New-York tribune., 1872-03-28

| on the Iowa siuo a.~ -i-o~ rather than
those of tho five companies should go over W
the Union Pacific Railroad depot, by the bridge
| of the Union Pacific Railroad Company 10
| mako I'D tho transcOntinental trains ut
Council Bluffs, however and thus trans
act all transfer business in Iowa.
would be to change the terminus from Omaha
| to Council Bluffs, and destroy considerable
amount ,of Nebraska property. The Omaha
| people took alarm. and, on condition that the
terminus of the railroad should not be changed
| across the river, they gave the Railroad Com
pany o considerable tract Of land for depot
purposes, and agreed to give $25o.OOO In bonds
| of their county-Douglas. Great excitement
prevailed in Iowa at this, the Railroad Com
| pany having accepted the offer, and agreed TO
| compel the Iowa railroad people to send freight
| and passengers over the bridge to Omaha, pay
| ing certain toll on the bridge to the owners
| thereof. The Iowa people became alarmed IN
| their turn, and the Legislature OF that State
enacted law prohibiting all railroad compa-
nes whose lines terminate at or near Council
Bluffs from making any transfer of freight or
passengers to any other railroad company,
either by delivery or receipt, at any other
duced deadlock, and an attempt at.compro-
mise has been made by organizing transfer
company, which proposes to run train, car
rying freight and passengers, between the
Union Pacific depot at Omaha and the Iowa
railroad termini. This arrangement was to go
into effect yesterday but it was not certain
| that the Iowa terminating railroad people
would recognize it.
It must be acknowledged that Omaha origin
ally had an impregnable position as the ter
minus of the Pacific Railroad until the bridge
was built and there was no suggestion OF a
bridge when the project was fairly begun, nor
| for long afterward. BY the law of Congress
chartering the road, the Company was author
lied to build said road "from point on the
"western boundary Of the State OF Iowa, to
"be fixed by the President of the United
Estates" And, when the President fixed
that initial point, in his proclamation
of 1864, he designated it as on
"the western boundary Of the State OF
Iowa, opposite to Section 10, in Township 10
north, Range 10 east, in the Territory OF Ne
braskan Where is the western boundary OF
the State of Iowaq 1t is in the middle of the
channel of the Missouri River: so it could not
| have been intended that the depOts should be
| built there, and as the terminus was then es-
| tablished at Omaha, without q question from
| ANYBODY, and Congress rgrantcd bonds and
| lands to the road AZ 80 begun and extended,
! the law seems 10 have been considered COM
plied with by the builders. To make this more
| certain, whcn some years after, the Union Pa
cifc Company applied to Congress for char
| ter to build q bridge across the Missouri
at Omaha, the act granted provided
| that nothing in said law should be
so construed as to change the Eastern termi-
nus of the Union Pacific Railroad from the
"place where it is now fixed by existing laws
| Clearly, it was fixed in point of fact, at Oma.
| ha whether under existing laws, tho Iowa
| people declare, is an open question.
| Congress appears to have chartered two COM
panies one to build railroad from some point
on the Missouri River, westward, and one to
build a railroad bridge at Omaha, with the
right to collect tolls from passing trains. But
the eauities of the case are all in favor of the
| Iowans Aside from any local considerations,
| it ia manifestly absurd to compel five railway
| companies whose lines end at Council Bluffs,
| To move all their dopots and transfer
business across the river, in order to aceOmmO-
date single company, especially when that
| single company owns and controls the only
means of crossing. There is much competi-
| ton among these five railroads, and the time
| which some of them must lose in waiting for
others to cross the bridge when starting east
ward would be source of endless trouble
| The whole situation is thus made embarrass-
ing to the roads connecting with the Union
Pacific on the Missouri. 1t is pretty clear that
| the law and established facts on the side
of Nebraska but every consideration of pub
lie convenience, to say nothing of the natural
rights of the trans-IOwa railroads, is on the
side of Iowa. Congress has fixed the terminus
Of the Union Pacific Railroad at Omaha, if the
statutes mean anything; but Congress ought
not to give the Union Pacific Railroad
power to compel five other great railroads to
use its bridge across the Missouri and pay
tolls therefor. And Congress, which has made
this muddle inevitable, must now interfere
and clear it up, if possible
|
| WEEK