Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1862-05-24

In the House o! Representatives the l'acihc
Railroad bill passed on the 9th instant, rs an
nouncrd by Telegraph. The majority was
decided. This is an event Of very great i'm
por,ance to California. and will be consid-
cred by her people. They feel that for this
alros, unex pecied result they are deeply ill.,
dcbied to the arguments and untiring exer,ions
Of their Representatives. Sargent and Phelps.
Sargen, entered into the advocacy Of this
bill with all the zeal and enthusiasm Of his ma
ture, and all the ability he could command.
Phelps. too, has been hard at work for the
bill, as n military necessity. u IL senate
now takes il up ana ;:asscs it. as we have
tors McDougall and Latham, and the two Or
egon Senators, it will be considered as one of
the leading events Of the age. The Senators
from the Pacific side will leave no stone TN
turned to CARRY it through that body. In
deed, it may be fairly claimed that the Senate,
as at present constituted, is pledged to the pas
sage Of a railroad bill. The argument that
the nation is SO involved by the war as to rem
der it mpolitic to add to the debt for such a
purpose, ought not to weigh feather in the
scale of objections. 1t will be years before
the bonds provided for can BE- issued, and in
few years the railroad would pay them by
service rendered the Government. In the
end the bonds issued to the several railroad
companies would be absorbed in defraying
the annual and necessary expenditures OF the
Government. The Government would SIM
ply loan it's credit to the road until such time
as it might need services which would gradu-
ally relieve the road from all further obliga-
tions to pay said bonds At most, the Gov
crnment could only be called npOn to advance
the interest for few years, while the railroad
is being built.
proyal by the President will be considered as
only second to the termination of the war of
rebellion in the just fame it will confer upon
the present Administration. 1t will be the
inaug gura,ion of an enterprise which will be
completed in tho next ten years, and which
will bring American citizens on the Atlantic
and Pacific into almost daily personal commu-
nication. 1t would. too, soon change the di-
rec,ion of the commerce between Europe and
Asia As means for accomplishing military
ends. its advantages would be incalculable.
1t would enable the Government at Wash.
ington to extend an efficient and immediate
protection to American citizens and property
on the now far off Pacific. The social and
,olitcal influence Of such railroad upon the
United States cannot be estimated. 1t would
literally constitute the people Of the opposite
sides of the continent one, for it would unite
them by iron rails which would prove stronger
than Ch ,ns. Our Senators must sec to it
that this bill is not lost nor unreasonably de-
layed in the Senate. In times past, Southern
Snu,tors who ara now In rehellion were able
to defeat all Pacific Railroad bills; they are
now rebels; those who have been friends of a
Pacific Railroad are now in a large majority
in the United States Senate, and we have a
right to demand that they aid in the enact
ment Of this bill into law. When completed,
railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific will
be looked upon as the most wonderful work
of this age Of wonderful enterprises.