The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-06
DR.. W. II. RUFFNER has been brevet Dr.
foy long time. lie is now real one.
The Malone Express-A scashinE
Letter.

/ he following seems 10 DC IatHci iohS III
reaching Us, but we have just received it:
| PETERSBURG, sd June. 1874.
| Editors of The Dispatch, --iou have said
so many good things and done such noble
service for the people OF SOuthside Virginia
of late in YOUR gallant fight On the express
| question, that cannot forbcar writing you
4 word of cheer and goodwill from the old
| Cockade City. The writer was an original
| consolidationist-- friend and advocate OF
! all the schemes Of Malone which resulted in
the formation and establishment of the
great Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio
| line. Ali that he knew Of rail-
roads he learned at the feet of William
Malone; and it was only when the said
Malone event back" upon his own prlncl-
pie Of consolidation, which, if worthy OF
the name OF principle, was not and could not
be decided by the points OF the compass,
that he took issue with him and realized
that it was his line, and his line only, and
through his line, himself, and himself only,
that inspired his every public act and as
piration that under the cry of '>Tirginia
for VirginianS," under his pretenticus clar:s
of intensified Virginanism, there was hid
the will to promote the schemes Only Of self
and selishnesS. l then realized the
| force of the remark of another when he said
| that "this par excellence Eirsinian's sun
rises and sets within the concave of bis own
small ambition" When, Yeas ago, the
! writer was called upon by leading men Of
business 20 attack the express abomination
| of Mahone's line as destructive to all proper
| commercial intercourse between Southside
and Southwest Virginia with the capital city
of the State, he declined to do so on the
ground that be believed the evil would cor
rect itself; that the Stupidest Of railroad
managers would by short experience see the
wrong he was in1icting upon the public and
hasten to correct it. But years have rolled
on and the people have suffered every in
convenience, and yet the bullheadedness of
the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad
management maintains its false and fatal po-
sition. l am of those who believe that the
railroads belong to the people, and not to q
man or management; and when an official
ceases to regard the public will and convent
cnce, the sooner he is dispensed with the
better. He is clog in the wheels of pro-
gress and general public nuisance.
We have no time to wait upon any such
gentry for the trial of Utopian theories, or
pct experiments, but insist that they stand
aside and let the car of progress pass on.
The position of Malone in regard to this ey.
i press business reminds us Of the juror who
protested before the court that bis eleven
companions were the most obstinate Of men
that they would not by all his arguments b;
, led to verdict, but differed with him unani
mously. He would have the Petersburg ant
Weldon road, the Richmond and Petersburg
road, the Danyile road, the Orange anC
Alexandria road, the Lynchburg and Dan
: vile road, all to bow down and worship
. him, and say, in effect, that he is the great
Am in railroad management in Virginia. III
the meantime, while he is arguing with hi
eleven opponents, the people are suffering.
Messrs. Editors, l have gotten to be quit
an express agent myself under Malone
| system. Having an extended acquaintance
l have received many letters from as far Of
as Alabama, requesting me to pay expires
= and forward bundles from this point t
points along the Atlantic, Mississippi AM
Ohio railroad. Perishable property stand
no chance under the Malone system.
fruit or picked fowls they will rot unless th
shipper has some friend to forward them upol
the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad
r The whole system OF express on the Allan
| tic, Mississippi and Ohio is consummate on!
rage upon The people-a nuisance whicl
should be abated !; and the people will no
forget the Dispatch, which has so ably ant
SO nobly advocated reformation. There ar
. several salutary lessons which Malone mus
learn. and i'll be forced to learn, before his ca
reer terminates and chiefamong them is tina
the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad
belongs to the people, and not to Genera
William Malone. 1t was constructed fo
their convenience, and not merely to furnish
bloated salaries to officials. The old Wiz
giniar overseer used to speak to his employee
of ''your plantation" when he first entered
his service. Within a year or two he men
toned it is "our plantation" In a few
years after he called it "my plantation
About that time the employer would dis
miss him. | am satisfied that the Atlantic
Mississippi and Ohio railroad have gone
through these gradations of ownership, ant
has settled down into "my road" 1t i
time we employed new oVerseer.
| VERNON.