Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-04
SETTLING THE RAILROAD INDEBTED
NEsS-THE NEW PROPOSITION AND
ITS WISDOM.

We complete this morning the publica-
tion of the speech of United States Senator
Stewart upon the adjustment of the in
debtedness of the Pacific railroads. Last
Saturday the introduction of the able
effort was given, and the proposition it adj
voeates, to wit: that the sum of the in
debtedness, when ascertained, shall be
authorized by Congress to be expended in
building branches of or feeders to the
tracks and similar improvements, and the
establishment of irrigation systems along
the arid country traversed by the trunk
lines.
The purpose of this wise scheme is to
rehabilitate the roads with something of
the vigor of which they have been, in
large part, shorn by the policy of the
Government in aiding competing and
parallel lines, that had fewer burdens than
the original roads, and were constructed al
greatly less cost because under more adj
vantageous circumstances. Under his
proposition, the Senator showed that the
United States Government will not only
enable the debtor roads to meet their OBJ
legations, but the Government itself will
be greatly benefited by the enhanced
value of lands and the development and
settlement of the country
The Senator sketched the history of the
building of the roads, and pointed out
that policy compelling them to meet
their obligations to the Government by
payment to the Treasury must result in
two things-cessation of improvement and
extension, and the levying upon local
traffic sufficient in increased and crippling
charges to meet the liabilities, since the
through traffic over these roads has been
so greatly reduced by dilution among
many.
Coming now TO the second portion of
the speech, we find the points made by the
distinguished speaker to be simple, clear
and strong. The policy he proposes will
contribute to the upbuilding of the State
of Nevada, as well as the enhancement of
the value of the Government securities
for the railroad debt. The United States
did not originally contemplate the return
of the aid extended to the railroads, and
the debates in Congress clearly establish
that the military and commercial neces-
sity for the roads were the overshadowing
considerations for the aid rendered. As
Mr.. Ten Eyck, of New Jersey, put it at
the time:
The great object of the Pacific railroad bill
is to have national means of communication
across the continent.
Mr.. Wilson, of Massachusetts, also said
to the Senate:
As to the security the United States takes on
this road, would not give the paper il is writ
ten on for the whole of il. / do not suppose it
is ever TO come back in any form except In do
ing on the road the business we need, carving
our mails and munitions of war. In my judg-
ment we ought not to vote for the bill with the
expectation or with the understanding that the
money we advance for this road is ever to come
back into the Treasury of the United States.
And as Mr.. Clark, in the same debate,
said:
Whether am right or not, do not build the
road because think It is to be a paying road.
build 1t as political necessity, to bind the
country together and hold il together; and do
not care whether 1t is 10 pay or not.
Senator Stewart, after other similar quo
tations, makes the point that it was never
intended that the Indebtedness should be
paid out of local earnings. While he did
not complain of the policy that subsidized
the competing lines, it should not be lost
sight of that the land grants to the North
ern Pacific were worth twice as much as
all the subsidies given to the Central and
Union roads, including bonds and land.
Loaded with great debt, it will be mani
testify unjust and unwise to compel pay
ment from the Central Pacific without al
lowing the sum to be expended in develop
ing the country 1t trayerses; indeed, such
development was one of the original pur-
poses of construction and of the aid ex-
tended, and citations from the debates in
Congress on the passage of the bill to aid
the building of the road are made. forti-
flying the statement.
Compared to the economy subserved, the
aid rendered the subsidized roads was a
mere bagatelle and statistical proof of this
assertion is quoted. The Government
has saved all the money it anticipated,
but 1t has not allowed it to the railroads.
1t was paying over 81 900, 900 year for serv-
ice the roads were to and have performed.
and that cost was hundred per cent.
more than the maximum interest upon the
amount of the bonds secured by the Gov
eminent. Extended quotations are made
from the opinions of Justices of the Su-
preme Court of the United States to show
that the several acts of assistance must
be interpreted in the light OF the circum-
stances of the time of the grants, and that
the railroad liability" so much urged
had been fully met and repaid since the
Government received all the advantages
it bargained for, and much more.
Since then the United States has had
the benefit of the expenditure constituting
the debt, it will be the hight OF unwisdom,
after depriving road of its through
traffic so largely, after reducing Its ability
to pay, to force it into insolvency. 1t is
wise to aid it, and the country it traverses,
to new life, and thereby contribute to the
wealth and Importance of the United
States as whole.
The arid region on the west slope of the
Rocky mountains is an empire in itself.
Great streams head on the range; they
need but proper diversion and utilization
to bring the whole region into fruitful