Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-05-18

s. ington and pollute the very air O
the Capitol, is here by its hireling
to ask that no aid shall be given I,
e the Texas and Pacific Railway. Sir
q the effrontery of this demand, it
injustice to others, and its cold
. blooded selfiShness should aWak,
l. the Congress and the country to The
|. iniquity of those who make it. /
Congress has created such monster
it is but its plain duty to throw
d every barrier in its way to prevent
e its further accumulation of power
and to place every safeguard around
the people to protect them from its
a eXtortions. There is no better Way
e to do this than by aiding in the
: construction of another, shorter, and
! cheaper, competing line to the Pa
5 cific coast. We have learned wis
t dom from the past, and we can
: place, as we have placed, such re-
strietions i'm this bill as shall enable
) us to guard and protect the interests
: of the people against the eXtOrtiOn
of a soulless corporation. They
come with . proposition so delusive
and so fair in appearance that it has
deceived some even of our southern
friends. Their bill introduced by
J my colleague from Mississippi Mr..
Money and advocated by Hunting
ton before our committee set out
with conclusion, reached by a
doubtful if not erroneous construc-
ton of law, that the Texas and Pa
cific has forfeited its contract. With
this excuse it modestly proposes to
take the whole Government land
grant from the Texas and Pacific
and build its road from the west to
terminate at Ell Paso, six hundred
miles from any southeastern con-
nection.
This bill gave to Mr.. Huntington
and his associates complete control
of the Pacific coast, but gave to the
Government no control over the
rates of his roads. ItrObS the Texas
and Pacific of its entire land grant
from the Government and yet gives
us no connection with his road. If
the Texas and Pacific should be un-
able or unwilling under these cir
cumstances to build any farther
west across a desert country, of
what value would the Southern Pa
cific be to us? 1t might be a splen-
did feeder to the Central or it might
connect with the Atchison, Topeka |
and Santa Fe road, but it would be |
| of no earthly value to the Southern |
States. And the Government,
which has given one hundred and |
seventeen millions in subsidies to |
the road on the forty-first parallel
and forty-siX millions to the road !
on the forty-seventh, is asked to |
take from the road on the thirty |
second parallel the small sum OF
eighteen millions of acres of land |
which she promised to give. The
bill has since been amended by the !
minority of our committee, who say |
their bill does not meet the wishes |
of this corpor; iOn; but objectionable /
features still remain.
Sir, to my mind a more monstrous
and Ubiquitous proposition could not
be invented. If the Southern Pacific
which means but the Central Pacific,
has the financial ability to build its
road to meet the Texas and Pacific,
whence does this ability come? The
ground upon which Government
aid was first asked for Pacific rail-
road was that private capital could
not accomplish it and would not
undertake to build it. A land grant
of immense value was given, and
still the road could not be built. A
subsidy of fifty-seven millions was
granted for thirty years, on terms
that bind the Government to the
payment of interest, secured by
first mortgage to the Government,
and this was not sufficient. The
Government was then postponed,
in its right, to a second mortgage,
to enable herOad to build. If now
the Southern or Central Pacific has
the financial ability to build an
other road upon land grant alone,
the subsidies of the Government
have conferred that power upon it.
Shall we, then, not only add to that
power, but take away from another
competing corporation the little we
have given, that it may be crushed?
Sir, leaving out of view any ques-
ton of vested right in the Texas
Pacific, is it right? Is it honest? -?
Is it fair? Opposition to mOnopO-
lies has ever been a cardinal princi-
pie in the Democratic party, and
yet men calling themselves Demo-
Gratis are willing upon plea of
economy to build up this monopoly,
already the most powerful in the
Government if not in the world.
The law of primogeniture, which
gave to the eldest son his fathers
whole estate, was always abhOrrent
to the American idea of justice, and
yet now, when the same question
comes up between two corporations,
both the creatures and children of
this Government, we are asked to F;
give everything to the older and
take from the younger even that
which it has. We are asked to take I
from corporation which has ex-
hausted its private resources in ]
building a portion of its road and
extend favor to another whose road
has been built with Government
means, whose pet income is $6,O00,-
900 per annum and which yet re- !
fuses to pay interest on its Govern !
ment debt. If it cannot pay this
interest it is but fair to presume that !
it cannot build another road upon a
land grant alone and that the offer
to do it is "a delusion and q snare. {
If it can pay it and will not, we |
have the spectacle of great corpO-
ration which has been fostered by
the Government refusing to do equi-
ty to it and yet asking that another |
franchise shall be given to it by the
same Government, that it may be I
still more powerful and defiant.
We have but recently heard its {
officers boldly proclaiming that the
Union and Central Pacific roads ;
would not be worth the first mort !
gage at the maturity of their bonds ]
and yet we have seen them resisting |
by all means in their power the
creation of a sinking fund for the I
payment of their just debts.
We know that the earnings of the I
Central Pacific have been used in ]
the obstruction of the Southern Pa
cific. We have heard the denial
that the Central has any interest as {
a corporation in the Southern, but ;
we at the same time have heard the
admission that the owners of the (
Central are the construction COM
pany of the Southern. Another :
Credit MObilier scheme, by which
another railroad is to be swallowed {
up by the same individuals. If
these Darties are Dermitted to build