| From the Richmond Sentinel |
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| November 8, 1864 |
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| Our Railroads |
| There is no subject connected with the
public defence and the general happiness of the people, which more
urgently demands of the Government, a wise policy and skilful
administration, than the efficient maintenance and management of our
railroad system. There are some difficulties in the way of this, owing
to the fact that the railroads hold their charters and privileges, and
are subjected to supervision, under the State Governments; and from
these are scarcely to be expected such uniformity of views and
promptness of action, as the occasion renders necessary. But the
necessities of the war, and the demands of the military service, are
such as to make the railroads of the utmost consequence to the public
defence, and to justify, indeed require, of the Confederate
authorities, a course of policy calculated to secure of them the
utmost efficiency. |
| The building of the railroad from Danville
to Greensboro, has proved to be of the utmost consequence to the
country. In ordinary times, and for ordinary uses, the execution of
such a work by the Confederate authorities, would have been entirely
inadmissible. For the uses and necessities of the present times, it
was eminently proper and sagacious. The same reasons which dictated
the building of that road, may require the construction of others; and
surely the obligation is none the less binding, and the authorities
not less ample or attainable, for securing the proper efficiency of
the roads already in operation, and essentially necessary to the
public defence. |
| A railroad the building of which would be
very advisable, from its great convenience and advantage under all
circumstances, and its extreme importance in a contingency by no means
impossible, is one from Danville to Lynchburg. This would give us
another and an interior line between Virginia and the South, greatly
facilitate military combinations by facilitating the movements of
troops, and render us secure against any inconvenience from raiding
enterprises against our Southern connections. Lynchburg might become a
store-house for the accumulation of supplies, whence they could be
drawn, if needed, over the several routes of railroad or the canal
leading thence. The air-line between Lynchburg and Danville is about
sixty miles. We have been informed that a very advantageous route for
a railroad has been surveyed, cheap and facile of construction, by a
line of about eighty miles. We are assured, too, that the iron to lay
the track is attainable, and that, under the proper superintendence,
with the number of laborers which the Government might command, the
grading might be completed in six months. This, we know, would be
extraordinary speed, compared with what was witnessed in the
construction of the Danville and Greensboro railroad; but we trust we
have learned how to improve on the past. Every thing, however, would
depend on securing an efficient manager of construction, and yielding
to him a proper support. But even if a much longer time were employed,
if a year or two years would be required, we should not deem the work
useless; for the war may last longer than one year or two years, and
the new road may, at latest, be ready in time for the exigencies in
which it would be so vitally important. |
| In reference to the maintenance of the
roads already in use, there would seem to be necessary a proper system
for obtaining exact information as to the condition of the various
works, and for furnishing timely supplies or assistance to the
railroad companies, so as to secure an efficient equipment. What the
companies might not be able or sufficiently enterprising to attempt,
each for itself, in the manufacture of railroad iron, or the
establishment of machine-shops, the Government might safely undertake
for all. There would be this further advantage in the founding of such
establishment by the Government: The operatives necessary for
conducting them could be secured. The interruptions of the
conscription are almost fatal to any new enterprise conducted by
private individuals. The Government would be its own protection
against interference with public undertakings. |
| An essential feature of any policy, from
which efficiency is to be hoped in the prosecution of mechanical
enterprises, whether such as are above mentioned, or for any other
object, in the offering of encouragement, immunity and reward to
skilled labor. It should be invited here by inducements, and inventive
ingenuity should be stimulated by adequate bounties. There is no
greater, and in the circumstances of our country, no more cruel,
prodigality of our resources than the placing of a musket in the hands
of an artisan. Far better that he should ring his anvil and whirl his
lathe, and be encouraged to diligence in the skilful manufacture of
supplies of appliances of war. |
| If the proper man can be obtained to head
it, it might be well to establish a Railroad bureau, charged with
functions such as we have indicated. We say a proper man; one who has
both the energy and the previous training to adapt him to the
position, and who would come to his duties with the proper spirit; not
some unfit person, unfortunate it may be, and personally worthy beyond
doubt, whom sympathizing congressmen or attached friends in
influential positions, may recommend and urge for the place, for the
personal convenience it would afford. Of all the forms of government
person, that is the most pernicious which places incompetent men in
public trusts. |
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