The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-06

surest and best test and that is the test OF the
skill and science and economy of the contractors
| who shall engage to build the road. WHAT has
already occurred here has been sufficient tC
show, that although it is possible that-a ma
jority of those who favor the constructisp of O
railroad to the Pacific may not agree uptn this
| system or plan of ascertaining where it SHALL be
located, yet majority cannot be gathesed to-
| gether to vote for the northern, or Governor
Stevens's route, because every body Southsof that
route would be inclined to vote against s. So
| if you take central route, those on the north
and those on the south may be expected 3 CON-
bine to vote against it and if you take the Texas
route, there will be a strong opposition 9n the
part of all those who think that its effectswould
be to carry the emigration of the country Gad the
progress of civilization further south thanis con-
| sistent with the interests of the States which
they represent. ] make these illusions, cot for
the purpose of showing that the detailsswhich
this bill adopts the best, but for the Iarpose
of showing that they are the best upon yolich
suppose majority of Congsess can be lsought
| to agree
| Mr. President, we are met on this occasion, as
we always have BEEN with the argument t6at the
construction of Pacific railroad is impossible.
That objection has been raised here annuelly for
eight years, and often the subject of Pacific
railroad has been renewed but it comes COW in
a modified form. Now, it is said that it is impos-
sible to make the road within any reasonable linn
| its of expense, and within any reasonable and
| convenient period of time. 1t has been Already
! demonstrated, by actual surveys, that this road
can be made at expense varying from
S95,O0O,OOO to Sl25, 1000, zoo, on any one. of !
think. five several routes and that if the xequ-
site energy shall be exercised, it can be- built
within period of ten or fifteen years.
But it is said the road will cost hund; ed or
more millions, and will be worthless wheRs it is
made, because il will not be self-sustaiTsng-
that twill be a burden upon the Treasury OF
$4,000, 600 a year. Ii does not lie in my way
to dispute gainsay these specifications CT the
old objection of impracticability, as now llodi-
fed Igrant you, sir, that railroads cann+t be
made anywhere without great cost and ESPECIAL
ly if they made through mountain passe- and
over sterile plains, in region absolutely nnin-
habited, or inhabited only by savages. l grant,
moreover, that railroads do not often pay ,iivi-
dends: and seldom or never pay dividends when
they are constructed through a region in which
society has yet to be called into existence.
admit the truth Of these objections when :, ated
with any moderate limitations but this aemis-
sion does not at all settle the question Of eCono-
my. We have fallen into the habit of rega Siing
that road alone as feasible which could be blade
by commerce, and sustained by commerce, be-
cause that has been our experience, and the ex-
in Russia, in Germany, in France in England, in
Massachusetts, New Hampshire Virginia, G5eOr-
gia, Tennessee, everywhere in settled and evil
lied States, for commercial purposes onls, or
chiefly. 1t is undertaken upon the ground tina
the profits of traffic upon it will pay for its con-
structioh and its management. 1t is a very wise
policy on the part of the Government of the. Uni
ted States TO employ, for postal and military pur
poses, roads in those States which are mace by
e. Il D. p u
means follows, and it is great error to .pfer,
that commerce will make and sustain railt pads
everywhere, adapted TO the purposes of the Gov
ernment or that the Government of the Uaited
States has no need for railroad across the con-
tinent, because commerce will not make and will
not sustain it when made.
The error Mr.. President lies in suppt sing
that the road is to be built exclusively or chiefly
for commercial purposes, and that the test II its
eKpediency is an eXigency of commerce. ghis
road for the present, perhaps for a long future,
is to be chiefly political road-a road watch
will have three purposes the first, the congey-
ance of the mails of the United States thus ma
king it postal road second, the conveyance
of the armies and the military and naval stores
of the United States TO the interior of the cent?
4ent, and across the continent to the Paifc
States third the introduction and establishment
OF society IN the recesses of the continent. Inde-
pendent of the great central, desolate, drSary
region which intervenes between US and the Pa
cidc coast, we have already exploded the ancient
theory that the mails of the United States san
be maintained by commerce alone; we are a&iu-
ally maintaining postal communication, as a
political necessity, over eastern portions of she
United States, and upon the Atlantic and che
Pacific OCEANS, at a cost greatly exceeding Che
revenues derived from the postal service ITSELF
i postal railroad across the continent, wit5in
our oTn dominion, would stand on the same
footing with our present overland wagon rpsd,
or steamship lines between New York and
San Francisco. But this is a very small element
in the question. Other great elements are the
maintaining of peace, and order and authority,
over tha savage tribes in the interior of this ch-
tinent; and, il need be, which God forefend heee-
after the maintenance Gf authority and of peace
and of law in Territories organized within that
region and, still further, the protection Of TIE
American communities which are growing up on
the Pacific coast from the Gulf of California TO
the boundary of British Oregon as we'll as t1e
security Of those communities against danger in
such foreign wars as oar Wh9le political systSn
cOntemplates as possible; ap6, lastly, thePe us
the object of consolidating the Union between
those States and the Atlantic States. Z.
These are political objects, and il is seen at
once that the commercial uses of the road are
entirely incidental. For one, Mr.. President, |
believe that Il there had been a Pacific railroad,
there would have been none of those recent DIS
turbances and alarms in Utah, which have cost IS
so many millions; there would have been no, ,e
of those fearful and distractiag incHrsious Of
the Indian tribes on our infant settlements n
Oregon and Washington. If there had been a
Pacific railroad, there would have been a moe
rapid increase Of the population and strength
and wealth and vigpr OF the new States UPON
the Pacific coast-C alifornia and Oregon. fre
emigrant goes for song from the Atlantic STATS
TO the borders of civilization beyond the Missa-
/ sippi. Fifteen, twenty, or fifty dollars, pay the
| expense of the emgrant from Boston unto what
| we are yet accustomed to call the Far West al d
| sum not greater than that, pays the expense If
the emisrant from Europe to this country; bat
the emigrant from the Atia1iic coast or fro.n
any Of the internal Atlantic States or Iro,a
| EUROPE, lays out small estate in reaching the
settlements on the Pacific, which it will be for
tunate for hiIa if he il able to replace by the l
Dor OF many years after has arrival there.
If, Mr.. President, it be sail that there is no
need OF the display of the Government in those
regions until society shall have been organized
there, and shall have developed commerce, which
| will furnish and maintain the desired communi-
cations, tLe9 ] answer, that that is "A question
which was foreclosed ten years ago. Ii was
settled and determined when the treaty of Guadt-
| lupe Hidalgo was executed The United States
then solemnly undertook and committed itself ia
its own people and to the world, to discharge the
responsibility of establishing and maintaini 2
! civilization and government across the Rocky
| Mountains and the snowy mountains, and the
deep ravines and the sterile plains which inter-
| vene between their SUBMITS. This Government
IN fact, has never been able for moment to get
away from the sense aud conviction and pressure
of that obligation. What are all our experiences
/ of treaties with Great Britain and with the Zen.
! trail American States, for the route across tie
/ lsthmus of Panama, for the route across MICS
ragua for the route through Honduras to say
nothing of our snrXeys of shin cannl across IL