Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-12-23
The Texas Pacific Railroad.

Governmental .7i9 .fsked for H-Ths
Benefits TO Government andfhe Coun.
try Generally TO be Derived from ii.
/ as set forth by the Memorial of the
Company 10 Congress.
There has been a great deal of de-
nun:lation heaped on Congress for ex-
tending land grants and otherwise help
ing railroad companies in the far west.
As to the merits and demerits of such
aid 1T Is not our purpose now to speak.
We only propose to state that the Texas
Pacific Railroad Company is now ask
ing Congress to aid it TO complete the
road of that Company. Their memo
rial to Congress, which is entitled to
the fullest consideration, among other
things in favor of Congressional aid,
says:
A Southern trunk line of railroad to
the Pacific is necessity, and its con-
struction should be insured by Govern
ment as practical means of settling
the Indian question and enabling its
vast territories to be safely inha bited
and developed. The completion of this
line would, it is claimed, enable the
Government TO move troops cheaply
and rapidly, dispense with probably
threefourths of those now employed in
Texas and Southern Territories, and
thus release the Government from ex-
penditure amounting to millions Of dol
lars yearly, and 1t would moreover be
of immense advantage to the nation By
bringing into the market hundreds of
millions of acres Of good land which
are dead property to the United States,
BY adding millions of population to the
present number of producers and tax
payers Of the country, BY more than
doubling, or, indeed, indefinitely in
creasing, the annual yield of the pre-
cious metal IN the United States by
vast increase in our revenues to be de-
rived from impOrtations from Asiatic
countries BY the general stimulous of
production, manufactures, and trade in
all the States east of the Mississippi to
supply the wants of settlers in the new
regions to be traversed by the road, and
by all the diversified good in the pur-
suit of which England, France, Bel
gium, Holland, Russia, and Austria
have spent such enormous sums of
money, pledged without stint their
public credit. alj found their reward
in the control Of the commerce and
trade of the world. 1t is further ar
cued that the construction of this open
highway, unobstructed by snow during
the entire year, across the continent,
would prove to be a practical measure
of reconstruction for the South, and
that the increased yield of cotton and
tobacco from newly y-developed territory
would swell the volume of our exports,
and thus aid materially in the reten-
ton of our gold and silver for home
circulation. The memorialists assert
that it is conclusively established that
the saving in transportation alone of
Government supplies has averaged ST.
600 per mile per annum for every mile
of the Pacific Railroad heretofore built,
and cali attention TO the fact that the
entire amount OF interest which The !
Government is asked to guarantee in |
order 10 secure the construction Of this |
souihren line is Sl,75O per mile per
annum. No guarantee of principal of
the boads is solicited, and as a security
for the guarantee of the interest on the /
bonds the Government is to have FIRST
mortgage on all property, franchises,
and net earnings of the railroad, the
entire proceeds of sales of the lands
heretofore granted by tie United States
to the two companies, restoration to
the Government of about thirty mil
lion acres Of land heretofore granted
and reserved to aid the construction of /
the two lines to the Pacific, some fifteen
hundred miles of which are to be dis
pensed with under the plan proposed,
and the retention in the United States
Treasury OF one-eigh;h of all the bonds
issued, SO that they may be sold by the