| Show THE PACIFIC ROADS The New York World is not pleased vith the report of tho Senate committee on Pa ific railroads as to the funding of the debt of the Central Pacific Our contemporary is satified with the arrangement proposed for the settlement of the Union Pacific indebtedness debtedness but thinks the Central Pacific bill is one that ought to be investigated with the utmost care and then probably defeated The World says Thus is illus trated not only the value of having your own Senator but the wonderful influence which is exerted by COLLIS P HUNTINGTON HUNTING-TON The Central road has evaded and eluded the government for many years That it is not so well able to pay as the Union Pacific is due to its own fault Mr IUXTINGTONS profit has been in weakening weaken-ing the security of the government and now he takes his victim by the throat and demands terms which ought not to be granted unless the United States are entirely tirely powerless in the hands of this spoiler and wrecker S Our influential contemporarys objection to the Central Pacific funding bill is inspired spired by its hatred of Senator STAISTORD and Mr HUNTINGTON rather than by a fear that justice will not be done in the premises prem-ises Either this is the case or the World is deplorably and inexcusably ignorant of the facts The terms offered to the Union Pacific are much better than those extended tended to the Central the conditions and circumstances being taken into account Tlie Union Pacific has fifty years in which to pay its debt and the interest is reduced to 3 per cent while the Central Pacific is given seventyfive years the interest in-terest being lowered to 2 percent per-cent Those who are familiar with the facts will at once say that the terms upon which the Union Pacific gets a settlement settle-ment are better thau those allowed to the Central Pacific and that in both cases the government is getting the best of the arrangement ar-rangement With the exception of a comparatively com-paratively small section of the country westward the Union Pacific runs through a region which gives it business and the business increases every year Some parts of the line lie in very rich agricultural territory ter-ritory and at other places there are valuable valu-able mines the country is a growing one is steadily settling up and is productive produc-tive The Central Pacific runs across a veritable desert nonproductive and producing pro-ducing no business from a few miles beyond be-yond Ogden until it reaches the timber of the Sierra Nevadas It may be said that there is practically no local traffic The road has to be kept up and trains run SOO miles for the business arising at either end As the Senate committees report expressed it the country between Ogden and California is like a bridge We dont know what influence Senator STANFORD and Mr C P HUNTINGTON have brought to bear upon the senatorial committee to bring about this report but we do know that this government is getting get-ting better terms ot settlement with the Central Pacific than could have been expected ex-pected under the circumstances If the company shall pay in full as is contemplated contem-plated in this scheme it will give the government one hundred cents on the dollar for a debt which is not today worth twentyfive cents on the dollar The Central Pacific would make money by giving up the road and cancelling its obligation to the government govern-ment The Senators understand this and it is to be hoped Congress will also understand under-stand it and pass the bill that will not only secure the government but make it possible possi-ble for the Central Pacific people to manage man-age their road as it should be managed and make it earn the most money possible The people of the west have grown tired of hearing those of the east growling about the Pacific railway debts The United States never made a better in vestmentthan in the first transcontinental railway and if not a dollar of the money loaned shall ever be returned the federal treasury the nation will be repaid over andover and-over again for every cent it advanced The settlement of an empire of territory was hastened fifteen years by the road and millions of people are now adding wealth to the nation by developing resources re-sources which would today be lying dormant dor-mant were it not for the Pacific railroads |
