Weekly miners' express. (DuBuque, Iowa) 184?-1849, 1848-05-10
From the Traveller.
PACIFIC RAILROAD HINTS No. Is.
BY J. PLUMBE.

| From the Traveller.
PACIFIC RAILROAD HINTS No. Is.
@ BY J. PLUME. tag ag
1t is al, old saying-not less true than
trlte--that "what is every body's bust.
ness is nobody's;'' and the subject of con-
structing the Pacific Railroad furnishes
a striking illustration of its correctness
To when do the public lands belong
J The people. Who would be benefited by
the advantages which the railroad would
confer? The people Who are the PEG.
pie? You, and I, and every man, woman
and child in the Union. Tten do we moi
owe it to ourselves and to posterrity te
act in the premises, at least as ifpossess
ed Of the disposition to pay ordinary at
tention to our interests?
| We own vast estate which is now un
productive and unavailable; -apd the
plan is here presented to render it valua
BILE, without its costing US any thing bu
the mere expression of the wish to have
it SO. Nothing more is requisite to make
the wilderness blossom like the rose; and
furnish happy homes to millions Of those
who constitute the bone and sinew of our
country.
We should be perfectly justifiab!e in
securing the advantages incident to the
construction Of this road, even at the ex
pense Of the direct outlay Of its cost in
cash. ID
But we are unpardonably inexcusable
five neglect the opportunity Of making q
''srap'' of small portion of our wild
lands for magnificent Railroad.
Suppose the public domain, instead oil
belonging to Uncle Sam, was the proper
ty Of any private individual ;--would he
hesitate moment in ayailing himself oil
the barter?
Our continent constitutes an obstruc.
ton in the navigation Of the direct route
between Europe and Asia; and we owe
it 10 the world to lose no time in obvia.
ting the difficulty which it occasions; un-
less we choose to submit to the deserved
reproach Of acting more like blind and
benightned >Hotentots, than enlightened
and enterprising Anne ricans.
We are justly proud of the superiority
which the general aspect Of our side Of
the boundary presents when contrastc6
with that Of our British neighbors; and
were we the occupantsof Great Britain !;
and the English the owners Of the United
States; it is any thing but unlikely that
we should be abusing their want Of Yam
kee intelligence for leaving undone the
very thing we are now neglecting our
selves. But the fact is, we do not possess
the same amount of foresight and enter
prise that England does or, if we do we
fail to practice upon it-and that makes
our conduct only the less excusable.
She has set us an example in her We'll
land Canal, for instance, which we ought
to lose no time in following; by construct
ing our railroad; and thus show our dis
position to return her facilities for which
we have been for some time her debtor.
1t seems strange, indeed, that any one
should for single moment, doubt the ex-
pediency ofimmedia,ely commencing the
proposed work, when it is self evident
that its completion would render the Uni.
ted States the "Haz f-,cay House" between
Isa IN Ind ,be d AA{fiea on the one hand, and
sufficiently comprehensive and extended.
', w III Of an air line railroad between
boston ana 7S~.' York-n addition to
the half dozen other lines u,.eady in on
eration-and we are SO fully satisfied OF
its success, that all we want is Charter
the millions Of hard dollars to make ii
with are all forth coming; and out Of the
pockets of private individuals,
But what comparison will the business
between Boston and New York bear tc
that between Europe and Asia? And il
must not be forgotten that the Oregon
Railroad is not only going to secure the
Through" trade and travel between Eu,
rope and Asia, but also the s7ocaz" bus:
ness-more or less Of it, of every single
city, town, village and solitary dwelling
on the continent of North America, to
say nothing ofthe West Indies and good
Iy portion Of South America.
The idea Of the "air line" road be-
tween Boston and New York, good as il
no doubt is, should never be thought Of,
by sensible men, whilst such an opportu
nifty as that presented in the Oregon pro.
ject remains unimproved; and the friends
of the former, if equally familiar with
the merits Of both, would doubtless as.
sent to the correctness Of this opinion
The "air line'' road, and various others
that might be projected, would warrant
the outlay Of the capital required fol
their construction. But the Oregon Road
requires NO capital--nothing but the pro-
per disposition Of a portion Of our una
valuable land. In short, as before said, II
would make itself. The world does not
present any other instance that can com
pare with this, either 10 importance 0,
feasibility.
Boston, March 18th, l848.
OUR HARBOR.