The San Francisco call., 1898-11-22
L0NGSTREET so REPORTS
NO REASON WHY UNION AND
 CENTRAL CANNOT SETTLE.
In His Annual Report the Commis- sioner Recommends Construction of a Government Road From
 Kansas to San Diego.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

WASh1NGION, Nov. 21.-General James Longstreet, the Commissioner of Railroads, in his annual report, made public to-day, calls attention to the general prosperity in railroad affairs and recommends the Government con- struction and operation of a first-class double-track railway from Kansas City, Mo, to San Diego, Cal, by air line route. He says the physical condi- tion of our railroads generally is better than ever before. He points to the spectacle of roads which only two or three, years ago were in receivers hands now paying dividends on their preferred stocks and piling up sur pluses whic' n the course of a very short time hls report says, will be dis tributed among the common stockhold- CTS. Many roads which, in 1893, were forced to cut salaries 20 per cent, he says, have voluntarily restored the old basis of wages. In April, 1894, receiv- CTS controlled in this country 210 roads, embracing about 20 per cent of the total mileage. On June 30 of this year there were only 119 railroads in the hands of receivers, and General Longstreet pre- diets that under the present condition of prosperity within another year the list of insolvent railroads will be as small as in the years immediately pre- ceding 1892.
 Reporting on his inspection of the properties of the Union Pacific and Gen. tral Pacific and several of the land grant lines in the West and on the Pa cif1c Slope. this autumn, the Commis- sioner says that substantial improve ments have been made on the road beds on the main lines, wooden bridges replaced by iron and steel and the bal lasting Is more extensive and much im- proved. He recommends Government air line transcontinental route in the following language:
 The annexation of the Hawaiian Isl- ands, the possible, probable control of the open up new trade relations of such growing proportions with them as to so materially increase the business, of all the bond-aided roads as to be well within the scope of reason to anticipate their ability, at an early date, to pay principal and interest of their debt to the United
 These new eastern acquisitions, with Cuba and Porto Rico, producing trop- which is to the extent of S225 900 900, about one-third of our entire imports will in few years be entirely furnished from these new possessions, and our products taken in exchange, while now our eX- ports to these islands, l believe, do not exceed 5,000, 900 annually.
 Heretofore, under former sway, every effort has been made to discourage busi- ness intercourse with Americans. Under every effort will be made to encourage trade with us, and when the population IS doubled in numbers and is increased ten times in ability to produce and con- sume, which is not an unreasonable an ticipation, what then will our trade amount to? It is almost impossible to imagine Less than 5000, 900 British colonlsts in Australasia exchange prod ucts to the amount of $650 000, 600 annually. II IS only reasonable to suppose that in a lew years the trade with our new pos sessions will fully equal if not surpass this, and the United States must control the bulk Furthermore, the vast volume lind their way from the middle western grain prairies to Asia and other countries or the Western Hemisphere via the At lanuc seaports will, in very few years, reach these same destinations via Paci- nc seaports, and with this changed con dltlon will come vastly increased ton mage ana revenues to all the transconti- mental lines.
 The diversion of this very traffic on thls ldea IS now receiving the careful at tentlon and consideration of the execu- i've ana managing officials of some of the Ieaalng lines between Chicago, St Paul ad and otner Middle Western grain centers anu the Paclnc slope, and therefore 1t seems 10 me that the interest the United states has in bond-aided railroads, and
 
 not be sealed" but that we have eVeru reason to look for repayment of dollar for o9Har, principal and interest. loaned and these corporations. W
 It may be timely just now to suggest enat the Government construct and op- from Kansas City to San Diego bv air line route. This will open the shortest me, measured by the map, from Boston. New York and Philadelphia to the coast and along the coal fields of the East and west, th1s side of the Rocky Mountains ana making the most direct line from our great commercial centers to the Sandwich Islands and the Philippines This. with other lines now working overland, may prove ample for the wants of commerce to the Pacific Coast and the Orient, hold ing trade and travel within our borders pending the experiment of a canal through the isthmus
 An overland route from Vera Cruz. Mexico, to Acapulco. now approaching completion, may be an important adjunct increases.
 The home advantages of an overland line by the Government will be to draw the people nearer together in interests and sympathies, and will serve them as a safeguard against the monopoly of cor porations. As trade increases it may de- Tvelop the importance of direct similar line to Seattle, Wash.
 St. Louis is a little south of the direct | the typographical features of the country indicate that possibly a better route may be found from that point and the bridge l over the Mississippi River at that point | may prove an important consideration. A | survey therefore, by direct line should be | made from each of these points.
 The report says of the United States subsidy bonds under the acts of 1862 and l 1864 to aid the Pacific railroads con- struction, there have matured $50,618,- 592, of which $50 4S9;952 have been re- deemed and paid out of the treasury, leaving still due and unpaid s129,000 l The remaining bonds of this issue fall due as follows: Union Pacific, January | 1, 1899, 8, 157, 900; Central Pacific, same s9, 197 ,000; Western Pacific, same $1,650,- |