The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-10

! that the California legislature had
! agreed to a resolution reciting that
any scheme for refunding the Pacific
railroads indebtedness to the govern
ment, or any extension of time for the
payment of the same must result in
maintaining an excessive capitalization
/ of these roads, thus requiring high
rates of fares and freights to meet the
/ interest payments thereon, to the great
I burden and disadvantage of the people
! of the state of California, declaring OPP
! position to the passage of the pending
J bill or any like measure; and urging
/ the immediate collection of the COM
/ panies' debts or the enforcement of the
! existing laws.
MIR Parker, (Rep., n. j., moved an
amendment making more specific the
schedule of property and assets of the
Union Pacific which shall be subjected
10 the proposed new mortgages so as
to include all the stocks and bonds held
by the company or which may be ac-
Quired by its successors or assigns.
The amendment was agreed to-92 to l..
Also another amendment forbidding
the company to dispose of any of its
assets, without the consent of the sec
rotary Of the treasury.
MORE OPPOSITION.
Further opposition was made to the
passage of the bill by Nessrs. Swanson,
(Dem.), Virginia; Cooke, (Rep), Illi-
nois; and Northway, (Rep), Ohio, the
latter two upon the ground that the
house was not so well informed as it
should be in order to enable the mem
bers TO vote intelligently.
Mr.. Northway said he preferred in
his present condition TO let the govern
ment stand just where it did under the
present law. 4 See" he said, no ne
cessity for running a foot race to get
in here. Nobody can force the govern
ment to foreclose. We are the only
power that can compel that to be done
and before l would permit a debtor to
dictate terms of settlement l would
have the government foreclose the
mortgage, take the road and operate
it," (Applause)
The substitute for the pending bill,
of which notice had been previously
given by Mr.. Bell, (Dem), Texas, TO
make the rate of interest on the ex-
tended debt ) per cent instead of g
and by Mr.. Harrison, (Dem.), Alabama,
authorizing a commission, consisting
Of the secretary of the treasury, sec
rotary of the interior and the attorney
general, TO arrange a settlement of the
debt to be approved by the president,
were formally offered and considered
to be pending.
ANOTHER AMENDMENT.
Mr.. Northway moved an amendment
to the Harrison substitute providing
for a commission of three persons. one
TO be appointed by each of the officials
named to make the arrangement. Mr..
Hubbard, (ReD.), Missouri, concluding
the consideration of the bill, advised
nOn-action and the reference of the
matter to the new administration for
settlement, when there shall have been
further opportunity to acquire ade-
quate information, which it had not
now.
The closing speech was in favor of
the bill by Mr.. Grosvenor, (Rep), Ohio.
He said the house had been, through
its best talent, four years investigating
this subject. and he was not willing
that the gentlemen who would not be
in their present positions tonight
should refer this matter in all its de-
formity of a defeated BILL together
with the Cuban and other unsettled
controversies, to the next administra-
ton on the theory that their success
SOrS would be any better informed than
themselves. He could not agree that
this question should be maintained in
its present condition in the interest of
California politics. The path of duty
was clearly marked out by the major
ity of the committee on Pacific roads,
and in it lay the passage of the bill
The committee, at o'clock, rose, and
the bill and pending amendments were
reported and the house, at sos p. m,
adjourned until Monday noon.