The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-25
National Works.

S~S-.
"ing profitable investment, will not touch"
Does the Whis state the case In a reasonable
manner! Does "private capital" refrain
from touching such enterprises for any
earthly reason than that they arc too im'
mense for mere private capital! They are
too great in magnitude, and too entirely be-
yond Individual means for that. 1t is, there
fore. mistake in the Wing to state the case
in the manner it does. The enterprises that
may be and have been aided BY the General
Government to the extent Of hundreds OF
millions, +" we assume, and justly, are those
which are of national character, and are
important in proportion to their gigantic
size. They are necessary to the nation, and
it is necessary that they should be helped by
the nation. In every case where such exten.
sive aid has been afforded by the Govern.
nent the purpose has been the national
good, and although in some instances
vantage, in the long run the Gov
ernment has been an immense gamer by the
Incidental development of the national
wealth and the increase Of national popula.
ton and power. The nation is under obi.
cations TO many active and enterprisipg
spirits WHO engineered and gave SUCCESS to
grand works which have immensely IN.
creased public comfort as we'll as national
power. Therefore, although the aid of the
Government has been sometimes the way 10
corruption, the Government has no more
reason to deplore its subsidies thar has the
planter TO deplore the money he paid Tor
labor that rewarded him ten, or twenty, or
hundred-teld.
Nor as citizen Of this great nation can we
for a moment concur in the impracticable
views of the Richmond Wing, which would
disable the Government from building any
great work intended 10 unite its widely
separated territories, bring her vast area
within the reach of persons seeking homes,
evelope the mineral wealth OF her whiom
inaccessible lands, and, in short, to
compact and systematic the country
and increase the national energies, the
power OF selfprotectiop, and increase
W hich diffuse the standard of subsistence
and wealth all over the country. At this
late day the country that has not all this
power is no country at all; and certainly this
great nation of the ruling type of man Is
not going to sink down into any condition OF
apathy and abstraction such as would follow
from the Wings strange policy.
We object most earnestly TO another feature
OF the Wings theory, and that is Its idea
that there must be party policy in regard
to these great enterprises, as would seem
from its appeal TO the Democratic party to
have nothing to do with subsidies. If the
Democratic party sdheres to such advice it
will be beaten as long as it does, and ought to
be. But we do not believe that it will do such
a thing. Its members will exercise their in
dependence on the questions Of national
works. They will be too practical to be
caught in the fatal meshes of dead issues.
No party policy should take exclusive pos
session of these great works. Must man
be compelled to decide for or against
q proposition of national character be-
cause some Of the persons who agree Win
him in general politics differ with him about
it? So great theme as national WORK
should not be iWarfed to the estate of party
platforms to become the football of psrttsans,
who are now very much lowered beneath
the position which they once occupied.
Unfortunate is the time for the Wing tc
call halt in the business Of building great
national works for that is the meaning o.
Its article of yesterday. The " hundreds Of
Millions it talks about have been appro'
priated to northern works. What sort o.
practical sense is there now, just as The
South stands the chance to get something
for her sons, to object to any more sppropr
atoms? None at all. They would deny
to themselves the equity and equality thai
belong to the South, and they would crusl
the national public spirit, the active and jul
dicious display Of which is indispensable tc
the dignity, force, and power of self.preser
walton of the country. 1t is necessary alike
for the North and South, and in the ease o
the great Texas Pacific railroad now under
consideration more for the South than thu
North.
From the day Of the conception of The
Pacific railway along the southern line We
have been its ardent supporter In all 1t:
yicissitudes and under all Its auspices. W.
have looked upon 1t as the improvement o.
all others promising most benefit to The
aouth as one that Dronised more wealth tf
the nation than any other, and as one tina
would establish the authority of the Gov
eminent where disorder reigned and in Ter
ritories which promised as much of huma,
comfort and wealth as any other section o
the Union. We lament that 80 great worl
should encounter the opposition of mer
personal dislike, as we believe it has done
SO great an enterprise should be above tn
reach of such motives.
But why should the Wing oppose tai
great project with the suggestion that sub
sides should be ended? Has that paper no
project for Pacific railway? Does it ex
pect that to be successful without assistance
from the Statei Or, let US ask If at SOM
future time the Government should properl.
appreciate the Central water.line and be in
clined to appropriate help to that line, viii
our neighbor cry out "Down with sub
sldies?"
The duty Of the leaders OF public opinion
now is to be as nearly practical as possible
The days of the strictest sect" and of di
yiding the hairs of strict construction be