The record-union., 1897-01-08

Through by the Companies.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1.-THE debate
upon the proposition to refund the in
debtedness of the Pacific Railroad
Companies to the Government was be-
gun in the House to-day under an or
der adopted last month, which set
apart the rest of this week for that pur-
pose. Preliminary thereto an immense
wall map, showing the routes of the
reads was placed in front of the Speak
er's desk to aid the members in arriv-
ing at clear understanding of the
measure.
Before entering in execution of the
days order a bill was adopted provid-
ing for the appointment of a Surveyor
General for Alaska at a salary OF
$1,000.
The Speaker laid before the House
the notice from Governor Morton of the
resignation of Frank S. Black as a rep
resentative in Congress from that
State, he having been elected Governor
to succeed Mr. Morton.
When the House went into Commit
tee of the Whole Powers (R.) of Yer
AAtOiIl, Slidii llianli O1 llIt SOilhiiAllCE cii
Pacific Railroads, reporting the bill,
stated that the time for general debate
was TO be equally divided between the
friends and opponents of the measure,
ard to be controlled by himself and
Hubbard CR.) of Missouri, which ar
rangement was confirmed by the COM
mittee, and Powers opened the case for
the bill. He said it was plain busi-
ness proposition that the committee
had reported, and it was intended to
appeal only to the good business sense
of the House.
He first addressed himself to a his
tory of the Pacific Railroad enterprises
and the legislation in reference there
to, which had it's beginning in the Act
of July /, 1862. 1t had its origin in the
consideration by the Government of the
necessity of such work, in order to
hold the States of the Pacific Coast to
their allegiance to the Union. By the
Act referred to the projectors of the
scheme for the construction of a line
Of road from the Missouri to the Sacra-
nento River, IN California, We're given
such aid as enabled them to push for
ward the giant enterprise, and finally
to see the full fruition of their hopes
in the accomplishment of the task. This
aid was of two kinds-a land grant and
a bond subsidy-the latter ranging
from $4,000 a mile on level ground to
So, 900 mile on the territory lying be-
tween the Rocky and Sierra ranges of
mountains. and TO S4S, 900 a mile over
the mountains proper.
Although it now seemed comparative
ly an easy thing, said Powers, to con-
struct a Pacific Railroad in 1862. it was
deemed to be a gigantic enterprise, Chi
nerical in its nature and prospects, and
private capital could not be enlisted in
its support under the provisions of the
Act of 1862. So, in 1864, Congress
" aived its first lien upon the property
in favor of the holders of bonds issued
and sold by the companies to secure
the money with which to prosecute the
enterprise. These two Acts contained
the charters of the Pacific Railroads.
But the Supreme Court had decided
that the lien of the Government affect
ed only those lines of the companies
which had actually been aided by
bonds or lands The consequences of
this decision was to greatly reduce the
value Of the security. Further, the line
Of the Union Pacific Railroad owing to
the controversy among cities on the
Missouri River for the privilege of be-
ing the eastern terminus was begun at
the one hundredth meridian of longi-
tude with branches to Omaha and
Kansas City. The effect of this legis-
lation was to take the terminals at
these two places from under the Gov
ernment lien.
The Union and Central Companies
then entered into a struggle of con-
str,lction to secure the largest possible
land grant and bond subsidy. This
race of diligence led to a duplication of
nearly eighty miles Of road at the point
of connection. and the question of the
junction point had to be settled by
Congress. This race also enabled the
two companies to construct the entire
length Of road to the acceptance of the
Government by the 10th of May, 1863.
fo.,r wears after the first spadeful of
earth had been thrown, and more than
six years before the expiration of the
limit within which 1T might complete
the work
The benefits accruing to the Govern
ment and to the people from the con-
struction of the roads were graphically
sketched by Powers. If the Government
should lose every dollar 1t had ad-
vanced to the companies, he said, it
could credit itself with at least ten
times as much in the material advance
ment ard progress and development
which had resulted to the country from
the opening up Of territory which was
possible alone by the existence of the
road. Why" he said, If it had not
beer for the building of these railroads
we should never have heard Of silver
Iarty. But (rehectiyely) / don't know
that that is any argument in favor of
the passage Of the BILL ULaughterD
one Of the provisions of the Charter
Act was that the companies should pay
into the United States Treasury pr
cert. of the net earnings as sinking
fund to meet the bonds issued by the
Government in aid of the road, togeth-
er with all transportation charges
against the Government In lS04 II
WAS enacted that only one-half the
ransportation-Warge should be re-