, 1866-05-01
TIE NORTHERN PACIFIC Raj,
ROAD.
Hsm1fks OF nF. Price Of iowa, in abe
Fsonae OF Representatives April .5sA,
1ann

Mr, Speaker, am glad that Tho stress Of
weather by which this bill has bccu lncu,n-
bercd is clearing hp, the .og l. lifting, and ia
friends feel pleasure in finding II on tho open
sea Of free discussion.
Iwill say at the commencement that do
not propose to indulge tn auy attempts AZ
oEatory or eloquence In reference to 1h. bill,
I nm Of opinion that It is q matter ~ dollars
and cents, t1cts and fgures: enless tla iaets
and the figures will establish the other i'm
portant fact that the BY has "a merits Of i's
one Of he a.ivocatss Of the bill, as ono Of IN.
committee who sport 1t to this House, III
perfectly Willis, to sec It voted down.
This Norttern Pacific Railroad v,ss char
tereI al lbs first session Of the Ts.fty Eighth
Cnosrcss, and gives an e1seeslye grant Of
| lands 10 The company. Nothing, IS unaer-
stand, has been done by the Company up 70
ehls time, for The 1cason thas IN tanas :,rant-
ed Cannot oe made ayaiiahte for The purposes
addiitonal assistance in the shape OF guar
antee Of a certain amount OF stock TO enable
them to make the grant avsalab1e. want
gentlemen to remember that it Is limited
amount Of stock for limited tune.
The only question TO be settled IN reference
to this natter ts, whether the guarantees thAt
the Government Is to give to the 4r;! ;Gnpa.ay
who agree 70 the eonstE0eeaTr tEeaTrcnt a. sn ana se ~
country = tic benefits derived from It; On
this road the bin proposes to guarantcc stock
to the amount OF 900 per mile. will be
Obliged to gcntleucn who teel an interest In
this bill, either ;or or asninst 1t, II they will
give their attention to these figures Fiyures,
as gentlemen know, will not lie, unless they
be put down wrongly; and It Is tho business
ol members to see whether put THIN down
wrcrg or not.
On The next six hundred and twcntf miles
Of this road the bill proposcs to guaranty
stock to the amount Of ses5 900 pcr mile, MAX
mile, and 81, ,000 per mile for the first thou
sand miles OF the road, the arerase aeing
So, ,5C0 pcr milo. The interest upon TINT
stock, at SIX per cent, the rate specified in the
bill. which interest Is to be paid ia currency,
.tll.be y So, per .n'le, or siS5, ,oV for the
Now, 1t will be remarked, and this Is an
item worth noticing and remembering, that
the bill provhEs in express terms that when
Twenty-Five miles or ehis road shall hs.' bren
n hen nla ape
the amoaut Of $4,000 per mile. Another
fact, and q very important one, CONNECTED
~lLh this item, is that lmmcdmtely on thc
| completion Of TIC twenty-five miles for whlch
stock Is guaranteed, the company shall pay
into the Treasury of the United States twenty
| five per cent of the gross receipts. Now, I
| hope that 1uembe 8 wIl no. contouuJ this with
gross earnings One-fourth Of all the MONEYS
received By this corporation oil tllc twenty
| five u,i1es Of ren1 upon which lie stock has
bcer guaranteed to a limited amo114. must be
patd snto the Treasury Of the United states.
Now, haSe taken some trouble to ascer-
tain what viii be tie probable earnings md
adopt - the hasis Of my estimates the earn
inss OF western roads-new roads ia q new
country: have now in lnY mind one road On
the west bank OF TIC Mississippi eighty miles
lors, with earnings Of about sjS hundred
thousand dollars Per year. Taking. that ns
the basis OF my calculation, ea]rnfat,, thnt
one hundred miles Of the Northern Pacific
Railroad wonld give $3.50, QUO year. BY this
calculation, e.; one fourth q The earning during
the Government Of che United States woujl
receive each year Tor the guarantee Of the
miles.
Now, gentleman will remember that tho
bsll provides that the proceeds Of all The lands
into the Treasury Of the United States, This,
at S:5o an sore, viii give you S24 eco 10 be
added to tH SIS, 600, which IL one.fourth Of
gross ea!ni1;s Of the road. And l ought TO-
Fave atn1e u connection with the SlS7,5OO,
that Il IS 20, eco moro than tho amount guar.
nnteed by the Government.
