Imperial Valley press., 1922-12-01
"REMINISCENCES
ses4a OF A CENTENARIAl1

13" appointed in the House to investi-
gate the feasibility. of constructing
| transcontinental railroad. This com
mittee put through the. act of 1852,
which gave life to the Union Pacific.
| Cole was elected to Congress IN
l1S63. Aware that as an official OF the
Federal Governm ent he would be called
| on to take action with respect to the
goyernment-financed transcontinental
roads, he sold his 25 shares Of Central
Pacific stock for $4,000. The late
Leland Stanford was the purchaser.
When Cole became a member of tho
Lower House, he was placed on III:
COMMITTEE OF 49," which was headc4
by Thaddeus Stevens Of Pennsylvania.
The new California Congressman
proved his value by pointing out de-
fects in the act of 1852 AMI 10 him VS.
given the task of drafting amendnen:5
to that law.
| In 1864, the amended ILL pass;
Congress, providing r2r incorporate
of the Union Pacific to ','.!ld Tastwar
from the Missouri River ,nd the Cen.
trail Pacific to build ea2tSard to jo''
the Union Pacific. TAc 1854 legisia-
ton placed the credit CT tho Unitcd
States behind the reads anl gave thcI,
large land grants.
| In 1865, Cole was def3ate'; Coz e.
election to Congress ty the sclf-saLcr
interests to whom he had given aid
the Central Pacific promoters. Coils =
Huntington, as head of the group CO.
sisting Of Stanford-who bought Coles
Central Pacific stock for $4,000
Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins,
conceived the idea of great terminal
on Goat Island in San Francisco Bay.
He sought to acquire from the United
States the tidelands to the north of tho
island. Cole fought this project. SO
he didn't go back to Congress.
| But he did come back strong IL
1867, being elected to the United States
Senate, where he served until 1878.
From his own personal knowledge.
| former Senator Cole agrees thoroughly
with the decision Of the United States
Supreme Court where u says:
| I'VE do not find It necessary to pass
on the Governments contention that
| the leases 70 the Southern Pacific and
the acquisition by it o. Central Pacific
stock were in and OF them.e.vCS Viola
tive OF the Pacific railroad acts OF
Congress Of 1852 and subsequent sup
Elemental legislation"
In support of this finding by the
tenarian Senator took an old volume
Of statutes from his library and read
without the aid OF glasscs-the follow
ing excerpt from the Pacific railroad
acts:
"That the several companies author
lied to construct the aforesaid roads
are hereby required to operate and use
said roads and telegraph for all pur-
poses of communication, travel anc
transportation, so far as the public ard
the Government are concerned, as ore
continuous line, and in such operation
and use to afford and secure 30 cacS
equal advantages and facilities as tJ
rates, time and transportation HrijitcIt
Iany discrimination of any kind in :l,Lr
of the road or business of any CT eitte.
of said companies or adverse to tho
road or business of any or either of tEa
others"
After reading this extract, Coles
comment was as follows:
"The original intent of our Pacific
railroad acts has apparently not been
carried out, either morally or legally.
We had in mind in the committee of
13' solely the development of the great
West, and at least this spirit should
lgovern controversies of any nature
whatever. Competitive transportation
is essential to development and should
be fostered in every way possible"
| Cole was born in Lodi, N. Y. on Sep
tember II, 1922. He jointed the '49ers
in the rush for gold in California and
then became lawyer. Recently, he
visited the United States Senate and
was the center Of an informal recep-
tion on the floor.
He has no rule for long life. Asked
for his recipe on 'how to live to be Q
hundred" he replied:
There is no rule. Just live. For
my part l have always avoided ex-
tremes and excesses."