Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-02-11
TIE ARGUMENT UPON THE EQUIT-
ABLE CLAIMS OF The CENTRAL
PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY.


Elsewhere in this issue will be found
in the department for review Of new pub
hcations-an extended statement of the
contents of pamphlet Just issued upon
the equitable account between the Central
Pacific Railroad Company and the United
States, growing out of the issue Of subsidy
bonds in aid of construction of the road
In that article the purpose has been to in
dicate-at best it can be done only made
quately-the order of treatment and the
salient points treated. The disposition to
editorially further indicate the character
of the argument, and to present the CON
illusions enforced by illustration and cita-
ton of law and fact, is necessarily crippled
by the elaboratenes5 of the argument and
It's exhaustive character of treatment
which cannot, with any great degree Of
satisfaction, be presented in briefer or
more concise form.
The text is by Hon. Roscoe Conkling
and William d. Shipman, of counsel for
the Central Pacific Railroad Company.
1t reviews the testimony and exhibits pre-
scented before the Pacific Railway Commits
sion, which has for some months been ex-
ceedingly prominent in the public eye,
and the reports Of which are now before
Congress. That which most forcibly i'm
presses the reader of this pamphlet,
which ought to be read throughout the
land, is Its exceeding conciseness, clearness
of statement, and the simplicity of the
language employed. These give the text,
irrespective Of the facts recited,
force and strength, since there are no
involved passages, and no indulgence in
technical, financial or legal phraseology.
But the force of the review, because of its
directness, and luminous character, is as
nothing compared to the convincing logic
of the argument and its fertilization by
facts in proof before the Commission, and
documentary in the archives of the Gov
eminent.
1t may be said that the whole argument
turns upon one central fact, denial of
which is unhesitatingly invited, that the
Central Pacific Railroad Company, having
contracted with the General Government
to perform specific acts, and discharge
specific obligations in the construction
and maintenance of transcontinental
railway, has to the letter and in the spirit,
discharged every duty incumbent upon it,
and is in no respect in default while on
the other hand, though the Government
began to receive benefits from the road
many years earlier than the calls OF the
contract provided it early entered upon
policy that sheared the road of bu- ness
and privileges which it had, under the
contract, every reason to expect and ely
upon. Moreover, that the General iov-
eminent without the justification of lcas-
enable fear that the security for aid rem
dered the road was endangered, exeried
it. sovereign power to modify the CON
tract and exact of the company perform
pate. Because OF these policies of the
Federal Government, equitable claims by
the company developed, to the presenta-
ton Of which the argument under consid-
Grafton is devoted.
Naturally the treatment of the subject |
required the counsel to begin at tn be-
ginning, trace every step of legislation in
aid of the construction of the roads, clear |
away all the rubbish Of misconception Of |
facts, and the underground of demagogy, !
and Law bare the history of the road, from |
Its conception to the appointment of the
Railway Commission. Collaterally, this
historical treatment required several sub
jects to be taken up and explained which
have heretofore been used by selfish inter-
ests to befog the public mind, and prejudice
the Judgment Of the people against the
company. Thus, the relation of the Con-
tract and Finance Company to the road, |
the cause of its formation and the reason |
for its employment, are not only ex-
planned, bu. defended. So too, the much |
worn and distorted question of the con-
soidation of lines with the Central Pacific |
system is laid bare, and the sophistry and |
unwisdom of the objection to it, and which |
at one time formed the chief material for
party antagoniSm in this State to the road,
are exposed and refuted, yet with that |
dignity of language and judicial calm that
impresses the reader profoundly, whenever
cool judgment dispassionately analyses and
debates public question. These are but
indications of the uniform characte. of the
argument.
The review very rapidly but exhaust
lively treats Of the public policy that led
Congress to aid the company by grants of
land and issue of bonds In this part of
the review it is made very clear that
originally the Government did not
have in contemplation any such
severe policy concerning payment of
Its Indebtedness by the company as has
in recent years been inaugurated. The
tenor of legislation, debate, public thought
and expression during that early period
unmlstakably Indicated that II was the
public Judgment that the Nation was the
chief beneficiary, and that the question Of
repayment was considered, at best as see
ondary to the binding Of the widely-sepa-
rated parts OF the country together, and
the establishment of speedy and ample
means of transportation Of Government
troops and supplies, and for the carriage Of
the mails In short, as the review makes
perfectly clear, the road was political ne
cessity and an economic demand, and, as it
turned out, factor in the development of
the country more potent than all others
then seen or conceived OF by the most ar
dent believers in the progressive destiny of
the United States. 1t is also shown
that the idea Of repayment dwelt
IN the thought Of the Legislators o.