The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-11-17

n. n
the expense of the whole mutton, it has giyer
to other sections.
Having thus satisfied himself that there i,
to be no connection with the Mississippi, M,
Lhngdon (aS ne enormously supposes) has
| discovered the real and secret purpose of the
Texas and Pacific Road, and quoting from
Mr.. Herbert, Of Alabama, says EVERY
man in America who has studied the question
knows that his Col. Scotts) purpose was anc
Is to turn the trade up by the Atlantic anC
Pacific, which runs from st. Louis dowr
through Vinita, to tap the Texas and Pacific
and draw the travel across the steel bridge al
st. Louis to his great Pennsylvania comb
nation"
Now this connection through Vinita. which
exists as yet only on paper, is no part OF the
| Texas and Pacific Road, and Is neither CON
tempated nor provided for by the bill under
discussion. If the objection be that it is DOS
| Slble That such connection may be made in
| the future, then there never can be South
ern Pacific line anless legislation provides
that the vast country lying between the Cen
trai Pacific, on the north, and the Texas
Pacific, on the south, shall never be developed
or create system OF railroad connections for
itself; and that there shall be no connection
with the Texas and Pacific which does not
run southwark from its trunk line. I have
never maintained that the government should
| give aid to the Texas Pacific as purely sec
tlonal road-as one which was to benefit the
South alone My argument has BEEN and
still IS, thai the road is o national one-the
completion OF one national system Of Pacific
connection--Of which the Central Pacific, al
ready built by aid Of the government, is q
part. When built, then, it must be as open
to the use OF all as the Central Pacific; and IL
other sections of the country find it advan-
tageous to connect with 1t, their right to do
SO indisputable. All that the South has the
right to ask Of the government is that q Pa
citic connection be opened to 1t as well as the
North on short and naturally practicable
lines, and that equal connection shall be u.s.
GIL JDhn NYrlGr nl into
terprise may find it possible and profitable to
make them. And when such a connection is
completed as allows the various systems Of
| railroads in the Southern States to take ad-
vantage of that connection at some point on
the Mississippi river, just as the railroads of
the Northern States connect with Omaha, then
the government has done for the South all
that it can ask The use which the South
makes of such connection must depend upon
its own resources and enterprise Whether
the South Atlantic and Gulf ports will de-
velop into great commercial centres must
depend upon themselves, not upon the forced
suppression Of competition. The creation Of
o commercial metropolis does not depend
alone upon railroad facilities. These may be
necessary element, but they are not the only
necessary elements. One would think, how
ever, that If Southern ports had the capacity
for such development they would scarcely
fear competition when traffic must have
Travelled at least seyen-eighths of the dis
lance from San Diego to the Mississippi
before it reaches the point of diversion, and
then encounters a comparison OF the dis
tanCes between Fort Worth and New York
and Philadelphia on the one SIDE and tn"
Southern ports on the other I confess
share Gov. Throckmorton's opinion that the
suppOsitiOn that the owners and managers of
eleven Or twelve hundred miles OF railway In
Texas would, contrary to their own interest
turn trans-cOntinental traffic away from their
own line, Is too monstrOus to be treated other
wise than with deri5ion.
Third-That the aid asked from The goyern-
7nent cannot be c0nstitution0ily given, md that
me security offered the government as tnsubi-
Gent:
AS | have said before committee Of Con-
gress, without even provoking controversy,
1t may be stated as part Of the history of the
government that, with one or perhaps two
exceptions, the doctrine Of the constitutional
power Of the general government "to lay out,
improve and construct highways" national
In their character, either through the States
or Territories, has had the assent of the varl-
Gus administrations. including that OF Mr..
jefferson. The precedents established by the
legislative, executive and judicial depart
ments Of the government are unbroken and
conclusive Of this power. AS early as 1917,
T naff the one s"e o rs Of n IT. edosd
statesmen, supported by Mr., Clay and other
leaders Of both parties, the House passed this
resolution: congress has the power under
the constitution to appropriate money for the
roads, and OF canals, and for the improve
ment of water courses" And the last word
in this controversy, II controversy it can be
called, may be considered as spoken in the
decision OF the Supreme Court or the United
States in the case of the Union Pacific Rail
road Company against the United States. /
Otto o. 72.
But shall enter into no constitutional ar
gument. find in the application of common
sense to the condition of things as they exist
and to the history of the causes which pro-
duced them, sufficient and ample justification
for all ask.
The sudden and rapid settlement and de-
velopment of the Pacific coast, coinciding as it
empires Of China and Japan, raised q large
and urgent question for the solution Of Ameri-
can statesmen. Great as had been our terri
toral expansion and the spread of our popu-
Gus growth. The questions that arose slowly
were settled leisurely. Mile after mile
as the emigrant wagon moved, acre
after acre as the wilderness was cleared, at no
the courthouse and the church. The frontier
moved before the pioneer and commerce
brought up the rear OF the train. But now |
suddenly, at distance Of thousands of miles, |
with great mountain ranges and impossible |
forests and deserts Of many days journey be-
tween, there sprang into existence not a set |
Element but a State-vast, rich and power |
OF our bone, flesh of our flesh, part
ana pafCel OF our political sovereignty; pos
ses5ing an immense influence upon the COM
mercal and political future Of the whole coun-
try, but further from the seat Of gov
ernment than Europe, and more diff
cult OF access. The common instinct Of
the American people resolved that there
never could be permitted the establishment |
upon this continent Of two civilizations not
dentical-the one on the Atlantic, the other
On the Pacitc-separated by thousands of
miles Of unsettled territory, and bound, under
such circumstances, to develop in the future
variant, II not hostile, interests. They felt
that the Pacific coast must be brought nearer,
must be within sound OF our voice, within
reach of our arm. A railroad connection,
therefore, with the Pacific coast was simply
matter Of time; and as 1t was absolutely be-
yond the power OF any probable-we might
say any possible-combinatiO Of private cap
tai, the government, as said by an eminent
southern statesman, which purchased Louisi-
ina, and acquired Florida, annexed Texas,
conquered California; which built light
houses, cleared harbors and subsidized ocean
steamers; which held absolute control Of the
commerce of the nation-such government,
amiliar with the exercise of such powers, and
by an almost unanimous public
opinion, could scarcely afford to waste its
line in DuZzling over constitutional ScruDleS