Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-14

not to this date surveyed the lands or issued
patents; but / advert to these matters here
not only an equity which if it existed between
Individuals would be enforced in the Courts,
but also to sustain the assertion made in the be-
Cunning, that the Government has failed to CON-
has "'''' ~ ''i's "'-oi''' -' ''A- "e'
COMPLIED WITH ALI. ITS OBLIGATIONS
To the Government, and this is an equitable
consideration. | stated in my first days argu-
ment that the Central Pacific road had complied
with every obligation to the Government of the
Tilted States. his ve;y question was one of
the questions which. under the Act OF 1857. the
Pacific Railroad Commission were to consider
and they did consider, and answered it at page
| 107, aud their answer is full and complete-that
the Central Pacific Railroad has complied with
every obligation imposed upon it by any Act of
Congress. They say in some minor respects
which they specify that the Union Pacific road
! and its branches may not have done so. Every
officer of the Government who has ever been
called upon TO examine into the affairs of the
| Central Pacific road has made the same report
Mr. Anderson, one of the Commissioners, stated
In the presence of this committee, in response
TO question of mine, that the Central Pacific
Company had complied with all its obligations
TO the Government. l may sately leave this
| question with these remarks, and refer you TO
the reports which have become part of the
| records of The nation, and TO which the Direct
ors ofthe company may with Just pride point
tons, and of this equity will take notice. have
alread told you that the United States has ne
elected for twenty years TO survey or patent the
lands which 1t granted 1t never issued to The
company bond at the time at
which that bond was earned and
| was due. By reason OF this neglect the COM
! pany was compelled TO borrow money 10 satisfy
contracts made on the faith that the bonds
would be delivered according to the terms of the
contract. Prior to 1863 il had paid for interest
on the sums necessarily borrowed because of the
fNilura of the Tinted n
I al the time they were earned Si2i,O00. II is
/ clearly entitled TO Il return of this money, with
! interest at M least per cent. per aenum from
/ the time II was paid. The amount t. this date
| would be nearly 81 600 000 The Government of
! the United States, by the Acts of 1862 aud 1864
! virtually agreed with the Union snd Central
| Pacific roads to give them the transportation of
| Its supplies, materials ana munitions of war,
and expressly agreed to pay a reasonable com
pensation for such service, not higher than that
! charged to other persons.
| TIE GOVERNMENT HAS NOT COMPLIED
| With. eli her of these conditions. 1t has di-
verteA the transportation of troops munitions
| of war and supplies to other lines, and even to
| Il water route, where there was indirect rivalry
| with the aided road. and the testimony before
| you shows that the Government has made such
| diversions when the aided liaes would have
| transporte the supplies and materials at less
| sum than was paid 10 rival lines. The Govern
| ment has not given reasonable compensation for
| the performance of service, for q reasonable
compensation should bear some just relation to
| transport troops and supplies.
| The Canadian Pacific, a rival road through
foreign territory, it has subsidized to amount
! greater than that of any American road. 1t has
| also provided. in order to enable that road to
| compete directly with the Union Pacific aud the
Central Pacific roads, that it may take goods in
| bond from one port of the United states
| through the British Possessions over its line
| and deliver them in another port in the United
states. These are some few of the violations OF
| the letter and spirit by the Government of the
| contracts cred bptNpnn fhp IfpifqJ
| States and the Central Pacific road under the
| Acts of 1852 and 1864, and they could be in
| creased almost without number. On the other
hand, the company points to the fact that it has
/ kept and performed every obligation that it en-
! tered into with the Government
, At the time the Act of 1862 was passed it was
I not supposed for moment that another trans
| continental line would for many yeats be built
| but in little more than two years after IN Act
was passed granting to the. Northern Pacific
Railroad Company lands double both in qusn-
! aity and value the lands granted TO the Cen
trail Pacific road, and year after year additional
| grants were made 10
OTHER COMPETITIVE LINES.
1t is true none of these lines were built until
aiter the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific
had demonstrated the practicability of trans
continental road and that it might be success
fui as commercial enterprise. Then Compel
ing lines were pushed rapidly forward and sew
eral have since been completed. None OF these
lines would have been built to this day but for
the aid extended to them by the United States.
Cnirn Pacific and the Central Pacific roads.
