The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-11-16
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

very able writer IN Putnam Magazine tor |
November, expresses his opinion of the Pacific
Railroad and how it is to be built lie con-
tends that should be built, as everything else
of permanent value and utility in this country
Is now built by the private enterprise of lis cit
izens the Government extending TO il such en-
couragemen', MS it may properly give, and sug-
geSts that as the proprietor Of all the public
lands, Government many take measures t, re-
iinqulsh that proprielorshlp, by agreeing to a
surrender of certain parcels OF them 10 the Com
panies who shall undertake the Railroad, on
the condition that they be not sold, but given
in part payment To their working men; and, as
the monop list of the Post Office, in the second
place, 1t may open the way To a system Of free
postage, by contracting for the carrla.e Of the
mails, for certain maximum rates Of postage,
which is to be wholly yielded 10 the companies
performing the service. Ii the United States
should undertake it, in his opinion, 10 man who
saw the beginning Of it would live to see the
end, and no man who saw the end would re-
member either The place or the time of the be
ginning, and it i, were finally to be constructed,
1t would be badly constructed. s'The slewest
O.. al slow coaches is the coach in which gov
| ernmeat tunciionaries travel. Enjoying their
aaries whether they idle at work, and
without the stimulus Of an immediate interest
| in the result of their labors, they are dilatory
beyond all patience, and the public possesses
remedy for their delays, as it does ir the case
ofprivate bodies, by the prompt discipline Of
stopping their employment. The public pos,
is always behind the private express, the mai
steamers always in the rear Of their rivals. Con
gress has engaged men to print the census o
1850, but after three years the census is not ye
printed In private hands, given 10 any one o
The New York publishers private job--,ht
Who'll. document would have been long sine.
before the world Mr.. Greenough, the artist
expended more than year in trying to get tn,
Governmen nj TO remove his fine statues from
Leghorn, where they were exposed on tn
wharves. And the same thing occurs all owe
the world, where ofhclalism is charged with
duty
1t cahlot be denied, that it is true, what tn
writer asserts when he states that private en-
terprlse is always more prompt, more inIellgeni
more economical, aud more energetic than Off
cialisn; and that the road, if it can be execute
at all, will be the most wisely and expedltiousl
executed by private means. The single ques
ton, he thinks in regard to any scheme-th
Pacific Railroad among the rests whether
will pay The probable profit of it is the meas
ure of its feasibility, and not the physical diff
culties of the route, the cost of construction, {
the unparalleled length. Prove ,p our CAPT,
alists that it will yield the ordinary return upo
, similar investments, and their Feplv will be
once-glorious Davy Crocketts much abuse
m .tlo-Go AHEAD!
. OF the beneficial results of this road, I'll
writer says 1.-THE passengers to the East,
every body probably knows, are now made, Is
, by the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo, throuu
Sucz, the gulf Of Alden, and Bombay to Cal
: ton Cd, around the Cape of Good Hope
. Calcutta and thence to Canton; and Sd, by Il
, lsthmus Of Panama, and thence to Shanghai
: The nenrest Of these, which is partly by steam
and partly overland is 9,655 miles from Londo
). or about 100 days; the longest, which is by Il
Cape, is $500 miles from Liverpool, or /,
DAVIS slil while the route by the Islhmus fro
4 Liverpool $4,000 miles, or 63 days for the s,ear
!. ers aud l3O for sailing VI sseIs. From Ne
), York to Canton. by the Cape route, is 2O,0t
miles, and by the lsthmus lO,400, or 81 day
f steamiug and 123 days SAIL Now, COMPARE
o with these, route across this continent won
d place Liverpool within 81 days of Shangh;
= aud New York within % days, which would
: a saving Of more than half the time by I,
>, shortest of the other routes, aud more th
;. | rwo-thirds of II by the longest. While, aecur
inr to the calculations of the most experience
i men, there would be- an equ yalent reduction
a the expenses Of transportation, and more th
= an equivalent increase OF profit, in The new ma
=, kets, both along our western coast aud an,o
n the islands of the South Pacific, which the o
dition1 facilities of intercourse would open
l. Thus, we see at glance, that a railroad, su
e as is now proposed, would r. nler the people
5 the United States the masters OF the inconceiy
IF Bile wealth OF the 300,000,O00 Of China, OF t
IS 50,000,000 of Japan, and of the other growi
millions that are soon destined TO fill the gol
10 bearin fields OF Australia. Europe would
IF compelled TO make her trade tributary to on
" and the young Republic, which the Despotls
- haye aft ced SO o.len 10 d"spIse, bound
ID stronger to internal unity by the cords Of syi
= pathy aud interest, would give the law OF ire
,r dom 10 the world. a ncx Il me- in the exte
Of of her grandeur aud strength, she YOU'D be b
IS ter than Rome, in the display of the IA
j. the exercise Of the other for she would spre
e her arts, not by the force OF her arms, but
s h. gen,ler p hey of commerce, united TO I
!. more glorious perspasions of Christianity"