Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-06-06
Our Progress.

Our Progress.
If the. spirit and energies OF the people
will move them to properly apply the OPP
portunities of the Virginia Exposition, a
more rapid progress will soon stimulate
further development of our resources, to be
followed by the consequent enlargement Of
all business interests. We are too apt to
view the Exposition when estimating the
benefits it will confer from mistaken idea
of the total Of interest it possesses. Desig.
mated as State Institution, and in fact il
is in its operations of wider import, it does
not, however, follow, that the diffusion Of
its benefits are general and no more, Oh
separate local interests are not to receive
direct advantages. We must estimate the
Importance of our immediate interests in
their relations to the commerce end bust
ness of the country generally in order to
arrive at a proper conclusion as to tie eff
forts we should put forth, though we look
no further than local advantage.
One of the chief interests to be advanced
by the Exposition is commerce, including
all it's features of inland, coast-wise, and
foreign. There are other considerations
which come up in the review that at once
strike the mind-such as the coming Of
strangers and the exchange Of information
between them and our own people with di-
rect reference to local pursuits and oppor-
portunities but we can go further and es-
innate the effect Of these influences in their
manifold benefits to our local interests,
secured Though the permanent establish
ment and continued growth of the Expo
sition. The productions Of our own sec
ton of the State are but little removed,
even in the first handling Of them, from
export commerce, and with such adyanta-
ges added to first considerations in local
point of view, we should be eager to fail in
with every opportunity that leads TO con-
tinued progress.
Some months since, We re-published
review of the trade of the Western, and
portions of the Northwestern States, as it
would in the future seek its relations both
outward and inward with ocean commerce.
1t was from a standard Chicago journal
that in its forecast had much to say of the
effect to follow the extended lines of rail-
road transportation commencing on the
Virginia coast and widening in their rami-
fications as they penetrated the great in
terror of the West. Looking at the Vir-
ginia Exposition in all its relations to our
interests, local as well as upon the broader
field in which its influences will be felt, we
can perceive that it is to play no unimpor
tant part as an auxiliary in Fastening the
realization Of the assurances which that
writer on subject Of absorbing Importance
to many States, outlined the part allotted
to the Virginia ports having their foreign
connections at the outlet Of Hampton
Roads.
Congress, in providing for the improve
ment of the waterways connecting the sea
with the interior, has included James river
from deep water to the falls at Richmond,
to which point it is proposed to secure a
channel twenty-five feet deep, ample to
float the largest sized merchant vessels
Richmond will soon have population Of
one hundred thousand, and is conducting
commerce now of one hundred million dol
lars of annual value. It is the largest seat
of manufacturing progress and of diversi
God tha oaE
onward destiny is assured, but its pace will
be quickened to the extent interior and
local influences and support are contributed,
and to that extent local communities, ope-
rating through concerted efforts, of which
the Exposition is a chief one, will aid in
the accomplishment of the wider along
with their own prosperity.
Richmond, through the transportation
lines centering on it, commands wider
territorial area within the limits of the
United States than any city north of it,
The lines of transportation approaching
completion give it the advantage Of nearly
four hundred miles in distance over any
other city on the Atlantic coast with San
Francisco. From New York to San Fran
cisco it is nearer ria. Richmond by forty
five miles than any ether Ioute between
those points. Richmond is nearer Chicago
than New York. 1t is one hundred and
thirty miles nearer Sc. Louis than Balti-
more. One hundred and fifty miles nearer
than Philadelphia, and two hundred and
forty nearer than New York, and of course
the nearest, if not also the most accessible
port to Cincinnati, Louisville, and other
great commercial centers south of Chicago.
To Virginia was given by the Creator
the favored anchorage of the coast, and
Richmond, her Capital city at the head Of
navigation, stands unsurpassed in point OF
rich and diversified interests With the al
vantagts of interior commerce above
sketched, the measure of its growth and
prosperity is not defined. Across the State