There was 10 promise that the Government
would not extend aid 10 other lines. 1t is true,
although the policy is often asSailed, that il
was q wise policy to encourage by land grants
the building of transcontinental lines. The
Government and the people have reaped n rich
harvest from the plant, but the earning capacity
OF the aided line of the Central Pacific road
has been almostly totally destroyed. This may
not constitute claim for compensation valid i'll
law, but when we come to consider the fact
that the Central Pacific road was a pioneer that
il has performed faithfully all its obligations TO
the Government. that it has saved to IL millions
upon millions of dollars, that by construction
OF competing lines aided by the Government,
| its property has shrunk in value, there is "a
question III morals whether part of that shriok-
age ought not 10 be borne by the party TO the
rived such vast benefits from that act. II is
question i'll morals whether a Government
dealing with its citizens should not under the
circumstances gravely consider whether the
other is not entitled to some compensation. But
the very least that can be said is that the Gov
t: eminent. which has done these things for its
! own benefit, should not now censuTe Us because
OF the Unforeseen and unhappy results The
traffic diverted from the Central Pacific road from
youfAinounts to over Sl7000o 900, but the loss is
a constant factor and one which will be with US
evefy day for al time to come.
THESE charges against the company are con-
futed by the record. With the Contract and
Finance Company was the California corpora
ton which constructed parts of the Central Pa
Clus bfllrOad. IL closed business wears
ago and closed its existence, having been dis
solved under the laws of that State. Some of its
books have been lost or mislaid, and upon this
fact alone. and against all the evidence adj
duced, the Commission graYely charges that
these books were destroyed for the pose of
covering up its dealings with the Central Pacific
Railroad Company,
THESE LOST BOOKS
Had long since ceased to be of any value With
the thousands of other books connected with
the various corporations inwhich our people are
interested they had been moved from place to
place time and again, and TO one who has any
knowledge OF such affairs the only wonder is
that more books and papers were not lost
Every living account OF the accounts on the lost
books has been transferred to and appears on
the books now in existence. Every item on
the lost books affecting in any manner whatever
the Central Paciiies cost or It's affairs appears III
the mlnutest detail upon the books of the Cen
trail Pacific. From the books of the Central Pa
cfc Railroad Company Mr.. stephens, the ac-
couniaut of the Pacific Railroad Commission,
has reproduced the lost books of the Contract
and Finance Company, and his work appears in
full i'll Volume of the testimony taken before
the Commission. Mr.. Stephens knows that the
books OF the Central Pacific Company have been |
truly kept, and that on them from the be-
ginning appear all the transactions of
that company. He swears that the books of the |
Central Pacific have never been altered in the |
least. If all the transactions of the Contract
and Finance Company with the Central Pacific !
Company appear upon the books of the latte
company to the minutest detail ii is clear that |
no one connected with the latter company could |
have any interest in the destruction of the !
books OF the former. In investigating the Sioux |
City Company it appeared that books relating |
10 that company, and which, unlike the lost |
books of the Contract and Finance COMPANY |
eou not be reproduced, had been lost, mlsad
or sold for old paper. On page 10 of the report
of the Pacific Railroad Commission also appears
the fact that all the vouchers relating t. the |
transactions of the Central branch of the Union
Pacific Railroad Company from 1879 to leS0 are
missing: also that all the vouchers of the Sioux
City and Pacific Railroad Company from 1854 to |
1880 aIe missing, with the exception of a few
cash vouchers. The Commission pass ali this |
by without comment.
The truth, suspect to be. that the Pacific |
Railroad Commission came to California i'm |
pressed with the idea that the methods of the |
Central Pacific were the methods of the Wall |
street wrecker" aud were so surprised at dis
covering their error, at being compelled to re- |
port favorably on all main points, that they |
seized upon the story of the lost books" to
break their fall from error to truth. say this |
in all kindness. This is weakness tt az the |
greatest and the best cannot always free them |
selves from.
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD COMMISSION
In its report seems to regret that President STAN
ford did not fully answer certain questions pro- |
pounded to him by that Commission. The Com
mission seems to regret that the Courts of the |
United States have determined that this is q |
Government of laws founded on the traditions |
and consecrated by the blood which for liberty |
and freer government has been shed by our |
race instead of being q Government resting |