The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-07-22
The Northern Pacific Railroad. Con-
greSS and the Public Lands.
From the Advance (ohica

4 that characterize and render notable tn
I present times, probably the most import
, ant, both in amount of capital involved
! and In the character and extent of antici
/ pated results, is the building of the North
: ern Pacific Railroad, with its branches
feeders and connections. The Suez canal
consh ucted under the auspices of the
French government, cost about sixty mill
! ion dollars. The Union Pacific Railroad
, extending from Omaha to Ogden, dis
: tanoe Of 1,032 miles, involved q necessary
outlay Of perhaps forty millions dollars
} and the Central Pacific, completing the
line from Ogden to Sacramento, 743 miles
: further, did not cost more than an equa
amount. The Northern Pacific Railroad
controlled by single corporation, viii
span the continent from deep water navi.
cation on Lake Superior to tide-xater OF
Columbia river and Puget Sound-a dis
tance of about l, 760 miles; and the branches
already projected will increase the total
length of road-bed to nearly z, 800 miles,
The cost of construction and rolling-stock
viii not fall far short of one hundred mill
ons dollars.
It is the comprehensive design Of the
projectors Of the Northern Pacific, not
simply to build railroad from lake to
ocean, and then wait for results, but to rem
der results certain by a. securing fsvora-
bic connections with the railroad systems
OF the Pacific coast and the Atlantic states
and with the commerce of the Pacific
ocean; a, by constructing q series of lat
ersl branch roads to the South and North
of its main line, which will drain the en-
tire Northwest between latitude AZ and
Central British Columbia; g. and by or.
! ganizing such a thorough, wise, and hu-
name system of emigration from Northern
Europe and the thickly peopled portions
of oar own country as will settle and rem
der speedily productive the vast belt of fer
tile lands tributary to the road and extend
| ing across the continent. During the
years occupied in its construction the road
will give employment to thousands of men
and create q large demand for everything
that our psople manufacture or produce.
1t is impossible that such anAenterprise,
managed by the sort of men that control
this one, should not benefit the whole
country, while specially and vastly bsneht-
ing the region known as the Great West.
This greatest of commercial projects, view
ed IS a mattsrof national import, is entitled
to the same hearty sympathy and confidence
that greeted the first Pacific Railroad. and
the recent attempts, in Congress and by
portion of the press, to represent the
Northern Pacific company as an Unsuitable
devourer of the public lands, were as unfair
as they were unfounded. A Bit of Pacific
Railroad history may be in place:
The Illinois Central was, we believe, the
first railroad to receive grant of lands d.
rectly from thegovernment. Of the wisdom
and good results of that initial grant prob
ably no one now entertains a doubt. When
kl.oT TT,,so Ga 10
chartered in 1852, two other charters were
also chartered-one for Northern and
another for Southern Pacific Railroad.
Upon the Union and Central Paci-
flo companies, which proposed to
build their roads at once, a subsidy
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 amount, but far superior in
quality, to that of the Union and Central.
The question Of a money subsidy or loan
to the Northern line was left in abeyance
until the time when its construction should
be near at hand; and the Southern Pacific
was left with bare charter, the state of
the country then seeming to indicate that
many years would elapse before the actual
construction of a Southern road could be
thought Of In this way the government
made provision for three main lines of
railroad across the continent, and fully
committed itself, Nth The hearty approval of
both political parties, to the policy of these
three national highways. The motives
which lead 10 this action were obvious
enough:
IL The Government considered itself
under some obligation to assist In opening
communication between the older and the |
newer sections of the continent, thus bene- |
fitting both and begetting closer sympa- |
thy and better understanding between |
distant communities and the general gov |
eminent which taxed them and claimed |
their allegiance. (2.) 1t was known that in
time of peace the bulk of our standing ar
my is employed on the Western plains act !,
ing as q 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 trans
portation, and the redoubled efficiency of
troops when they can be rapidly conveyed
from point to point, were legitimate reasons
for extending government encouragementto
built beyond the settlements (3.) |
The third and veightiest of the reasons
which influenced Congress to adopt the
land grant policy was one which appeals
even more directly than the former two to
the common sense of plain people, and is
enough of itself to justify the system, as
applied TO three continental liHlSS of road.
Five years ago the United States Govern
ment was proprietor of eleven hundred
million acres ofwild lands, lying between
the Mississippi and the Pacific coast, not
the state public lands Of Texas.
Such domain is too vast for comprehen-
sion, and only an approximate notion oflts
magnitude can be obtained by considering
that it is equal to hirtV5fOtr states, the size
of Netc York, or two-hundred and four
states as large as Massachusetts,. OF these
lands the Government, during the last five
years, has been able to sell, and give away
under the homestead act, less than four NIL
lion acres per year. At this rate
the present generation would
reap next to no benefit from
eIapse before they would all be taken up,
much less filed. 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 excel
lent reason that no farmer can afford to. A
farm without q market is without value,
and market without railroad is usually
impossible. Under these circumstances
the government, through its system of
grants, says to responsible corporations,
Build railroad through these waste
lands of mine, rendering them accessible
and valuable, and 1 will give you ten per
cent. of the lands affected. / regard this
offer not as a charity or gratuity,
for you have no claim to either, out l con-
slider it business transaction, in v hich L
shall receive back in the enhanced value of
nv own lands and the increased area and
for taxation, very much more
than this grant is worth to me or to you.
So farmer, owning submerged marsh
which ia absolutely worthless except for
raising frogs, and not caring to venture
his own money in the doubtful enterprise
of reclaiming it, would gladly givea pOr-
ton of the wet land itself to any one who
would ditch, underdrain and render pro-
ductiVe the whole
The fact that the Government retains the |
alternate sections along these Pacific roads
and offers them for sale at $3.50 per acre,
is sufficient guarantee that the railroad |
companies will not hold their lands at an /
fipure: and the fact that the /