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

) to be made in view Of the civil war, possibI,
resulting in the establishment of u foreign
and hostile CQnfederacy, from whose North
! ern frontier the line must be removed as fa1
as possible, and because the connection ther
! most needed by thGgovernment was the most
) direct northern ssnd' northeastern connection
z. In giving its aid to this enterprise the
government gave it-perhaps was obliged tc
give it-in such method rs made the road
when complete not q public highway, but the
immense, all-powerful monopoly of q private
corporation.
3 The exhaustion of the South consequent
upon the war, the abolition of slavery and
the mlsgovernment Of tho reconstructed
state governments, made it absolutely inn
possible for the Southern commercial and in
dustrial enterprise either to establish q com
petition or use the partial advantage that an
expensive construction Of lines connecting
with the Central Pacific would give.
/ The South does not complain Of these facts.
She does not ask the government to undo any
try or any section OF the country Of the adj
vantages which their occurrence has given.
her language IS this: Cheap, certain and
speedy Transportation Of freight and passen-
has been recognized as q national necessity; q
| policy approved before the war and since BY
an almost unanimous public opinion. The
line OF connection and the method OF it's exc
cution we're subjects for discussion for the
people. but all agreed in the wish for @ con-
nection which should give equal adj
vantage to all sections. Tho war
Gompelsd the npot f0n5trucon Of line which
selected either as best in itself, considered
simply as road; or fair and just, considered
as national work the advantages of which
were to be general. You have gone so far
| north as to make your line an uncertain com
munication on account of long Interruptions
| by the winter SHOWS, and q partial and sec
| tional com munication by the situation of its
termini, Now this may have been unayoid-
Ia k,,if1 bow
den Of it's support whilst we are cut off from
our share OF its advantages. We ask you only
to complete your system Of Pacific connec-
ton. III circumstances have compelled you to
make two roads-a Northern and a Southern
| road-and you were forced to finish
your Northern section first, although it has
given enormous advantages already to one
section of the country over another, we do
not ask those, advantages to be taken away
from Thorn, but only in justice to be extended
to us. Make the Pacific connection what it
was intended to be: q connection between the
Atlantic coast and the Paciiic-not mere
section OF the Atlantic coast, but the whole
Atlantic and Gulf coast, from Portland to
Galveston. We do not criticise or censure the
| mode in which you have begun the work, we
only ask you to finish 1t.
In the next place, the method which Won
have adopted In reference to the Central and
Union Pacific has deprived YOU and through
you the people, Of all control over the rates of
transportation. You have bound yourself to
leave this vital interest at the mercy of the
| private stockholders Of the road until they
shall be earning Il certain clear per cent upon
not their capital, but the capital we the people
have furnished them. Now it is within their
| pOWer-and as long as human nature is what
| it Is, it will be within their purpose-to keep
that rate Of net income below. the point
which lustlIes your Interference, and that,
diminution of their profits. This places the
whole commercial transportation OF the ma
ton at the mercy, Of o joint stock company,
and converts public, highway into private
try, founded on principles Of common justice,
is beginning to be very FESTIVE under this
transfer Of sovereign rights to corporations.
II, by any, new magic Of science, a corpora
great navigabe river running through the
heart OF continent, controlling It's COM
merce, increasing its population building up
villages and cities along it's banks, directly
affecting the safety OF the country by its line
OF military operation, does any one suppose
for moment that the public opinion Of to-
day would tolerate the monopoly of it's
use and ownership by an hundred OF. a
thousand Stockholders? And q great trans
with full recognition Of all the differences, the
analogy is sufficient to require on the part OF
the government the exercise OF some super
vision over powers which 50 directly and Vi
tally concern the fortunes Of the people. In
the present relation between the government
and the Central Pacific the government can
do nothing. so much tho more is 1t bound to
complete its system, and, by the Southern ex-
tens r. OF that system afford in competing
vised as protection against this monopoly.
L0stly-The condition Of the South makes
an exceptional case. The inevitable cOnee-
quences OF war are not confined to the limits
OF its merely military operations. Like the
cannon-ball. it skaters that it may reach,
and SFIHtfprH what 2 I1c ;pt<
exercise extraordinary powers to effect its
purposes, those powers cannot cease abruptly
with their accomplishment If to preserve
the Union the whole social and political condi-
ton OF half an empire can be suddenly and
tain that Union which has been saved saved !
surely that condition must be
harmonized with the imperative necessi les
to secure the ends Of the war millions of prop
crty can be destroyed, the whole suffrage of |
the country be essentially altered, absolute |
military governments substituted for State
mercial and industrial life, the opening Of |
new fields for emancipated labor, the perpe-
tual prevention Of sectional isolation, are
equally within the power and the duty of the |
great government which can do and has done |
such things.
Now, without going over the long and sad
tale OF Southern misery, without attempting
to deny that what the United States did in |
Luz piOSHcutiOu Dl lile war IL was Obliged to |
do, there can be no question that the condi- |
ton Of the South to-day Is the condition in
which the war and the reconstruction acts
have placed it. What that condition is needs
no description. It is confessed on all sides, by
enemies as well as by friends, and it is now
equally recognized that the great ma
tional want is the restoration of the
South to the full vigor Of it's capabilities, to
be developed under the new conditions of ma
tional life. II, therefore, direct southern
necessary completion of the system of Pacific
connection required by national wants and
but the cheapest, promptest and
most efficient means for the development of
Southern commerce and agriculture, com
pensation enriching those who give as we'll as
those VINO take, the present condition OF the
South is the strongest argument for it's
speedy completion.
But more than this: in asking the aid of
the government for this road | am asking it
to save expense in its own proper business
Along the line Of the proposed road the gov
arnment has for years past maintained more
han forty military posts, garrisoned by near
y one-half Of the entire army, where sup
plies for both Indians and troops have to be
transported long distances at great cost and