National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-02-06

lbbIINnlOhbShNt VI tht NlhNlhhhtl iAulullOAsl
WAsnrSoToS, d. c., Jan. 30, 1861
made an interesting call upon Senator
Leland Stanford last evening. lie lives in
one Of the three houses Of pale stone at
the bottom Of Farragut square, in the
house once occupied by Mr. Kilbourn. The
Russian minister occupies the house at one
end, formerly Gov. Shepherds; the middle
house is occupied by VIM i. Scott, said to
be the richest member of Congress, and
the eastern house by Senator Stanford, who
Is said to be the richest senator. From time
to time have met Mr.. Stanford-once In
California, and again at Saratoga. He is
one of the most striklng-looking men to be
seen anywhere, weighing about $40 pounds,
and over six feet high, and yet with the
strong soft brown hair, with clear skin, and
the beard but partly turned of man in
The perfect exercise OF his powers His
family and visitors he left In the salon,
and sat down with me In his library, a
small room in the front Of the hodse
observed the portrait OF his son at full
length on the wall, but made no remark
upon II. / do not wonder that the par
ents Of such child should have felt al
most inconsolable griefat his.loss. The
picture represents beautiful boy, just
coming into the maturity Of countenance
of almost precocious manhood. told the
governor that his friends were agreeably
surprised at his return to public life, and
that II seemed q rational thing for Clllfor-
mia to remarry her chief enterprise to the
public affections Of the state.
Said he: 81 had no idea Of coming to the
Senate, any more than l had Of becoming
governor twenty-five years ago. In both
II fnr 1NA
hold the party together aud prevent the
tendency to quarrel, which is always our
fear. II so happened that the candidate |
favored came short of enough votes to
elect him. The Democrats, or a good
many Of them, pressed on the Republicans
to take me up. So l find myself In WASH
ington. The circumstances under which I
received the nomination were agreeable to
my feelings. This is quite new TO me, for
| have never been even In Il state leglsla-
ture. When | was governor OF California |
had to decide whether | would remain In
public life or give my whole time to the
Pacific railroad, which l had assisted to
bring into form. saw that the two posi-
tions were incompatible; that rs the presi-
dent of the railroad / would have to take
some Of the hard knocks a man In politics
and Office could not stand. So laid down
public life, as / supposed, forever, aud IL
mas come back to me at time when | least
expected It,"
PACIFIC RAILROADS.
Said l. "Governor, has the building Of
several railroads to the Pacific ocean affect
cd your passenger aud general transcOnti-
mental businessY"
"Yes, very much. Indeed; business
across the continent does not give us much
concern. The Central Pacific has become
California railroad In the main. For
some little while we did have pretty much
fha .l,nla htnof tha non NRp. al
was subject, however, to the competition
Of the steamship route by Panama. Now
there are to the Pacific ocean the Southern
Pacific, the Atlantic and Pacific, the
Northern Pacific, and the Canadian Pacific
There are ut least four other railroads
dividing the business. The Atlantic and
Pacific has its agents In San Francisco
soliciting through business on the same
terms with ourselves. You take q train to
or from California now, and you will be
apt to find good many empty seats, where
as some years ago the trains ran evenly
full.n
Said 1: "Do you consider that the Cana.
dian Pacific railroad will ever pay?"
"They, have one thing In their favor
their government gave them S6O0OO,OOO
and a magnificent land grant. They do not
have to reimburse the government. We
have received only the credit Of the govern
ment, and have to pay back. They are
lOuDtu WIN V per NtHl lultItbb1 MlllCl IL
pretty high interest In these days. We not
only have to pay back the $27,000,0 900 they
loaned us, but interest has been running on
for twenty years, so that we are hardly
better off than any other sort of borrowers.
have my doubts, however, whether so few
people as live In Canada can support an
extensive railroad system like that. The
railroad may get along, but the government
which carries so much railroad system rs
the Canadians may break under the burden.
The Northern Pacific railroad,h said the
governor, in another part OF the CONVEX
cation, "has a very good land grant, and Is
not so far to the north but II Will become a
productive country"
Said |: "Was IL useful thing to have
built the Southern Pacific railroad arteryou
had the Central Pacific finished'?"
"Yes, 1t was that is the shortest haul
within the United States between the two
oceans. We never were able to compete
with the steamship route In the way OF
freight, on account of the difficulty of get
ting through the city Of Chicago. At the
present time we have but one haul by
steamship from New York to New Orleans,
and there we transship, and there is nc
more change until we get to California.
Consequently, we send freight reliably by
the present route, and deliver It within a
specified time. On account OF the large
number Of railroads running into Chicago
freight between the two oceans often stuck
there, and was extremely uncertain In it,
movements. The rail time ought to be but
fourteen days between New York and Sar
Franoisco; II is often thirty days instead OF
fourteen. When trains come In from thu
Pacific ocean they are broken up at Chi
cago, and your shipments may be scattered
over different lines or have to wait till {
convenient train is made up. You car
sometimes count on delay of Il wGel
or more at Chicago"
APPROPRIATIONS.
In another portion of the conversation
Senator Stanford referred TO the natura
way people grudged appropriations. Sait
he: "When President Hayes was in Call
fornia he remarked that the government
had to pay an eXtrayagant sum to Capt
Eads for what he had done in the Missis
sippi river jetties. lie said that $500, 00t
year seemed very eXtravagant sum %
money to give Mr. Eads. told the Presi
dent that the Central Pacific railroad had t
spend almost that amount of money Il
Keep Its route OPEN and II had only on
state, or at most two or three states, tt
drain, while the Mississippi river drained
large portion Of all the American states, and
In view Of the result achieved, the SUN wa
not large. BY Eads's work the Mississippi
river now has twenty.oight feet OF water
whereas 1t got to be so bad before he begaI
his work that sometimes you could not &c
V,ssel drawing eight or ten feet up to tn
Whayes.n
REMARKABLE RESULTS.
"Governor, has not the Pacific railroa
worked out as great results as could hay
been eNpectedy'
ayes, sir; more remarkable results tina
any single undertaking in the history o
man. II has added to the United States
greater empire than Caesar ever conquered
Before that railroad was made The great IN
terror of the country, that which Is comIn