Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-04-30
FO. the J.urHtl.
aiirond Eauges-Our North <'ar0-
E;uz SysScu,.

| IcsSrS .tdifOrS:-is there not very
much mIsdIrected sentiment upon tn,
Railroad Gauge" matter? | could
we'll appreciate some local feeling
| about Raleigh and that INN. dat,
| SecG Oh, upon the recent change OF
| he North Carolina Railroad, pr0cided
tle widening should rot extend to
Raleigh or GOldsbOro'; but then 1t
hiIouly only be judged from local
business view, and not made mater
TO involve State pride and patriotism. .
Let us see # such an 'outrage against
the people and the material prosper
~ OF the Stat" has been committed
ls is urged by your correspondent "a
Citizen" in your issue Of the 10Th. "a
Citizen" saws our forefathers fixed ii
gauge different from all lines coming
Iii the direction of our State, that Re-
quired all freights coming into or
through our State 10 break bulk al
our border towns. thus tending t.
nuiid them up, sc. L hold such
Craftsmanship 10 have been bad,
very selfish and narrow, even when To-
augurated; but | will show the bad
effect OF it during the war.
Ia the first place "a Git zen" seems
to forget that that system was estab-
!ished when the only railroad rodtes
in the country rom North to S0ut
were through our State, ther.
being none west of us to com
pete for freight or travel
80 our system was a monopoly, ana
monop, lies are not low regarded a.
evidences of craftsmanship. Al
freights ana travel bad to come through
our State, and the matter was IL the
hands of our statesmen Of that period
TO impose as much tax as they pleased
upon travellers aud shippers, by re-
curing frequent change, transfers,
&c. That such must have been all Oh
erous tax is manifest, or the mere
transfer of freight, Nc, could not
have tended to the building up Of
our border towns" Have our "'border
towns, Wilmington, Charlotte, Ashe-
vile and Greensboro no more to com
mend them to - the trade " than sucl,
reasons as are urged by IS a Clt!zen
Tor insis iHg on the breaking OF hulk
At them
And is such the character Of the
- at Pride, "a Cltlzen' and others
Of his b. lief would have distilled into
the growing youth?
Now uu ln;.uent which occurred
during tn war. showing the then bad
effects ii such state smoushIp. In 1863
/ was appointed agent for my county
{ Frrrk I: } t, get sat- for the people
from the Virginia Salt Works. ia tie
winters ui 62 and 'G3 I visited The
works tor the purpos. s of my appo Mt
ment. My people, as they were
throughout the s ate, were actually
and greatly suffering for want of salt.
time Wa on them, and 40
salt, none 10 be had for love, State
pride, patriotism or money. AT the
North Caro- ina department of the !
works / found thousands of bushels of
salt. but no transportation. The |
railroads from Petersburg to the |
-alt works were of the five foot /
gauge. Our roads belonging to "our
State system" being the narrow a fit.
8! i'm gauge, our cars could get no |
1t arer the works than Petersburg. Onr |
South Carolina and Geor-
gia, having the five foot gauge, kept /
cars and engines at the salt works to
transport salt for their respective
States. All the Virginia cars were
and scrupulously used for