Mr. HENDERSON. Mr. Speaker, I think it would be very proper for the House to hear a few words from the friends of this bill, from those immediately interested in it, before the question is taken upon its postponement. This action of postponement is equivalent in a great many instances to killing a bill off at once. We very well know what the result will be when business is crowding upon this House at the close of a short session; the railroad bills will be thrown out of consideration entirely, and this important and grand improvement be delayed and thrown back for years, if not defeated altogether. It occurs to me, Mr. Speaker, that it comes with rather an ill grace from gentlemen living in old States which have already received 1000s and millions of acres of the richest and most productive lands the sun ever shone upon for railroad purposes, which railroads they have now in successful operation, to object to our having a few 1,000 acres of mount ain lands to assist in building this short railroad of 150 miles to connect the waters of Puget sound with the Columbia river. Those of us who have traveled over that country and know the nature of that land are fully aware of the necessity of the improvement contemplated by this bill. And I will say to gentlemen upon this floor who are alarmed at the idea of the immense amount of land which is to be donated to this road that they need have no fear upon that score. The building of this road will assuredly make the remaining half of the land worth incomparably more than the whole of it is worth now. There is not a man in America acquainted with that country who will doubt the statement I have made that the building of this road will increase the value of the alternate sections in comparably more than the whole of the land is now worth. A great amount of it is worth very little now; and a great deal of it will probably always be worth very little. But much of that land will be very much increased in value by the construction of that road. Without such a road that land will perhaps lie idle for 6,000 more years; at least a great deal of it. Now, let gentlemen remember that this road is to connect Puget sound, the grandest and most beautiful inland sea in America, the most extensive and commodious harbor upon the Pacific coast, with the Columbia river, the 2nd largest river in our country. And it is to be a continuation of the road that connects the Columbia river with the bay of SanFran cisco; I might say that it is a continuation of a road connecting Puget sound with the bay of SanFrancisco. Let gentlemen consider the magnitude of such a measure. Now, the only trouble that appears to exist in regard to this bill is that it calls for a grant of the public lands. Now, I ask of what value are these public lands without the means of transportation to and over them. I do hope that gentlemen living on the east side of the Rocky mountains, who now have their railroads, who have had their share of the public lands, will suffer those of us who live upon the west side to judge of these little matters pertaining to our particular interests. We have as much interest in the proper disposition of that land as my ofriendfrom Illinois [Mr. WASHBURNE] can have. We do not want that land wasted or put out of the way of settlement and use; far from it. We are more anxious to have the public lands settled there than he can be, or than any other man who lives so far away can be. Why gentlemen should endeavor to retard or embarrass great national improvements on the Pacific coast is a matter of profound as tonishment to me; but gentlemen say they are not opposed to improvements, it is simply the manner in which we propose to accomplish them. They only wish to shape and fashion legislation on the various subjects in which we of that coast are interested. Now, Mr. Speaker, that certainly is very kind in them; but we are disposed to decline their courtesy on the ground that we feel ourselves abundantly capable of shaping these little matters for ourselves; and furthermore, we imagine that we are not only as capable of judging what ought to be done as those gentlemen who wish to do everything for us, but we think ourselves equally honest and patriotic, and really as much disposed to protect the public interest though we make much less noise about it. Now, I hope this bill will be put upon its passage and o at once, and grant this small favor to the country that needs it so much.