The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-22

to their doors and build them up? Would
the great trade of the West have ever
leaped the mountains that are crossed by
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad concen.
trated itself at Baltimore, and made her the
great and prosperous city that she Is, If
Baltimore had relied on the maxim that
trade seeks its own channels, and had not
at q prodigious outlay Of enterprise and
money constructed the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad, which has gathered up the trade
of the West and crowded the warehouses
and wharves of BaltimoreP And it trade
seeks its own channels, why is Philadelphia
80 anxious to-day 10 construct this great
channel from her door to connect With the
railroads of the South, but because she Is
afraid to trust to this maxim, and she
knows that If she Is to get the trade OF the
South she must make channel for 1t TO
flow through to her.
WILL THE PENNSYLVANIA POLICY IMPROVE
yIRGIEIA2
1t has been urged that the pennsylvania
system of roads has made that State great,
populous, powerful, and wealthy. admit
it. But it is said that the same system will
make Virginia great, populous, powerful,
and wealthy. That deny. AS Pennsyl-
vauia system of railway secured prosperity
for her, so Virginia system Is necessary to
secure prosperity to Virginia. But the
passage of this bill is a departure from all
our past policy in regard to Virginia sys-
TEN of roads, and is the first great step TO-
| wards making all our roads mere tributaries
| to the wealth and greatness of Philadel-
phia. And when this scheme is accom-
plished, and the Pennsylvania Central has
made the southern roads it's tributaries, the
prodigious trade that shall roll in sealed
cars across the territory of Virginia will no
! more benefit her than the splendid steam
ship freighted with the gold of California
benefits the ocean whose waters it cleaves-
no more than the great caravans of the
East, laden with the precious productions
of the tropics, benefit the barren desert,
whose sand affords mere pathway for the
camePs foot.
| ANOTHER SERIOUS QUESTION.
One year ago, for the purpose of improy-
| ing our Southside system Of roads, and
making them more efficient contributors to
the prosperity of the Southside cities, the
consolidation act was passed. and upon the
success Of that scheme Virginia staked six
millions of the stocks held by her in the
consolidated roads. Is she prepared to-day
to give the city of Philadelphia roadway
through her borders to reach the cotton
fields of the South, and make tributary to
Phladelpha that region of country whose
productions were expected, rs soon as due
connections could be perfected, to make
the consolidated line great success, and to
build up the Virginia city which consti-
tuted its terminus? Norfolk, on the sea-
| board, through means Of the Seaboard and
Roanoke railroad and the consolidated line,
is rapidly building up an immense cotton
trade, as well as very considerable trade
in naval stores. Shall we let Philadelphia
have right of way to the sources Of this
Norfolk trade, so that with her superior
moneyed power she may underbid Norfolk
and destroy her? Petersburg and Rich
mond, with tdewater on one side of them
and the falls Of the AppomattoX and James
on the other, may still hope for shipping
business from their wharves, and have man
ufactures on their rivers, if the productions
| of the country are allowed to come to them
by that system Of Virginia roads which was
designed for that purpose, and shall we in
yite Philadelphia to come here as their
| rival, and afford her the means of drawing
to her wharves and manufactures the pro-
ductions which otherwise we may hope to
manufacture OF to ship?
THE INTERESTS THAT ARE THREATENED.
Such are some of the great interests that
are threatened with destruction by the bill
under consideration, and in these Interests
all Virginia is interested. feel that | speak
for the city Of Petersburg, whose hope OF
manufactures or shipping will be forever
blasted if this bill is passed. I speak for
Richmond, at the base of whose hills the
waters of the James will continue forever
to flow in idle and useless beauty. l speak
for the city of Norfolk, whose feet will be
washed in vain by the waves Of the deep
sea. l speak for that system Of Southside
roads known as the Consolidated Line,
upon whose fortune Virginia has staked so
heavy an interest, who will find, if this bill
is passed, that the fields Of the South to
which it looked for its success have already
been appropriated by the Pennsylvania
Central railroad and its tributaries and
dedicated forever to the use of Philadel-
phia. In the name of our whole beloved
Commonwealth l protest against the pas
sage Of this bill