The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-02-06
Gm Messenger.
BIG RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT.

dS5uLlC 1al6@ pAOPoAk OA0
as TO what is contemplated be true, as
is shown by the following editorial
which appeared in Wednesdays News
and Observer.
A Richmond dispatch ~nnounces that
the state corporation commission has
granted the request for the c~onsoiida-
rion of the three railways referred TO IN
The News and Observers article quoted
below.
It will be seer from that article that
there are many plans on foot to deVel-
Cd that section of our state by the
building of new railroads.
Right here the question naturally
arises: How is Wilmington and Dat.
immediate section to profit by this
railway building? OF all the new roads
Mentioned there is only one-the RIA
leigh and Southpo". which directly
affects us. Can't something be done
to put our section in touch with this
movement for railway development!
Can't measures be taken to place MS
city in direct connection with this net
work of railways which are to traverse
in almost every direction this garden
spot of the United States? No one can
deny that onl-- two things are needed
to make eastern North Carolina as pro-
ductive, if not moe so, than any other
section of the whole country. These
are transportation facilities and an in
crease in the number of producers.
Wilmington is in the center OF the
trucking district of this section of the
Carolinas. She should be the chief
market and trading point for a large
section of this trucking district. Her
location makes her the natural trading
point for those engaged in this bust
ness. But read The News and Obser-
ver's article published below and it
will be seen that all the proposed rail-
way developments tend toward building
I'D of the chief seaport of Virginia
and making it the trade and shipping
center of the large area of our state
to be ~traversed by these proposed new
railway lines.
Under these circumstances is it not
necessary, if Wilmington wishes 10
hold the trade she has or intends at
tempting to increase it, that her bust
ness men should be looking out for
her Understanding something to pre-
vent her being left behind in the march
of progress? Unless something is done
is there not danger of our sister sea-
port just across the Virginia line step
ping in and securing a large part of
the inland trade and foreign commerce
to which our city is entitled? 1t is
time her people were up and doing.
They should not. wait until Norfolk
has captured the golden prize of the
trade of eastern Carolina and then
complain that they are not getting
their just share of this business. Now
is the time to act. Don't sit idly by
and let the opportunity pass. If our
people do this they will have none but
themselves to blame for the loss of
trade. 1t will be too late then to lay
the blame on the railways-the net
work of lines converging at Norfolk.
If Wilmington is to profit by this pro-
posed development Of our trucking sec
ton and the building of railways all
through it she must act at once. There
is no time for delay, What will our
business men do about it2
MI .-;lo e,o-o T-lA kTA-. o-l Oh
server is:
The railroad development in east
ern North Carolina promises to be
greater in the near future han it has
been in the entire history of that rich
and fertile section, destined with good
transportation facilities, to be a truck
garden from Wilmington to Norfolk.
The telegram in Sundays New and
Observer that application had been
made in Virginia for permission to
merge the Virginia and Carolina Coast
Railroad company, Suffolk and Caro-
lima Railroad mpa and the Caro-
lima Coast Railroad under
the head of the Carolina Coast rail-
road company. with the principal
officers in Norfolk, is but one of the
indications. Back of this merger are
gigantic plans of development which
are not yet given to the public. a
later telegram indicates that the
Pamlico and Oriental is also to be
merged in this great corporation
which is to build to Beaufort, to Wash
ington, into Hyde. Currirucx and other
eastern counties. giving over 500 miles
in the system.
The Atlantic and North Carolina
railroad will build to Point Lookout
and then become a great carrying
road for freight to be brought to that
point by ocean The Nor
folk and Southern. virtually merged
with that road will also be extend
ed. The road from Raleigh to Wash
ington. with a spur at Snow Hill and
perhaps at Kinston is being construct
ed. and will be rapidly pressed to
completion in the early spring.
The Atlantic Coast Line, the best
paying system in the south, has not
annonnced any extensions hut Ii will