New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-08-18
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.


MUS can devise and human labor construct connecting
our Atlantic aid Mississippi Valley States with eur
new empire 50 rapidly expanding On the Paci6c-is
among the most urgent needs Of our time Politically,
Socially, Commercially, lbs importance caUno; be
estimated. The annexation Of foreign territory is an
exbsu,tDg dispensing, weakening dstracting process
while every great canal railroad is new chord OF
Union binding the sections it connects in ties Of closer
ani,y and truer brotherhood In peace in war, in
prosperity or adversry. most pressing National
want is the union Of the Pacific with the Atlantic by
overland railroad
Such work must necessarily encounter local jealous
les and deadly hostility. To be completed within the
lifetime Of the present generation it must be powerfully
aided by the National Government and it is not to be
denied nor disguised that the great party ruling the
country n by it, essential genius well BY its formal
deca atoms naturally opposed to the National prosecu
ton of works of internal improvement. The pressure
of local interest of unmakable public sentiment may
opsranit to forego this opposition in particular case
but the spirit Of hostility, however smOthered, will be
sure TO make itself felt The leaders may scquiesce and
the locally benefited may urge but the party as party
will oppose the railroad so far as it dare That ee
neDt in the calculation which cannot be safely overlooked
Xhosoever arrays himself spontaneously and heartily on
the eide of the railroad, will be marked by the Virginia
Gracchi and Cincinnati OF dubious and fshy Demo-
cratic orthodoxy.
In order to secure the prompt commencement and
vigorous prosecution Of this great work, il is essential
that i, be begun Alright Already parties Of t. 5. En-
sneers are surveying the diverse routes suggested aud
this is it should be- The next point obviously is 70
procure from Congress ayerment that THE Pacific
ROAD MUST AND SHALL BE BUILT. To inerpose at this
stage the question of routes, and insist thai tbs shall
FIST be settled is to betray reckless sehshness or
trtacberous hostility to the measure
We are for the road first, aud for the best route
He who insists thai the route shall first be set
tied is supremey solcitOus for the grinding OF bis
particular AK, or lying an wait fs ratext for oppos-
ng the measure Whoever really desires the consruc-
ton of the road will insist that the work shall be
thcrzed Snd the money appropriated first, and the road
located aterward such route the reports Of the
engineers shall indicate ss the most eligible
Our present impression is thai the uost nOrtherly
Ioute-by Lake Superior, the Upper Mississippi and
the MOI tn branch of the Columbia to Pugets Sound
will prove the best. IL is by far the shOrtest-each
degree Of longitude being materially shorter the 4Sth
than on the SD the 10th parallel of latisudet is
more nearly in direct line from London and Amster-
dam 10 Canton and Japan-it gives hand TO the Sc.
Lawrence and the noble system of railroads by which
Brt,h America is 10 be traversed-snd its
western terminus is on the nOblest Sound, studded
with tte capacous and admirable harbors on the
globe. IL is supposed TO DO more snowy route than
that by ST. Louis, the Plains aud NegMexicO bat we
believe hat will prove a mistake. A0d against the
chsDce Of its obstruction by for month in
winter is to be weighed the consideration of compare
tive immunity rom damage by heat the often per-
shahle products which Europe and America win ma
turay draw in vast quantities from the shores Of the
Indian Ocean No other between the East and the
West could compare with this for drecness celebrity
and immunity from Injuries by climate. Such is the
stToug conviction of "A Whitney, who has devoted
more TINE, thought energy and money, 70 the Pacific
railroad than any other man.
But We may be aboing under a mistake The St
Louis Middle route may be better than the North
ern, and the Texas or Southern better still Whenever
it shall be fairly demonstrated that the route We nov
prefer exceeded in eligibility by another We are for
that other Give The road the bes, route and at
the earliest moment This Nation is wasting at least
Ten Mild ear, and the rest Of the world as much
more, for want of it, Earnest friends of the great
worlds highway be not distracted by the arts of your
advtrsares but pull together in first carrying the ne
cessay appropriations, then locate the roal on the
mot advantageous route and relax effort till the last
rail is laid and the iron horse that starts on Monday
morning the shores of the Atlantic shall quench his
thirst before Saturday night in the wares Of the Pacific