Year: 1869

In publishing the abstract of the Hon. Isaac
N. Morris's report upon the last eighty six
miles of the Union Pacific Railway wo follow
the fair plan which we have uniformly adopted
of giving both the people and the Company
full hearing. Mr.. Morris is hardly so severe
upon the owners and constructors of the road
as Mr.. Snow, whose report was published sew
eral weeks ago; but his statements are GER
tainly important, not TO say alarming, and we
trust the President will give them the most
careful attention. We deem 1t just to add,
however, that the section of road to which
they refer is by far the worst in
the whole 1885 miles between PrOmon-
tory and Omaha, having been built when
the ground was frozen, and when the Union
and Central Pacific Roads were in the last heat
of their great race for the subsidies. The dam
gerous bridges of which Mr.. Morris speaks are
fast being replaced by permanent structures
and the substitution of better material for the
rotten sandstone built into some of the piers
and culverts is going on rapidly. Our speclal
correspondent explained the other day that the
stone, which was perfectly hard when taken
from the quarry disintegrated after exposure
to the atmosphere but this is misfortune
which the constructors can hardly have antici-
pated, and they are making all haste to apply the
remedy. We cannot help suspecting that Mr..
Morris has unintentionally exaggerated the de-
fects of the road. There can be little doubt,
however, that the great Pacific route is not yet
what the law requires it to be made, " hrst-
"class railway in every respect" The subsidies
have been paid out too rapidly, and we have
been too careless about retaining guarantees
for the completion of the work according to the
terms of the contract. If the Government still
possesses any means Of compelling the Com
pany to bring the condition of the road up TO
the standard determined by the board of en-
gineers appointed by Secretary Harlan, we hope
it will be exerted with the utmost strictness.
We have paid an enormous price for the road;
and there is no reason why we should not ex-
act the very last stroke of work for which we
bargained-uHless indeed we have foolishly
thrown away the power to enforce our demands.


There is another part of Mr.. Morris's report
which will attract attention, though it seems to
be rather outside his official duties The Gov
erument holds a second mortgage upon the
road for the amount of the bonds issued to pay
for its construction. The Company execute
first mortgage to the holders of their own





out the Government lien by means of fore
closure and sale, at which of course the prop
erty would not bring enough to satisfy the
FIRST mortgage7 The scheme is very simple
one. Somebody secretly representing the Com
pany would get hold of $iO,0OO,OOO or Sl5,OOOOOO
of the first mortgage bonds, and, on default OF
payment in the interest, would foreclose
The Company would become the pur-
chasers almost at their own price, for
who could bid against them Few individ-
uals are rich enough, and as for the Govern
| ment-why what could Uncle Sam do with
two thousand miles of railway Mr. Morris
has a safeguard against this danger In the
original charter the Government bonds con-
sttutell first lien. BY the Act of July 2, 1864,
they were subordinated to the COmpany's
bonds and made second lien. Mr. Morris
SAYS, Repeal this Act, and make them again n
| first lien as they were in the charter. This
! may be bad, TO be sure, for the holders of the
! Companys bonds. which would be suddenly
converted from first TO second mortgages; but
| it is their affair careat emptor. Mr.. Morris's
plan is ingenious, but it does MT look honest.
We can't see in what respect it is any better
than the proposition to pay in paper the bonds
We had promised TO pay in gold.