The Washington herald., 1906-10-09
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.
Senator benton rs an advocate OF a
National Railway system.

From the St Louis Republic.
II is a matter Of more than ordinary
interest that the policy of governmental
ownership Of railways was prominently
agitated more than half a century ago
and the agitation had It's birth right here
in the city Of ST. Louis Thomas II. Ben
ton. the distinguished Senator who repre-
sented Missouri for six terms. was the
parent of the idea and its earnest advo-
cate up to the close OF his political career.
Only the attentive student Of political
history recalls that the first project for
a transcontinental railway across the
United States was developed in st. Louis.
and that the Missouri Pacific Railway.
as its name suggests. was originally in
tended TO stretch from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific ..,-zza. This great
transcontinental highway its Protectors,
at the start. intended should be con-
structed by the national government. to
be and continue for all time a national
railway Events developed contrary to
the plans Of the projectors, but, none the
less, the first OF al the transcontinental
lines on which a stroke Of work was done
was the Missouri Pacific.
Bentons idea Of a railway owned by
the national government was formally
presented at the second session Of the
Thirty-frst Congress. when. on DeCem-
Der IS, 1850, ne introduced in the Senate
q bill providing for the construction Of a
national highway from the city Of ST.
Louis to the Gulf Of San Francisco. in the
state OF California BY the provision Of
this bill. the national government was TO
dedicate a strip Of land one hundred miles
wide from St Louis 70 San Francisco TO
be used for the purpose of locating rail-
roads, ordinary driveways, telegraph
lines, &c Branch lines we're TO be in
cluded in the project, which were TO run
southwest from the main line into New
Mexico and Arizona, and northwest
through Wyoming and Oregon, for which
purpose the bill provided for the reserva-
ton Of a strip OF land fifty miles wide.
1t Is easy to see to-day that this mag
nificent public domain, If Il had been re-
served would certainly yield a revenue
amply sufficient 70 support the national
railway Benton's imagination had pic
tured
It was in course of the public aglta-
tion which was carried on prior TO the
introduction Of his national railway bill
in 1880 that Benton used phrase which
has been more quoted in subsequent
years than any other thing he said dur
ing his long political career. A conven-
tion was held at St Louis TO promote the
railroad project, and it was at this con-
vention. not on the floor of the Senate.
as many people enormously assume, that
Senator Benton in the close Of his speech,
turning toward the setting sun and with
uplifted finger accentuating his words,
cried: There is East. there IS India"
Benton never saw his ambitious project
materialiZed in any definite form. His de-
feat for reelection TO the Senate came in
1851, a year after his bill was introduced
and no one else in Congress seems 10 have
had the disposition 10 push the measure.
The National Government never went
into railway ownership. although it did
grant, subsequently, enormous subsidies
for the construction Of several transcon-
tinentaI railways. None Of these, how
ever, was directly associated with the
first OF the transCOntinental lines. which
was started at St. Louis. But it is a
matter of historic interest at this par
ticular time that the Missouri Pacific viii
in a short time be an essential and inte-
grail link not only In a transcontinental
line from St. Louis 10 the Pacific, but
in a transcOntinental line which will
probably make an uubrOken belt from
the Atlantic 70 the Pacific. In a way
therefore. there is a probability that part
Of the dream Of Benton Will be fulfilled.