present scheme is earnestly combat
tal 1,,.c 10
that the mover is really the Pennsylvania
Railway Company, and that it has gil
gan;ic designs looking to absorption of
the entire system from the Potomac to
the Gulf. OF all this l know nothing. I
know, however, that Mr.. Robinson is
opposing the charter. That is an argu-
ment in its favor. And | do know that
if Petersburg holds on, us she can do,
to the ownership and control of the South
ern road that the construction Of line
from Washington to Richmond, and the
proprietorship 10y the same concern of a
line or lines converging at Weldon can but
rebound to her substantial benefit for
they must compete usth their present OPP
presSor.
These suggestions are hurriedly made,
and it may be that in hasty composition my
meaning has been left open to miscon-
struction. do not champion any scheme
per Sc, but do insist that Petersburg needs
an avenue of escape from Mr.. Robinson's
clutches, and that anyl is better than none.
Let us be sure before rejecting any alterna-
tive that we are not perpetuating the rule