Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-02-16

twenty miles Of TIE road is couplste he President sal
said section in United States bonds bearing i've per cent interest
Paysbc nineteen years from date and in like to
the same amount Of bonds mile be issued for each succeed
ing section twenty miles, When completed m the whole
ed shall not exceed the SUM Of SIS ,0O0000.
viii S25 600 600 be a hegiDning. if the Govern
ment once embark IN a work Of this sort psss not
every man here know that il will net and then
afteryou have given the benefit Of the Government
obligations for S25. 100000, how are they 10 be
paids On this point the Senator from California
says:
Il also provides that the bonds thus issued with
the interest the shall be paid to the United States BY the
transportation and service provided for The
zee were Of opinion mat ne amount due for such service within
nineteen years would be n adequate to the bonds prnci'
pal and interest and hence they inserted that for their
being supposed the Of life one generation,
inappropriate apply, in the building great work. the
old JeGeroan doctrine that each generation provide
the payment Of its debts.'
When we examine the letter of Mr. Jefferson here
referred to, we find that he had been looking at
some ofthe tables Of mortality in Europe, and be
found that of the adult persons existing ct any
particular period Of time in nineteen years the ma
jority of those adult persons would have passed
from time to eternity. Hence he fixed nineteen
years as the duration of a generation Of adults
These bonds to fall due in nineteen years. pre-
sumiDg tba by that time the price we are to pay for
carrying the mail VIII more than liquidale the in
terest and the principal.
Well, suppose the read pays it; suppose we take
the interest and the principal both out Of the mail
service: does not the Government still owe the
money on the bonds? When your nineteen years
have expired, the other doctrine that Mr. JeffeF>
son wished to warn his eoun,rymen against, leaving
debts to posierty stands untouched Cannot we
understand this thing We may banboozle each
other if We will; We may attempt to 0am5o2zle the
people; bat when we bring our minds 10 the propo-
siiion. We cannot be mistaken. The proposition is
to give the S25,00000O, and the Government is TO
be paid in mail service, interest and principal; but
how is the Government TO pay the bOndsl Have
you any clause in this hill saying where the Gov
eminent is to gs; the S25 600 900 from? You issue
bonds, create debts. and provide no way in which
the debts are TO be paid Is that Mr.. Jefferson's
dootrine9 If that was the doctrine taught by the
ilinstrioue Jefferson, confess that have been so
obuse that have not understood IT.; but precisely
the reverse vas the doctrine taught by him. We
are doing the precise thing he sdmonished us
against, even in this miniature proposition to ex-
pend S25, 600 600. Most of the estimates TO con-
struct the road put its cost at over one hundred
million dollars. Does not every Senator here know
does not every man in the country know, that if the
Government undertakes TO construct this road, it
will not stop at 100000, even if it stops at
$500, 600, 900?
But, Mr. President, this is not all After taking
out your S25 600 600 in mail service, the duty on
the iron for railroad twenty five hundred miles
long, weighing sixiy-eight or seEenty-hVe ponds
TO the yard is not to be paid; but the first service
the road performs is 10 be used to quidate the du
ty the iron, instead of creating revenue on
which the government can subsist. lie. me give
you the explanation of that provision by the Sena-
tor from California:
The section also provides that the railroad iron used IN the
construction the road shall be imported the duties of the
will not be required TO be paid in advances but the all
be deducted from the first service performed for the Government
under the act"
Here is an absorption Of the mears that ought to
ha dor bv fha from ho -,
this road Well look at it. Forty millions of square
miles are granted absolutely; forty millions more
pre-emped; S25 600 thrown out, and all the du
ty on iron taken from the Treasury Of the United
States, and yet you say it is no enormous PROPOSE
ton; it is going to save expenditure
In another portion of the speech Of the Senator
from California, he says it is going reduce the ex
penses of the War Department From eighteen to
twenty five million dollars required for the War
Department putting it at the outside limit, and we
think that is extrayagant; but if the Government
constructs this road, what will be the cost of it
Look at the history of railroads in the United States
and be not impatient in reference to the cOnsiruc-
tion of railroads Since 1928, the States have con-
structed about thirty thousand miles Of railroad We
ought not TO be impatient. l am progressive Dem
oerat, but am for progressing within the prescribed
limits of the Constitution and the law. Ought we
to be impatient, when your States since 1928 have
constructed thirty thousand miles Of railroad? l
believe the globe is only twenty seven thousand
miles round and from 1928 up to the present ime
have constructed enough railroad to bound the globe
and to start a tunnel through The center; and still
we are impatient at cur slow progress in the cons
struction Of railroads. There is some talk about
breaking the bands of the Union and dissolving the
Confederacy; but if the globe was cracked, and
about to fall apart, we have constructed enough
railroad to bind it clear around and hold it togeth
er, if a railroad would do it. But it is said this
road win reduce the expenses of the War Depart
ment.
If this road were constructed now-if it were
laid down in the course of night bX enchsntment,
that it would cost you nothing construct it, it
would cost you than the entire expenses of the
War Department to the road. If youha a COM
parry that would construct the road in nights ime
and give it you free of cost the next day. it would
cost you more to run the road than it costs you to
carry on the War Department now. Why, sir, you
cannot protect the railroad Suppose you put five
men per mile on the road two thousand miles long
il would require ten thousand men. You might not
want them equally dispersed, but average 4hem at
five men to the mile for two thousand miles, and you
require ten thousand men aud III the manner which
We have been raising and supporting regiments by
this Government, il has cost US 81 600 600 for each
thousand men. That was the estimate a: the last
session. Then you must take into tie account the
interest OF the money, and the other expenses of
keeping II up without way travel or way freight,
relying tn, ough travel to sustain the line along
such trunk of railroad that will be- if ever con-
'ruote and all the railroad statistics of the coun-
ny prove that railroads must rely en- way travel
md way freigh TO be sustained You must have
people, you must have country, you must have cons
nerce to sustain the road, and not arid aud sterile
leserts.
Tro