The morning call., 1895-01-31
THE REILLY BILL.

The Legislature is distressing itself I'M
necessarily over the discovery that the
transmission of the MCGOWAN resolutions
to Washington viii reveal the fact that a
minority of the Senate was opposed to their
passage. Legislative measures rarely pass
by a unanimous vote, and the vote on the
Bledsoe resolution and other similar votes
can leave no doubt in the mind of any
Congressman how Californians feel on the
refunding question. A more important
question than the division in the State
Senate is how the California protest will
be received in Congress.
Unless all the correspondents are de-
ceived, there is disposition in the House
of Representatives to dodge the foreclosure
which has become imminent, by extending
the subsidy bonds now maturing. Why
such sentiment should prevail it is not
easy to see. 1t is giving Mr.. Huntington
credit for far more influence than he prob
ably possesses to assume that he has
pocketed a majority of Congress Yet it
seems extraordinary that any substantial
portion of that body should be willing to
waive the rights of the nation merely to
avoid trouble and to conciliate few cor
porations.
The gist of the controversy over the re-
funding bills is this-which is fairest, to
carry out the bargain made in 1862 and
1864, whoever may lose thereby, or to i'm
pose on this slope burden which it can
not bear without a serious stoppage of its
development? The traffic which goes over
the subsidized roads cannot pay interest
on the aggregate sum due by those roads
to the nation without an increase of tolls
which will eventually crush It, 1t does
not matter much what rate of interest the
extended bonds may bear. California can
not grow as it should, if it is mortgaged for
a new Indebtedness of $120, 100000 more or
less, laid upon the Central and the Union
Pacific lines, even though the rate of
interest should be as low as ~ per cent.
1t must be remembered that, if the refund
ing bill passes, the railroad companies will
sink out of sight, and the communities on
this side of the mountains will come to the
front as the true debtors in the case. 1t is
they, and their traffic and their industries
which would have to pay whatever sum
the United States would claim under a
refunding bill.
The injustice of any funding bill that
continues burden upon the Pacific Coast
results from the fact that the roads have
been great benefit to the whole Union,
and if there is to be any loss the whole
Union should bear it equally. There can
be no question of the value of the roads to
the nation. The men who designed them
were far-seeing statesmen, and those who
constructed them were citizens of whom
any commonwealth might be proud. 1t
required sagacity, energy and courage of a
high order to undertake so vast an enter
prise in the midst of civil war. All this
is conceded, but it does not affect the vital
point at issue. Great enterprises must be
conducted according to law as well as small
ones, and because men have been excep-
tionally successful is no reason why justice
should turn aside to further enrich them.
The people of this coast expect Congress
to enforce the law, and have a right to
demand that it should do so. The mort
gage should be foreclosed and proceedings
in the courts should be begun by the Govern
ment to recover from the vast estates of
the owners of the roads whatever sum is
necessary to make good the loss which is
threatened. This course would be pursued
against ordinary citizens who owed small
debts, and the same law should be applied
to milhonaires. There can be no distinc-
ton of persons in this country, and the
people will not tolerate an attempt to make