Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-04-26
A PROPOSITION TO SETTLE.

held against their roads by the Gov
ernment. 1t is true that these bonds
do not mature for many years yet to
come, but the injustice Of assuming
that the debtor does not intend to pay
a score of years before the day of pay
ment, does not seem to possess any
weight with those gentlemen whose
mission in this world appears to be
that of denunciators of railroad cOrpo-
rations. Another battle cry in the
contest with our railroad companies
is their requirement of a large amount
of the public domain and the holding
Of the same at rates so high as to pre-
vent the purchase and cultivation
thereof by those who would become
actual settlers. This one point has
been a prolific theme for both writers
and speakers. Railroad lands have
engendered more eloquent speeches
and supplied the text for greater
number of "leaders" than any other
one of the thousand questions dragged
into politics. Yet strange as it may
appear, and in direct contradiction of
the oft-repeated assertion of anti
railroad fanatics, the Central Pacific
Railroad Company actually proposes
to both pay the thirty million dollars
it will owe the Government on the
maturity of the bonds, and return the
lands which we are frequently assured
are so much needed for settlers. With
the full consent of the Central Pacific
Railroad Company bill has been in
troduced in the United States Senate
which provides for the creation of
sinking fund that will enable the
Company to return to the Government
the full value of the bonds which were
issued by the Government in aid of
the construction of the road. The bill
provides,
First-To return to the Government all OF
the land granted to the railroad in the State
of Nevada and Territory OF Utah. These
lands consist of the odd-numbered sections
for twenty miles on each side of the line of
the thu road. about 4,5OOOOo acres. they are to
be computed at the same price that the Gov
eminent asks settlers for the adjoining even
sections, that is to say, So 81 per acre. Where
the railroad company have sold any OF the
lands, all sums received for them in excess OF
two dollars and fifty cents per acre are also to
be paid into this sinking fund.
SecOnd-There Is further to be credited to
this fund the cost of transportation of mails.
troops, public stores, etc., which has been re-
tanned from the road under the Act of March
Sd, 1878, and if on a settlement this did not on
the 3lst OF December, 1915, equal one million
dollars, the railroad company is to pay into
the United States reasury an amount that
will make it equal that sum.
Third-The railroad company is further to
pay into this sinking fund, semi-annually, in
money or bonds of the United States, an
amount which added to the value ofthe lands
and the sum found to be due for transporta-
ton shall be sufficient to pay the bonds and
interest on the day the last bonds become
due that were issued in aid ofthe construction
of the road.
Fourth-The creation Of this sinking fund
shall not release the present mortgage lien
which the Government now has on the road,
but 1t is to continue in full force until all the
bonds and interest are fully paid.
The land thus returned will, at the
price at which the Government now
sells the alternate sections, amount to
about ten million dollars, or one
third of the Company's Indebtedness
to the Government, leaving twenty
million dollars to be paid as provided
for above. If there is truth in the
charges of the Company's opponents
and enemies, this bill offers many ad-
vantages for the Government. 1t re-
turns the land and throws into the
market just double the number of
acres now within the twenty mile
limit, and it secures the early pay
ment of debt which under the exist
ing law will not be due within the
memory of the present generation,
and which the anti-railroad people
profess to believe will not be paid
even when it does fall due. 1t does
even better than this; it gives the
Government the ready money for
which the land is sold and that paid
in by the Company to make up the
one million dollars. A dollar to-day
is worth more than twenty dollars
twenty years hence. But the bill
does not offer the Company an oppor-
tunity to discount it's own paper. 1t
merely proposes to take the land at
the price the Government now holds
the alternate sections and enable the
corporation to pay off its bonds before
they are due. We do not presume
the provisions of the bill will meet the
approval of those who complain of
land monopoly, and aver that, the
bonds will never be paid. They will
not be satisfied, because the PROPOSE
tion, if carried out, will convict them
as libelers and falsifiers. The pas
sage of this bill would carry
the railroad out of politics in
this State, and deprive the sane
tum and the rostrum of a hobby on
which many demagogue has ridden
into popular favor. By the provisions
of the bill the Government will re-
ceive the principal and interest of the
bonds long before they are due, and
four or five million acres of land now
held as private property will again
become public domain, subject to en-
try at two dollars and fifty cents per
acre. None should m)re earnestly
urge the carrying out of the PROPOSE
tion than those affecting to believe
the Company does not propose to re-