New-York tribune., 1869-01-20

| way DOnuS Rualau'C0N ~ S~O --'
! $620OO0OO0
T-yuFp srA1rs-Public debt to each person sG3; 4;
porccntope of increase in wealth since 1880 nm taes
oyqfer than that Of Groat Britain.
! No two European countries have adopted exactly
the same plan. In most Of them the roads absolutely
revert TO the Governments at the end OF
from fifty to ninety years alter endowing them,
and will then be sufficient to extinguish the entire
National debts But allhaye adopted the same general
pohcy-suGcient Gocdpmct aid 10 Laairq rdikroytntS
to secure beir construction. that policy proves bone-
fetal TO old countries, abounding IN private capital,
| bufdened with public debts heavy rs ours, and
! standing armies ten times as large-countnes grow
ing far less rapidly than the United States ana IN
comparably less rich in material resources awaiting
development. will it not be great deal more bene-
| cial and remunerative to u9f
Can IL 06o,d 10 help nom The first impulse of the
country-based upon praiseworhy desire to restore
economy to the Administration, and order to the
finances and to hasten return to specie payments
| is to say mo" A few persons and speakers de-
nounce the companies asking aid-however large the
private capital they propose to embark III the enter
nrises. and however spotlcss the business and per
sopal character of their leading men-as cormo-
rants" "leeches" and rings'-cOupling them with
combinations to defraud the revenue by THEFT ana
perjury and with applicants for appropriations 1or
| purely local and individual projects In Iust the
same sense was De Witt Clinton n "cormoIan" and
"leech7 when he agtated for public aid TO the
Erie Canal through seven years till he got it at last;
but this generation knows him as second only 10
Robert Fulton in the benefits he secured for the
country
There IS another and much larger class who favor
Government aid under proper restrictions, at some
future time but fear that TO extend 1T now VIII az
pravate our financial disorders and retard our return
to a sound currency by seeming to swell the pubhc
burdens Their motives are thoroughly good, but do
they not err in their reasoningy
L. The increase of the National Debt will be only
apparent not real. III the first place, if law were
passed to-day endowing o Northern and South
ern road. so much time would be required
for the final surveys and getting the work
fairly under way that the interest on the
bonds to be issued in their aid within the
next two or three years would be ineonsideTable
Indeed il would be very little before the earliest
period at which they could possibly be completed
1S15 Moreover if they are endowed, as the Central
has been rescrying half the amount due them from
the Government for transporting troops, munitions
supplies and mails. rs a sinking fund, to meet
the interest and principal of the bonds as they iali
due. the debt VIII he self-cxtiuguishmg one
Many people have grossly exaggerated ideas OF the
amount the Government is eXpending for the Central
Road on its varous divisions and branches The fol
lowing are the entire figures up 10 june 10, lFS;
Total amount Of bonds issued. tcsOOO,COo
Total amount of interest paid on tlein..... S2l5ilV
Total accumulated sinking fund from mail
ard transportation serNioe....-...-....... 1t'f0e
Total amount actually expended by Govment. H.sca729
BY June Is. 1862 the road VIII be completed. The
total amount OF bonds then issued in ad OF 1t Will
be $JG0000O0 The total amount OF accrued interest
on the bonds. less the sinking fmd accumulated by
fc = - Cow -lVst
ment to the road for transportation, will be
under S3OOO0O0 By june -, 1870 this sinking
fund will doubtless have swept away altogether the
balance against the road on interest and the road
will be ready to begin to extinguish the principal
In other words irsiR goGg ate" fa6 completion Of
tie road crery dollar de Government has ddoRced FOR
IL trW hare been paid bdci and the TOGd riH 6cgH 10
cun.uaie fand for paying he principal Of Tie bonds
issued aid IL. Nor is this ALL During the year
! 1861 the average length Of the Nebraska and the
Kansas divisions of that road combined jS7 miles
The actual caring TO CcrGnmcri uroa hat short por-
ton Of The lne orcr The sum it troald hare teen com
pced 10 pQy at the coRhGct prices Of that year. heso
military supplies had bCcn Gg)Rcd The troops marched
and the mails cqyicd in coaches, t2T2li0 These
figures carry lesson which tie croakers viii do
well 10 study.
@ So far from increasing the public debt, these
roads will absolutely help 10 pag t-not by reyelng
TO the Government at the end of two OF three genera
tions as in France and Belgium, but by mode
equally sure and far expeditions. If work is
begun upon them at our annual product OF gold
and silver now varOusly estimated ot from s'0OJO-
600 to s1O0OC0OCO will double within the next twelve
years. New-Mexico and Arizona comparatively
unproductive are two of our richest mineral regions
and VIII produce bullion very largely. whenever a
Southern Road removes their two chief diticultes-
| inaccessbleness and Indian troubles. Montana
alone first settled an 1862 is JelerCd 10 haze yielded
| already in gold and slUer. $CjO000O0. Montana,
Idaho Washington, and Oregon, remote rs they are,
! produce annually $}5OO0OOO more than one
third Of our entire yield of bullion. Northern
Road will soon double that by reducing the cost Of
| machinery, labor, and supplies, and thus making
available lower grades of ore. which at the present
| high prices will not pay the expenses of working.
The roads will also stimulate enormously the copper
| iron and coal product Of Hew-Mexico and Arizona,
the timber and copper product of Minnesota and tho
| COAL iron, and lumber product OF Oregon and Wash
| ington.
9. Our public lands now unsold and unapprOpfatcd
amount to 14145G7,j75 acres. Left alone, most Of
them will lie idle and unstable for many years.
! Opening these roads will throw hundreds Of millions
| Of acres into the market stimulating immigra-
| tion from Europe and building M regions pow wild
and waste into great States. which viii help pay in
terest and principal of the public debt Ia 1853 Kan
bad no white population, and her lands were IN
salable at any price. In 1861 her white population
was over 100000 and her values in other items had
swelled to these enormous figures:
Farms and Farming Implenents..-... Ho.oo0o
Livestock k-...-.-...----.--.--..-..-...- MyDVo
NlOlb lOl JJiNUNO
Total fllj,jO0N0
The values which had grown up in IA years ex-
cccled SlOO OOO-neaTly all actuallv created from