Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-03-10
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

4 NO oCluC n6lkVdos-Wo nave NO 1QoA
that Congress will consummate any plan what
ever for the commencement of the construction
Of Q railroad to the Pacific. The fever in
favor of such an undertaking on Government
account, or by a company with Government
aid in the shape of land grants, RACES by no
means rs high in Washington this winter as
during the last However, it matters little
how anxious gentlemen in public life who de-
sire to urge the scheme may be, the sentiment
OF large majority Of this Congress is decided.
ly opposed to undertaking or promising the
aid of the Government to the construction of
such work scross the vast barren and unoc.
cupied plains and the mountains Of the centre
of the North American continent. The indis-
position of the National Legislature to the
scheme is indicative Of no want of due concern
for the future of the portion of the United
States situated on the Pacific slope. On the
contrary, we have every reason to believe
that the present Congress will 60 much further
than the last in expanding the public money
to meet the 50 rapidly growing wants of the
Pacific side. st
The surveys for a Pacific railroad already
made demonstrate the immensely of the con-
templated work on any route, and the GER
tain great average cost per mile beyond all
precedent, owing to the want of suitable mate
rails, over most of the distance, and to the diff.
hculties of construction in regions wholly
destitute of inhabitants except the savage
red man, and of animals other than the wild
buffalo. Among railroad men, the experience
of the last few years has produced the i'm.
preston that, under the most favorable cir.
cumstances, as at present managed, very few
such works are really profitable; while, un-
der the circumstances which would surround
railroad to the Pacific it is utterly impossi.
BILE that its business could for quarter of
century pay its expenses, without beginning
to yield dividend. These are good and suf-
fcient reasons why 1t may not be expected
that Congress wiki do anything in the way of
Initiating the construction of the great conti-
mental work, which another generation-not
ours-is destined to see completed.
The period of its construction will depend
in the main on the rapidity with which the
settlements west from the Missouri frontier.
and east from the Pacific coast, may closely
approximate. Until they do approximate,
We shall have no Pacific railroad-except on
paper; though, doubtless, we shall have eve-
ry winter in Washington representatives of
enterprising companies Of contraption'' lists
around Wall street, proposing to Congress
that fhav UtlI hu;l
Uncle Sam will make them present of the
means Of so doing Nevertheless, for a mere
song comparatively, Congress can greatly ia
eiiitate and insure the safety of the overland
communication between the Missouri country
and that Of the Pacific. That's, by the estab-
lishment of weekly letter (horse) express
mail between Independence and some point
on the California frontier, with grants of land
In single sections, one every thirty miles, or
wherever night stations may be advisable
over the route.
The overland route has been a bad one for
two reasons First, because it is not secure
from attacks from savages and, next, be.
cause, after leaving the present Missouri from
tier settlements, the emigrant or traveller
must trust wholly to nature in the most inhos
pitable region within the limits of our country,
for any and all supplies other than those he
may carry with him. Such is the extent Of
the present travel over the route, as that the
business Of supplying it every thirty miles or
so with necessary food and fodder, would form
settlement large enough to form Gordon Of
posts amply able to protect the route from the
savages without cost to the Government
This idea, 1t will be remembered, spranp
from the ssgacious brain Of Senator Gwin,
who would surely have carried it through the
last Congress to the immense benefit of his
constituents, had it not been defeated by an
untimely effort in the House to make the mail
daily, instead of sosskly. We hope to see
the present representatives. from California
again bring forward this propositioniit being
demonstrable that as q means of frontier and
emigration protection, and to insure the prompt
Transmission Of valuable letters and important
news between Missouri, Utah, California, and
Oregon and W ashington Territories, it EN-.
braces advantages of economy, speed, GER
tainty, &C., superior to any other plan looking
to similar ends that has as yet been mooted
in the Capitol. '-
As We Anticipate The reader will re-
collect our declaration few days since, that
the Republicans would strive to prevent the
minority report of the House Elections Com
mittee from going forth to the people Of the
non-slaveholding States, with the majority re,
port Of the same committee. This purpose
was evident in the extreme reluctance mani
Tested by the majority to acquissce in tho
motion to include the minority report in the
extra number ordered to be printed for the
House, which was suggested as an amend
ment- It prevailed without the active and
earnest opposition Of the Republican party,
only because that course on their part would
have been utterly without avail so16s of the
Anti-Nebraska, but Anti-Republicsn party
men bers, n OF being available to carry the ul.