Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1853-09-02
- q. -. - 49,.
- PACTFTC RATLROAD.

y great National HIghWay-thc best that human
genius can devise and human labor construct con-
Meeting our Atlantic and Mississippi Valley States
with our new empire rapidly expanding On the
PaciGc-is among the most urgent needs OF our
time. Politically Socially, Commercially, its i'm
portance cannot be oyeT-estimatsd. The anuexa-
ton Of foreign territory Is an ezhaUsting disptr
sing, weakening, distracting process: while every
great canal or railroad Is "a new chord Of Union
binding the sections 1t connects IN ties Of closer
amity and truer brotherhood. IN peace or ia war;
in prosperity or adversely, our most pressing Na-
tiouaI is the uuiou OF the Pacific with tie At
lautic by an overland railroad.
Such a work must uecessa.i.y encounter local
jeaIousies and deadly hostility. = be completed
within the lifetime Of the present generation, 1t
must be powerfully aided by the National Govern
meut; and it Is not to be denied disguised that
the great party now railing the country is, by its
essential genius well as by its formal decIara-
tigus naturally opposed TO the National prosecution
Of works of internal ilpro yement. The pressure
of local interest or Of uumistakab,e public seut-
meut may coustgain tito f0reg0 this opposition III
ID particular case: but tie spirit Of hostility how
ever sluo,hercd, Vil be sure make itscI. felt
The leaders may ac4u 4uesce and the locality benefit
ted may urge but the party as "a party VIII oppose
the railroad so far as IL dare. That Is an element
in the calculation which cannot be safely overlook
cd Hhos0eycr arrays himself spontaneously and
heartily on the side OF the railroad viii be marked
by the Virginia GraccLi and Cincinnati, as Of du-
bious and ishy Democratic orthodoxy.
In order to secure the prompt commencement and
vigorous prosecution Of this great work IL is essen
tial that it be begun Alright Already parties of
L. y. Engineers are surveying the diverse routes
suggested; and this Is 1t should be The next
point obviously is TO procure from Congress an
uverneat that the Pacific road must aud shall be
built. To interpose at this stage the question Of
routes and insist that this shall first be settled is
to batray reckless seihshness or treacherous
hostility 10 the measure.
We are for the road FIRST an FOR the best route
next He who insists that the route shall first be
! saIH r|T#4T@.
his own particular axe, lying in wait for a Ure-
text for opposing the measure. Whoever really de
sres the construction of the road will insist that
the work shall be authorized and the money apuro-
priated first, and the road located afterwarl on
such route the reports % the engineers shall in
dicate the most eligible.
Our present impression is that the northerly
route-by Lake Superior, the Upper Mississippi
and the north branch of the Columbia to Pugets
Sound-wil prove the best. 1t is by far the short
est-each degree oflougitude being materially shor-
ter on the 4Sth than on the 32d the 10th paral-
lei of flatitudc-it is more nearly in a direct line
from London and Amsterdam to Canton and japan
it gives a hand to the st. Lawrence and the no
traversaaIa ia western e
nus Is the uoblest Sound, studded with the most
capHciou5 and admirable harbors on the globe II
/ IS supposed to be more snowy route than that by
St Louis, the Plains and New Mexico: but we be-
Eeye that Will prove mistake. And against the
/ chance Of its obstruction by snow for month or
two III winter. IS 10 be weighed the consideration
of comparative immunity from damage By heat to
the often perishabe products which Europe and
America VIII naturally draw in vast quantities
from the shores of the Indian Ocean. No other
route between the East and the West could com
pare with this for direcness celebrity and immunity
from injuries by climate. Such is the strong
conviction Of Asa Whitney, who has devoted more
time, thought, energy and money, to the Pacific
railroad than any other man.
But we may be laboring under a mistake The
st. Louis or Middle route may be better than the
Northern, and the Texas o. Southern better still
Whenever ii shall be fairly demonstrated that the
route we now prefer is exceeded in eligibility by
another, for that other. Give US the road
on the best route and at the earliest moment
This Nation is wasting Mt least Ten Millions year
and the rest Of the world as much more, for want
eff it Earnest friends of the great worlds highway.
be not distracted by the arts of your adyersares
but pull together in first carrying the necessary
appropriations, then locate the road on the most
advantageous route and relax no effort till the last
rail is laid and the iron horse that starts on Mon
day morning the shores of the Atlantic shall
quench his thirst before Saturday night in the
waves of the Pacific