Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-07-19


anything In the direction of fair pla,
| TO us.
We have population Of Il 900 people
| and u - the duty of q railroad compan,
which. IN this instancs. il imathin
1 more than an ordinary private corpoFs
nou-whlch II, IN a certain sense. a pub
/ lac institution, TO consider aud resgec,
the interest and convenience OF s1ah ?
/ cJmmunity.
1t ~, Mr.. Harris saws, impossible 4
| build 4 road unless they can borrow
money on the land grant: that il. ou ths
collateral furnishsd by tue Cnited
States. Well, Otner people bull ralt
roads without Government collateral
The people Of S.attle had To do l.. and
will 40 IL a9ai2.
IL money had bsen given hy the Coy
ernmsnt Of the United States ont Of it-
treasury for building the roSd, there
wou d 5e less cause to complain. for ,II
the peoule Of the United States would
10 bearing the burdens equally: bus -
It IL, the barden ia placed entirely upon
the pioneer who goes into the woods on
the frontier 10 make his homs. There
is but one course for Congress TO take,
and that is to declare the land yrant
forfeited, and restore the land to pu bic
settlement. Applause
MIR. HARRIS
said: IL the Government OF the United
States wants 10 give a grant Of land
from here to Yakima, don't believe
they can get 80 valaab GIFT By Civ
ing all the land ~ they would by giving
enc half. If they wonld otu g. A railro ID
to be built which would give five times
the value to tn other one half. Nov
merely give that ~ An opiuI II il
carries any argument with II all right
II II does not II ~ merely An opinion
With reference to the diligence and Wig
or with which the Oregon Railway Il
Navigation Company has carried on its
work. Ii WAS done with a great deal of
vigor, no doubt, but they were able to
get money by selling the stock to per
sons who had confidence. The North
srn Pacific are perfectly willing to do
the same thing. Under the peculiar
plaE that WAS adopted after the resto-
ration in 1873, the Northera Pacific WAS
able to do something. Tnere is 3d.
100000 in cash that were put IN with
interest, amounting to $42 .000 600, in
the Jay Cooke bonds. Those are repre-
sented by the preferred stockholders of
this road, whose stock can be pu chased
In the market at 45 by anybody who
wishes to buy. The gentlemen whs put
that in think il is hard enough to have
been so used, and not to have had any
larger returns than they have. Thsv
would not exactly like 1t IL they were
utterly ignored aud | shou not IL
had taken NortherR Pacific 7-30 bonds
in 1870, and had waited until | got an
eleven cent scrip dividend wear
and a half ago, and IL | could only
sell il now for Is in 1884, | shonld thiak
ought to be entitled - a little sympa-
thy rather than blame. The next WAS
Sl0,0O0.000 Of first mortgage bonds,
AID x20000,000 that are now being
negolieted, aad are on second
mortgage. There ia $95.000,000 that
have been put into this property
rhe money that has been put into that
road IL somewhat over x9O, 900, eco. and
it is not quite fair to say that the North
ern Pacific has been progressing since
1854 and IL not yet built. It was pro-
jected 10 1864 by Perry, who WAS an en-
thusiast and who was not practical
man. He had oondit ons in IL that he
could not get anybody to take. He
wanted 10000 600, and he did not
waut anybody To own more than a
share. 1t was not until 1870 that that
bill was put into suoh IA shape that any
praotic il man would take hold of 1t. IL
Is not fair to SAY fro "a 1864 IL sh ould
bs from 1870. That - the time that
Congress changed the act aud put 1t on
a footing that somebody would furnish
money for. Then there is $4,000, 900.
and interest amounting to $4,000, ,0D at
the date OF the reorganiz ,tIou. for it
was loug before that was changed into
preferred stock. That IL what repre-
seats the preferred stock of the com
pany. think that Mr.. SchuIzs will
say that had scarcely been in my seat
in tke Presidents chair of the Northern
Pacific Railroad before was questioned
on the exceptions in the deed. | have
been SO crowded of late that my mem
ory IL u little stack | will ask Mr..
Sohulze whether those reservations have
not been correctedf
Mr.. Schulze-lt has been corrected
and put in shape, aud beg To say this
| have been managing the land depart.
ment out here under the direction of the
Northern Pacific Board for two years,
aud of the 1000 purchasers | have had
To deal with four OF them obiected to
the deeds. Those objections have been
discussed in the newsp tpers for the last
ak months. and the deed has been
brought before the Board, aud il has
corrected them. We oAn hardly be ex
pscted 10 correct objections We did not
know Of.
Mr.. Harris resumed: Il think certain
ly had not been the general executive
OF the company mors than month be-
fore the matter was brought mp. and the
reservations causing the objection have
been taken out. We stall give Just az
good title as the United States gives
as, by the act of the Board already
done. In reference TO the contracts,
the attitude OF the people who have set
tied on the land OF the railroad com
pany; we shall relieve thsm from suffer
ing; we shall leave them with Just as
good rights as ANYBODY else has. Whom
IL comes to a matter with reference To
the abuse of our exceptions with refer
suce to coal lands, somebody IL gong to
have the outcome sf that, aud 10 Is Just
as well for me ~ for my neighhor. No
BODY ought TO ask 10 buy something for
less than it's value. Bearing in mind
ia 1t the Northern Pacific Company is a
land owner. and that 10 Is a common
carrier, az a common carrier II Is Ger
tainly subject TO the laws of the State,
That, the Supreme Court of the Uoited
States has sestlcd. raey have laid tina,
down. That il an end of that story;
aud some of these days surely Washing
,ou Territory will ee exercising the
rights OF State. and they will be going
after the railroads shortly, have no
doubt.
Az q land owner possessing this vast
domain. its tendency Is To have the land
occupied. They are far more valuable
occupied than they are unoecupied. We
can get through transportation greater
aud more returns than We can through
the land itself. Aud the profits from
the transportation are very much more
valuable, I may SAY intinitely more val
liable. than what We can get from the
land. Now we run many miles. and see
nobody bot 40" the poor Indian, and
his wife. and it will be some time before
| the profits will be large; consequently as
a land owner. and an owner Of coal
land, | would ask you TO wait until
there Ia somebody wko wants a contract
anon q royalty, and when we have m AIDE
| n then the me ,snre of thai can be fully
known. until that time We ask Yea to
give US a little of what vou call fan
play. After that has been done. and
| after yon have found somebody whs