The morning times., 1896-02-15
ON PACIFIC RAILROADS.
Continued From First Page.

information and have received the follow
ing reply:
Lumber used in original construction of
snow sheds sixty-fiye million feet, board
measure. No record preserved OF lumber
actually used in repairs. Total cost of
snow-shed repairs from 1873 to date,
| two million two hundred and forty-one thou
sand dollars. Divide this by seventeen
| dollars average actual cost and we have an
| approximate estimate for repairs and re-
! newals TO date of one hundred and thirty
one million eight hundred thousand feet,
board measure, making total for con-
struction and repairs To date one hundred
and ninety-siX million eight hundred thou
sand feet board measure
APPRECIATED VALUES.
''By the experience obtained in the build
ing of this road the builders went On
and built other roads, and in all places
where they have built, land has appreciated
enormously. Land which was selling at.
two dollars an acre is now worth thirty,
forty. eighty, and in some places even
one hundred dollars an acre, and probably
there Is no section through which the road
was built, where the land was good for
anything. that has not increased in value
more than 10G per cent.
The Central Pacific, since its compile
tion-and before, l beieyo-has under the
acts under which il was constructed Not
only fulfilled all its requirements, but has
had no trouDle-neitber has the govern
ment-with tie Indians, through whose
reservations we passed. The Piutes, a
/ very powerful tribe. were before the road
was built. at with the whites, but when
the road was completed that trouble ceased,
and the Central Pacific, think, is entitled
TO the credit Of lis disc0ntlnuance.
We have kept the road in fine physical
condition, and j believe il is one OF the
bcst-equipped roads, for what it has TO do,
in the whole country.
u believe il could today do twice the
business that is done on ali the transcon-
tinental lines. without any inconvenience,
and that is one reason why the company
is today unable 10 pas the government
what IL owes: that is. because of the small
tonnage and low rates. The cutting Of
rates, the small tonnage and the dividing
of il between the overland lines ha S brought
most OF the other roads into bankruptcy,
ana made it Impossible for the Central
Pacific to pay its great debt when due;
hut with rea Sonable extension of time
il can and viii pay every dollar of ii,
principal and accrued interest; and, while
this principal amount is being regularly and
gradually eXtinpuished, the company viii
toe paying as much interest currently as
think the government would have to pay
( If il wished TO borrow money on a long
bond.
CONDITIONS THEN EXISTED.
Il believe few thought that when this
! road was built there would be any other
! transcontinentaI railroad for many years;
/ but il was hardly completed before the gov
ernment gave 10 the road Immediately north
/ of it 4 subsidy in land larger than the value
OF the lands and bonds tnat the Central
I road received and south Of ii 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-see-
/ ing il workings and how ii polced the
! whole country, saving almost entirely the
many millions il was costing the govern
/ ment for taking care of the country before
the Central WAS built--it WAS probably wise
to do what il did in giving these large
grants 10 the other roads. as they would
1 reasonably expect the same results with
them as they had seen on the Central line.
Therefore. think no one questions the
wisdom of the sovereign power in doing
what was done, even if il received nothing
from the bond aided roads other than
This great service that has been rendered
and is being rendered, and viii no doubt
continue To be rendered for al time in the
| Sierra Nevada Mountains ana i'll Utah and
Nevada. / think most of the members OF
! this committee know the value-or, might
say. lack of value-of those lands, and l
think no one VIII question but that the
half with the railroad is worth much mere
than the whole was without il.
some criticism OF the Central Pacific
has recently been made by men who, be-
lievc stand very wei i'm the community,
| who charge that the Central Pacific has not
dOue its whole duty toward its railroad
connections, particularly the Union Pacific.
| They claim. for instance. that the Union
! Pacific Company were compelled to build
| branches al the west end Of the road in or
der 10 take the business that the Central
4 IL. f-.t Oh.
that such criticism is unjust and that the
charge has no basis.
ANSWERING CooMBs.
Il asked Mr. ]. C. Stubbs, the head of
the traffic department, how this was, and
without reading his letter, which is to
voluminous, / viii leave il with you, re-
| qucS,ing its careful consideration: but /
| snail ask you TO he ratieut with me while
! quote its salient points:
u. Mr.. Coonhs charges chat almost from
| the beg inning of the operation OF the Union
and Central Pacific railroads there has
| been lack of cooperation between them,
ard that the present. deplurablc condition
Of both roads has been brought about by
violation of the understanding at the time
! Congress gave its aid. that the various
| roads were to form continuous line work
| ing in harmony.
"In the first place, the question of revenue
had little, if auy, influence upon the minds
| OF Congress in granting the aid; for at that
| time the mining industry was all that
| promised traffic. and mining produced
| little tonnage. The later development Of
agriculture was undreamed of then. What
the government wanted was a line acroSs
the continent for the quick transportation
Of troops and supplies. and TO enable the
territory inhabited by Indians to be policed.
With respect TO the through transcontinen-
tai traffic. there was from the beginning
| the heartiest aud most effective co-opera-
| tion bet ween the two companies: The Union
| Pacific absolutely controlled the west
! bound business, which was of much greater
importance than the eaSt-hound, until 1883,
when other lines. through no motion of the
Central Pacific, made connection with it
at Ogden.
p Mr.. Coombs says that, for the last
ten years. the Central Pacific has been un-
der the fun control Of the Southern Pacific,
and that the Union has been absolutely at
its smeTcy inthe 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 a 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 of the Central Pa
cific, and as Illustrating the various influ-
ences which have operated in the diversion
of traffic from the Union, i ask the pa
tience of the committee in examining this
map. which shows in prominent colors the
roads which compete for California traf-
fic. The Union Pacific and its ally, the Chi
cago and Northwestern, are shown in red;
the Central in yellow; the Southern Pacific
inCreen. A II the lines which are competitive
,r-ith tho Ininn md Southern Pacific a re