Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1861-03-21

u
suuander the money but will be obliged to ap
piy it legitimately to the purposes of the road
IF it would not be betraying confidence
would throw out here, in whisper, that
consulted with the head of the department,
and said he, "as man of honor, that money
will be applied rightly" This is all we pro.
pose to Go.
If we pass the BILL what will be the results?
The first result will be that the company can
raise money and complete its road the second
result will be that the funds will be legitimate
" applied-no squandering, no proaigacy-
The people will never have it to say we put
money into the hands of these men which
went to make them individually rich. The
third result will be, that the section of the
State through which the road runs will be &C.
veloped.
Now, sir, what is the glory of Common
wealth What is the wealth of State p
What is the progressive prosperity of an en-
pire like Pennsylvania Why, sir, it is the
development of her people, Intellectually, NOR
ally and physically, for mean, undeveloped peo
pie will damn any land. Then after you have
developed the people, you must develop those
resources, agricultural or mineral, which the
great God has lodged in the bosom Of your
soil Here is vast section Of country lying
off towards the setting sun, clothed with rich
forests, underlaid with strata Of coal and as
if the God Of creation wished to pour all the
treasures of wealth into the bosom of Penn
sylvania, He has lodged there an ineXhauSt-
ible and perennial fountain of oil. You have
the lumber you have the coal you have the
oil and do not know what other sources of
wealth you will discover ultimately. What is
the wealth of Pennsylvania? 1t is to devel
Op these resources to bring them out and
throw them into the market, to change them
into gold and slyer-into current money, cir
culating from hand to hand. There is the far
mer he needs market for bis produce
There is the lumberman he needs market
for his lumber There is the coal digger he
wants market for his coal. There is the man
who is boring for oil he wants o market for
lis oil. All these men want the means to get
their productions to q market. Construct this
road and you furnish that means.
What under heavens is the use of talking
and sparrng upon the question whether two
miIlioas or four millions are needed Pass
this bill authorizing the issuing of bonds to
the amount of five millions put them in the
keeping of the Secretary Of State, and tell
these men to 60 to work and stretch their iron
thread through that part of the Common
weath-to harness the horse Of steam and
fire and start him upon his course. Let this
part of the Commonwealth be developed let
the people have access to the commercial
world
Do you not know sir, and do not know
that it is these internal improvements that
give value to land and everything else? Why,
Mr. Speaker, when the New York and Erie
Railroad which runs about twenty miles from
my own residence, was first put in operation,
land on the line Of the road could be bought
at a certain price. In six years from that
time every square acre of land had doubled
in its value Complete this road through the
section in which it is projected and the poor
man who now has one hundred acres of land
and cannot get to market grain enough to
raise the money to pay bis taxes, will have
cash market for all his products aud not only
will he pay his taxes, but the land will be val
ued twice as high as it is now twice as much
revenue will come into the treasury from that
section of the State Thus will that section
of country be developed. 1t is the glory Of
country to be developed and the glory Of
Legislature is to do what it can for the devel-
opement of the State
There is another point to which / would
have you look If we pass this bill, the secu-
rites Of the Commonwealth will be, to say the
least, in as good a condition as they are now.
How is it now ? There are 81 600, 900 ahead
OF the State lien and if the State does not
force a sale she gets nothing, while if she
forces a sale she gets nothing. That is the
value of the State securities now. Pass this
bI and it is true there will be six millions
ahead of the State But the present claim is
upon an unfinished, imperative road.
Pass this bill, ana it will be upon finished
and operative road; and l say, with the little
financial experience that I have, | would pre-
fer the lien of the State, with six millious
ahead of it, upon a flushed and operative road
to a claim Of three and half millions, with
81, 100000 ahead Of it, upon an unfinished
and imperative road. Sir, in my Judgment
the securities of the State will not by this bill
by invalidated at ALL They are worth moth
ing now, and they cannot be worth less.
In the next place, by the passage Of this bill,
you will relieve large number Of involved con-
tractors Mr. Speaker, there is man living
within my county who went to work upon a
section of this very road. He told me he clear
ed twenty acres of land in a dense green forest
cut away the trees and tore out the stumps
and graded the track. He went on, expect
ing that funds would come to his hand as he
needed them lie invested in the work, more
or less of his own means. The result was, that
be was obliged to discontinue his contract
That man said to me- ''if you can do anything
to relieve us, hope you will do it. do not
want you to sacrifice yourself; but there must
be sacrifice somewhere" As near as can
learn, there is a whole company of meu 10 the
same dilemma. If We pass this bill, We put it
within the ability of the company to raise