Now, II these figures arc correct, md tho
calculations approximate anywhere near tho
truth, at tie end OF the year we would have
Sl6,au mora money from the proceeds OF the
sales ot TIE Ind and the Quarter Of the gross
receipts OF thk road, tIan hos been guaranteed
by the Government. Now, gentlemen may
answer that BY saying that the Land will not
be sold, or II seId will not sch Tor TINT amount
Of money. Well, I u I'll give them the bcne6t
OF that objection, and admit, for the sake Of
argument that not IN acre Of land shall be
sold, add that the earnings Of the read shall
only be such as other roads hnyc earncsl in
new couutriea- And then you will still have
75a,5 SEQ At the end ol the year ou this ealcula-
ton, more than has been guaranteed By the
Government.
ment Is to be met: Itmay do to say In broad
terms tbnt zGo 0C0 900 or s5u 00o, COD a1e to ba
taken out OF the Treasury of the United
States for the benefit Of great cosporation-
1t Is one thing to make declaration 1t is
another and very different thing to back up
But ! appeal to the living k,cts for.. tA&asu .
of my c1lcnlattuus, n,tu for tho c0pE3S13hus
at Which have arrived ia this argument. II
this read will earn what other roads ia tho
new countries have earned heretofore, then ut
the end OF the construction OF the first hun
dred miles Of this road the Government will
baye received so2,550U more thun they hayc
guaranteed to the company.
Mr. TEoWBE1pGE- would like to ask the
gentleman from Iowa falr. Price q q :, .ton.
desire to inquire whether this, twe.l! ;-ssve
per cent Of the gross earnings Of tl,: road Is
10 10 paid at any time previous 10 The co,n-
plction Of the entire road. understand the
language Of the act requires tho entire Com
pletloa OF the road befoEc any Of the pro -eetls
are to be re.uraeI tu the Government. %
Mr. PRICE. 'fhe question OF the gent euau
Shows NC what have always believed: that
when tills are rcnd II. m the Clerks desk, not
one laan IN ten in this uouse knows what Is
in the Ellis.
Now, will rcitetate fact have al.ear7
stated, that there Is an amendment. not
inf ]11$J Tn hal ~.
committee have attempted to guard TIE ma
ter particularly. The amendment proyfd~
thai wien Lhe FIRST twenty-five miles Of the
road are made, Twenty-Five dollars of every
Sloo they earn, or, II yon please, twenty-aset
into the Government Treasury; rot Of thf
net earnings, but Of the gross receipts; NOT
even ct the Eross earnings, bat Of their groa ;
receipts. Il the company receive money IN
any way, fair or unfair, the Government Il to
have one quarter Of It..
Qne reason why the Commtttee are In favor /.
OF this bill, Is TINT they believe they can by
this means aid the company to open and los
ter the vast regions Of the Northwest, which
for ages past hare been, and probably to
conc Will be, unsettled, undeyelopetl, min,
proved, and untenantel without this aid I'll
st the same tinno that they give this ~, the
Government will no. be paying out dollar.
:, Then, ask, what becomes q ne aeeiaenr an
tion, which eppears In the Gio6e Of to-day.
snd Which has gone to tle world, that !he
committee recommend proposition taxing
Treasury Of the United States, take OCCASION
ana nod now to repud1ate that declaration,
intent ofy. from fEst toslast that was rot INC
eyrr. nor ee committee In any Tesrset Wnai-
Bill ior the d esspy authority Be f'una IN tn's .
A., , LyxcH 4 81. would ,as;aae ass;;,ae gentleman il
lands by the company. 0"4>o "
Wr. ppIcg. The Erretumcnt Il TO e.. ..-
per cent of the sales of the lands, and tweI.,,3
ayc pe3 sent Of the receipts OF the road
AT. LfScn. nnoess1and TINT Hfty per
cent to be Of the proceeds Of the sales Of The
iflnnds are sold on the northern side of the
road. is The Government to be entitled 10
twenty,hv per cent Of the receipts fro'a shat
Afr. PR1cE. do not understand that any
Portion OF the proceeds Of the land north Of
the roa6 Is 10 be given to the Government.
Mr. LYNCH. Wonla not the term gross
receipts" include all the receipts Of the eroed
frcm the sales Of lands aud othc1WIfo
Mr- PRICE. It might be so construed; but
that was not the intention Of the committee
When they had provided for the va1ue OF hal,
ths lands they thought they had done tolera-
bly, well ius tho Government, especially when
IN addition to that they Include twenty-five
per cent Of the gross receipts Of the road.
think I have sufficiently answered. tho
| financial argument OF this subject to prove
that there is 10 money to he drawn from the
Treasury OF the United States, that tlis Is q
| safe Arrangement In that respect.
| Nr- Speaker, the object Of land grants 10
railroads in this country has been TO develop
its RESOURCES The construction Of railroads
induces settlement nnd causes the Wilderness
70 blossom Is the rose. It Is necessary that
this country should bo developed IN its agri-
| cultural resources. In addition to develop
iNf: those resources VIC propose also bv this
road to leach for all time to come the vast
mineral resources OF tho mighty .rgions now
almost Iesrrts and almost Inaccessible.
think It Is dcmonstraole, then, that the Gov
eminent will not only be compensated by one