New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-10-05
An Attack upon the Southern Pacific Rail-
road Comnany.
[Fron, ,h. Mar.h.1l cTexa., R.,xb1i.

An Attack upon the soAthern Pacific Rail-
.. road Company
tFron the Marshall CTexas) Republican, 2Ah ssptJ
A communication appears in Q late number of the
Cincinnati Gazette, over the signature Of v, !" the
immediate design Of which is to azure the Southern
Pacific Railroad enterprise, but which has cOrert
ooJect beyond this. and is intended to reflect inn
ousy upon the railroad interests Of Texas generally.
he character of this article is calculated
70 excite suspicion. A gentleman possessed of the
pretended information conveyed in it would have no
tnotiVe Tor concea!ment, if The statements be makes
were correct But knowing they are false, and fear
masked battery.
me railroad policy Of Texas was inarauratcd in
oy the donation Of eight sections of land to the
tinns e ana a IN ls54 BY granting eight additional
pro ths aa providing 70. loan Of $4,000 pel mile
the subject OF these muniicent donations a,a this
loan mas been theme of comment by the uewseaper
press throughout the Union; various official resorts
for one purpose or another, have been made 81 the
entire section of country embraced within the a2d
parallel of latitude, describing the character Of The
soil, climate, productions and Topography Il has
Deen explored under the direction Of capitalists, with
view Of determining the character Of the route for
raroad to the Pacific, and it is notable fact that
the testimony has all been Of one character n regard
70 the fertility of the country, its capacity to hold
aense population, and the easy grade OF railroads
And although nearly five years have elapsed, and the
southern Pacific railroad has been assaIed by the
advocates OF rival routes, and by Others this cores
pondent Of the Cincinnati Gazette has been The first
TO discover and to publish to the world that the pub
ne domain OF Texas was comparatively vslueless that
the country was ruined with drougths that the loan
to railroads existed merely in name that the cost of
construction would amount to upwards of $40 600
per mile, ETC., ETC., and other equally extraordinary
statements.
We understand all this. We know the genus of
W., and can personify him almost as clearly as if be
had had the indiscretion to place bis name at the
conclusion OF his communication. He is one of the
p!underers OF the Southern Pacific Railroad Company
OF which 1t had SO many under its previous reckless
management. We venture to say further that he is
one Of that class who have within the last twelve
months approached DR.. Fowlkes with dishonorable
propositions, and has been spurned and exposed by
him and that now, knowing that all hope OF plunder
is cut of, and governed by malice seeks to defeat
the enterprise by false and unfair representations
that ne IS, IN word, a scamp" whose signature
would furnish the most complete refutation Of the
statements in this article This is evident when we
come to review the character Of his attack, which is
intended to strike not only at the success of this en-
terprse but that OF every other railroad enterprise
10 Texas, all of which rely upon cheapness of CON
structlon the richness Of the soil, the variety and
abundance of production, and the capacity Of the
country to hold dense population. When the
character and motives of such men are exposed thev
cease to do mischief.
We shall content ourselves with exposing the more
prominent Misrepresentation of "W,v and when we
have accomplished this task, think the intelligent
reader will sanction the propriety of using our time
more nsefuly than pursuing the subject farther.
The first Misrepresentation is in reference to the
loan to railroad companies. "W )" says:
Now let what thslcanis lis the school fund
on tn be
om the United s,at.s full But Texas sssIed her deS
viii al p1sss9 Ga in .p
and fly dollars which tie southern Paec
ss
Efs ss Th ,hsr wSk % sn ITS value Thsn built
ay sgislstars at Mex A meeting M to to
Legislature has perfect right to do"
And in the course Of the same article after sland.
eripg Texas, and abusing her people, her Judiciary
and her government, he says:
In Texas they ale debt steal road in the mos
workmanlike manner"
Never was there more foul-mouthed libel uttered
against government and people, What are the
| facts? Texas came into the Union nominally owing
a debt OF ten millions of dollars. The most of the
scrip constituting this debt issued by the govern
ment at deprecated value After it was issued, il
deprecated still further in value, and continued t
depreciate, until much or the most of it was bough
up a! four and five cents in the dollar. Texas pro
posed to pay it all at what it was issued and finally
settled with the creditors at seveny cents in the dollar
All the debt for which she had received full equiva
lent, she paid dollar for dollar notwithstanding the
Congressional debt BILL which legally relieved her
| from doing so. What other country has ever paid
her revolutionary debt literally? What other has
hour of need
The school fund Of Texas is made up as follows
s The for every acre of land taken up to the
I'd There of United States bonds aside for
Sd One tenth Of the annual revenue of the State
4h -Four League, of land to each county amounting in the
9Th Nine of ten out of all the alternate sections
Of the money in the treasury one half is reserved
for the railroads west Of the Trinity river and the
other half for those east of that stream Ofthe fund
reserved for the roads east of the Trinity amounting
to twelve or fifteen hundred thousand dollars, not a
have reason to anticipate that from the sale of lands
and other sources of revenue there will be an ample
fund to meet the requirements of railroad companies.
But two or three companies are competitors for this
loan with any prospect of success, and not one OF
them, except the Southern Pacific is likely to have
any road completed under two or three years. There
is nothing therefore, to prevent the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company under a vigorous G prosecution o.
to the Trinity rver and if it should fail then, the
resources of the Company will be amply sufficient to
! dispense with it. Had such men as w." who have
| been plundering the Company, and who have used
the charter for purposes of speculation continued
thus to use it, there is no doubt effort would have
| been made to get rid of them at any cost, and we
think that all ht nest men will agree that the people
| and government of Texas would have been justified
in 80 DOING But there is no such feeling in Texas in
relation to the Company, now that it is happily rid
the dead heads" and dead weight " with which il
was encountered.
Now let US look at the character Of lands, produc
tveness and increase of population in Texas and see
how far facts justify the assertion Of "W."
In 1916 Texas was admitted into the Union, with
broad extent of country but thinly populated. She
had scarcely nayigable stream worthy Of the name
and until within few years, not mile of railroad
| Notwithstanding these disadvantages, SO rapid has
been the settlement of the country that her popua
on to-day is perhaps larger than that of the State
of Louisiana, as shown by the returns in the recent
State election and approximatng very nearly to that
of Alabama. Before the expil alton of another de-
Empire State Of the South. The increase Of the az
value of taxable property in the State for the
year 1858 over that Of 1857 is estimated at about
per cent, (as will be seen by Richardson's Almanac)
and the increase Of 1859 the preceding year will
be found, in all likelihood greater AS evidence Of
the increase Of population, at the last session of the
Legislature thirty seuen ne,o counties were estab
| lished.
Land scrip is not sold, as asserted by w." at fifty
cents per acre. but is regulated as ollows Ordinary
land scrip is sold at 81 per acre. to be located upon
| the public domain generally. The alternate sections
of railroad lands to actual settlers are disposed OF
at 81 25 while to others they are sold at So per
| acre. The foregoing is the exposure of glarng
misstatement by this correspondent In selling her
lands at these prices, Texas has pursued policy de-
signed to invite population aud promote the active
settlement of the country.
The Misrepresentation of "W" In relation to thu
character of country upon the 32d parallel Of lati
tude is conradcted by the description of every one
who has traversed it, A. B. Gray, in his elaborat
report gives description differing in every essentia
particular from that of this Cincinnati correspond
L