The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1873-09-18

four hundred feet wide; that it shou4
have the right for all necessary ground
for stations, buildings. .woI oIkshOps, switche
and side track, turn tables and wate
sheds. Ali that was given by the Gov
feTnment. Further it was provided Cha
it should have the right to take from III
Government lots all materials it coul
find to aid In the construction of the road
Then it was further provided that ther
SHOULD be given to II ten sections of LAM
! per mile for the entire length of each 0
| its branches That made 6, 400 acres o
land per mile. ---
1t was further provided by the fiftl
section that the Government would len'
to 1t, for every mile it constructed, sixteel
Thousand dollars of Government bonds
payable thirty years after their date, tn
company to pay them st their maturity
Without going into the details of othe
provisions advantageous to this company
you will discover that the Governmen
gave it, first, the ground on which the
road was to be made, four hundred fee
wide; next, the land necessary for all tht
buildings Appertaining to arailroad. next
$500 hundred acres per mile, and, Ia add
ton to those lands, sixteen thousand dol
lars per mile In Government bonds, to bt
paid by the company at the end OF thirty
years. .,F-L 500 l.- Irri- 81
ORGANIZATION OF THE UNION PACIFIC
- g. RAILRoAD sCHEAK.
Here was a mighty subsidy, snehas had
never. been given to any railroad before
and the company protessed to be satisfied
and would be able 10 build the road with
the aid thus furnished by the Gov
ernment. That was In July, 1862. What
then takes place Those who projected
the road set about getting subscriptions,
and in October, 1862, the company was
organized by the election of a Board OF
Directors, who elected General J. a. Dix
President and 7. G. Durant Vice Presi-
dent and General Agent and Manager OF
the company.
Suffice it to say here, that General John
A. Dix, now Governor of the State OF
New York, twas made President Of that
road for the purpose of giving the COM
pany the influence of a good name, and
Mr. Darant was made Vice President and
acting Manager and General Agent, In
other words, the sole controller of that
enterprise, for certain other reasons that
will presently appear.
Now you would suppose that when the
company was organized nAder that char
ter 1t ment to proceed at once to work
under that charter The stock had been
taken to certain amount-oVer two mil
honI of dollars. The company being
organized, having accepted the charter, IL
had come under an obligation to perform
the duties required by the charter, and 60
on and build the road. If it was contend
ed that the provisions were not sufficient
ly liberal to authorize them to engage In
that undertaking., then 1t ought not to
have asked any man. to take stock in
the company; but 1t had sought subscrip-
tions to their stock wherever it could get
them, provided the men who subscribed
were OF the night stripe. "
THE REAL INTENTIONS OF THE COMPANY
But did the company intend to build
that road under that charter Of 1862
Was that the purpose of the men who or
ganized in 1868 2 No, gentlemen, not by a
great ways, provided they could by some
means procure of the Government more
liberal and advantageous terms TO them
selves, So, without doing one thing,
although their charter was granted IN
1862, and they organized in October 1868,
without building one mile of the road, the
company set about procuring very diff
ferent charter from that uRder which 1t
had organized, .,-.......- -.-,-,...
THE COMPANY TRY FOR ANoFaER CHARrKR
g. The Board of Directors met in April,
1864, and passed resolution appointing
a committee to 60 to procure additional
legislation, and provided that proper ex-
pensss of that committee should be paid
by the company. Let Us see what kind of
expenses.they thought proper. 1t was in
April, 1864, that that COMMITTEES went to
Washington, with Durant. tie Vice Pres
ident, at ITS head. What did they do to
procure the amendment of that charter of
July, 16642-And what was that amend
ment Z In the first place, the land subsi-
ay to the road was doubled ;. instead OF
giving 1t 6,400 acres to the mile, they
amended so as to give it 42se4 aeres TO
the mile. -.--- H.- u1a iauGIl-gg=
4 Ia the next place, instead of ,loaning it
$4,000 per miie,, they amended it by
giving $4,000 per mile for part of the
way, $32 600 per mile for another part,
and $48, 900 per mile for another part.
But, gentlemen, we have. not yet come to
the greatest altsration that was made, BY
the original charter the Government was
to have lien on that road, which was to
give its property to secure the payment Of
the bonds the Government promised to
loan. The company had no power, under
its original charter, to make any mort
gage bonds. But by its amendment Of
1864, the company is authorized to issue
mortgage bonds Of its own equal to the
amount Of the Government bonds, and
postponed the lien of the Government to
the lien of the company, making the com
pany's bonds the first lien on the road,
and supplanting the lien which the Gov
ernment held according to the charter of
1862, and postponiDg 1t. That was the
greatest change of all. Although the land
subscribed had been doubled although
the bond subsidies had been greatly en-
larged, still the worst of all the misohie ef
Government for its bonds to the lien of the
mortgage to be issued by the company,
UNCLE SANS GIFTS OF DOMAIN.
How much land, think you, was granted
by this charter as amended in 1866 ? Why
gentleman, it was nearly one half as there
Is IN the whole State of Ohio. By the orig
inal charter nearly one quarter as much
land as there is IN this State was first
granted to this company, and nearly as
much as was then added to the original
grant. #
In addition to this many millions of
bonds were added to the original promise
Of bonds named IN the charter. Then the
Government lien on the road, which was
to secure it against the possibility of loss,
was postponed. How in the world was it
that so great change took place in the
charter Of that road There were, sub
stantially, the same meA in. Congress in
1864 as there were in 1862, They were
the same men, substantially, who proposed
to build the road in 1864 as those were in
1852. How comes it that such a wonder
full change came over the miRds of Con-
eress that it should thus almost double
It's subsidies and more than double its
privileges to this company in the short
space Of two years? What had become
Of the representations made in 1862, that
that charter was liberal enough2 Why
was it that the sans men who granted
that charter should be found two years
afterWard heaping favors upon the COM
pany to the manifest detlerment of the
public? don. -slla. -s ta-. .-.-
wEIeHTY REASONS FOB THE GENEROSITY.
have little light upon the subject. I
am sorry have to call your attention to
it; am sorry such page finds itself in
American history, but l can not hep 1T It
/ . ! A. l. L.A -.