Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-05-17

n PATENF STEAL.

more barefaced swindle never appeared
in Congress than the bill now under consid-
Grafton in committee to incorporate the In
teroceanic Transit company. 1t was intro
duced in the House at the solicitation of the
well known treasury leech, James b. Eads,
of st. Louis, and incorporated himself and
his associates IS company to construct q
ship railway scross the isthmus of Panama.
empowering them to issue stock to
any amount, ali of which shall
be guaranteed by the United States govern
ment The government binds itself to
charter no other interoceanic railway or
canal for fifty years, provided work upon the
one projected by the present company is
commenced within two years. An appropri-
alton of a hundred Thousand dollars is
made for the purpose of making the needed
surveys of the route, preparing plans, etc.,
in addition to which tie government is
asked to detail vessel of war and corps
of engineers sufficient to prosecute the work
to completion. In addition to guaranteeing
the bonds of the company and paying all
expenses of surveying the line, Captain
Eads very modestly demands that the gov
eminent shall guarantee dividend of 6 per
cent of stock, provided the stock shall not
exceed $50,000,000. Whatever deficiency
below per cent. there may be, the govern
ment is to make up. The government is to
have the privilege of inspecting the books of
the company after its guaranty shall have
attached, the company to be subject to all
the provisions of the act creating the Office
of auditor of railroad accounts. The pay
ment of the deficiency of dividend to stock
holders is to be made on the requisition of
the secretary of the navy, based on informa-
ton contained in the certificate of the auditor
of railroad accounts. The only astonishing
thing in the proposition is the fact that Eads
does not ask the government to build the
railway entire, equip it in good style, and
then donate it to him, guaranteeing him q
profit of a few millions of dollars annually
on the cost. AS it stands he only proposes
to allow the examination of the
company once in a while-an
examination that would only result in dem
onstrating the fact that the government was
mulcted for an indefinite number of millions
of dollars, with no prospect of repayment
and no possibility of ever receiving divi-
dend of one per cent. on the investment.
In short, the scheme is this Capt. Eads
wants the government to expend about mil
lion dollars on the survey of the isthmus, for
purposs purely chimerical. He then asks
that the government guarantee the bonds of
the company of which he is the head-which
is equivalent to giving it so much money
outright-and to guarantee interest upon
those bonds at the rate of six per cent.
per snnum. Surprising that the amount of
bonds to be issued should remain at the
minimum, fifty millions, it will appear that
the government is asked to donate, in ad-
iition to the principal, the considerable sum
of three millions year to hair-brained
adventurer without any consideration what
ever.
The proposition is, without doubt, the
checklist ever submitted to a legislative
body in this or any other country, and it is
a matter of surprise that committee of Con-
gress should have given the matter mo-
ment's serious consideration. 1t should
have been unceremoniously kicked out of
the committee and out of Congress.
The time has passed for the granting of
anv such subsidies for private enterprises.
The government is now liable for all just
claims against it, and they should not be in
creased on any pretense. 1t is certainly too
much to expect that it will guarantee the
bonds of company such as the champion
treasury Ieech proposes at this time.