Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-03-08
SATURDAY. MAR. 9th, 1890.
HOLD THE FORT.
TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS

lie not very polite aphorism but 1t Is
an expressive one, and applies to the sit
uation Of the B. & o. vs. Martinsburg.
Instead of lamenting and advancing evil
forebodings, redouble every energy and
effort to gain advantages in other direc-
lions that will more than balance the
loss sustained by the change in the B. &
o. divisions. The road remains and the
town remains and our common interests
remain, therefore keep your coat off and
20 to work.
The B. & o. q policy Martinsburg could
not have changed under any circum-
stances. All was offered them that
could be desired. but their plans we're
not conferred here. Wheeling fares no
better and Keyser worse. Benwood will
be to the Western end what Berlin will
DO to the Eastern the distributing point
for freight trains and most likely the
centre of labor. The B. & O.s policy
has been changeable one, as old rail-
readers best know,-from Keyser to
Piedmont one day. from Piedmont to
Ksyser the next. In time all or more
may drift back to Martinsburg, The B.
& o. is close-mouthed as becomes pru-
dent management, and its motives and
purposes are never gossipped about.
This much Martinsburg and West Vir-
ginia can suck out of the ends of their
fingers, and if they don't like the taste,
change medicine or get new doctor.
The Lord helps those who help them
selves.
Capitalists and corporations are at
tracted by the inducements of success
already attained. The town that helps
itself and makes reputation for enter
prise and wide-awake progress, is saved
the trouble of going after investors and
settlers people all flock to Oklahoma,
even if they have to return sadder and
wiser men, and they flock to Roanoke,
and to Birmingham, and to Denver. be-
cause these places became centres of in
dustry and enterprise. Cows don't go to
old pastures, nor the birds to a dry
spring. Create an attraction, superficial
if it must be, but create an attraction,
like the old fathers advice to his son to
make money"
The B. & o. goes to Cumberland be-
cause Cumberland is put down as a
manufacturing city" and because in
Maryland enterprise is exempted from
taxation. If they could, the whole road
would be taken to Maryland
What is the West Virginia law making
power doing towards attracting enter
priseP Noseing around with a magnify
ing glass to find some new object for
taxation, or some new corporation to
crush Show me the law on State or
municipal book encouraging, inviting or
assuring enterprise and industry protec-
ton, exemption or encouragement. Tax
Tax Tax ! the farmer to death, the
business man to death. License Lii
cense License down to the ped
dler of shoe black. Is the State SO econ
omical that it tries to save expenses
Study your change of constitutions, your
varying of capital locations, your rowing
commissions of the Legislatures, your
extra sessions over fool political fights
for U. S. Senators and Governors. at the
cost Of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Look at your Legislative calls, every 9th
er item of which is an attack on railroads
or corporations. Chi Bono! Shyster
lawyers Pettyfogging Statesmen !
Penthouse politicians Where are the
broad and liberal laws enacted Where
the encouraging legislation? Where the
sweeping away of old-time vagaries
and the enacting of modern require
ments? Where that public management
that men have to give to their private
business to make wealth and success.
ha 10
looks in vain. If it were not for the ex-
haustless natural resources and match
less inducements of mine and forest and
field, your Mountain State would be a
territory,--a beggar at the doors of the
capital of one of the nightiest and rich
est nations in the world. If it were not
for few men at large like your Cam
dens, COTS, Davises, Elkins, and men in
the coal and lumber and farming regions
whose names we do not know,-men in
Wheeling, and Parkersburg and Charles
ton, &C.. at the head of vast enterprises
men at home in every county like your
Smalls, Vanmetres, Kilmers, Thomases,
Tablers, Kitchens, Granthams, and the
like by the hundreds in town and coun-
ty and hamlet, the commonwealth would
be unknown in circles of trade and COM
merce. What have your great statesmen
done for the time and money and atten-
ton they have monopolizeG Look at
your laws. if you have any and see. Half
of them your great-great-g randfathers
brought from old England. The people
should revolutionize politics, and if
neither party is fit or able to take advan-
tage of the passing opportunities to adj
vance the public interests, then throw
all overheard and establish party dis
tinctly West Virginian, identified with
the people without restriction, and nc
caudal appendage of any party to be
wagged by every hungry, greedy and
unprincipled politician. If you think
there is no ground for these remarks,
look at the masses, what have they got
for all their years of work and saving,
and what is it worth what they have.
Or put it in this light -
Had any Western State the limitless
natural wealth West Virginia possesses.
the markets of the world at our feet by
land or sea, how the Black Hills would
have bounded with life and labor, and
what an Ell Dorado fer the brain, and
the muscle, and the money of the world,
Such States in the West get the World 3
Fairs and are heir to royal favors. In
the West they build railroads with cross.
roads for stations. In West Virginia the
cowcatcher plows its way through miner
al and agricultural wealth, only to be
thrown off the track at every turn by a
cranky executive ukase or ditched by
the fogyism of law or craftsmanship, if
not side-tracked long before that point
by political scramble ahead.
Despite all these hindrances the State
is bound to make rapid strides, for a new
Nd x-,1 aIA =
hold Of developments and the money
making chances. By the force of cir
cumstrnces other changes will follow,
until that measure of prosperity is reach
ed which the position and possessions of
the State demand.
Under new circumstances the interests
that now go to Cumberland or further
South or West will stay in West Virginia
and some of them in Martinsburg.
Then the duty of our people is to grasp
the situation and hold it for the tide is
coming.
Investments in stocks and bonds and
securities in general are not as profitable
as in years gone by, and not available.
The money is here and seeking invest
ment. There are no more government
lands suitable for agriculture. Compe-
tition in that direction has reached its
end. With an increasing population
come increasing demands. Prices OF
grain will rise and farm lands are bound