Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-07-22
tFrom the Advance Cohicago)l
The Northern Pacific Railroad, Con-
gress, and the Public Lands.

gress, and the Public Lands.
AMONG the great commercial move
ments that characterize AID render
notable the present times, probably the
most important both in amount o.
capital involved and in the character aDC
extent of anticipated results, is the build
| ing of the Northern Pacific Railroad
with its branches feeders and connec
| tions The Suez Canal, constructed un
der the auspices of the French Govern
ment, cost about sixty million dollars
The Union Pacific Railroad, extending
from Omaha to Ogden, distance of 1,03s
miles, involved necessary outlay of per
haps forty million dollars, and the Centra
Pacific, completing the line from Ogden
| to Sacramento, TAB miles further, did moi
cost more than an equal amount The
Northern Pacific Railroad, controlled by .
single corporation, will span the coRtinent
from deep-water navigation on Lake Su
perior 20 tide-water on the Columbis
River and Puget Sound--a distance o
about 1,750 miles; and the branches al
ready projected will increase the total
length of road-b bed to nearly two thousand
five hundred miles. The cost of con,
structiOn and rolling-stock will not fall faI
short of one hundred million dollars.
1t is the comprehensive design of the
projectors of the Northern Pacific, not
simply to build railroad from lake tc
! ocean, and then wait for results, but TO
reader results certain by Il J securing IA
vorable connections with the railroad
systems of the Pacific coast and the At.
lantic States, and with the commerce oi
the Pacific Ocean; (2,) by constructing q
series of lateral branch roads to the South
and North of its main line, which will
drain the entire Northwest between lati.
tude AZ and Central British Columbia
49, and by organizing such a thorough,
wise and humane system of emigration
from Northern Europe and the thickly
peopled portions of our own country as
will settle and render speedily productive
the vast belt of fertile lands tributary to
the road and extending across the conti-
nent. During the years occupied in its
construction the road will give employ
ment to thousands of men, and create 3
large demand for everything that our
people manufacture or produce.
1t is impossible that such an enterprise,
managed by the sort of men that control
this one, should not benefit the whole
country, while specially and vastly bene-
fitting the region known as the Great
West. This greatest of commercial pro.
jects, viewed as a matter of national i'm
port, is entitled to the same hearty SYM
pathy and confidence that greeted the
first Pacific Railroad, and the recent at
tempts, in Congress and by portion of
the press, to represent the Northern Pa
citic Company as an Unsuitable devourer
of the public lands, were as unfair as they
were unfounded.. A bit OF Pacific Rail
road history may be in place:
The Illinois Central was, we believe,
the first railroad to receive grant of
lands directly from the government OF
the wisdom and good results of that ini-
tial grant probably no one now entertains
a doubt. When the Union and Genital
Pacific roads were chartered in 1859, two
other charters were also granted-one for
a Northern, and another for Southern
Pacific railroad. Upon the Union and
Central Pacific Companies, which pro-
posed TO build their roads st once, q sub
sidy of lands and bonds was conferred,
more than enough in actual value To build
the roads-the bonds, however, being in
the character of loan. The Northern
Pacific, which it was correctly believed,
would be the second line built, received
only land grant, equal in amounB, but
far superior in quality, to that of the
Union and Central The question of
money subsidy or loan TO The Northern
line was left in allegiance until the time
when its construction should be near at
hand; and the Southern Pacific was left
with a bare charter, the state of the
country then seeming TO indicate that
many years would elspse before the
actual construction of southern
road could be thought of. In this way
the government made provision for three
main lines of railroad across the conti-
nent, and fully committed itself, toith the
heGrty appr0oG Of both political parties, to
the policy of aiding the construction of
these three national highways. The mo-
tives which lead to this action were OBJ
vious enough. Q.) The Government
considered itself under some obligation to
assist in opening communication between
the older and the newer sections of the
continent, thus benefting both and be-
getting closer sympathy and a better
understanding between distant commune
ties and the General Government which
taxed them and claimed their allegiance.
(2.) 1t was known that in time OF peace
the bulk Of our standing army is en-
ployed on the Western plains acting as a
police between the Indians and the white
settlers, and that large part of the great
expense OF maintaining troops at frontier
stations consists of the excessive cost of
transporting men and supplies where
there are no railroads. the saving of
several millions year in army transpor-
tation, and the redoubled efficiency of
troops when they can be rapidly con-
veyed from point to point, were legiu-
mate reasons tor extending Government
encouragement to railroads built beyond
the settlements. (3) The third and
weightiest of the reasons which intlu.
enced Congress to adopt the land grant
policy was one which appeals even more
directly than the former two to the com
mon sense of plain people, and , enough
of itself to Justify the system, as applied
TO the three cOntineHtGL lanes Of road. Five
years ago the United States Government
was proprietor OF eleven hundred million
acres OF wild lands, lying between the
Mississippi and the Pacific coast, not in
cluding the State public lands Of Texas.
such domain is too vast for compre-
hension, and only an approximate notion
of its magnitude can be obtained by con-
sideriBg that it is equal to thirty. foltr
States Me size Of Neso York, or to two
hundred and four States as large as Mas
sachusetts. OF these lands, the govern
menu, uuIluB Iuc last uNC years, HdS DS6n
able to sell, and give away under the
homestead act, less than four million acres
per yeGA AT this rate the present gene
ration would reap next to no benefit from
the public lands, and 275 years would
elapse before they would all be taken up,
much less titled. The reason why these
lands cannot be given away TO actual
settlers is that they are inaccessible and
hence worthless. No farmer will agree
TO live on them for them, and for the ex.
cellent reason that no farmer can afford to-
A farm without a market is without
value, and a market without q railroad is
usually impossible. Under these circum.
stances the government, through its sys-
TEN of grants, says to responsible corpo-
ratons, " Build a railroad through these
waste lands of mine, rendering them ac-
cessible and valuable, and l willrgive you
ten per cent. of the lands affected. re-
gard this offer not as charity OF gratnity,
for you have no claim TO either, but o0n-
slider 1t business transaction, in which /
shall receive back in the enhanced. value
OF my own lands and the increased area
and constituency for taxation, very much