The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-07-21
Letter from Philadelphia.
PUBLIC CREDIT AND INDUSTRIAL ENTER
PRISE


referred, hastily and briefly, in my letter
Of last week to the agitation of the debt
question in your State, and the harmful
effect of the proposition to re-adjust or re-
pudiate, as 1t is understood in the North.
obligations the contract validity Of which
has been passed upon by the State and Ma
tional Courts. 1t is a matter the impor-
lance of which does not seem to impress it.
self upon the minds of your people as Sc
riously as it should. That IL is operating
to your disadvantage, is very plain to
those who mix with the capitalists and bu-
siness men of this section, and hear their
opinions expressed. Time and again has
the knowledge come into my possession
that large contemplated investments in vir-
ginia properties have. been abandoned. be-
cause OF distrust Of the good faith Of your
people, as it respects the debt Of the State,
contracted, az it was, to construct your
railroads. accommodate the Interstate
trade and communication, and develop
your resources. 1t Is true, capital has
passed into Virginia and engaged in
manufacturing enterprises and the con-
structiOn of railroads and industrial estab-
lishments, but this does not begin to repre-
sent what would have been there, had there
been no cause to doubt the purpose to deal
fairly with the public creditors. Capital is
independent and is capable OF taking care Of
itself, and it has been in defiance Of this dis
trust that it has sought your properties
Railroads and iron interests are peculiarly
of this class OF investments. They do not
depend upon local sentiment or prejudice.
Their encouragement and profits result
reaching beyond the State limits. Immi-
grafton and capital which would be local in
its association, are what hesitate to enter q
community where the obligations of con-
tracts are not scrupulously respected. In
this regard you have suffered, for there is
but one opinion about the great natural ad-
vantages possessed by Virginia for almost
any kind Of investment, accompanied by
active. experienced business capitalists.
Lands In Virginia, which can be bought for
$40 and $50 per acre, would bring In Penn
sylvania from $l25 to $3.50 and $40 per
acre. The system of culture here is proba-
bly, more perfect, and the methods of the
people more economical, and it is this class
OF citizens you want and cannot, TO any
great extent, get--men who will make two
blades OF grass grow where one grew be-
fore, and introduce new and better ar
ranged usages in farm msnagement-re-
sulting from long education under sys-
TEN OF free labor. as contradistinguished
from the results OF slave labor. The rail-
roads which have been constructed within
the past few years and which are now in
Furnaces which have been established and
those which are to be established at no dis
tant day, and other industries directly
growing out of them, will necessarily large
ly increase your taxable resources, enhance
the value OF the lands of your State, give
a market for truck and farm stuffs which
now. in large degree, is not profitable all
going to add to your wealth and capacity to
pay. Indeed Virginia is yet in the infancy
of her physical development, and to assume
that she is not able to pay the debt that has
been repeatedly recognized by your Legis-
latures, and which stands recognized by
the seal OF the State to the evidences Of debt
in the hands of her creditors, when the most
convincing proof Of marvellous untouched
wealth exists. is defying demonstrated
facts. There is no State in the Union
which has natural resources to surpass
those Of Virginia !; and the means are at
hand to seize hold of them and turn them
to use, il only the people Of the State, will
say that every dollar of the debt of the
State will be paid, let the burdens be even
more exacting than they are. A brave
conclusion like this would inspire conf
dence the world over. Not only would
means flow into your borders to utilize
your natural advantages, but credit would
be at once established, which would give
character to your bonds, and place them at
the top of the market, where they ought to
be, in view of the vast unexposed security
that exists for them. With Virginia Is and
4s-for you could refund into 4s--at par.
what good effect it would have upon your
State No one can estimate the change
that would take place, almost instantly, in
public feeling and inclination towards Vir-
ginia and her business interests. Why the
whole State is undertake with riches more
certain and sure than the gold and silver OF
the Rocky Mountains and Pacific slope
Your iron, manganese, kaolin. gypsum.
lead, copper, coal, gold, and multitudes OF
other classes Of mineral resources, besides
your timber and soil, would, with the ap-
planes VIII ich confidence would bring, be
enough, in few years, to wipe away your
debt, and place you upon the highway to
unexampled prosperity. Your lands now
assessed at % or so cents per acre-many
Of them containing sources of atfluence un.
known to your people-would soon be rated
at from $40 to 800 per acre, at least where
| minerals might be found, and in some in
stances largely in excess Of these figures.
Pennsylvania experience is worth consid-
| ering in this respect. Properties which forty
years ago were bought at fifty cents and a
1
dollar an acre, now could not be gotten for
ten times 800 per acre. The iron and coal
have been exposed, furnaces and other in
dustries have been established, railroads
constructed, towns built up, home markets
created, and universal thrift and prosperity
naturally following. Why may not
Virginia study this illustration and profit
by it? From one extreme OF your State to
the other, running north and south, and to
be accommodated through the entire ds-
lance by two first-class railroads, and east
and west, now penetrated by one, and soon
to be completed two others-one through
the James River Valley, rich in soil and
minerals-and the other across the central
valley from deep water on the Potomac to
the Ohio River. there are almost unbroken
deposits of mineral wealth, which will soon
measure your resources to be more valuable
than they ever we're when slaves were
property, and the losses of the war had not
been incurred. Indeed, in material and
might say, in moral and Industrial point.
foO the war was n hloeeinr RI tha cor.h