766 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 12 



Condensed view of the Receipts and Payments, year ending 31st January 1836. 



ON THE SCHEMES FOR RAIL ROADS IN NORTH 

 CAROLINA. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Raleigh, (N. C) > 

 March. I2(h, 1836. $ 



It is to be regretted that your correspondent 

 "G. L. C." observes so little ceremony in planning 

 some rail roads, and dealing damnation to others. 

 He seems to sit at his desk, with an open map be- 

 lore him, intersecting every state with projected 

 roads, uniting the most distant I owns with lead 

 marks. Regardless of the feelings of those who 

 have long and zealously labored to promote a fa- 

 vorite scheme, he dashes all their cherished hopes, 

 by one fatal stroke of his pencil, and raises a rival 

 enterprise to crush the first. I think, Air. Editor, 

 it requires accurate knowledge of the topographi- 

 cal features of a country, deep and mature reflec- 

 tion on the interests, commercial and agricultural, 

 of that country, and a freedom from all prejudice 

 to project rail roads judiciously. Now, your cor- 

 respondent has embraced in his letter such a large 

 district of country, that there is ground to suppose 

 he coald not have bestowed that consideration on 

 all the projects suggested, which could constitute 

 him an adviser to be implicitly followed. In one 

 short communication, he settles the whole system 

 of internal improvement lor Virginia, North Caro- 

 lina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, 

 not omitting some slight allusions to Man land. 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, ii 

 is, in truth, a letter de omnibus rebus cl quit 

 aliisj for, not content with so extensive a field, 

 there aresundry other topics discussed in it. 



The chief objection I Lave to your correspon- 

 dent, and the foundation of every other, is, that by 

 taking too large a field he necessarily advocates 

 or condemns unjustly. It is as evident as possible, 

 that he might, without disadvantage, inform him- 

 self more fully about the roads coming to the 

 Roanoke. It is very gratifying to a generous 

 mind, to yield to conviction. Bat really 1 must 

 ask for some reason, why works, which so many 

 are interested in, and for which so much has been 

 done, should be abandoned, because they are op- 

 posed to other works which your correspondent 

 prefers. What magic is there in the name of 

 VVeldon, that it should be constituted the toll-gate 

 of North Carolina? — and nothing permitted to pass 

 the Roanoke elsewhere? Capitalists, merchants. 



farmers, the people, have decided against U G. L. 

 C." Nearly six hundred thousand dollars have 

 already been obtained for the Raleigh and Gaston 

 Rail Road, and the small remainder of the cap- 

 ital stock will soon be made up. This is proof 

 that all do not think Weldon ihe only place for a 

 rail road to cross Roanoke. Your correspondent 

 is very indignant at what he calls an "error" of 

 "Raleigh." The error is this — (quoted from an 

 article signed ''Raleigh," in the Raleigh Register,) 

 "the Gaston road will intercept all the trade from 

 the west, and the greater part of the products of 

 east North Carolina will be shipped from its coast." 

 I suppose one of the "facts" which will be brought 

 to prove this an error, is the fact mentioned in ihe 

 same article, of the number of vessels which sailed 

 out. of one of' the inlets in November last. Trans- 

 portation by water is cheaper than transportation 

 by rail road; and it is no error to suppose that the 

 construction of rail roads will not put a stop to 

 shipment by vessels which ply on our coast. Ves- 

 sels of the largest size cannot come into the ports 

 of North Carolina. Is it therefore absurd to say, 

 that vessels of a less size will bear the products of 

 the eastern part of the state to other parts of the 

 union, or to the West Indies ' The writer 

 in the Raleigh Register was right. The Ra- 

 leigh and Gaston Rail Road will be supported by 

 the west; ami if the citizens of Wilmington are 

 mad enough to run a road to Halifax, they will 

 find, when it is too late, that, cut off* from the west, 

 and weakened from the east by the coast trade, 

 the receipts of the road will not keep it. in re- 

 pair. The Wilmington people could not do better 

 than to make their road to Raleigh. 



Mr. Editor, it is a hard task to arouse people to 

 a spirit of internal improvement- — but, when 

 aroused, it is a still more difficult task lo keep them 

 from wild ventures and mad projects. North Car- 

 olina iias long slumbered; she is now about to 

 become rail road mad. Roads will be projected 

 in all directions — ana unless the state shall adopt, 

 some uniform and judicious policy, her works will 

 destroy, instead of strengthening each oilier. 

 There is nothing so much ne< strong and 



clear view of the proper policy of a slate, in rela- 

 tion to internal improvements. 



I should like to see such writers as G. L. C. en- 

 gaged in this task. I can see that he has thought 

 much ,and well, on the subject. He has a mind to 

 grasp extended and enlightened plans. I would 

 not have him construe my disagreement, in par- 



