The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-09-08

Total operated .......35 3 5 miles
For the present, at least, no change is con-
templated in the officers and manage ment of
the Virginia Midland, which is TO be operated
as an independent line. The Richmond and
Danville has now secured two connections
with Baltimore, the other being from Rich
mond via West Point, Va, and the York Riv-
er line. Both lines will, of course, be operat-
| ed to their BEST as the capitalists who have Sc
cured their control care only TO make money
by their ventures, whether it be in the carry
ing trade to Richmond or to Baltimore. 1t
has been stated as an inside fact in Richmond
and Danville affairs, that there are or were
two parties in the syndicate, one OF them fav-
oring less lavish expenditures in making rail
road purchases, Or in other words wishing to
look tar ahead before the leap was made. This
party was, as understood, backing the presl-
dent The other party, backing Gen. Logan
and Mr.. Talcott, carried the day, and they
have secured the Virginia Midland.
A Virginia Midland director said yesterday
that its sale will not be dsadvantageous to
Baltimore but on the contrary will be a bene-
fit, if the business men of the city make it so.
One of the terms of the contract of sale is
that no discrimination against Baltimore shall
exist, and he said this city is the natural north
ern terminal point for Virginia and general
Southern business over the Virginia Midland.
He referred to the fact that owners of railroads
are not influenced by local preferences or
neighborhood patriotism, and that the Vir-
GINA Midland will, like other roads, be opera
ted in behalf of it's stockholders, who want to
make the property pay dividends. Baltimore
has most surely secured a connection with
great southern system of railroads. The new
purchasers OF the Virginia Midland have as
sumed $12, 100000 of obligations that must be
taly of fbo tI.fa,
it was probable that Baltimore would be slight
ed or ignored in this great scheme to make
money in legitimate railroad enterprise? If
the Virginia Midland had been pushed in its
southern connections at an outlay of millions
OF dollars he said it would still have been 10y
al to itself only in its mission as the money
maker for its owners. Whether the business
was to be done with Baltimore or to go
through it would have depended upon the en-
terprlse OF the city's business men, and moth
ing more or less could be said of the road un-
der its new masters. The fact that some of
the buyers are Northern men did not, in his
opinion, count for anything The whole plan
of sale has been definitely arranged between
the parties in interest, and all details were
carefully matured.
The special correspondent of the Sun at
Alexandria yesterday obtained the following
Hon. John s. Barbour passed through here
this morning, en- route to Greenbrier White
Sulphur Springs. In short talk he said that
the only one simple fact of the recent negoti-
alton was that the Baltimore and Ohio Com
pany had sold out at rate satisfactory to the
purchasers the stock which gave a controlling
interest in the Virginia Midland Road. He
did not state the rate at which the stock was
purchased. In relation to the general policy
to be pursued under the new arrangements he
suggested hat 1t must be evident that the road
is conducted as a trust for the benefit OF the
stockholders; its management must look to
the interest of the road as their standard of
guidance. To promote this must be the aim
of the managers. Beyond this nothing could
be said. Thoughtful railroad men here say
that the new shuttle and deal involved in the
recent transfer of the stock held by the Balti-
more and Ohio syndicate in the Virginia Mid
land Company opens Il new phase i'll the rail
way combinations of this section of the coun-
try. The outcome Of the transaction will be,
as is said the creation of a new railroad pow
err whose moral basis will be the interests and
development of Virginia, the Carolinas and
Georgia, with Mr.. John s. Barbour as a rail
way potentate matching Scott, Garrett or
Vanderbilt. 1t is not disguised that the re-
cent sale of stock surrenders a control over
railway interests which it was supposed Bal
timore would never abandon, and there is a
general impression that Mr.. Barbour has
gained the independence of his road by a
handling of complex interests tending to that
result with skill and foresight that will give
him the confidence of capitalists, and secure
him the support OF the communities whose
railway interests are under his management.
One of the most notable facts in this connec-
ton is that the State of Virginia has lost moth
ing by the Midland Road. Every dollar which
the State invested has been paid back. The
Baltimore and Ohio Road, however, still con
trolls that section of the old Manassas Railway
which 1t leased from the Midland Road many
years ago, and which forms II part of the Bal
timore route up the Valley Of Virginia to
Staunton