Mr. HENDERSON. further. Now, Mr. Speaker I think the subject under consideration is erliaps of more importance than any which as come before the present session of Congress. This measure is not only a matter of sectional interest, but of interest to all the people of the U.S. It is a matter, sir, of national importance. It is not of slight moment. It affects the welfare of this country to an extent with which nothing else which has been presented thus far for the consideration of this body will compare. Before proceeding to remark furtherin regard to this road I will say that the Gentfrom Illinois [Mr. Wnsrwoarn] is uowu to be a man of great wit, and hence his vast display of with and eloquence today. But, sir, I confess I fail to see any argument or reason in what he has uttered. In my opinion he is on both sides of the question. At the outset he appeared to be opposed to the road, but afterward he a cared to be in favor of it. I could not hel t inking of a class of politicians on the Pacific coast who have been in favor all the time of the Union, who have been in favor of the Government of the U.S., but who at the same time always laughed and cheered when they heard that the rebels had got the advantage in any conflict. So the witty oints that he made were cheered and laugllied at by those who were opposed to the road. The enemies of the road were decidedly tickled and amused at the with he exhibited. I confess thatif all the friends of the road were like himself, it would be a long I cannot yield any time before we should ever have the road constructed. I say, deliver us from all such friends! I could nothelp beingsurprised at the anxiety which be manifested to have this bill referred to the ComPubLands. I could not help being surprised that other men should have an anxiety that this bill should be referred to the ComPubLands, especially when it is well known that the land has already been donated to this company. This bill does not (propose to donate any lauds. Then, why senit to that committee? It must be simply for the purpose of defeating the bill. We know very well that delay often defeats a measure, and that referring a bill has a tend ency to destroy it. I see no reason why any gentleman should ask this bill should go to the ComPubLands unless it may be ultimately to defeat it. If the bill asked for a grant of lands perhaps it would be just and necessary to send it to e ComPubLands; but the lands have already been disposed of for 18 months or 2 years. see, therefore, not the smallest propriety in the reference of the bill as suggested. Mr. Speaker, there has been a good deal of interest manifested as to the haste nd hurry we are in in reference to this bill. Why should we be in such haste? Why should we be in a hurry? The reason is this: men are ready to go to work, 100s and 1,000s of dollars are ready to be invested in labor upon this road. But the company are not prepared to go to work until this bill shall ass. If we delay any longer it will be too late to go to work this summer. It must be passed soon or the work will be still further delayed. A few weeks of delay will defeat the measure at least for 12 months. It is important, then, that a bill of such magnitude and in which so many interests are involved should be passed imme diately. It is necessary for the purpose of being able to send out the propermen that the work may be commenced this year. It is said these lands are given away. Iwant to devote a portion of my time to that point. I deny that the public lands are bein given away. There is no donation of the public and s in it at all. There is a provisional transfer, or I might say sale, of lands, but no donation. The government has millions of acres of land lyin there that have been lying there for 1,000s of years, and which have been of no benefit to anybody and I say that without the construction of this road they would continue to be of no benefit to anybody. gentlemen talk about a great sacrifice of land; millions of acres given away to speculating companies! Sir, I deny the truth of any such idea of its bein a donation. Let us illustrate this point by p ain figures. Suppose my friend liere on the left [Mr. wasnaunus, of Illinois] owns 1,000acres of land lying out on the commons, unfenced and unimproved, grown up with briers, and which has become the den of wild beasts; that land does him no good, and it does no one else any good. Now, suppose that agentleman should make a proposition to him of this kind, “ If you will give me half the land I will fence the whole of it, I will sink a well so as to provide water, and clear off the brush so as to make your part of it profitable to you.” He accedes to the proposition, the bargain is completed, and this lim becomes worth to him, perhaps, 500 or 1000 dollars a year. Then another man comes and says to him, in the spirit in which gentlemen speak here, and asks, “ Why did you give away that rich and productive land 2" I say that itwas afair bargain and sale, and when the individual complied with the terms of the reposition, he held it as honestly as ifhe hatfpaid $1,000 for it. Now, let me as in regard to this donation of land to the roa that the land does not go to the company until the road is built, and when the road is built the value of the lands retained by the Government will be increased at least 100fold. I ask any man to say whether that is a gift. If the company builds the road, and by so doinginercases the Value of the government lands 100%., is that a gift of the lands? Is it ll donation? Is it a waste of the lands? No sensible man will say that it is a gift, or a donation, or a waste. It is a sensible investment; just such investments as this Government s in the habit of making. Gentlemen talk about (Wasting the public lands. Iam not rised that someof my filends from the A; antic coast who have never seen much 9 the wilds the West, think