Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-01

1t is said on coed authority that 1t was
during the work of construction of the Union
Pacific by the Irish laborers that the follow
ing we'll known refrain was first heard:
Then drill, my paddles, drill;
Drill, my heroes, urllli
OtIts No SUI sugar Hri in your tay,
Workin' on the U. p. railway.
The driving of the last spike and the
joining of the Union Pacific with the Contra!
Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah, was duly
celebrated on May 10, 1869. Leland Stanford,
governor OF California and president of the
Central Pacific, on hand with a party
from the west. Vice President Durant and D-
rectors Duff and Dillon of the Union Pacific
were there, so were many Mormons, and
curious assemblage of regulars from Fort
Douglas of Mexicans. Indians, half-breeds,
Chinese negroes and others gave a cosmo-
pclitan appearance to the occasion. After
the last spike had been driven, the Central
Pacific train was backed up and the Union
Pacific locomotive. with its train, passed
slowly over the point of the junction and
back again Then the Central Pacific loco
motive. with its train, went through the
same ceremony. The occasion was celsbrated
in this city by the firing of 100 guns on
Capltcl hill, bells were rung and whistles
blown. and there was a grand procession of
fire companies civic societies. citizens and
visiting delegations from surrounding points.
Similar celebrations were held in San Fran
CISCO Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.
PREY FOR STOCK JOBBERS.
Internal dissensions made the Union Pa
cifc railway an outcast in the fnancia!
world until the fall of 1867. Blackmailers
and stock jobbers pounced upon it at every
turn. James Fisk in the fall of 1867, gained
control OF some of the Union Pacific stock
and threatened the company with deStruc-
tion. On account OF the presence of an
adverse judge on a New York bench, an
act was introduced in congress in March
1859 to remove the general office Of the
company from New York and to deprive
the state courts of New York of jurisdiction
over the company. 1t was defeated in the
senate From this time on congressional
Union Pacific was abundant and only ended
with the passage of the bill providing for
the foreclosure proceedings at the last ses-
sion
Before the Union Pacific had completed
it's line to Ogden it began to have trouble
with the public over the question of rates
Passengers were charged 10 cents mile
and freight rates were SO high that the
people Of Fremont declared they could get
goods to and from this city cheaper by
wagon than by rail. Complaints soon reached
Washington; the Nebraska papers clamored
against the excessive charges, and congress
soon interfered. Several attempts were made
in 1868 to pass a bill for the regulation Of
rates but they failed, one Of the stead
fast opponents being General Dodge, chief en-
gineer of the road and a member of con-
gress from Iowa, whose wife was a stock
holder in the Union Pacific and the Credit
Mobiler.
In 1870 there appeared another nightmare
in the form of the so-called "interest ques-
ton" 1t was regarding the repayment to
the United States of the amount of subsidy
bonds advanced to the Pacific railroads. The
interest on the bonds was paid regularly by
the United States, but no percentage of
the net earnings was paid by the companies
and the half compensation" amounted to
less than the interest on the bonds. Thus
the amount of the companys indebtedness
was increasing each year and the annual
increment of the debt was likely to be
greater. The interest question engaged the
attenti2n of the courts and congress till
1875 when the dispute was settled in favor
of the company by the United States SUI
preme court. While the interest question
was in the courts the companion question of
the payment of the per cent OF the net
earnings to be applied to the payment to
the government received attention, Before
the net earning question was disposed If by
the supreme court congress seemed to tire
of waiting for the courts to determine the
rights of the Pacific railways and passed the
famous Thurman act in May, 1873 The pro-
vision of this act that caused the warmcsl
controversy was briefly as follows NET
earnings shall be ascertained by deducting
from the gross earnings the necessary eX,
penses actually paid in operating the road
and keeping the same in repair and the
sum paid in discharge of interest on first,
mortgage bonds and excluding all sums paid
for interest upon any other Indebtedness" ="
Cases were soon made up in the courts, in
California to test the constitutonality of the
Thurman act. They reached a decision in
the supreme court in the fall of 1878. when
the act was declared constitutional 50 far
ais it provided for the establishment of
sinking fund.
FORCING THE ISSUE
After the operation of the Thurman act
for few years it was proved that the sink
ing fund feature of the act doomed 10
failure as means of discharging the COM
Oanles' debt to the government at its ma
turity. Efforts were then made to subst-
tute for it some plan that would make tine
government secure. All the plans suggested
were in two classes the one maintaining the
sinking fund feature of the Thurman act
With the requirement of a larger percentage
of net earnings; the other contemplating
the extension OF the time of payment by
from forty to 100 years, and the division of
the gross debt into aunual semi-annual
payments Opposed to these plans was the
emphatic demand by strong western con-
tingent for the immediate forfeiture of the
charters OF all the bond-aided Pacific rail-
way companies, and the assumption of their
UTcoerty and duties by the government If
necessary, in enforcing the paymeot OF the
debt On March g. 1887 an act was passed
creating the United States Pacific Railway
commission, In the following month Presi-
dent Cleveland appointed Robert e. Pat
tison, Pennsylvania; r. Ellery Anderson,
New York and David +. Litter OF Illinois
members Of the commission. After inyesti-
eating the affairs Of the bond-aided rail-
roads their relation to one another to the
people, TO the government and their internal
condition, management aod financial respon-
sibity. the commission made a most ex-
haustve report Ex-Governor Pattlson urged
immediate proceedings for the forfeiture of
the companies charters and winding up
OF their affairs. Anderson and Litter pro-
posed legislation extending the time of pay
ment of the debt to the government, II