The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-04-26

company discovered the black clouds in the
distance, and realizing that the storm
would break in time, prepared for the
deluge. The company knew that it could
not meet its obligations to the government
as they would fall due, and it seemingly
was aware Of the unreasonable creditor
with which it had to deal. Acting upon its
! foreknowledge the Central Pacific put
| its affairs in shape to defy the unjust
master, and the result is the independent
position which the company occupies to-
day The company stands where 1t cannot
have the life squeezed out of it, as the life
would have been squeezed out of the
| Union Pacific in a little while if it
had not suddenly changed its policy.
If the government wants the Central Paci-
tic from Ogden to San Francisco, we be
lieve the company will cheerfully surren-
der the line and take its release from the
payment of the debt due the United States
treasury. The company will make big
money by the transaction, and the govern
ment will lose a good deal more than it has
/
cannot possibly operate the Central Pacific
assuming that the government, at the
dictation of fanatic and unthinl1ing Con-
gressmen, can be induced to go into the
railroad business-except at loss. The
company is in a position to give up the road
and cry quits, or to enter into a fair and
equitable arrangement for keeping the
road and paying the debt in full. 1t is for
the government to elect what shall be done.
We assume that the Union Pacific has
finally learned wisdom from the unwisdom
of successive Congresses, and has resolved
to get itself into such shape that it can as
sumo the enviable and independent attitude
occupied by its more far-sighted sister
company. The consolidation Of the
branch lines means the leaving
Of the government to do as 1t
wills with the main road on which it holds
a mortgage. The United States can fore
close and take and operate the road, OF it
can accept the reasonable terms of payment
which the company has offered. In the
former event, the Union Pacific will cancel
a debt by paying about half the sum due,
and viii have the great bulk Of its money
making property left. 1t will get rid OF a
handicap which has held it back and re
strained it from taking advantage OF the
opportunities for earning the cash with
which to meet its obligations to the national
treasury.
IN this age railroads cannot remain mae
tive and make money. They must rustic"
The time was, before competition came,
when railroad was independent, the bust
ness being compelled to go to it, Now
business must be sought and created. Com
petition forces railways to reach out for
traffic, to build branches and develop in
dustries With an honest purpose to com
ply strictly with the law and do its utmost
to satisfy its creditors, the Union Pa
cifc under the conservative management
of the past few years, has refrained from
reaching out for and creating the business
which could be had through branches and
the opening OF new territory. 1t has been
afraid of government and of the Congress
men who are so honest themselves that
they imrgine everybody else who has any
thing to do with governments thief. The
result is, neglected opportunities, profitable
branches unconshucted, rich territory I'M
occupied and rival roads steadily encroach-
ing on Union Pacific fields. We hope this
is all to be changed now, and that the Union
Pacific policy will be that which has been
outlined and commented on in these col
umns since the beginning OF the year-a
policy which in effect, if not in terms, says
to government, do your worst, and we
will do our best"
Those who prate about the help which
the government gave to the company, and
moralize about honesty, the sacredness
of contracts, and SO on, should bear in
mind that there are equities connected with
the case of the Union and Central Pacific
railways, and these equities have never
been taken INTO account. 1t is admitted
and always has been, that there was cor
ruption in the construction of the roads;
that man stole; that government was rob
bed: that the subsidy was enormous;
pretty nearly every thing that has been
charged may be true, ana yet there are equl-
ties which, if taken into account, would put
a stop TO much of the yaWp which we hear
about holding the companies to the yield
inc of the pound of flesh, the punishment
of fraud. and so On. The line was built at
a time when extravaganza and corruption
were in the air; it was built at a time when
railroad construction was more expensive
than it was ever before or has been since;
it required a magnificent subsidy to infiu-
ence men to undertake the work; politics
entered largely into its conception and con
struction, the road being regarded as a ma
tional necessity; as an investment govern
ment has received hundreds for every dol
lar loaned to the companies and if the ma
ton were never to receive cent Of the prin-
cipal, she has never spent money mole
wisely then in the first transcontinental
railway. These are some Of the things
which should be taken into account in the
settlement of the debt, but which have been
ignored by the unreasonable fellows who
drove the Central Pacific to protect itself,
and who, it is hoped, have now forced the
Union Pacific to adopt course which will
win for the great corporation its rightful
place in the railway affairs of the west.
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IN tho 61sou1 world iC