The record-union., 1896-12-20
TEE FUNDING BILL.
Fearless Words From a Man Of National
Reputation.
Rev. DIR. M. G. Briggs Recalls Some
of the History of the Building
of the Central Pacific.

| Rev. DIR. NJ. c. Briggs has sent to the
Record Union" the following letter on
the subject of the funding of the debts
of the Pacific railroads. Old Sacra
mentans will remember that DR.. Briggs
was at different times stationed in this
city and that during the war his pull
| pit was a power on the side of the
Union. He probably did more than any
other minister in the State to create and
maintain Union sentiment here. His
letter will be read with deep interest,
for all will acknowledge that he knows
whereof he speaks:
Eds. Record Union. Since the great
dailies have lavished columns and pages
on the funding bill, it cannot be imper-
tinent, though it may prove imprudent
in private citizen, to subject it to re-
| fection. / do not claim to be an ex-
pert or an authority with respect to the
complicated problems involved. but pos
sessing eyes, ears and opportunity, and
having been in at the outset an inter-
ested observer through all the stages
| of progress, l claim the inalienable
right to approve or disapprove as the
cause may appear to demand.
1t fell to the order of my life to come
to California on the steamer which
brought the news of the admission of
the State into the sisterhood of the
Union. Old men will recall the fierce
opposition of the slave power to its ad
mission. The same spirit animated
strenuous endeavor to undo the loss
which slavocracy fancied it had sus-
tanned, and recover the State or at least
a part of it, to the domain of serfdom.
Southern politicians gathered at Will
mington, S. c., to devise methods for
carrying the purpose into effect. The
meeting was conducted with prudent
secrecy, and the conclusions reached
were printed in circular for distribu-
ton among those friendly to the scheme.
1t fell to my lot to expose the plan, and
the exposure brought on d contest which
was not wholly allayed until the nomi-
| nation of Fremont in 1856, albeit the
violence and rancor gradually subsided
after 1858
This agitation excited among philan
thropic and patriotic men a strong de-
sire for more prompt communication
with the Eastern States. Contingencies
might arise which would make the
question of rapid transportation vital.
The spirit of slavery propagandism
was silenoed, but not subdued Like
banked fire it smoldered, ready to burst
forth into a desolating confagration.
War was In the air. Our military re-
sources were in disloyal hands and we
stood on the verge of a dismal peril
Then the desire for railroad communi-
cation was greatly intensified. The Gov
ernment at Washington, and every
thoughtful man at home, felt that it was
matter Of national self protection and
the safety Of the State. But for the sa-
gacity Of President Lincoln and the un-
slumbering conscientiousness of Cen
eral Sumner, General Johnston would
have carried California out of the Union
We might have clung to the ragged edge
Of hope by the expedients Of a guerrilla
warfare till slow help could reach us,
but the loss would have been too great
and the recovery too problematical.
The road was an urgent necessity, but
who should build it? The hands of the
Government were already full In the
crisis five men-only five men-U refer
to the Central Pacific part of the great
thoroughbred were found brave enough
to undertake the riskful enterprise I
infer that they alone enjoyed the dis
tinction, for heavier capitalists were
urged to interest themselves without
favorable response. The scheme ap-
peared to them hazardous, if not uto-
plan, but the five, the two Crockers (the
able Judge Crocker went years ago to
an honored grave) Stanford, Huntington
and Hopkins, put everything at risk
and dared the chances of failure. So
improbable did success appear that
groups Of men used to stand on J street,
Sacramento, and laugh long and loud at
"the fools who thought they were going
to run a railroad over the top of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains
1t is within the purview of psychology
to explain that the same spirit which
laughed then curses now. Men who are
paupers in the energy to do are often
aff1uent in the wretched meanness to
denounce. But the imperial spirit which
inaugurated the great work was not
disheartened by obloquy nor daunted
by obstacles. The work went bravely
on, sometimes under severe pressure
but with a heroism that could not be
defeated.
The Government gave bonds to stin-
ulate. The old Californians as am
eminent jurist recently said to me, did
not regard the national guarantee so
much as a debt as sign of encourage
ment and hope. The gift of alternate
strips of land was available only as it
was earned by the actual completion
of contiguous sections of the road. Min
eral lands We're distinctly excepted in
the bill of appropriation. so that the
early stages of progress were often
embarrassed by limited means to
degree that would have driven weaker
natures to despair. But these persons
We're obviously men of Providence,
raised up and endowed for such time.
Five men more dissimilar IN aptitudes,
yet more perfectly fitted each to all as
parts to a whole, would have been long
and far to seek. Judge Crocker, the
ripe judicial mind; Charles Crocker, the
man of daring enterprise and peren-
NAL confidence, and endowed withal
with
''The deathless wit
Which knows not what it is to intermit";
Stanford, cool, calm and comprehen-
sive; Huntington, keen to discover
chances and fertile in expedients; Hop
kns, rich in common sense, at once
f1y-wheel and a balance-wheel Where
could another such combination be
found? Each exceptional in his sphere
and all admirable in combination
The road was built and the whole
l.. 4 4