Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-02-20
GRANT JUsTIFIsD BY EVERY CON-
SHERATON OF PUBLIC POLICY.

lNarysyiIe Appeal, January Slst.l
There is no denying the great prejudice
against railroad land grants, but all this
vanishes in this section OF California when
it is brought to bear in support of Congress
declaring the land grant given to build the
California and Oregon Railroad be for
feited. The California and Oregon Rail
road has been hard st work earning is land
grant the past year, aud ia still tunneling
the suow-covered hills of Shasta and Siski-
you but if Congress interrupts this rail-
road building at this time it would come
from partisan purposes, and not from any
desire to recover forfeited public lands and
benefit the State. Congress made the grant
to sid in the construction of . road over a
route that would probably never have
been built but for the credit it gives the
California and Oregon. The company could
not undertake the earning of it's land grant
until it had positive assurance that its
road would be met at the State line 10y an.
other road from Portland. As soon as the
building of the Oregon line was assured,
work was Immediately resumed on the line
of the California and Oregon, and it
has been pushed forward toward the
junction of the two roads with
all the energy and means at its command.
At this critical time, when the company is
fulfilling its contract with the Government,
the House Committee on Public Land
steps in snd makes report recommending
that all uuesrned railroad land grants be
forfeited. II bill should pass Congress
in pursuance of this resolution declaring
the California and Oregon Railroad land
grant forfeited, and at the time when the
company was completing the last mile OF
the road, would not Congress manifest an
unjust hostility to this important railroad
communication, as well as deal a heavy
blow to the trade along the line of these
two railroads The junction at the State
line would be indefinitely postponed. An
interruption to this railroad connection
would also prove to be severe blow to the
owners of lands and other property along
its entire line, as well as the commercial
interests of San Francisco. All the
people of Northern California would
be greater sufferers than the California
and Oregon Railroad-and it is for the
interest Of the people, not any railroad
corporation, that we urge Congress to
except the California and Oregon line in its
law, if it is to pass one declaring land
patents forfeited. 1t was the design of
Congress by this grant to aid in building
railway across the mountains and uniting
the States of California and Oregon by iron
bands. That work, though retarded for
years, is now approaching completion; and
if no unfriendly legislation is adopted by
Congress Portland and San Francisco will
be connected by rail within eighteen
months. The early completion Of the Cali
fornis and Oregon Railroad and thereby a
connection made with the Oregon and
Transcontinentai Railway, is Of vital I'M
portance to every city and town on the
route from Redding to San Francisco. Ev.
cry man living on the line knows that the
completion Of this road will add to the
value of the lands in the northern counties.
New towns will be built slong its track, and
life and vigor be extended to the farming and
lumber trade to the extreme northern limits
of the State. The California and Oregon
Railroad, if finished to the junction, will
be of ten times more value to the people of
California than to its builders. All the
new enterprises which the people have in
augurated in contemplation of the speedy
completion of the road will come to a
stand-still if the building is stopped in the
woods. Many citizens from various sec.
iron mines, quartz mines, saw-mils, grain
farms and stock ranges, AID all these en-.
terprises must prove failures unless the
railroad is completed, as the thousands OF
citizens contemplated it would be. Te
complete the road now, the State as we'll a,
the people will be large gamers. To sus.
pend the work must result in a general
loss in the value of lands both to the
4 49, L.,
pleted portion of this road will cost mill
ions of dollars, and the land grant
will be well earned when it is
finished. The Government guaranteed
the land grant, and the Cslifor.
MIA and Oregon Railroad have entered
upon the work in good faith. No railroad
viii ever be built over the Siskiyou noun.
tains without the aid Of land subsidy. 1t
will pay no other company, and only this
because of its connections with the Gem
trsl Pacific. The reasons offered in sup
port of the suspension of this great work
are small in comparison with those in favor
of its continuance. We know that the
against interrupting the grant
and permitting the road to be completed
are justified by every consideration of pub
lie policy and statesmsnlke reasons. We
believe that the California and Oregon
Railroad, by its connections with the
Northern Pacific, will do for the towns of
northern California what the Southern Pa
cific has done for Los Angeles and other
southern towns. The entire people of
northern California ought to move prompt
ly, and enter formidable protest against
Congress cutting off their noses to gain a
temporary partisan advantage.