Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-11-09
WHOLE.NO. 2, ,243.

: cred the real and secret purpose G
, the Texas and Pacific road, ant
, quoting from Mr.. Herbert, of Ala
1 bama, says "Every man In Amer
lea who has studied the question
knows that his (Col. Scott's) purpos
was and Is to turn the trade up By
the Atlantic and Pacific. which run
from st. Louis down through Vini
ta, to tap the Texas and Pacific anC
draw the travel across the stee
bridge atSt. Louis to his great Penn
| sylvania combination
Now this connection through Vim.
ita, which exists as vet only ON pa.
per, is no part of the Texas and
Pacific road, and is neither cOntem-
plated nor provided for by the bill
under discussion. If the objection
be that it is possible that such a con-
nection may be made i'm the future,
then there never can be a Southern
Pacific line unless legislation pro-
vides that the vast country lying
between the Central Pacific, on the
north, and the Texas Pacific, on the
south, shall never be developed or
create a system of railroad cOnnec-
tions for itself; and that there shall
be no connection with the Texas
and Pacific which does not run
sOuthward from its trunk line. i
have never maintained that the
Government should give aid to the
Texas Pacific as purely sectional
road-as one which was TO benefit
the South alone. My argument has
been, and still is, that the road is a
national One-the completion of one
national system of Pacific connec-
tion-of which the Central Pacific,
already built by aid of the Govern
ment, is part. When built, then,
1T must be as open to the use of all
as the Central Pacific; and if other
sections of the country find it adj
vantageous to connect with il, their
right to do so is indisputable. All
that the South has a right to ask of
the Government is that a Pacific
connection be opened to it as well rs
the North on short and naturally
practicable lines, and that equal
shall be assured wher-
ever commercial interest and enter
prise may find il possible and profit !
able to make them. And when |
such IA connection is completed as
allows the various systems of rail /
roads in the Southern States to take /
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 con-
AectiOn must depend upon its own
resources and enterprise. Whether
-he South Atlantic and Gulf ports
will develope into great commercial
;enters must depend upon them
selves, not upon the forced suppress
sion Of competition. The creation
1f a commercial metropolis does not
fepend alone upon railroad facili-
lies. These may be a necessary ele-
nent, but they are not the only
necessary elements. One wOul'i
'hink, however, that, if Southern
ports had the capacity for such de-
they would scarcely fear
/ competition when traffic must
rave Travelled at least seVen-eighths
If the distance from San Diego to
he Mississippi before ii reaches the
)oint of diversion, and then encoun-
ers comparison of the distances
between Fort Worth and New
ork and Philadelphia on the one
ide, and the Southern ports on the
'ther. | confess | share Governor
DhrockmOrtOn's opinion that the
that the owners and the
managers of eleven or twelve hun
ired miles of railway i'm Texas ,
would, contrary to their own inter-
st, turn trans-continental traffic
way from their own line, is too
to be treated otherwise
han with derisiOn.
ONsTITUTIoNALITY OF THE BILL.
Third-That the aid asked from
he Government can not be cOnsti-
given, and that the secu-
ity offered the Government is in
utficient:
As have said before a committee
f Congress, without even provoking
it may be stated as part ,
{ the history of the Government (
hat, with one or perhaps two ex- /
options, the doctrine of this cOnsti-
power of the General Gov {
"to lay out, improve and {
Onstruct highways" national i'm
heir character, either through the !
tates or Territories, has had the !
Ssent of the various administra-
ons, including that of Mr.. Jeffer- {
)n. The precedents established by {
ne legislative, executive and Judi |
ial departments of the Government
re unbrOken and conclusive of this
over. AS early as 1917, under the {
of Henry st. George {
ucker, one of Virginia's distin-
uished statesmen, supported by
Lr. Clay, and other leaders of both :
arties, the House passed this reso- Q
ItiOn: Congress has the power c
nder the Constitution to apprOpri- a
te money for the construction of
military and other roads, {
nd of canals, and for the improve
tent of water courses" And the
lst word in this controversy, if
it can be called, may be y
Jnsidered as spoken i'm the decis- !
N of the Supreme Court of the
nited States i'm the case of the !
nion Pacific Railroad Company j
yainst the United States, Otto, p e
But / shall not enter into constitu- a
Onal argument. ! find i'm the APP y
ication of common sense to the y
Dndition Of things as they exist, Q
I'd to the history of the causes a
hich produced them, sufficient and n
nple justification for all / ask. o
The sudden and rapid settlement u
I'd development of the Pacific p
'ast, coinciding as it did with the v
numerical opening of the great c
npires Of China and Japan, raised p
large and urgent question for the v
ilution of American statesmen. 8
reat as had been our territorial &
ipansiOn and the spread of our G.
)pulatiOn, it had been a steady, o
'adual, continuous growth. The &
Iestions that arose slowly were G
tiled leisurely. Mile after mile as Z
e emigrant wagon moved, acre !.
ter acre as the wilderness was Q
cared, at no long distance behind q
Ose the school-hOuse, the court
)use and the church. The frontier i
owed before the pioneer and COM r.
cree brought up the rear of the v
ain. But now suddenly, at a dis p
nee of thousands of miles, with z
eat mountain ranges, and impass- q
)le forests, and deserts of many q
lys journey between them, there a
rang into existence not a settle p
ent but a State-vast, rich and u
Of our bone, flesh Of -
lr flesh, part and parcel of our po- 81