The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-01-24
A Point of National Interest.

~ Il
When the Texas aud Pacific Memorial
Committee appointed by the st. Louis Con.
xension called upon President GRANT on
Friday he listened patiently to what she
chairman had to say, and, replying to him,
made q decided point. He said "the
I" proposed road was WORK OF great ln'
So por.ance, particularly as a5or&ins cora. |
g pst;aq line TO the road rosc an existence"
This is the exact point Of national interest
that cannot be lost sight Of by the national
Representatives without being faithlessso the
country. The only road that now eoanecls
she Atlantic with the Pacific has menopo5
of. the transportation and travel lover
Iand,n OF course, monopoly Is anotner
name for oppression. Where there Is no re
stric,ion upon charges for transportation
thew will be made IS high as possible with.
out stopping trade General GRANT prompt
" sees that the nation needs protection from
this oppression, and that ceszpetttion alone
can sfford that protection. ..
Can we oYer.estimate the importance OF
the national trans-contsnental commerce.
Certainly not. 1t follows that we cannet
oyer.estfEnate The Importance OF establi shrng
competition with the present Pacific railway
for the protection Of that commerce. That
sa;s may be done the Governrent shoErd
lend its aid in duty TO the nstioua interests
II Is notorioustbst the representative OF
the existing mono poly-Mr. HUNrrnsrsN-
IL in Washington now, as be was all last
winter, endeayoripg to defeat the p1o5ect OF
building transacontiuentsl road byan lode
pendent com pany, aud therefore competing
line with that for which he zig his hrs trf-
u,n,pf, will be the triumph of the monopoly
and the defeat of the competition which rs
essential TO the national protection 1t
,wo,ld be rea act Of public folly, not
10 say faith!rssness, in Congress to pertaat
Abe chance for competing line to the Pacific
10 90 By default, and remit the natsou to the
rnercies Of the present monopoly, strength
auea-and expanded to a degree that would
at once present it as the most powerful cor
noratior on the continent; and such cor.
poratiop, unchecked and unrestrained by
competition, would be inevitably oppressive.
Indeed, 80 gigantic a power in this land
would be On enemy to liberty that it would
he treachery 10 the Government to foster
The New Orleans Times of the 18th in
stant has the following remyss appropriate
90. this view Of the subject:
"Thes Central Pacific monopoly Is EVIL
IDENTITY bending its energies, FIRST, to secure the
Coyernment aid asked for the Texas and
foil n n q.
vent any aid being granted at all The Cen.
tral Pacific is a formidable and remorSeess
enemy of southern interests--is formidable
because It's present monopoly Of all eastward
cratic enables it to eXtort five or six millions
sof dollars per annum {beiDg the excess real
Szed from the advanced tariff recently adopt.
ed1 with which to construct this Southern
line. It ID dangerous because it already
leyies heavy tribute from the coun-
through Its single trunk llne-the
Union Pacifc-aud II it can worm itself
through Congress and usurp the franchises
OF the Texas and Pacific, or II it can even
succeed in making its line the California end
of the Texas and Pacific, it will command all
1he approaches to the Pacific for quarter OF
a century, and bleed the South as it is now
Bleeding California. 1t is specially inimicil
10 our interests, because If it cannot supplant
Che Texas and Pacific it Will labor with
might and main to defeat Government aid
to any road. MIR. c. l.. Huntington and bis
Confrer6, of the Central Pacific are stand.
ing menace to the commercial interests OF
fifteen millions Of people. il they can ex.
send another arm Of their monopoly from San
Francisco through Texts to the Mississippi
river they will have fastened themselves
90 firmly on the country that there Will be
no shaking them OH in our generation.
When they succeed We may as well cease
talking about competing line aud pa.
tionsl highway to the Pacific. Jay Gould
and G. P. Huntington are not the kind Of
men to devise competing lines against them.
selves. They devise nothing except levers TO
squeeze the people and hoist themselves into
greater power and well'h.
"We refer to his subject often because it
appears TO us TO be OF superlatiye importance
to the South. II Is mu h better to resist mo.
nopolies in their incboate form than to wait
until they become confirmed in their fran.
chises and so powerful that they can defy
public sentiment and impose on a yictimiZed
people with IMMUNITY"