The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-02-08
he Prospects for Railroad Building.

Tho Prospects for Railroad Building,
The Baltimore Manufacturers Journal says;
The general outlook for trade continues
very favorable. and from nearly all sections
come reports of a gradual but marked i'm.
pIovement in business. and especially is
this noticeable in manufacturing Industries.
The prophets of evil who predicted in last
December cessation of railroad building
in 1883. just as they did in 1881. as to 1882
have again made a great m issake. and it is
now plainly seen that this is to be year of
much activity in railroad circles. We have
steadily taken this view of the subject, and
even in November and December repeat.
eddy stated that 1883 would almost certain
ly witness considerable activity in this line,
In discussing tn is subject the Railway Age
says: Already, although the greater por-
ton of the country is locked in the EN-
brace of winter of unusual severity, the
notes of preparation for a great campo ign
of railway construction are heard on every
hand, while tens of thousands of men are
making the frosty air ring with the sound
of the pick and shovel and the blasts of ex-
ploding powder as they push forward works
already nearing completion
In the same Issue is given the names of a
number Of new railroads that will be
pushed ahead this year, showing that in Hi.
nois alone there are fifty companle in the
field that expect to construct in that State
about $500 miles of road. and the Age says:
"Of course some of the enterprises will not
materialize, and some include portions OF
lines already built. but, making all proper
deductions, this record of new organizations
in one State in single year, taken in con-
nection with the great number Of enterprises
chartered in previous years, many OF which
are already under way, indicates that great
activity in railway construction may be exs
pected in 1888, even in this State, which al
ready exceeds all others in railway mileage
and whose surface is SO covered with IRON
meshes that there seems to be little need Tor
further additions
But if Illinois, with not much less imam
5000 miles already in operation, having one
mile of railway to every six square miles OF
area. can project three or four Thousand
miles more in single year. what are the
possibilities in the great new Western
STATES and Territories, where the ratio of
area to railway mileage is ten, twenty, thir-
ty. forty times greater, and even more? In
the South. too, railroad construction prom
ises to be very active this year, and manu-
facturers of material, supplies and equip
ments may prepare for heavy business.
Mr.. Tucker seems to be surrenderng his
free-trade MISUNDERSTANDING the policy
of free-trade. He finds that free-trad is a
BILE to the conditions which now surround
US in practice. Like secession, which was
nice theme for refining sentimentality,
but when reduced down to practice, it was
the very thing the people did no. want
An extract from the Washington correspon-
dent of the New York Tribune, represents
him as Jealous in his efforts to retain the
duty on ''baryta or barry ties, sumac, bariam
and hoop-poles, yet free-tIader in prin-
ciple and an earnest advocate of the free
trade theory. Now let Mr.. Tucker turn
his attention to the proposition to impose
specific tax on foreign iron ores, and by do
ing so protect a great interest of his own
district as well as of the State. 1t matters
not that the propos ition comes from Gen.
Malone. who is alive to every interest af-
fecting Virginia, Mr.. fuckers support will
be none the less appreciated by his constit.
uents and the people of the State. Mr..
Tucker is genial and able gentleman, and
if he would only bring himself. down to
the realization that there has been a war,
that it had results, and that these results
have worked out change in the conditions
capacities N light yet be made useful to the
Commonwealth he is delegated to repre-
sent, in part. He has gone far enough to
make it an easy matter to 60 little farther
practical things study instead of theories.
he will learn that it is wisdom and states
mansbip to maintain hat policy which is
essential to the development and utiliza-
ton of the material resources of the State.
Personally he has many friends who wish
him we'll. Politically, in the light of the
past, he is regarded as an obstruction to
healthy practical legislation; but recent in
dications give hope that the scales are fall
ing from his eyes and that he may yet be.
come friend of home industries and the
labor interests of Virginia and the South.