The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-07
The Right Doc trine.

Unless Virginia intends to sit down IN
inglorious idleness and refuse to receive her
share of the moneys that the Federal Gov
ernment collects with so grasping hand
from her as well as her sister States she
must abandon the suicidal theories Of the
nature of the Federal Constitution which have
kept her poor whilst the northern States
have ehuckled at her folly aud pocketed all
appropriations they could possibly obtain.
Imagine bow it must have looked to man
from the North, which yearly demanded mil
lions OF dollars for the improvement OF It's
rivers and harbors, to sec Richmond clecting
to Congress, as she did year after year,
q representative who denied the power
Of that body to appropriate money
for the improvement Of James river. I'm.
acine how silly must have seemed to our
northern brethren the action Of Virginia in
refusing to receive her share Of the proceeds
OF the sales OF the public lands. Those pub
lie lands have made an empire of the States
OF the Northwest. The immense public
school system Of that vast region was paid
for BY the Federal Government. That re-
gion owns to-day hundreds of millions of
dollars worth of property received from the
Federal Government in the shape OF lands,
and which now exists in the shape of
school houses, scbool.iuuds, &C., &c.
With more than asinine stupidity Nir-
sinia refused to cat the food which her
master for the National Government is her
p;.1o n fS,h in Of
p.ofusion. Our politics have made our
poverty. The North, as Mr.. HUNTER points
out, stretched out her hand and watcrcd the
whole West and Northwest With appropria-
tions. Towns, cities, and States spraDg up
Is IL by magic, and gave strength to that Sec
ton OF the Union which had the wisdom to
scatter these blessings. The North and
West grew in riches and population much
more rapidly than the South. Every State
tina. came into the Union seemed TO be
northern in feeling and politics.
For wears after its foundation the South
In absolute control Of the Government.
Virginia furnished the President for thirty
two out OF the first thirty.six years Of its
used the powers of the Government for the
M building of their own section, as from the
beginning the statesmen of the North either
used or tried to use them for the promotion
OF The welfare Of their section, the South, AS
from her position and her natural resources
she ought TO have done, would have out
grown the North and continued TO be the seat
of political power. If our Virginia Congress-
men had from the beginning accepted annu-
ally from the Government what Congress
would have been perfectly willing TO grant,
Richmond would have had sixteen feet Of
water from her wharges to the sea forty years
ago, and 4 population now of hundreds OF
thousands. "Tbe fault is not in our stars
but ourselves that we arc underlings.' We
have fed upon the huSks Of abstract theories
and the hifauten nonsense Of constitutional
scruples, and have come down TO poverty
and rags, whilst our partners in business
have annually made heavy dividends, and
all the more heavy that they have divided
out amongst themselves our share Of the
profits.
"Nor can we afford to continue it,"
These are not abstract questions that we
are writing about. They are practical. We
mean what we say. We desire the people of
Virginia to open their eyes to "the situa-
ton" We want them to act upon the hints
that we are throwing out. We wish them
to reflect, and decide whether they will here.
after elect to Office any more har-splltters-
any more OF those useless statesmen who
"cayil upon the ninth part of hair" and
never, by any accident, do anything Tor the
benefit of the people. We want no men in
Congress, nor in any other public position,
who cannot conscientiously vote to appro-
pirate money to open our rivers, build our
canals, and aid in our material prosperity.
Virginia cannot afford TO continue" to fol.
low q line of policy SO injurious to her inter-
cSts.
This subject is attracting attention outside
of Richmond. The following is from the
last issue Of the Danvlle Times:
..The Richmond Dispatch urges the vigor-
Gus prosecution OF the work of deepening
the lower james river, and expresses the
ppluion thaI SobS ASSS op5ht " Wv ooAANSh''S
towards it.
"Congress undoubtedly ought. And there
is another river which deserves an approprl-
alton from the national treasury. 1t is the
Roanoke, which is formed by the Dan and
StauntoD.
eve do not agree with Hon. Mr.. Tucker
that the appropriations should be stopped
for the sake of economy. Nor is it possible
to stop them. Let the South get her share
while the money is going. We are afraid
that Mr.. Tucker is paving his way to oppo-
si,ion to aid from Congress to the Southern
Pacific railway.
eve hope that the representatives from
Virginia and North Carolina will do their
utmost for the improvement of the Roanoke.
"O!d fogies may laugh, but the time is
coming when steamers will run from Wei
don TO Gainesville, and from Gainesville to
Danville and on to Madison"
The Times is right. Virginia must adapt
herself to her circumstances. She must
claim her rights. TO allow her represents
tives in Congress to vote to keep her in hel
poverty and restitution whilst the northern
States are feeding from the Federal board
and waxing fat as Jeshurun would be to
seal her own fate and invite uuending IN.
teriority.
The Southern Planter and Farmer FOL
February lies upon our table. 1t seems to