The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-01-06
NO. Al
A Plan to Pay the State Debt.

Editors Ealzey FiyiBsass
Having first beheld the light Of day as the
sun made its appearance over the top of the
Blue Ridge, and expecting the Allegheny
Mountains to shade my grave, it is natural to
suppose that if have any pride, State or Ma
tional, il would be for the prosperity of Viz
gina. Therefore, seeing her grooming under
burdens too intolerable to be borne, with her
leaders divided in views and sentiments upon
the foremost question in State matters, I will
ask OF you space in your paper (the ready adj
vocate OF Virginia's interests) to express an
opinion which all observing men will see at
once, will lead to the payment Of the debt of
our State. The area and deposits of the State
are far too great to be utilized by the pres
ent amount of population, and unless the
stale notions and ancient theories are aban-
doned, we are destined to sink deeper and
still deeper in the galaxy of States. There
fore the true policy of Virginians is to hold
out practicable inducements to all classes of
enterprising men to immigrate to our State
and this cannot be successfully done by immi-
grafton societies or the distributionof period
icals showing the great Advantages our soil,
climate and country
The great and fourishing States of the West
were not populated in that way. The ladder
Of. fame and prosperity there stood erect, and
all who would might ascend it. By this in
ducemeft the enterprising and industrious
young men have been allured from Virginia,
and now make up the busy throng of other
1 States, Shall we not take counsel from their
precepts, and extend the hand of welcome to
all who desire to settle among us ? Whether
they be Democrats or Republicans, Jew or
Gentle, sons CT bankers OF of tinkers if they
are honest and Industrious extend welcome
hand to them, and let them enjoy and
exercise their own opinion in this respect
They would be profitable accessions to the
wealth of our State 1t matters not who their
fathers were, or from what particular lineage
they have descended If they be gentlemen
treat them as such, for from the humblest
walks of life have sprung many of the great
est geniuses of our land. The immigrant
| should not only be induced to come, but the
| Vlrginian to stay, and this can only be done
by elecatsalg labor. The yeoman at his plow,
or the mechanic in his shop should be made to
iOSi eAeso IL 10 ohC pCCI vi any JULIET illdu anu
that is not rank OF birth that make men great.
for
Lincoln made rails and johnson made coats
Fillmore pulled WOOL and Garfield run boats.
Our soil is not of that fertility 70 compete
with the great grain region of the Mississippi
Valley, but many of our mountain sides are
equal to those of any other country for the
growing of sheep and cattle, and beneath their
surface lie minerals of incalculable wealth, far
surprising in commercial value, the same
amount in area of the great grain growing
region of the Mississippi Valley And it is
to this we must look for our prosperity in the
future Wealth in an agricultural pursuit is
one of the gone bys Of our State unless we can
utilize our minerals and bEild up home mar
kets for the product of the farm No country
has more natural advantages in this respect
than ours. With water-power unsurpassed
anywhere, timber and coal equal.to that of any
other, it does seem to me that it would be tle
interest of Virginians everywhere to use all
means in their power to bring into cur midst
population that will build manufactures and
develop the resources of our State, thereby
increasing the population of our towns and
cities, creating home market for the farm,
and, at the same time, exporting millions of
dollars worth of the minerals of our State
both in the form of machinery and in it's crude
state
1t must strike all observers that the expense
attached to the raising of wheat and corn in
our State is too great to compete with the
western farmers who can grow corn at cost.
Of ton QnfS rlnr cl,ol oY,I ,ha,
that we must have surer market for the pro-
ducts OF the farm than to rely upon the mis-
fortunes of the Eastern Continent for the sur
plus grain raised in Virginia. Like many 9TH
Ell things of the past Virginia has run her race
as an agricultural State. But yet there is
bright future for her in the treasures she has
wrapt in her bosom. All kinds of agricultural
implements and machinery can be made
cheaper in Staunton than in Springfield, Ohio;
or in Richmond, Va, as cheap as Chicago
Then why should our iron, steel, &C., be
shipped to other States and other cities to be
manufactured into that which we must have
and sent back to us at a great profit, to the
manufacturer, carrying thousands of dollars
out OF our State annually? Surely this tide
can be turned. If all Virginians who feel in
terested in the welfare of the Old Dominion.
will use the means within their power, within
the next ten years Staunton will be ablaze
with orkshops-numbering 10000 inhabi-
tants-Buchanan Lynchburg, and other towns
III like ratio, Richmond will be with Boston
and Norfolk become the pride of the State.
Then the farmer of Virginia can find mar
ket for his produce, and the money can be
kept within our borders
This is my plan for paying off the State
debt of Virginia, and if the same amount of
money, time and discussion which have been
spent IN the last ten years, advocating the diff
ferent plans Of paying or not paying the State
debt, had been thus spent in enabling the
State to pay, the question ere this time would
have gone out OF politics, and our people be on
the road to prosperity AUGUSTA.