622 



FARMERS' REGISTER—RAIL ROADS, &c 



ports and places of importance, but to furnish a 

 powerful link in the hri<iht chain now uniting this 

 confederacy. I write this advisedly, and a ionfi- 

 consideration of the subject enables mc to say, that 

 the more roads the better, for all these places. 



Here I am also led lo !i;ive an opinion as to fu- 

 ture profits — profits which it seems are expected 

 to be derived from the road system ; and profits, 

 the prospect of which appears to have led to the 

 bitter opposition, the Roanoke and Norfolk people 

 have experienced. Now, for my part, I think no 

 road proprietor need give himself the trouble of 

 calculating on any large return on his rail road 

 stock: if he does, he will be deceived. Indirect- 

 ly, if a merchant or a planter, he will be benefit- 

 ted; but, that the mere proprietor of stock will 

 be directly benefitted, I have not the least idea. 

 The experience of France and Great Britain 

 teaches us that in industrious and busy countries, 

 roads are as uniform a tax as a horse or a plough. 

 Roads have never been of themselves productive, 

 nor can they ever be so. 



Hence, 1 cannot but hope, that for the remain- 

 der of the session, we shall see all hands unite in 

 procuring the state's subscription to the roads that 

 are asked for and required ; and an end put to this 

 ridiculous contest for the furtherance of local in- 

 terest, when the general interal interest is so con- 

 cerned in efTecting every one of these works. The 

 three roads together will not require more than 

 §500 or 600,000; and, when it is considered that 

 the improvement of the James is suspended, lean- 

 not but hope that the Chesapeake and Ohio Cana! 

 will be left to the care of Congress, and the ■'§500 or 

 §600,000 voted ana voce to the above named rail 

 roads. Once let the two roads reach the Roa- 

 noke, and it will advance with great rapidity to Ra- 

 leigh, and then to the Pee Dee, via Fayetteville; 

 and tlius will Richmond, Petersburg and Norfolk, 

 become not only marts of trade for the Carolinas, 

 but ports for the transmission of their produce to 

 the shores of Europe. 



SMEATON. 



FREDKRICKSBURG, PETERSBURG, NORFOI.K, 

 THE ROANOKE AND THEIK RAIL ROADS. 



No. II. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I concluded my last with an opinion that 

 the holders of rail road stock, who expected to ob- 

 tain a large dividend, would be disappointed ; and 

 that the benefits to be derived, would he rather in- 

 direct to the individual, though there is no doubt, 

 that to the state, they will be direct. 



The idea is still more indelibly fixed on my 

 mind, by the crude notions of some writer in the 

 Enquirer, and some of the speakers in the Legis- 

 lature, whose object was to prevent that body sub- 

 scribing to the Portsmouth, because it held the 

 usual trvo fifths of the Petersburg road stock. 

 Now setting aside any consideration of the folly 

 of expecting a dividend of any magnitude, I ap- 

 prehend there has been a total misconception of 

 the original motive of the Legislature, in deter- 

 mining to furnish two fifths of all the capital sub- 

 scribed for public works. Knowing the danger 

 attached lo the expenditure on such works, by 

 either a general or local government, I have ever 

 viewed this plan as one which, in the advance of 

 the three fifths by individuals, offered a full secu- 



rity for the safety of the other ttoo fifths by the 

 state ; and that the last thing to which the com- 

 monwealth looked, was a large, or even a Zi7<ic di- 

 vidend. Indeed, I cannot but hope that, as soon as 

 the Legislature sees the admirable effect of the rail 

 roads to the Roanoke, that it will assent in future 

 to receive either a smaller dividend, or when 

 works shall have been proved practically useful, 

 no dividend at all, on the mere condition that it is 

 to be exempt from charge. 



The state can well afford to do this ; for, in the 

 results of all works that are practically useful, the 

 value of })roperfy will be so enhanced, as to add 

 to the sources of taxation ; and, if necessary, di- 

 minishing the amount individually paid — thus 

 achieving a most important end. 



For instance, Norfolk and Petersburg have, in 



their corporate capacities, both contributed § 



to the roads now laid, and laying down, from the 

 Roanoke. Their taxable rental may be stated at 

 !5* 100,000, and the tax levied at 81,000, or 1 per 

 cent. I have heard it said, that at Norfolk, per- 

 haps in a favored situation, pro|>erty will now 

 rent for as much as it would sell, before the Dis- 

 mal Swamp Canal (I wish its name could be al- 

 tered,) was completed. It is not going too far to 

 say, that if this circumstance be true, or even 

 half true, as soon as the road is completed, the 

 taxable rental at Norfolk will be quadrupled, or 

 §400,000; and that the tax will be at the rate of 

 one quarter of a cent, instead of one cent: but, 

 such will be the immeasurable and unimaginable ef- 

 fect on Norfolk, and I hope and believe on Peters- 

 burg, that the one cent per cent on the §450,000 

 will then be more readily paid than the same sum 

 on § 100,000 ; and this alone would furni.sh an 

 amount equal to the discharge of any interest in- 

 curred in obtaining loans for this work. 



Apply this reasoning to the state. Its lands are 

 valued at §200,000,000. Is there the slightest 

 question that, stating the cost of a rail road to the 

 Tennessee and Kentucky lines, and lo other points 

 at §10,000,000, that the value of the lands would 

 be doubled; and that, perhaps, on the present scale 

 of taxation, the interest on this §10,000,000 could 

 be discharged without requiring it from the other 

 contributors to the work, or rather the holders of 

 the stock. Such a plan would insure safety to the 

 capital of the state, profit to that of individuals, 

 and general welfare to the whole community. 



This doctrine may seem bold, when such 

 " searching sagacity" and such " potcerful scruti- 

 ny" have, in all the superior flight of their super- 

 eminent wisdom, found fault with the mode in 

 which the Portsmouth company has presumed lo 

 raise its capital. This " sagacity" and this " scru- 

 tiny" object that the corporation subscribed too 

 large a proportion — a proportion, could you be- 

 lieve it reader, much larger than the town of Pe- 

 tersburg subscribed to its road. This is really 

 a daring act, and as scire facias (or as they are 

 sometimes called, " skiry factions,"') are in vogue, 

 I hope Messrs. Sagacity and Scrutiny, those " se- 

 cond Daniels come to judgment," will speedily ob- 

 tain one, in order that the punishment merited by 

 such audacity may be ascertained and awarded. 



I trust also, that the folly of such language as 

 the following, and the daring attachment, which 

 the citizens of Norfolk and Portsmouth have ex- 

 hibited in the fostering their own interests, and 

 forwarding those of the state, as well ai their total 



