The Portland daily press., 1883-09-10

i C0urhRlugy tlll JnlH gloom spread over all our
affairs, and the general panic Of 1873 swallowed
| up the Company and its financial agents in the
| common insolvency. But this brief period OF
| plenty and prosperity was well employed.
| Never was the prudence OF making hay while
| the sun shines more clearly illustrated In
| this period the road was built from the east to
| the Missouri River and ON the west between
| Columbia River to Puget's Sound Upon this
| firm basis, as the pou Sto OF Archimedes, the
| skillful engineers of the Companys present
prosperity have lifted the heavy globe from
| the cataclysm in which it was engulfed, till
now 1t blazes upon our eyes, "totus in setpso,
| teTeS, atQle r0tunduS" I"
General Cass succeeded Governor Smyth as
| President and skillfully nursed the energies OF
| the enterprise during the ingiorious period OF
its eclipse. He became its Receiver upon the
decree of bankruptcy in 1875, and, through the
actual cautery Of foreclosure and sale, the
| property became vested in the present reorgan-
| ization under the honest, generous, substantial
and successful scheme OF coDciliation between
| the disappointed interests of the past and the
hopeful interests Of the future, known as the
Billings" plan. This eminent gentleman,
| who unites the unusual distinctions or credit
as q lawyer among lawyers, and fnancier
among fnanciers, became a Director in the
Company in 1870, and has continued in its
management ever since, succeeding Mr..
Wright, of Pennsylvania, in 1879, and sue
cesded by Mr.. Willard in 1881, as President, AZ
ter temporary occupancy of the place by Mr..
Barney. AS Mr.. Billings dates his connection
with the Company from before the deluge, he
will be able TO correct the impressions OF any
who, in the glorious sunshine of to-day's pros
perity, may imagine it was not much of
shower.
The restoration however, of financial conf
dence and strength, was by no means immedi-
ate or unchecked. The preferred stock after
the reorganization commanded only twenty-
five or thirty cents on the dollar in Wall Street
and at one time fell to SO a share, and the
common stock to $150. Appeals to Congress
to aid its securities by guaranty Of interest were
again resorted to and again refused. But in
the meanwhile the good management of the
fragments of completed road showed net earn
ings some $500, 900 in 1876 and some $500, 900
in 1878. This kept alive the organization and
confirmed confidence The merits OF the route
and the value of the lands when the road
should be finished were couraaeously relied up
on by the experienced and able men who put
their own fortunes in the enterprise, to attract
the confidence OF capital and give credit to the
bonds and value to the stock of the road.
And. now, the flood of the tide of financial
prosperity OF the whole country hoated this
enterprise which its ebb had left stranded.
The resumption of specie payments by the
Government in 1879 the rapid conversion of the
DubIicdebt into Al, 4, 81 and per cent. securi-
ties, the rapid reduction of the debt itself, set
at liberty great amounts of capital for partici-
tion in the active employment OF money.
These stupendous transactions of the Treasury
at once compelled and a tracted immense in
vestments IN well founded enterprises of indus
try and trade in country which, emerged but
fifteen years from civil war whose sacrifices
of able-bodied producers and of accumulated
wealth had never been equaled-appalled its
creditors by paying its debts, and impoverished
its lenders by the reduction of interest they
submitted to, to escape the payment of the
principal. Just and we'll tried confidence in
the character no less than in the ability OF the
sponsors for the ultimate outcome of the outlay
II mean of the eminent men who have con-
Quoted and are conducting the affairs of this
Company-has formed the controlling, the un-
failing, the indispensable element in that faith
among men which has supplied the means for
this completed structure. 10 you, Mr.. Willard,
and TO you, Governor Smith, to you, Mr.. Bill
lings, and all the other presidents, present or
absent; to you, and all others who have felt
your arms lean on them for support, this day
crowns your labors, and we your fellow citl-
zens, and these foreign guests, applaud your
triumph.
cannot stay your train to unfold the mani
| fold qualities in the management of this enter
! prise, which deserve illustration, but l may
insist for a moment upon few principal trai Is.
