New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-03-05
Mep OrIealls 1aiIp Gresferd.
T r. / p L. E-S H e E T.

| ess-es,Sssso5 3 !, 5
T r / p l. E-S S FL e E T.
| MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 1860.
| THE PACIFIC RAILROAD BILL.
| We can scarcely conceive of any measure which
may come up for action before the present Con-
gress that will be of more urgent Importance than
! the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph bill. Indeed,
| all ordinary matters of legislation are dvarfed
into comparative insignihcance by contrast with
| the gravity Of matter which involves scheme
| of internal Improvement of such weighty and es-
| sential and constantly increasing consequence to
| both the Eastern and Western worlds OF America.
1 Nearly two thousand miles of dreary wilderness
cut off from their fellows Of the same people 8
| growing community Of over half million Of the
citizens Of the Republic, and they scarcely feel as
If they belonged to and were Of the same nation,
SO distant are they from Its great body, in small
a degree are they benefited by a connection
which is rather formality than reality and such
small reliance for protection could they place in
the central government in the event Of danger
from d foreign foe. So much do the people d
those States already begin to appreciate their iso
lated position, that conviction is urging Itself
upon many minds that unless speedy and efficient
means Of communication can be abundantly sup
piled to tie them to the East, identity them more
closely with it and annihiate distance, they must
have some sort Of home general government to
administer the important affairs common to those
States Of the Pacific coast-te FOSTER organize and
protect the commercial relations with the Austria
liam world which are as peculiarly their own as if
they composed an Independent nationality, and to
look after and manage their Post-ofice Indian and
Il T.. ~
attended to BY government 50 remotely located
asth at at Washington Ia, and presiding over such
! diversity of interests as itdoes.
1 Its in considering the commercial disabilities Of
the States of the Pacific coast that the best under
standing Of the Importance Of improved means of
communication is arrived at, and the necessity Of
their having an independent government, unless
such means are provided, is comprehended. Our
trade relations with foreign countries were ar
ranged expressly with reference to their bearings
upon the commerce Of the confederacy of the At
lantic States. The merchandise that some of the
provisions of the tariff merely protect in the East
ern States is virtually excluded from the Pacific
States by the same regulations, and other mer-
chandse which pays duties that protect home pro-
duction in the Atlantic States can be put down so
cheaply in those of the Pacific as to defy home
production. Articles Of manufacture from the
Eastern States are so increased in cost by trans
4 portation charges that they cannot compete with
foreign imports, and for both the foreign and do
| mestic goods the consumer has to pay exorbtant
prices. Thus it is that from these and relative
causes the commercial affairs of California are con-
stantly in the most confused and disorganized con-
dition, utterly without substantial and settled
basis Of operation, and they never can be put in
proper condition until constant, cheap and speedy
means Of communication identify that part of the
country with this, and make both one country in
fact as well as in name.
Thus it is that the necessities Of the Pacific States
alone are of such Importance as to Immediately
demand the suceor of the Federal Government,
: which is scarcely less imperatiyely demanded by
the interests Of the Atlantic States also. The Pa
cic States and the foreign nations on the borders
of thai ocean constitute vast market for our pro-
duce and manufactures, with which our intercourse
is hampered by such distance, time and expense
as render competition with other countries out of
the question.
These causes operate to actually protect foreign
goods in many instances. They must be done
away with and the great market of the Pacific
world opened to American enterprise. This con-
summation will be effected by the passage Of the
, Pacific Railroad and Telegraph bill now before
Congress. It will ensure the construction of at
least two roads, and there is business enough for
half dozen to do. The commerce of the Pacific
ocean is yet in Its infancy. Give us this short cut
TO that ocean and the many nations which cluster
on its coasts, and we will have some chance of
competition with England, for we will possess a
vast advantage over her. We can put goods
down the shore of the Pacific ready for ship
ment on its waters in fourth Of the time and at
far less expense than she can by steamer direct to
Panama a large tide of commerce would flow
east and west through the channel of the trans
continental roads, and particularly by the South
, ern route" The Atlantic and Pacific Road for
that will reach port of ocean shipment by near
thousand miles less of road than the Northern
line. New Orleans is that port .lz55zs rr=ss
But if for no other reason the argument of econ
omy should induce the passage of the bill, which
we have heretofore reviewed at length, by Con-
gress. Railroad routes will SO much diminish the
| at present enormous expenses Of the Transports
4 ton of the mails and Government property that
J in few years the outlay contemplated under the
bill would be reimbursed to the treasury. Weigh
ing the matter in all its merits, we cannot but
think that members of Congress who oppose the
passage of an act which will secure to the country
at large the vast and various advantages that
must be patent to any mind will be recreant to
their highest duty tho representatives of con-
stituences either in Maine or Oregon California or
Louisiana, Virginia OF Minnesota. There is no
nook or corner of the Union which is not inter
tsted, and there is no tenet of political profession,
and no plank in any political platform but which
is rotten if it fails to encourage or affords preteXt
for opposing measure SO catholic in It's bearing
as federal aid to the Northern and Southern Pa