The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-05-26
& Goodly Inheritance.

cost G. F.. Huntington 100000, and it
ia not yet completed to I'll the design
and plan of its protector. Its facilities
and capabilities are to be extended and
enlarged, so that when the work is fin
ished it will far surpass that of any sim
liar plant in the civilized world. 1t is
one of the results of the purpose of the
government to construct navy com
mensurate with the needs and dignity
of this great country, and to place the
nation beyond the reach of dependence
upon any other government for the
building of ships and the accommodation
of our trade The statesmanlike policy
which the nation has entered upon, so
forceful!y and ably outlined by Samuel
J. Tiden, eight years ago, to provide
navy such as would be able to protect
our coast cities and trade, and maintain
the flag on every sea, has had the effect
too, of building up not only ship-yards,
but steel plants all over the country,
such as will enable US to construct
ships for government and private use
out of our own material, by our own
labor, and as cheap as similar work can
be done in England or France. 1t is
| policy that has been ably seconded by
Senator German, of Maryland, in an in
structive speech in Congress, and by
Senator Butler, of South Carolina, as
well as by Senators Hale, Frye, Pratt,
Morrill,, Allison and others of the Res
publican side. The laws which have
been enacted to enforce the wise o'icy
of providing navy that would be a
credit to the nation. stipulates that all
the material which will enter into such
construction must be of American pro
ducton and that the work must be exe>
cuted by American workmen. The eff
feet of this has been to induce the cree
ton of the great steel plant near Balti-
more, similar industries in Pennsylvania,
| New York, Chicago and San Francisco,
and to develop and utilize the iron and
| timber resources of our own country to
stimulate the inventive genius and
mechanical skill of our people, and add
to the wealth and material advancement
of our whole country. The millions
that have been heretofore appropriated
to this purpose that will be appropri :
ated by the present Congress, and that
will be dedicate by future national legis.
latures to consummate the plans now so
we'll in progress, looking to great navy
and to much more enlarged coast service
and International maritime trade, con-
stitute chapter in national legislation
and national progress unequalled in any
other period of our history. 1t mar>
velous exhibition of the grasp and en-
ergy and executive and inventive Ca
pacity of the American people and
marks an epoch in the progress of evils
ization and national pride and growth
that has startled from her repose the
boosted mistress of the seas. whose drum
beat reverberates around the world.
Recurring to the opening statement OF
1 this article, what does the great improve
ment at Newport News mean for this
section? 1t is simply putting into prac-
tical form the knowledge of the country
drained by the Chesapeake and Ohio
railway, which Mr. Huntington acquired
while president of that great corpora
ton. He saw in the rich bestowments
of nature the greatest iron, coal and
timber resources of the continent He cal
culated that what nature had provided
man would utilize, and that it was only a
question of time when the capacity OF
! the double-trac railroad would be taxed
| to its utmost limits to accommodate the
| traffic that was destined to be created in
| the development of these natural re-
sources, and that it must have it's de-
bouchure on the sea coast to fulfill the
I demands OF domestic and foreign trade.
| What do we see going on, in furtherance
and confirmation of this conception
Whether through business sagacity or
| Providential ordering, man has been
chosen to -hc management OF the Chesa-
peake and Ohio railway to take up the
| pratical part of the railway work, and
Is now doubling the traffic facilities OF
| the road to meet the daily charging
commerce that private enterprise is cree
ating. Mines are being opened, furnaces
erected, collieries prepared, timber cut,
lateral roads built to penetrate to iso-
lated mineral and timber districts, and all
the appliances of science, skill and me-
| chanics being appropriated to correspond
with the great improvement at Newport
News Wenow see from fifty to hundred
| trains passing over this great highway
between Clifton Forge and the Ohio
river, and taking the James River divis-
ion at this point, pushing on to the sea.
We see thousands of laborers at work
extracting from the bosom of nature
the wealth placed in our mountains and
vallies by the hand of the Almighty.
The knowledge of the scientist and the
skill OF the artiZan combine in exposing
the hidden treasures and furnishing the
appliances necessary to the great work
of developing these immense riches.
Progress and improvement mark every
hour of the passing time. The railroad
management is kept alert TO keep up
with private enterprise, and these forces
are SO steadily and surely unfolding the
buried wealth of the country that the
progress is AiinOSG BCdftlIuS, WHEN we
calmly think of what is being done.
And Clifton Forge is SO located and
related to all this improvement, SO fav-
orably situated and environed by natu-
raj conditions, that we must share in the
increasing business that this continuous
development assures if her people are
equal to the opportunity and can grasp
the occasion to profit by what is going
on.
We have great section to be devel>
oped, natural wealth enough to endow
an empire; we have a great railroad
with IFS entrepot at the sea, to fur
nish market for our products, and
great brain at the head of it, that com
prehends the vastness of the possibili-
ties and grasps the appliances to con-
summate them. 1t staggers the imagi-
nation to conceive of what a decade
will bring forth. With natural wealth
ovnoco6 ta viaxv r1nourpa can6 in the