| / cannot discover that there has ever been en-
| grated upon this enterprise any construction
| company to suck the prosperity that belongs to
| the original growth. do not perceive that
| excessive rates. either of interest for money or
| OF payment for labor or materials for want of
money, have imposed upon the enterprise bur-
| dens disproportionate to the values which its
| debentures or its stock fairly represent. / do
4 not Uuu any just SEOuuu iOE COupldiHb III pu-
| litcal or popular estimate that the United
| States has burdened its revenues with sub
| sides which, for the public interest, were un-
| necessary or excessive, for from the beginning
| to the end the enterprise has not received
| dollar from the public funds. Il lind no fair
/ ground for cavil at the land grants Of the Gov
| ernment along the route, as improvident or
| showing no adequate return OF value either the
Treasury or to expectected settlers on the pub
| lie domain, Even il we look at the Govern
| in IA mar LIGHT n q nriyofa Or0priator
| who will not himself incur the expense and
| the risks OF opening communication between
! his unpeopled wilderness and the land-seeking
| population, we find the Government without
| a dollar of outlay, made more than whole for
| the lands 1t has parted with by the enhanced
| selling value of its wide domain. But, when
| we consider that the future settlers on the
! Company's lands, as we'll as in the reserved
! public lands, forever contribute to the tax-pay-
! ing wealth of the people, and the strength and
| power Of the nation, we see that there is no
| sensible analogy between the interest OF pri-
| vate person in the ownership of land and that
| OF the Government as an administrator, for the
| general welfare of the public domain. And,
| finally, the settlers who will follow your track,
and at once find their frugal means and their
| farm products at no disadvantage from dis
| tance or isolation from market, but ON level
| with all the world, will easily understand that,
but for the wise lberality of the Government
| in this matter Of railroad communication, eth
| er the lands would have remained inaccessible
| to agricultural settlers, or would not have
| been worth their Acceptance, as gift, with
| bounty besides.
| Mr.. President and gentlemen, the magnitude
and rapidity OF the recent strides of our coun-
| trys progress in material development, dwarf
| and belittle the steps in our advancement
which we used to consider with complacency
| and admiration. Less than forty years ago, as
lately as the year 1847, in the little State of
| New Hampshire, the energy of its people, al
lied with the wealth of Boston, had pushed
| their Northern Railroadsover the ridge of high
| lands which divide the narrow bottom lands Of
| the Merrimac from the wider valley of the
| Connecticut. The opening of this section of
| the road, from Franklin to Grafton, was an oc-
casion of great exultation, and a distinguished
| company OF the solid men OF Boston had come
| up from that city, in a forenoon, to meet the
| gathered citizens of New Hampshire in O
| grand celebration. The road traversed the
farm of Mr. Webster, and he took part in the
| pride and pomp of the occasion MagnifyiDg-
| as an orator should, the greatness OF this tri,
umph over the obstacles which nature had in
| terposed, and over time and space, and por-
| trsying the advantages which were to flow
| from it; without the least sense of hyperhole,
| he exclaimed, "Fellow citizens, can we without
| wonder consider where we are and what has
| brought us here?" How vast all the dimen-
| sions and proportions of the completed enter
| prise we now applaud, seem by the side of the
| achievement which the great orator and states
man OF our country thus proudly commemora-
| ted, to these sober-minded New Enganders,
| as a wonderl This last achievement of the
intelligence and energy of our people climbs
| over the lofty range OF mountains which di-
| vides the waters of continent between the
| TWO great oceans Of the world. 1t binds to-
| gether by one more ineissolube bond the des-
| TIMES OF a great people who look from the win
| dows of their habtation upon the horses of the
| sun as they rise from the stormy waves of the
Atlantic, and again when they quench their
iire in the smooth waters of the Pacific. 1t
| forms one more portage for the water-borne
commerce which plies between Europe aud
! Asia. 1t brings new fields to tillage adequate
| to feed tens of millions, under whose healthful
and happy toll their seed time and harvest
shall never fail, and tens of millions more, less
fortunate, who crowd the workshops and the
| factories, the cities and the mines of Europe
| ana America in this age of industry. 1t will
! help to assuage inequalities of nature and dis.
parties OF Fortune among our own people, and
10 spread peace, plenty and prosperity to other