Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-01-05

ted States, through their representa-
tives in Congress, will do such an ac
of injustice as to reward the shortcom
ings of one set of associated citizens
and at the same time 70 punish the
honorable dealings of another associa
ton, by granting aprodigious bounty
of many millions in money, or credit,
for the construction of q long stretcl
of railroad between the Colorado anC
San Diego, which, if not positively
useless to all but the few recipients OF
subsidy, must be bnilt alongside of the
Southern Pacific to its manifest iniu.
ry.
If the legislation on the subject Of
the Thirty-second parallel Pacific
Railroad is to be again disturbed OF
amended, it would seem only justice
that the equitable rights of the South.
ern Pacific Railroad Company in re.
lation to the matter should be consd.
cred. In few months, at most, they
will have completed their road to the
Colorado river near Fort Yuma, and
within easy reach of the rich mines
of central Arizona; while the nearest
of the Eastern connecting roads is fully
1900 miles distant, with no work be-
ing done on them. The Southern Pa
cific, like the Central Pacific Company
have hitherto regarded their field OF
operations as belonging exclusively to
the Pacific watershed of the CONT
nent, and have resolutely abstained
from any participation in any roads
in the Mississippi valley or Eastern
connections.
The total distance between the East
ern boundary of California and the
great trunk line of Texas connecting
Galveston with ST. Louis, is in round
numbers 1900 miles. There are, un-
derstand, two or three corporations
having the authority and determina-
tiOn to extend railroads across Texas
to the Rio Grande; and either of
them would, doubtless, be able to do
so with a slight assistance from the
United States or the State of Texas.
Now, if Congress, in its wisdom, in
view of the many and serious objec-
tiOns to embarking the general Gov
ernment in the policy of guaranteeing
or endorsing the bonds of private cor
porations, shall decline to accept the
| propositions now made before both
branches, and at the same time, in
view of the many advantages to be
derived to the military and other de-
partments of the Government, and of
the many benefits to the whole coun-
try, and particularly to the Southern
half of it, by the earliest completion
of the Thirty-second Parallel Pacific
Railroad, shall nevertheless desire to
promote that great work of internal
improvement, it can be accomplished
without transcending or overstepping
the authority and precedents of its
legislation,and without calling on the
public treasury at all. The Southern
Pacific Railroad Company authorize
me to say that if the act of March 3d.
1871, granting lands on certain condi.
tions, for the, purpose, with which
conditions one of the Companys has
failed to comply is so amended as to
allow them to build the line, or so
much of it as lies through the public
domain in the Territories of Arizona
and New Mexico, they will promptly
construct the same for the land grant
attached thereto.
The Southern Pacific Company will,
Notwithstanding the more difficult
and forbidding character Of the coun-
try, engage TO build its half of the in
terval; or, if required, to accommo-
date the necessities of the several
Texas corporations who desire to build
Westward, will build until meeting
point is reached, on or near the 32d
parallel of latitude, at the crossing
point of the Rio Grande. or at a point
not further East than the Easterly
boundary of the Territory of New
Mexico, at the 103d meridian of longi-
tude. This latter locality has already
been designated as suitable point of
conveyance for the several lines pro-
jected from st. Louis, on the one side,
and New Orleans or Galveston (via
Austin), on the other side, while it is
in direct line for the branches to Vicks-
burg and Memphis and their connec-
tions through the Southern States.
The Importance, both for military and
commercial uses Especially if it is to
be done in part by the aid OF the Gov
ernment), of establishing the road on
the shortest portage between the nav
igatiOn of the Pacific and that of the
Gulf of Mexico, within the domain of
the United States, should not be over
looked; and in this view, the location
of the main trunk line from New Or
leans via Houston and Austin to the
point of junction in Western Texas,
entities it to even greater considera-
tion than the line from Shreveport,
while its construction in no way
lengthens or interferes with the more
Northerly forks.
At the California end the line is al
ready provided with a short connec-
ton with San Francisco, the great
port and emporium of that coast, and
also with the port of Wilmington on
San Pedro Bay, point 500 miles
Southeast of San Francisco. and by
far the nearest harbor, by rail, to the
Gulf. Nothing better or more suita-
biz to the commerce of the country
need be desired. But if Congress, in
its superior judgment, determines to
include also the harbor of San Diego,
in the extreme Southwest corner of
our frontier, as one of the termini of
this Pacific Railroad, am authorized
to state, after careful surveys by their
engineers, that this can be best done
by branch line, which the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company will also
undertake to construct, with reasona-
BILE time, upon the same terms and
conditions as the central portion of
the line. C. p. HUNTINGTON,
Agent and Attorney Southern Pacific
Railroad Company.
San Bernardino Items.