Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-12-22
STATE DEVELOPMENT.
Object of Present Report.

ana report Whatever lnIOrmauOn Will enaoie
the Legislature to legislate inteligently and
with safety upon subjects calculated to ad-
vance the development ofthe State" The
object Of this report is to make public .
character of information which seems to
have been assiduously suppressed and to
scatter facts which, rs We believe, many
persons ore anxious to conceal.
A State Only Prosperous IL Property h
Owned by Citizens.
1t is mistake to suppose that this State
is prospering as she ought. A State. is
prospering when, and only when, those Who
permanently reside within her limits are
increasing in wealth; q State is prospenng
only when her citizens are accumulstng
property.
Persons who have not considered this
matter are apt to be deceived by appear.
ances q railroad may be constructed and
mines opened, and temporary population
may gather in about the mines in shanties;
such stores may be built, and there is q de-
ceptive appearance Of development but IT
the entire enterprise is owned BY and the
profits distributed among non residents do
not reap the harvest, the State is going
backwards. The writer here gives an ex.
ample of how q nonresident mining com.
pany took out all the coal from several hun
dred acres and then abandoned the locality,
leaving it poorer than before.
Our Condition Contrasted With 1865.
When We contemplate the changesin this
State during the past twenty years we seem
authorized to declare that il, the same prac.
tees be continued twenty years longer West
Virginia will be grieyously injured il not ire
trIevably ruined. When the war ended
here stood $4,000 square miles richer in
mineral, timber and natural resources than
the same area anywhere else. This $4,000
square miles was not new or unknown ter
ritury; il was State within the very heart
OF the civilization, population and wealth OF
this Union and adjacent to the capital city
of 10, 100000 Of people, but above all and
more important than all, the mines, the
minerals. the timber (all untouched) were
owned by the people whose homes. were
here
The contrast between the then condition
of West Virginia and Western territory is
full of instruction. The natural wealth OF
the territory is also undeveloped, but there
arc neither roads nor population. In 1868
this State was tolerably well supplied with
(sCme sort of highways; We had the h. X
q. X. X with the Parkersburg branch the
kauavha road crossed the State at the
south; the Psrkersburg grade crossed near
the center, and the North Western Turn.
pike ran through the northern counties; be-
sides this there were more than $500 miles
of interior roads In 1865 this State had q
population OF over 400, 900, all home people
representing settlements made here more
than hundred years ago, and this resi-
dent population then owned all the proper
"; not single county owed dollar, and,
excepting the city Of Wheeling, not town
or village was in debt.
Twenty years have passed; the treasures,
untouched in 1865, have been considerably
exhausted, vast private fortunes have been
accumulated but not by those who are our
permanent citizens, and today the home
population probably does not own one-half
the property which it owned when the war
ended This plain statement Of undisputed
facts may we'll alarm every man with sons
now on the threshold OF manhood whose
fortunes and success in life depend on The
future prosperity of their native State.
shall Our Wealth Pass tn Strangers
The wealth of this State is immense; the
development Of this wealth will earn vast
private fortunes far beyond the dreams even
Of moderrf Crnsus the question is, wheth-
er this vast wealth shall belong TO persons
who life here and who are permanently
identified with the future of West Virginia,
or whether it shall pass into the hands OF
persons who do not live here and who care
nothing for our State except to pocket the
tr, asures which lie buried in our hills?
All Progress Is Not Healthy.
There is legitimate railroad develop
ment and an illegitmate railroad develop
ment in the State; the one gives healthy
progress, and the other an unhealthy pro-
gress; the one builds up the country while
the other impoverishes it
Tho Three Stages of Railroad Euterprisc.
Railroad development has three stages
The first stage is where the promoters oi an
enterprise construct road because the
section OF country through which It passes
will furnish sufficient traffic to yield profit
on the work. In this case O new highway
ia opened TO accommodate particular line
Of travel, which already exists During the
infancy of the road its earnings may not De
large enough to pay the interest on its
bonds and stock, but the new highway soon
builds up the contiguous territory, and as
the volume Of business augments, the
amount Of earnings increases. 80 that pres
emily the investors will receive large inter
est on the capital expended. In this, the
first stage Of railroad enterprise, the road is
q highway and all customers make.u Of it
on precise equality in this case the COM
pany earns money by furnishing transporta.
ton and there are no determinations.
The second stage is where road is built
because the promoters themselves expected
TO be the contractors for the work; If the
road costs one million. they expect TO re-.
ceiye three millions. In this case the terri.
tory which feeds the road must pay FIVE
times as much for transportation as it ought
TO do, because it is taxed TO pay interest on
three million dollars, when the road only
c,sts one million.
The third stage is where the promoters
construct a road because the custody OF q
highway will enable him TO control the
country depending on that highway: The
persons who have possession Of highway
exercise power that cannot be described
nd they may speedily absorb the profits Of
'very enterprise along the line.
How Subscriptions are Obtained.
When the conservative elements Of socie-
" neglect public matters it is easy to man.
ufacture a false public opinion in favor OF
subscription. Influential citizens are given
some personal interest sufficient 70 outweigh
their concern for the common welfare. One
man is promised depot on bis farm; an
other has property Immediately on the
road; another Is given 9 contract; another
salary; and many persons, stimulated BY
personal motive, are advocating the same
measure. On the other hand, the great
body Of voters, occupied with private Affairs,
give the matter no consideration and there
Is no one to argue against IL; the local
newspapers pablish everything 70 en-
courage subscription, and suppress
every fact that would enable the
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