The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-24 00:00:00

PACIFIC RAILROADS.

The joint resolution concerning the Northern Pacific
Railroad, having passed the ordeal of the Senate in spite
of a vigorous opposition, is now upon its journey through
the House. It is a rather startling piece of legislation.
Of the wisdom of aiding railroad enterprise in the West
by land grants there can be but one sound opinion.
Within reasonable limits it is the most effectual
stimulant to rapid settlement that can be devised.
But there is a line of moderation at which
it is the duty of the government to pause. Whatever may
be said of past transactions, the present demand runs
beyond them to an extravagant degree, and is altogether
unprecedented and excessive. The road asks for a belt of
territory several hundred miles in length and one hundred
miles in width,—an area large enough to carve up into
States. It further wants power to mortgage the road, the
franchise, all this land, and all other property of the
corporation, of what description soever, and to do
this before the actual task of construction has been
so much as even begun. It is an old maxim
that there is no harm in asking, a,nd the
managers of this corporation have evidently laid the
doctrine to heart. There has been no want of liberality in
previous grants, but this one shews an extraordinary dis-
proportion between it and any of its predecessors. It ap-
pears that the amount of land asked for within the limits
of Minnesota is twice as great as that ever given
to any other line within that State. Yet the other
lines have found builders who have had no occa-
sion to repent of the undertaking. Neither are there any
exceptional circumstances alleged or maintained concern-
ing the Northern Pacific. Passing beyond the limits of
the State, it appears that the desired appropriation in the
territories is four times as great as has yet been made to
any other single enterprise. If the facts are true, and
they do not appear to have been questioned, they shew
greediness and rapacity on the part of this ambitious
enterpsise which it would do no harm to put on short
rations fora few years. In an able speech against the proposed
grant, Senator Thurman exposed the intended mortgage
as the first false step in the scheme which, if it were seri-
ously examined, could not be justified. He averred that
the next thing would be a sale under the mortgage and
the buying in at a cheap price of the franchise and the
whole property by a " ring" in the company itself. This
is, of course, only his prophecy. It may never come
to pass, though it is certain that if it should come
to pass it would by no means be the first event
of the kind in the railway history of the country. But
the mortgage itself is so unusual and so objectionable in
many respects that nothing but an overbearing necessity
could justify it. The existence of that overbearing;
necessity its friends have failed to prove. Other roads
have got along without encountering a like need in times
infinitely less favourable to railway enterprises than the
present, when capital does not seem able to find enough
investments of this description to absorb its exuberant
abundance. It seems strange that a resolution that has
been so powerfully assailed and so feebly defended should
have had such an unqualified success in the Senate. One
grave objection to it is, that it creates a dangerous pre-
cedent. It was the ground selected by the opponents of
blind liberality and extravagant grants as the best upon
which they could do battle. If they are beaten here,
after such conclusive argument and in so extreme a
case, they will have no prospect of again resisting
the same restless spirit. Other bills, without num-
ber, will come pouring in ; many are know to be
now only waiting with the intention of passing easily
through the great breach which this mighty forerunner
is expected to make for them. There must be a limit to
such donations, and if it is not found at this point it
seems as though it might never be found until the pub-
lic lands are actually exhausted. That such exhaustion is
a possibility has not heretofore been appreciated by many
persons. But when we hear that the grants already
made to the four Pacific Railroads contain a superficial
area equivalent to that of five large States, it becomes
evident that at this rate of depletion the end of the sup-
ply is a quite conceivable event at no very distant date in
the future. —Boston Advertiser.

The correspondent of a Manchester paper says :
An unfortunate turn seems likely to be given to
things in Ireland by the language of the Times and Tele-
graph with reference to the discussions of last week
on the Land Bill. I hear for certain that the
Lords do not meditate making any essential changes in
the bill, but they will be content to let it pass pretty
much as it stands. They will; however,it is said, compen-
sate themselves for this concession by throwing out the
Ballot Bill, adhering to the principle that nothing
which is right ought to be yielded on the first time of
asking.

TliE CAPITOL—We now know the actual
loss of life produced by the " accident "—if the direct
result of shameless carelessness can properly be called an
accident at the Capitol in Richmond. Fifty-eight
persons are already dead, of whom fifty-five were
white and three coloured. Many of the wounded
are in a condition to give rise to serious
anxiety on the part of their friends. Over two score
families are plunged in great poverty and distress, and an
appeal has been made to the public here on their behalf.
We would rather say no more m reference to that appeal,
for a sum has been subscribed which, for the credit of
New York, we refrain from mentioning. Has the virtue
of charity really taken a long farewell of the community ?
—New York Times.

COMPANIES AND FREIGHT LINES.—The legisla—
ture of Ohio has under consideration a bill to regulate
express companies and fast freight lines, requiring all
such corporations doing business within the limits of the
State to publish from time to time a statement of their
business and financial condition. The actual condition
of the three large express companies in the country,
operating under special State charters, is never accu-
rately known to their stockholders. They are close cor-
porations and the stockholders and the public have to be
content what information the trustees not elected nor re-
movable by the stockholders, may choose to give them.
The purpose of the Ohio legislature is to dispel the mys-
tery, if possible, and give the public some safeguard, not
against these companies particularly, but against all
similar companies which take advantage of their example
to impose uponthe community—Boston Advertiser.

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