The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-02-02
General Washington Dispatches.

Saturday. EeprUafy ~ @ofet
General Washington Dispatches.
LAwLEss CONDITION OF AFFAIRS ALONG
THE LINE OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAIL
ROAD,
The secretary::of the.interior has receiv-
ed letter from a prominent citizen of
Utah giving an account of the depreda-
tons of the contractors for furnishing |
timber of all kindsI to thel Union Pacific
Railroad Company, and which Estates that
these depredations are committed all
along the line, and that hundreds of
thousands of railroad ties, shores for snow
sheds, cords wood, logs and timber, all
taken from the government timber lands,
line the Union Pacific railroad track all the
way from Tie Siding to|lOgden, and that
these depredations amount to millions of
dollars annually This correspondent also
states that the contractors have estab
lished system of peonage similar to that in
Mexico, in which scores ofhonest, hard-work-
ing, sober and faithful men are being
oppressed, in violation of every right
belonging to freedmen in the United States,
and gives an instance 10 which one Of these
men demanded his rights, and. being re-
fused and insulted, Eshot! and killed sub
contractor named Dawson, and was in his
turn killed by bookkeeper, named Snod-
grass, with an iron poker.
THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE TEXAS PA
CIFIC AND THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC ROADS
ARGUMENT BEFORE THE HOUSE COM
MTTEE.
Mr.. Bond, vice president of the Texas
Pacific Company, made his argument to-
day before the Pacific committee of the
house, in which he charged the Southern
Pacific with being but the creature of the
Central Pacific and that it was built with
money derived from that company, He
argued that the present indebtedness of
that company to the United States was
upward of Sal ,000,0 900, or nearly $47, 900
per mile of the road, and charged that
these two companies controlled about two
thousand four hundred miles of railroad in
California and that they were practically
managed in the interest of four private
citizens of California, who had divided
since 1873 SIS, 100000 as dividends on.its
watered capital. He stated that the
interest on the government advances 10
the Central Pacific Company was I$2,Sl0
per mile of the road, while the entire
interest on the bonds which it is proposed
to guarantee to the Texas and Pacific Com
pany is only 81, $50 per mile He charged
the Southern Pacific with being practically
10 default under it's charter in not having
completed a continuous! line tfrom San
Francisco, and that to conform to its char
ter requirements 465 additional miles of
road must be completed before the 4th of
July next. He analysed the financial
condition Of the Central Pacific COMPANY.
as shown by reports fled with the Cahfor-
MIA board of transportation. stating that
they show that the company's expendi-
lures during the past TWO years have been
upward of $5,000,OO0 in excess of it's
receipts, that its floating Indebtedness has
been Increased during the past twelve
months $5,250,000, and he charged tina,
the two companies, with 1895 miles of
road, capitalized at $ll9,5O per mile, and
burdened with a cumulative interest
bearing debt of S13S,977, 900, of which
$l3,5OO,000 is floating debt, and with q
capital stock account Of upward of SOL
100000, have not the financial strength
and cannot command the confidence o.
capitalists sufficiently to enable kthem tt
construct the 1900 miles of road from
Fort Yuma to Forth Worth, or even tn.
600 miles between Fort Yuma and the Ri
Grande, with private capital alone. H,
also charged that in the printed fnancia
reports OF the Central Pacific Com pany it
Indebtedness was stated at $84, 900, 600
which is really $25. 1871 900 less than
actually is, He charged, that the origina
estimate Of the Central Pacific line of IS
miles was only $50, 800 per mile
and was 80 reported by Messrs Huntington
Stanford, Hopkins and Crocker to congress
that it had by consolidation increased it
mileage to- l,2l4 miles, and the ayerag
cost of the construction had been Increases
to Sis, $40 per mile. He urged that tn
government would have no better oppor
tunity than now ITO establish as a prece
dent Its right to regulate transportatio
rates on all railways that have received G
shall receive government legislation, an
that even if the Southern Pacific Compan
should agree stol give to the governmer
the power to regulate their transportatio
rates, such agreement Icould not be en-
forced, for the reason that the state {
California claims exclusive legislation i
these matters, Eand he charged that thes
gentlemen, in constructing and operatin
their lines, had always relied upon the
state charters to protect them from col
gressioDal Legislation.
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THE BLAND BILL.