The record-union., 1896-02-24

&~1lLAdl Z GSA11C ~ pay Its N~~~ 0NSN
when due, but with reasonable ex-
tension of time it can and will pay every
dollar Of it, principal and accrued in
terest, and, while this principal amount
is being regularly and gradually ex-
tinguished, the company will be paying
as much interest currently as I think
the Government would have to pay if
it wished to borrow money on long
bond
CONDITIONS THEN EXISTED.
Il believe few thought that when
this road was built there would be any
other transcontinental railroad for
many years, but it was hardly COM
pleted before the Government gave to
the road Immediately north of it sub
sidy in land larger than the value of
the lands and bonds that the Central
road received, and south of it another
road was chartered, and to this the
| Government gave as large a grant of
! land as to the one north of us. Now,
with the experience the Government
had with the Central-seeing its work
ings and how it policed the whole coun-
| try, saving almost entirely the many
millions it was costing the Government
for taking care of the country before
the Central was built-it was probably
wise to do what it did in giving these
large grants to the other roads, as they
would reasonably expect the same re-
suits as they had seen on the Central
line
Therefore, I think no one questions
the wisdom of the sovereign power in
| doing what was done, even if it received
nothing from the bond-aided roads
other than this great service that has
been rendered, and viii no doubt con-
tinue to be rendered for all time in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains and in Utah
and Nevada l think most of the mem
bers of this committee know the value
or. / might say, lack Of value of these
lands, and I think no one will question
/ but that the half with the railroad is
worth much more than the whole was
without it.
Some criticism of the Central Pacific
has recently been made by men who. ]
believe, stand very well In the commu-
nifty, who charge that the Central Pa
cific has not done its whole duty toward
its railroad connections, particularly
/ the Union Pacific They claim, for in
stance, that the Union Pacific Com
pany We're compelled to build branches
at the west end Of the road in order to
take the business that the Central Pa
cific would not do; but the facts show
that such criticism is unjust and that
the charge has no basis.
ANSWERING COOMBS.
Il asked J. C. Stubbs, the head of
the traffic department, how this was,
and without reading his letter, which is
too yoluminous, I will leave it with you,
requesting it's careful consideration; but
I shall ask you to be patient with me
while quote its salient points:
Il. Mr.. Coombs charges that almost
from the beginning of the operation of
the Union and Central Pacific Rail-
roads there has been a lack of co-opera-
tion between them, and that the present
! deplorable condition of both roads has
been brought about by a violation of the
understanding at the time Congress
gave its aid that the various roads
were to form a continuous line, working
III harmony.
In the first place, the question of rev.
enue had little, if any, influence upon
the minds of Congress in granting the
aid, for at that time the mining industry
was all that promised traffic, and min
ing produced but little tonnage. The
later development of agriculture was
undreamed of then. WHAT the Govern
ment wanted was a line across the con-
tinent for the quick transportation of
troops and supplies, and to enable the
territory inhabited by Indians to be
| policed. With respect to the through
transcontinental traffic, there was from
the beginning the heartiest and most
effective cooperation between the two
companies. The Union Pacific abso-
lutely controlled the west-bound busi-
ness, which was of much greater i'm
portance than the east-bound, until
1888, when other lines, through no mo-
ton of the Central Pacific, made con-
nections with it at Ogden.
- Mr.. Coombs says that, for the last
ten years, the Central Pacific has been
under the full control of the Southern
Pacific, and that the Union has been
| absolutely at its mercy in the matter of
through passenger and freight traffic
ARE SEPARATE ROADS.
Now the Union Pacific has been in
no degree at the mercy of either the
Central or the Southern. for they had no
more voice in the control of the traffic
than the Union Pacific, or any other
company whose road made part of the
through line between the Missouri
River and the Pacific Coast. On the
question of the effect of competition for
the through traffic CT the Central Pa
cific, and as illustrating the various in
fluences which have operated in the
diversion of traffic from the Union, I
ask the patience of the committee in
examining this map which shows in
prominent colors the roads which COM
pete for California traffic. The Union
Pacific and its ally, the Chicago and
Northwestern, are shown in red; the
Central in yellow; the Southern Pacific
in green. All the lines which are COM
petitive with the Union and Southern
Pacific are shown in blue. The lines
between the Missouri River and Chi
cago which are neutral, as between the
Union Pacific and its competitors west
of the river, are shown in green. No
intelligent man, after examining it. can
justly say that the competition of the
Southern Pacific, by reason of leasing
the Central, exercises the major in
fuence in diverting traffic from the
Union Pacific; nor can it be said that
the INVERSION ol Odi-ioIliAd lFdLlc from
the Union Pacific exercised the greater
influence in bringing about its present
distressed condition.
The lines competing for the through
traffic are, in the order Of their opening
for business, the Union Pacific, connect
ing at ogden; the Atchison, connecting
with the Southern Pacific at Deming;
the Texas and Pacific, connecting with
| the Southern at Ell Paso; the Sunset
Route, connecting with the Southern
Pacific at Ell Paso: the Denver and Rio