Mr. Speaker, the bill now before the House is of so much conse ueuce to the people of the entire nation, and more particularly to the States known as the northwestern States, and especially to the State which I have the honor in part to represent here, that I should consider myself false to my duty toward my constituents if I did not occupy a brief period of time in its advocacy. The proposition contained in this bill is a very plain and very simple one. It is in effect that the U.S shall indorse, for a limited period of time, a limited portion of the stock of this company. It is that the U.S shall guaranty the stock of the I prefer not to yield Northern Pacific Railroad Company upon the O gross amount of $57,000,000, or an avemge amount ofabout32,000 dollars permile, for the period of 20 years. I hope it is distinctly understood in the House that this guarantee does not in any case extend beyond the period of 20 years, nor does it in an way extend to the principal of any part of the bonds of the company. The whole question, then, for this House to determine is whether the U.S. government will be safe in making such a guarantee, because it must be apparent to all that if the U.S. can build this great road, reaching from the head of Lake Superior to Puget sound, through a distance of 1800 miles, and do it withoutincurring any loss to itself, it should by all means give the aid which is asked. This matter, then, resolves itself into the simple question, is the U.S. safe in taking such a step? Now, we have had presented here by the opponents of this bill quotation after quotation from pamphlets and from speeches to show that the land and already made to the company is of such enormous value that it alone oug it to enable the company to build the road; that in any event it is of such great value that when the road shall have been constructed the land adjacent to it and already granted to the company will be equal in value to the total cost of the road itself. Now, Mr. Speaker, if all these statements are true then this Government runs no risk whatever in giving the guarantee which is asked for, because the property of the company, when the road shall have been built, will be worth all that will have been expended upon it, and will therefore most assuredly be ample security for the interest upon a limited portion of the stock. We were told yesterday by the Gentfrom Ohio upon my left [Mr. SPALDING] that the land grant already made to this company is abundantly sufficient to build the road, an to prove it he read to us an extract from a letter of Hon. John Wilson, 3rd Auditor of the Treasury. I ask the Clerk to again read that extract.