The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-07-23
Richmond's Necessity.

The great point 10 De gained III hlcnlnoiet
is to get the people up to the belief that their
town is now upon the highway to greatness,
and to feel that the policy and improvements
adopted by the city government should be
suited to facilitate this progress to powerand
wealth. We suppose nobody will assert that
Richmond as it stands, without change OF It's
surface, without modifying any OF its land
marks, would do for Richmond as a really
great city. We suppose that no man would
show SO great a want Of sense as to say that
the hills snail lie undisturbcd, the grades III
all their deforrnity shall be pcrpetuatcd, and
that the river boundaries and the larbor
must not be changed, and will be entirely
adaptcd TO the accommodation Of the bust
ness and commerce of half a million Of reo-
pie.
No man will have the hardihood at this
day to assert these silly propositions. Well,
then, if changes and improvements must be
made, when shall they be begun? Time will
be necessary to make them-nav, they never
are complete: they 60 Oh as long as city
can 90 OH improving in wealth and popula-
ton; they go on as long as the inventive &C.
MUS of society is improving the means of
commerce and social economy. Therefore
now is the time to bcgin-now is the time
to set on foot projects that time must com
plete. The present arc owes to itself and to
postcrity TO do its share in promoting the
comfort and convenience of society and iacili-
tatins the business and commerce Of the city.
The great difficulty in the way of the dis
play of a proper public spirit in Richmond
is its Typographical divisions. which separate
the people into cIansand obstruct their union
and the concentration OF their MONS upon
schemes for the general good. Therefore it
becomes m Object Of Importance, towering
above almost all others, that the means of in
tercoursc between the divisions of the city
should be in every possible way facilitated.
The clans ought TO /" brought Together and
made one people by making their intcrcoG-
munirltion entirely easy and quick. That
done, the onward movement Of! the city would
be greatly accelerated.
We have "csaSms" here that must be
filled up or bridgcd over. We have I'M
shapcly humps in principal streets which
must be removed. We have steep grades
which must he made easy and gentle in or
der to render commerce easy and intcrcom-
munication pleasant. We venture to pre-
dict that if the city authorities will take in
hand one conspicuous sharp grade and re-
ducc it to il reasonable and civil inclination
that the entire community, with one voice,
will express their admiration Of the Improve
ment and demand that others be made to cor
respond with it.
So with other kinds of Improvement. It
is only necessary TINT the work shall be ini-
tiated to invoke the hearty approval Of every
citizen. We can never do anything unless
we commence. We know that people will
point to some work on the outer borders,
some trimming of ragged ends, and some
filing in of remote and shallow deprcssions,
and some scalping of slight unt.ulationS,
which had been better il let alone. But
these apologies for enterprise won't answer,
The centre of the city demands improve
ment, and there will be no real start until
the proper attention is given to that.
We tell the Council, we tc}l the people OF
Richmond, that nothing will so bene1iciaKy
advertise their city before the world as the
going to work resolutcly and literally to
adapt the streets to commerce and the
thoroughfares to the easy and complete social
intercourse between the residents of each
Typographical division. People everywhere
will think that now indeed the people of
Richmond are going to make great city, and
immigration and wealth will flow in with
greatly increased volume.