The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-01-18


sary to state that Peter Cooper, Of New Jersey,
will furnish the iron. and the Messrs. Norris Of
Pennsylvania, the motive power. Contractors
Of experience. capital, energy. and perseve-
rance. have already offered to put the whole
line in the hands Of engineers and laborers, and
have agreed to complete the work within five
years. There is no doubt this can be accom-
plshed as wonderful and extraordinary rs it
may appear. The route contemplated is the
most feasible of any yet surveyed, and if ever
a railroad to the Pacific is constructed it win,
most probably, be along the line proposed by
this company.
The advantages. then. presented by this plan.
are. first that it combines the public credit,
and large organization Of private capital,
skill means materials machinery. and enter
prise in this great work. This is the best and
the only practicable sort OF combination for the
success of SO vast scheme. Undertaken by the
government alone. or by the government III con
junction with the States the work would Ian
guish from bad management. from excessive ex-
penditures needless delays and from continual
changes from one set Of managers to another,
through the intrigucs and corruptons Of our pc
litical elections. On the other hand. no private
company, upon its own resources. could either
undertake or accomplish this work requiring
the basis Of capital Of a hundred millions
We have too many other investments ofprivate
capital The work must necessarily depend
upon combination Of private enterprise and
capital and the credit Of the government to be-
bin with. Then. again the great object Of first
accomplishing the main trunk. in single track
to the Pacific is here properly made the leading
idea That object attained. the rest Of the work.
and all its tributary lines will be comparative
ly easy.
1t would be work of supererogation to re
capitulate the advantages which would accrue to
the country and the government from rail
across the breast Of the continent to the Pacific.
These advantages are manifest. It would bind
the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of the Union
firmly together-it would settle and develope
the resources of those vast uninhabited wastes
would reduce the cost of the trip to San Fran
cisco from five hundred to one hundred dollars
or less-it would indemnify the government for
any outlay. and it would ultimately pay the
cost Of construction in the article Of gold alone;
it would bring. with steam lines to China and
Australia, the illimitable riches Of Asia and its
monstrous Gordon Of golden islands. via San
Francisco to New York--it would reduce the
trip from Canton to New York to thirty days
The European route to China would be by this
port and by the Pacific railroad and the Paci-
fic ocean, 1t would make New York and San
Francisco (as they must ultimately beg the
queen cities Of the earth. Indeed though we
may annex all Mexico and Central America,
and open all their lines of oceanic inter-commu-
nication. the necessities and advantages Of the
Pacific railroad will be scarcely diminished.
The subject is now before Congress. and
feasible plan is at length submitted for their
consideration. Let them act upon it. or upon
some such plan. and the great problem will soon
be solved. We already begin to have lively
presentiment Of hearing. before the next census,
the snortng of the iron horse in the gorges of
the Rocky mountains. and the echoes Of his
-hrill whistle from the hills Of San Di0o". Let
e,v..,.~-- 49,. ..o uaIl in motion. for the road
must he built 1t is the great idea Of the coun-
try, and Of the age. 1t is manifest destiny"