The daily republic., 1853-08-23

w A q II IN " lON.
TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST %, 1853
The Pacific RailrOad-The Means and
Method Of Building 1t.
Having endeavored in a preceding article to
show that the authority of the States was, with
the cooperation of Congress, adequate to legal
ze the construction of railroad to the Pacific,
we now propose to show that the combined re-
sources of corporations and States, with the
appropriations which Congress can properly
make to this object, will be sufficient to ensure
its construction.
If we examine the two great railroad sys1
TENS of the United States with reference TO a
Pacific connexion, We shall find them to be in
cluded within the following diagrams:
The base Of the first extends from Boston to
Baltimore. Its apex may be placed at St. Louis
or at some point on the thirty-ninth degree of
latitude. Within these limits we may include
the railroads of the Eastern, Northern, and a
part of those belonging to the Western and
Middle States. The lineal extent Of this sys-
TEN, at present in operation, will be, according
to Disturnell, about 900 miles. To this we
may safely add 5000 miles of incomplete road
under charter, and in great part under contract
This system, then, contains $4,000 miles Of
railroad. Its cost cannot fall short of $780,
100000. The coast base of the second extends
from Baltimore to Savannah, and its apex may
be placed at Memphis, El Paso, or some poin
upon the thirty second degree of latitude. L
will be found, according to the same authority
to contain about 5000 miles of railroad; ane
we can add that, estimating in addition the in
complete extent under charter, the aggregate
of road within the second diagram will not fal
short Of $4,000 miles, the estimated cost Q
which may be placed at $500, 90, 900.
AS the western termini of each of these two
great systems are nearly seven degrees of lati-
tude apart, the question to be decided is, upon
what common line can they be united2 For il
is very plain that if it be proposed to compel
either to make its connexiun upon the latitude
of the other, it must become subordinate to the
preferred route, and must communicate with
the Pacific States under disadvantage.
1t is plain also that with the pecuniary in
vestment and the political consequences in
volved, unless some compromise route can be
adopted, the States comprehending these two
systems will at any sacrifice advance the ne
cessary means for the extension of each of the
two systems to the Pacific; for neither could
consent to terminate upon nor to become tribu-
tary to the other. Such compromise is there
fore a matter of the deepest interest to all who
value the permanence Of the Union and the
equality of the States which compose it.
1t is obvious that this great work can be bet
ter effected upon the credit of the Federal
than the State governments or private corpora
tions; and the great franchise of way to the
Pacific being chiefly held by the Federal Gov
ernment as Governor of the Territories through
which it will pass, ought to be SO bestowed as
to contribute to the general welfare of the
States and people Of the United States.
Approaching therefore the value of com
promise route and the combination of resources
necessary for its construction, we would sug
gest the following plan:
We have explained that the State govern
ments can incorporate companies, which can,
with the assent of the Federal and State gov
ernments of the States and Territories through
which the proposed railroad shall pass, provide
for the construction of continuous sectional
railroad to the Pacific.
We have proposed that the means for the
construction of this railroad should be contri-
buted by the Federal Government, by the
States, by the corporations interested in the
common extension, and by individual subscrip-
ton.
In assessing upon these contributors their
several proportions we would commence with
the Federal Government. As the object of this
Government is, according to some authorities,
limited to the common defence, we will es-
innate the price which it might afford to pay
to any responsible contractor to perform the
service of transporting men and means of de-
fence to California or Oregon upon any emer.
gency, and to supply the mail regularly to
these extreme States and the intermediate
country.
If you ask at the proper Department what
would be The cost of transporting fifty thousand
men with the provisions and material across the
continent from the Mississippi to the Pacific,
we are told that no approximate estimate car
be made, since it would be impossible to con-
duct such an expedition and place on the Pa
cfic coast an effective remnant. Like the
great expeditions of XERxEs and NAPOLEON,
it would be consumed by the journey. A regi-
ment Of five hundred men has crossed from the
Mississippi to Oregon, and the cost, including
the loss and destruction ofmateral, is estimated
at about one thousand dollars per man. The
journey of the supposed body of men across the
deserts and mountains could not be effected in
of the cost of its return.