The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-15
PACIFIC ROADS.
HOUSE RAILROADS COMMITTEE
HAVE A MEETING.
Have Arrived, it is Said ct a Plan
by Which the Long-standing In
debtedness Can Be Easily and
Satisfactorily Settled.

Washington. Jan. A.-The house COM
mittee on Pacific roads. at their meeting
today. demonstrated, beyond doubt, that
in their opinion the better plan for
settling the long-standing Indebtedness of
the Pacific railways to the government
would be through d commission having
power TO send for persons and papers.
This conclusion was reached as the result
of u motion made by Mr.. Harrison OF
Alabama. that a subcommittee of nVe
should be appointed TO formulate plan
of settlement by a commission on the
general lines of the substitute offered by
him in the house several days ago. when
the Powers bill was under consideration.
The Harrison substitute provided Tor u
committee consisting of three members
of the cabinet. who should have power
TO settle the Indebtedness of all the bond
aided railways to the government, subject
to the approval of the president.
Mr.. Harrison's motion caused a general
discussion. which showed that the MEM
bers, with practically unanimlty, APP
proved the commission idea, the only diff
ference of opinion being as to the num-
ber of cabinet members who should con-
stitute 1t.
CONFLICTING VIEWS.
Some of the members thought the COM
mission should consist of more than three
cabinet members, while others objected
to including the secretary of the treasury.
Dartment are so onerouS that he could
not give such consideration to the work
as it deserved. That, however, was a
matter of detail that was left to d sub
committee to settle. 1t was agreed. there
fore. that a subcommittee. consisting OF
five members, should be appointed to
draft commission bill, and it was de-
cided 10 include in their work plan Tor
the adjustment of the Indebtedness OF the
Sioux City & Pacific railway TO the gov
eminent. inasmuch as the bill now before
the committee for this purpose leaves the
settlement of this matter with the Secre-
tary of the treasury.
The subcommittee consists of Powers
of Vermont, Harrison of Alabama, Hep
burn of Iowa. Peterson of Tennessee ana
Hubbard of Missouri They will hold sew
eral meetings during the next few days,
and the belief was expressed today that
before the meeting of the full committee
on Wednesday next, they would have
prepared a bill which, in their judgment,
VIII not only meet the approval of the
committee, but of u majority of the house
as well.
The bonds of the Sioux City s. Pacific
road mature on Jan. l, 1893. The amount
of the original Indebtedness is N,700, 0GO,
which. with the accrued interest. asgre-
gates $4,000, 000 The road now forms a
way system, and Mr.. Brown of the firm
of B-itton' & Gray of this city, who are
the counsel for that company. appeared
before the committee this morning and
briefly stated the facts concerning the
original construction of the road and the
issue of the first mortgage bonds at SIS, 600
a mile, which forms Il prior lien TO the
governments issue of a similar amount.
TO AVOID FORECLOSURE.
Mr.. Brown explained that the desire of
the company is to avoid foreclosure next
year by authorizing the secretary of the
treasury to make a settlement of the gov
ernments Indebtedness. and upon pay
ment thereof to give full acquittance- He
added. for the information of the COM
mittee. that the bill does not waive or
affect any of the governments legal
rights or remedies, should the settlement
proposed fail of accomplishment
Mr.. Fred Chamberlain, who is associat-
ed with John c. Coombs of Boston, the
general counsel of the Credits Commuta-
ton company, composed of $40 banks
which has 100000 invested IN railroad
property in Sioux City, opposed the BILL
Mr.. Chamberlain thought from strait
egic standpoint that congress ought not
to pass this bill until it had made some
settlement of the main Pacific questions.
The association of banks he represented
found that their railway property in Sioux
City depended for its value upon the ia
ciiities which were granted TO Sioux City
by the Union Pacific road which were
very meaSre For three sessions OF con-
gress, he continued. these banks had been
sending representatives TO Washington to
secure an amendment to the Pacific fund
ing bills. which Should give the Sioux
City road fair treatment and a fair
amount of traffic, provided they built
road from Sioux City $50 miles southwest
to a junction of the Union Pacific main
line at North Plat. He frankly admitted
that the failure of the Pacific railway
committee to make such provision in their
bills had resulted in strong opposition
from the association of banks, which had
in fact constituted the only well organ
lied opposition to the measure.
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For $1.35.