Helena weekly herald., 1883-09-13

dustry 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 well tried confidence in the charac-
ter no less than in the ability of the sponsors
for the ultimate outcome of the outlay-I
mean of the eminent men who have con-
Quoted and are conducting the affairs of
this company-has formed the controlling,
the unfailing, the indispensable element in
that faith among men which has supplied
the means for this completed structure. To
you, Mr.. Willard, and to you, Governor
Smith. to you, Mr. Billings, 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 Ia
bors, and we, your fellow citizens, and these
foreign guests, applaud your triumph.
l cannot stay your train to unfold the
manifold qualities in the management of this
enterprise, which deserve illustration, but I
may insist for a moment upon a few prirci-
pal traits. l cannot discover that there has
ever been engrafted 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 i'm
posed upon the enterprise burdens dispro-
portionate to the values which it's deben-
lures or its stock fairly represent. l do not
find any just ground for complaint in politi-
cal or popular estimate that the United
States has burdened its revenues with sub
sides which, for the public interest," were
unnecessary or excessive, for from the be-
ginning to the end the enterprise has not
received a dollar from the public funds. l
find no fair ground for cavil at the land
grants of the government along the
route, as improvident or showing
no adequate return Of value either
to the treasury or to expectant settlers
on the public domain. Even if we look at
the Government in the mere light Of pri-
vate proprietor, who will not himself incur
the expense and the risk of opening COM
munication between his unpeopled wilder
ness and the land seeking population, we
find the Government, withouta dollar OF out
lay made more than whole for the lands it
has parted with by the enhanced selling
value of its wide domain. But, when we
consider that the future settlers on the Com
panys lands, as we'll as in the reserved pub
lie lands, forever contribute to the tax-paying
wealth of the people, and the strength and
power Of the nation, we see that there is no
sensible analogy between the interests of
private 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 disad-
vantage from distance or isolation from mar
ket, but on a level with all the world, will
easily understand that, but for the wise lib
erality of the Government in this matter of
railroad communication, either the lands
would have remained inaccessible to agri
cultural settlers or would not have been
worth their acceptance as a gift with a
bounty besides.
The Northern Pacific Railroad thus COM
pleted has, Mr.. President, through your sea-
sonabe and successful connection of its sys-
tenn with the well developed and fully oper-
ating scheme of the Oregon Railway and
Navigation system, by the firm ties of JUS
tice and interest, been secured against vicis-
situdes and disasters to which, with less
prudence and less good fortune, it might
have been exposed. 1t is not then, merely
upon the continuous track that you have
Just established, but also, upon the united
and impregnable chain of travel and traffic
between the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts, ,
that your Company to-day looks with salts
faction and your guests offer their congratu-
lations !
Mr.. President and gentlemen, the magni-
tude and rapidity of the recent strides of our ,
country's progress in material development,
dwarf and belittle the steps in our advance
ment which we used to consider with COM
placency and admiration. Less than forty
years ago, as lately as the year 1877, in the |
little State of New Hampshire, the energy of
its people, allied with the wealth of Boston,
had pushed their Northern Railroad over the
ridge of highlands 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 occasion of great exultation,
and distinguished company of the solid
men of Boston had come up from that city,
in forenoon, to meet the gathered citizens P
of New Hampshire in grand celebration.
The road traversed the farm of Mr.. Webster, c
and he took part in the pride and pomp OF u
the occasion Magnifying, as an orator \
should, the greatness of this triumph over G
the obstacles which nature had interposed, Il
and over time and space and pOrtraying the %