The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-04-16

Observation-Disclosures nt3Uf V34HGt' 1IA
provcmenfs--vs Vitality OF the Old Ira
ditiOns--The CaPitoI--The Public
Schools.
From an Occasional Correspondent.
RICHMOND, Vac, April 8, 1872. !
RI Perhaps n person WHO comes here Us
happen to do, after an interval Of two years,
sees the ups and downs Of this place rs nc
native can, or indeed as the permanent settler
IL not apt to. think Richmond is the daily
marvel to northern men who travel. That
any city, with this matches Water-power,
commanding the trade of a large western
country, and able to command that of much
larger, within easy reach of geological formal
tions which promise untold wealth, in their
quarries and mines, not simply in states and
GRANTEES and limcstones, but in coal and iron
and gold-tllat such q city as this should be
the third-rate town it is, is always one of the
insoluble mysteries largely discussed ON the
lines of southern travel.
/ do not pretend to solve the mystery nor
to answer the question. 1t is gratifying to
notice decided improvement in the city
within the last two years. In that time the
old burned district has been largely renewed.
The Freedmen's Bureau las built an admit
rable building for the colored normal schools,
and the City Council which was appointed
by the military Governor built four other adj
mirable schoolhouscs OH a similar plan.
These fine cdifices give good hope for the fiji
ture. Rents are not so high rs they have
been at some periods since the war; but there
is a good demand for houses among people of
the middle class, and that is always good
test of real prosperity. The Tredegar Iron
Works are in high activity. observe that Il
new cotton manufacturing company has
been incorporated to establish its works at
Manchester, opposite the city. The New
York Steamship Company is building
an iron ship for its own line ut Rock
etts, the landing where you may remember
the Confederate navy used to lie
A company who have the contract to
furnish granite to the State Department at
Washington are quarrying and dressing tile
stone with force of several hundred men
at their quarry opposite the city. The Chesa-
peake and Ohio railroad, now owned by New
York capitalists, is beginning tunnel, near
mile long, which will bring their trains
under the city to tide-water, at Rockets,
where they have secured fine waterfront
running down nearly to the point which you
may remember rs Powhatan's rock, or Pow
hatan's tomb. The city has loaned them
$3.50, 600 to assist in this enterprise. The city
itself has made handsome appropriations for
the Improvement of the river, and this
improvement is going forward under the
direction Of Mr.. Turpin, with success
already observable. Dredging machines
on the bars take up gravel and other silt, and
heap it OH the shore within rough pile
waterfront, which is thus made into Il bar
rier which will not wash away. The i'm
proyemcnt i'll the tide-ilow already made en-
ables the tide to rise several inches higher
than before, while the bottom of the channel
also is dug away. The city has completed
General Buffers Dutch Gap canal, and all but
the largest steamers now pass through it.
They have done So and probably they will
again. This reduces the voyage to the sea by
seven miles. TO name no other changes,
these are decided and gratifying improve
mentS.
On the other hand. cannot learn that in
the State at large there is any ameloration Of
the Old Nirginny determination to receive
no migration from abroad. Settlers who
come alone abandon their farms after Il year
or two and go elsewhere, because they are
not we'll received by their neighbors. All
wel-informcd persons tell me that the emf
grafton from the State is larger than flat
into il. l observe in the local newspapers
elaborate articles to persuade Virginians not
to 20 west-arlces which would not be writ
ten were there not drift that way. The
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad asked some
trifing favor from the late Legislature,
which was refused unless the road would con.
sent to some change in its charter enabling the
State to tax it more severely. The effort to
introduce the growth of wool is thus far
stopped by the superior numbers and ierocity
of the dogs; but the determined effort to
,slSs deg law' wholly failed i'll the Legis.
kature. Tie "Conserrative puty" must
take the credit Of preielring dogs to wool
1t is pity that it is not us true Of the dog;
as of their mastcrS-that their bark is worse
than their bite. This determination Of tin
Legislature shows that the rulers of Firgini;
have not yet passed from what the writer
on social order call "thc winter stage" int
the stage which they call the "paStorl
stage" of civilization.
The Legislature adjourned on Friday sin
die. We visited the Capitol on Saturday
1t is the dirticst place, | think, which l eve
saw. The one finished and truly elcgan
thing there was Il new portrait of Genera
Lee. 1t could not have been better done
For the rest, tattcrcd carpets and floor
unhoed gave n picture of one of the earle
stages of civilization. The members fror
foreign States must hope to live TO see tn
time when the clean rushes which strewe
the floors of Queen EliZabeth's unte-room
may be introduced on the payements of til
State to which she stood god-lnother.
When an old Virginian said to nc to-da
that Virginia was a hundred years benin,
the rest OF the world, he had in mind sue
Iaggardness, mixed with Boosting, us make
such a pig-pen Of her capitol. The relnar
| is not wholly true. A hundred years az
nobody had any sewing-machines. Nor dit
they have any street-cars in Richmond hur
| dred wears ago-and now they have YER
good ones. But all of asudden they tire &
using them. Last night, as large party G
us came home to Rockets from an excursion
on the river, it proved that the street-cal
did not run after I:20 in the evening. linz
cine the South Boston cars stopped ut tia
hour! This odd intermingling of NANTES
mower, if YOU choose to do it, and Of equal
manifest determination not to do it when vo
can, appears all along. They have, as yo
know. unlimited supplies of bituminorls co;
in the valleys forty miles west of the city
but last winter their coal supply ran 50 shol
that even to make gas to keep the city lighte
they had to send to Baltimore in hot hast
for coal. They had nota weeks supply her
The gas, by the way. is made by the cit.
which makes profit of $4,000 year by Il
manufacture.
We have seen nothing, on the whole, !
satisfactory and hopeful as the schools. 1t
said that the colored schools are not kept U
so well rs they Were when in the hands
northern teachers. 1t is certain that the a
tendance has fallen off by nearly 4 thousant
and as it was never more than thirty-ll,
hundred, this is considerable loss. III
white schools are better maintained. III
difficulty, apprehcnd, is in the determine
ton to employ no teachers but those fro
the city. 1t was not difficult to obtain teacl