The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-02-24
8iflln,ol1d aist'y'.
SATURDAY., .FEBnr,AKY Va 1917,
Southern interests.

.eGA1 QRDAI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - 49,
Southern interests.
THE observant Washington correspond
.cnt Of the Richmond Whig makes the FOL
lowing allusion to the singular indifference
OF southern men towards southern IN
terests:
Strangely enough d number OF southern
sanators were found voting YESTERDAY
soainst subsidy to line OF steamers from
New Orleans to Rio de Janeiro. HAD tue
terminus OF the line been Charleston "a
Eoriolk the result would have been sliniiaI;
The two Virginia senators, Jonns sNs a tha
Withers, deserve credit for sastalMins .n ~
appropriation. Quite large peIcsn sss N
southern representatives ana ssna. o, hona
Congress think that their only ,hlss'on ,, nn
is to get their five thousand oo.al onr;atinns
anS ore actually hostile to appropriateness
a and white measures designed to beneht tne
Sn,,,h they would vote tomorrow asal ms.
ssh,,;Id;nr the Mississippi levees OF tns
.iTa,,as poetic railroad on some WIetc,,ea
an;Sh,e while their people are starving.
Cens,,re deserved by men who certainly
do nothing Cor the good OF the puoiic' anu
whose efforts bring no benefits save thae %
the salary which falls into their own pock-
cts.
During the war gigantic schemes were
engineered BY which immense sums were
drawn from the National Treasury Tor pri-
yate and corporate benefit. Northern citi-
zers were the benefciaries OF the immense
disbursements that were in this manner
,noaa Ocean lines were sustained by sub
sides, and railroad projects were aided win
immense grants Of land and help directly
from the Treasury, the money oeing paio
rs the roads progressed. The south
and southern people have received
nothing 10 offset these pecuniary favors ana
assistance granted to northern people ana
the northern part OF this Union. And one
wo,,Jd think that as there has been such
great inequality in the disbursements from
the common treasury to the swo grea'
sections the representatives OF the soutn
might at least vote for the propositions 10
aid those southern enterprises which are OF
national character, and which are therefore
equally entitled with any to which the means
of the nation have been appropriated 70 ma
tional encouragement and assistance.
With our general interests PROSTATE, ano
the private fortunes OF the southern people
wrecked, that indeed must be "wretcneo
nu;bb!e which would be interposed by q
southern representative TO stop him IRON
voting for fair and equal appropriation fol
. work living in the southern portion OF the
Union.
4 great work, trans-continental IN 1t;
magnitude, is now complete from the shores
OF the Atlantic in the North to the Pacific.
II received Immigrants and subsidies 1rou1
the Federal Government, without which ii
could not have been built. That road is
sectiona!ly northern, and it is nationally
monopoly. A competing line is lndispen'
sable to protect the nation from the mo-
nopoly; and one across the continent upon
southern line of latitude is necessary to
do equal justice to the two great sec
tions O: the nation. How can southern
man refuse to vote for giving Federal aid
TO such a work! We grant you "qul0-
blen will answer as well for one thing as
another, but not that any man can give
one sound reason for an act OF opposition
TO such a work. It is demanded for the
protection of the nation against monopoly,
and it is the most eligible of lines for rail-
wav that lie across the continent. Public
welfare and accommodation demand that
road should be built there; and the south
ern people would derive from its construc-
ton advantages Justly due them, and local
DEVELOPMENT and prosperity that cannot be
impaired by any other project that can be
devised. (" Ill.
North Carolina has exhibited her faith
and her wisdom alike in giving the almost
unanimous vote of the two houses OF her
Legislature endorsing congressional aid to
the Texas Pacific railway. We hear that al
last the more vindictive Republican poiitl.
clans are displaying desire for the cessa'
ton of the sectional animosities which have
produced SO much distress and disaster IL
the land, and that they desire by liberal ano
equal measures to conciliate the South ano
restore national harmony.
Be this 80 or not, we know that the con
struction Of the Texas Pacific railway vii
do more to heal sectional divisions and as
suage sectional rancors than anything else
at the present time. No measure of admin
istration can possibly accomplish so much
for the general pacifcation Of the people
and sections as may be accomplished BY thl!
great railway.