The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-09-18

that all the transportation lines between
the west and the cast, the Eric canal, the
st. Lawrence river, the four railroads cross
ing eastward to the Atlantic cities, and the
river, gulf, and ocean route are, all Of them
united, insufficient to move forward the
i;estern tonnage to the shipping points on
the saaboard.
shaH DO ne '..osportation, and the great
| question that so inN~,yos tbo ;ntaraets ond
future destiny of Virgin, ' ; u ,cIas d Tna
shall take the trade to the seab,,,' - '"''
Well, sir, we in Virginia have, :, tbo
James River and Kanawha canal, The lin lin
that IS bound to have the transportation
over all competitors. 1t is as plain as day
light. and inevitable as fate.
How? Why? Simply because the god
of nature has given to us, in the route OF
the James River and Kanawha canal, the
| shortest, and not only the shortest, but the
| cheapest transit from the broad west to the
Atlantic seaboard; and having the shortest
and cheapest channel of transport, we
must and will have the transmission Of the
tonnage, it being q law of trade and
of transportation as well settled and as
resistleSs as that of the tides or gravitation,
as sure to command the trade as that fire
burns and that water finds its level law
it is, based on the common sense and the
instincts of mankind, for none but per-
verse blockhead would prefer long route
to a short one, or costly one to a cheap
one.
But is our water.linc the shortest and
cheapest route?
What is the shortest? A glance at the
map in moment determines that it is the
cheapest, and much the cheapest. The
figures will show.
The following are the comparative rates
of transportation by the several existing
lines:
On a bushel of wheat from the Mississi-
pi TO New York by the lake route, ~ cts. !;
from the Mississippi to Norfolk, via the j.
r. and X. canal, 109 cents.
The freight charged per ton from st.
Louis to New York, per northern route,
is 1.76; to Norfolk by the Virginia water
line, $G.Gl.
From Cincinnati, great trade centre, to
New York $l4.G9; to Norfolk by Virginia ca
nal, $3.50.
And it is asserted by the late Commo-
dore Maury, in his notes on the physical
resources of Virginia, that ton of trade
gathered at Fort Benton, on the head wa
tiers of the Missouri, at the very foot of the
Rocky Mountains, can be transported to
the Atlantic, distance of near |, 900 miles,
at less cost than from Toledo to New York!
A fact, which is folio volume Of eloquent
commentary on the Virginia water-line, and
a demonstration beyond traverse of its in
vincible superiority over all competing tho
roughlares from the west to the east.
Now, with these far cheaper rates of the
Virginia waler-line over all other water
lines docs any one suppose that the pro-
ducers of the West will adhere to the old
lines a single day after the completion of
the James River and Kanawha canal?
viii western farmer pay y cents per
bushel to get his wheat to market, when he
can have it done at l04 cents per bushel?
Will he continue to ship his crops from
Cincinnati to New York by canal and lakes,
at $l4.GS per ton, when b y the Virginia ca
nal he can have them delivered in market
at Norfolk at $500 per ton?
Is it not, then, most apparent, that this
shorter and cheaper transit line of ours
will have the inevitable effect of diverting
from the present channels very consde-
rable portion of the tonnage they now con-
vey, and transferring it to the Virginia wa
ter-line?
Mr.. President, in an argument on this
same subject, made recently before an as
ISOLATION of Virginians in Washington city,
[ illustrated the subject in very simple
way, by personification of the water
line; and as it was an apt one, and | can
make none better, beg to reproduce what
| then said:
"Personifying this great creative instru-
mentality, the Virginia water line, l
can almost hear her issuing her imperial
orders to the old lines. TO the crossing
railroads | hear her saying, get out of the
way; you charge the toiling husbandman
of the. west seventy-two cents for taking
his wheat to market; l will do it for ten
and half cents. BY high freights you
absorb the whole value of the article you
carry for him, and leave him nothing. /
will, by cheap transport rates, leave him q
surplus to feed and clothc and make COM
Portable his wife and his children. To the
st. Lawrence and lake routes she says,
your distance is too great your naviga-
ton too dangerous, and your high freight
charges, too, leave no margin of profit for
the producer and besides, when the icy
hand of winter puts its hold upon you, you
don't transport at all. So turn over por-
ton of your business to me, who will for the
lowest possible price, and by the shortest
possible distance, and in the shortest time,
take the farmers products to market. To
the downstream route by the Father of
Waters she says, yours is the next cheap
est route to mine, but the navigation of
your channel is dangerous by snags and
costly by insurance and pilotage /; what
ever of western products stop at New Or
leans, as corn, wheat, oats, flour, butter,
cheese, bacon, lard, and even tobacco, is
damaged from five to twenty Live per cent. !;
the navigation of the gulf is tempestuous
and the Florida pass dangerous, and the
voyage 8, 900 miles. So you too must hand
over to me agoodly share Of your tonnage,
and on my placid bosom | will wait il
speedily, safely, cheaply, and unchanged
to old oceans verge.
$50 that by a law just as arbitrary as the
law of gravitation itself-the law that the
shortest and cheapest route takes the trade
all the old lnes--railroad, river, and
lake-must pay tribute; to use most
expressive phrase, knock under to the
Virginia water-line."
So part of the western trade is bound
by resistless law to be cast upon the
bosom Of the canal, and on it glide
through the territory Of Virginia on its
way to the seaboard, for the manifest rea,
son that it cannot naturally and reasonably
l. tt,ox,