Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-06
The MITCHELL BILL.
Hnteyiew with Huntin g ton on the
Extension Bttl.

Heral has had the following intervie,
with }. P. Huntington upon what h
desigates as
THAT MODEST MITCHELL BILL.
"Ile news comes from Washington
Mr.. huntington, that you were making
an ebrt to get the debt which the Cen
trail Pacific Railroad owes the Govern
men extended 125 years. Is that SO p
"D. The railroad company asked Il
have the debt made up, with all the in
teres equated, to say, the lst of July
next Then TO ascertain what sum paiC
sem annually for 125 years would ex
tingish the whole debt, principal and
intenst, at the expiration of that period
Thiswould of course make 125 years be-
twea the first and last payment; but as
the lebt is TO be equally distributed over
thewhole period it would be an exten-
sior OF only sixty-two and half years
up0 the whole amount if the amount
weB now due, but as the debt has yet
tenyears to run it would be an extension
of nly fifty-two and a half years"
But isn't even thai frightfully long
tine p"
NO. think not. Ii you will look into
tn, financial history of our more import
AM railroads | think you will find their
m>rtgage debt in many cases as large as
orlarger than it was when the roads
ware fist completed, many years ago
Bat, as a rule, old roads are physically
stronger thau when they We're first built,
and in many cases are able to stand q
larger tax than when new"
"Do you think it wise to let this mort
gage run SO long,"
Certainly. AS a matter of fact this
debt cannot be paid any sooner. 1t has
got to be paid by the people who use the
roads, and, as a rule, the people along
the line are comparatively poor and few
in number and new road is much more
expensive to keep in repair than an old
one."
POOR CENTRAL PACIFIC
Don't you think the railroad company
in all fairness, orght to pay more than
two per cent. INTEREST,""
"That is as much as the Central Pa
cifc can pay. The road was built when
labor and material were fearfully high
and the cost was twice as much as it
otherwise would have been. The
amount of interest, therefore, that has to
be paid on this abnormal cost is very
large sum. Now, [ am sure that the
Government can get all the money it
needs at per cent, and / cannot be-
lieve that any one would wish to have
the Government speculate out OF this
company after it (the Government) has
made so much OF its use."
.'Are you quite sure that the Govern
ment could float 2 per cent. bond at
par?'
~ am. At least have promised the
committee that has this matter before
them that 1.-THE Government will issue 2
per cent. bonds, letting them be used by
the banks as collateral for National cur
rency, we will return them the par value
OF such bonds; for if We cannot sell them
at par we will ourselves make up the
deficiency"
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTED.
"But you believe, don't you, that the
Government expected when the aid was
granted that the debts would be paid at
maturity ?"
No. do not. and l am quite sure
that ell the debates in Congress at the
time clearly show that they did not ex-
pect to get any returns from those roads |
other than per cent. upon the net earn |
ings and one half of the compensation /
for whatever service the railroad did for |
the Government. Then all railroad ma
terial and labor advanced more than 100
per cent. between the passage OF the act |
and the time the road was built, which |
of course made the Central Pacific cost
more than twice what we expected. |
Moreover, Congress didn't expect that |
another road would be built across the
continent before the bonds that it ad- |
vanced to the Central and Union Pacific |
railroad companies were due; and few |
thought that those roads would ever be |
built. l certainly did not think the |
Government would grant greater aid to a
road that was to run just south OF us-viz,
the Atlantic and Pacific, and one just
north of us-viz., the Northern Pacific,
and that, too when railroad material
was cheaper by one-half than it was
structed. But the Government did it
bv granting to each of these companies
lands that were worth more than the
lands given to either the Central or the
Union Pacific and the bonds that were
loaned to those companies; and that,
too, when the Government must have
known that the building OF the other
roads would make it impossi ole for the
Central Pacific to pay its debt at matu-
rity, as the road was built through dry,
unproductive country; so much SO that
it had to depend largely upon its through
business, and this business was very
much impaired. not only by the roads
north and south of the Central Pacific
dividing the business itself, but by the.
cutting of rates to such an extent as to
compel all the roads for a time to do
business at less than actual cost"
DIG AT THE BILLS OPPONENTS.
"You think, then, that the bill intro
duced by Senator Mitchell will pass?"
Eyes, I think it will if it is under
stood, as it provides for paying the Gov.
ernment all the money it has advanced
and all the interest. This being SO, |
think it will pass by large majority.
There will of course be some objectors,
for there are some men in Congress who
are like the boy that wbistied in school.
When brought up for it he said he didn't
whistle; that it just whistled itself. So
these few members have objected to
things SO long that their tongues act be-
fore their brains do and they object to
everything except to some appropriation
bill that is going to spend money In
their particular district. Such measure
they are always in favor OF, and the
more useless and extravagent the 80
called improvements are the more they
are for it. But [ should hardly think
that even they will vote against bill
that pays the Government all the prin-