these lands would be worth fforn 100 to 300 dollars an acre; but the fact is, that these lands have rerriitined unsold for 1,000s of cars, and we todlty are dtlering them at $1 5 peracre, aridenn not get an price ibrthem and that state of thin will continue until a road is built by which immigration can to that region, and the collnt s secured from the savnges. Again, “ say that the Government will not have to pay a dilute of interest. The Government only leirds its credit. Let us illnstrdte this point, also. Suppose that a father desires to assist his son to commence business, but, from misfortunes, has no ready money on hand, but has credit at the bank. He draws his notes for $10,000, and hands them to his son, and says to him, “Here are the notes; you can put them in the bank and do business upon them, but you must refund the money by the proceeds of your sales as rapidly as may be. Now, suppose the son to be successful; he meets his fathers notes when due: is there any mono paid; is the father called upon to pay that 10,000? Not at all. He had no $10,000 to pay but he bad credit, and that credit can led the son to go successfully into business. and, sir, this company does not ask the Government to advance $6,000 or any other sum, but simply to aranty interest at 6%., which would only become due when 25 miles of the road are completed. Then the interest on that amount is due; but one 4th of the gross receipts of the road are to be immediately applied to paying that interest. Another provision is, that the company can refund that money by transporting the mails and munitions of war of the govern ment; and there is no doubt that in a very few years the Government would get back in transportation all that it advanced. But there is a 3rd resource. The proceeds of the sales of the 1/2 of these lands, all, the lands lying on the south side of the road, would refund to the Government all the money it had aid. Mr. Speaker, I halve seen no man who has passed over this route to the Pacific coast, either oing or returning, who opposes this measure. very man who has view the Pacific coast, from SanFrancise o bay to Puget sound, understands the nature and necessity of this road. I know that many men seem to think that Pu ct sound and SanFrancise o bay are almost immediately together, and I wish to say that those 2 points are 1000 miles apart. There we have a coast of near 2000 miles. We have there an agricultural country that is unsurpassed in the world; Wehave a grazing country that is unsurpassed in the World; we have manufacturing facilities that are unsurassed in the world; Wehave one of the health est climates and one of the loveliest countries in the world, and it will necessarily settle up very rapidly; and when this railroad shall span from the lakes to the Pacific shores you will then have sources of trade, travel, and commerce that will astonish the World. There will not only be a grand increase in the tide of commerce and travel from the Atlantic to the pacific, but it will lilso increase the Wealth of the Atlantic coast, for the trade from Asia to Europe must pass through their cities. I am, therefore, in favor of this bill. I want this road built in order that the starving men, women, and children n on the Atlantic shore may have the psivilege o emiing to the western shore of t Republic. c want them there, not to be subsisted by charity, buttolabor. We seek laborers there. We can feed and clothe half a million men and women in that country. The difficult is to get them there. If this road were built it would teem With emigrants to the western shore, ithere they would find happy homes and could secure an independence for themselves and their children instead of subsisting on charity in a state of pnuperism. Mr. Speaker,I have not said anything in regard an o magnificent gold mines that are there in country. " I leare that port of the sobjecl, O others. I feel less concernedss to that rtle ulltr {flatter than I do in that of homes or men and women now destitute. I see no objection to this bill, and I believe that if we were to sit here and talk for 6 months there Would be the same quibbling objections made to it that We have heard here. I believe that the bill is about as nearly perfect as we can make one, and that it is a sail: bill both for the Government and for the Company. It has been intimated here that this company has sold out once and maymdo it again. ll I have to say about that is t t if they do sell out I hope their successors will be better prepared to execute this great wbrk than they are, and if so let them do it; we want this work done, and we do not care who does it so that it is done, and well done. Mr. Speaker, I most ltrdently desire to see this Wor prosper. We feel that it is almost the life of our soilic coast to have a railroad connecting it with the atlantic. I heartily favor the Central Pacific railroad terminatin at SanFrancise o; but I want we roads, i not 3, constructed just as quickly as they can possibly be. One road could be very arbitrary; it might be very tyrannical; but when there are 2 roads we will have competition, which is said to be the life oft de. I have heard it vanced in this House at this session many arguments in favor of another railroad to the city of NewYork. It is said that we want 2 roads from Washington to NewYork, both to run almost on the same line and why do they want 2 roads? In order to secure competition. So we want tlvo roads to the Pacific coast; we want competition on that line and I firmly believe that within 5 years of the time when these roads will be completed each of them will be compelled to lay own a double track in orderto accommodate the business they will lime to perform and let us have this road, and the Southern road and just as many roads as men will build, without involving the government in expense and that is the character of this bill.