to the consideration of our readers; and trust that active measures will be taken by the people of Missouri, to place their claims to a grant of public lands, for purposes of internal improvement, upon such grounds as will secure the favorable action of Congress at its next session.]-Editors.

ART.-VI.-RAILROAD LAND BILLS-THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

The land bill making a grant of land to the States of Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama, in aid of the construction of a railroad from Mobile to Chicago has become a law, and we congratulate the friends of public improvements in the West on the probability now of a vigorous prosecution of that important line of railroad. The other land bills in which the citizens of this State are more immediately interested, making similar grants to the State of Missouri, in aid of the construction of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and of the Pacific railroad, were rejected in the House by considerable majorities, for reasons which we do not clearly comprehend, and which it would be unprofitable to screutinise now. The failure of the last mentioned bill, has undoubtedly severely disappointed the friends of the Missouri "Pacific Railroad;" that enterprise in which the citizens of St. Louis and of the country south of the Missouri river, are so deeply interested; and it has disappointed them the more, that the success of the bill was looked for, confidently, and calculated on. Understanding that the land bill in aid of the Mobile and Chicago railroad would pass, it was fairly inferred that the reasons which secured the passage of that bill would equally insure the passage of the two bills applicable to this State. The next session of Congress is, however, at hand, and it behoves the friends of this enterprise and of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and all friends to public improvement for its own sake, to consult together and take some practical steps to ascertain the nature of the parliamentary difficulty, for such it must have been, by which these important bills were lost, so as to be prepared at the coming session, successfully to contend with it.

In regard to the "Pacific railroad," the surveys of which have been in active progress during the whole of this season, the effect of the loss of this bill may be to delay its definite location for a time; but this delay, if it should occur, could not extend beyond the termination of the next session of Congress, on the 4th March, 1851. The commencement of construction at St. Louis, would necessarily experience a similar suspension. This short delay does not, however, represent all the evil which this enterprise may suffer from the rejection of the land bill, unless our citizens rally and take some steps to make their existence better felt at Washington. In all undertakings

of this kind, it is the few who clearly perceive the advantages to the State and to private property, and who tenaciously advocate and labor for it until their endeavors are successful.— The many without whose aid they cannot proceed, flow to it with the flood which generally attends its first conception, but are equally ready to drop from it with every apparent ebb.They have not equally studied its effects and creative properties; the conviction of its advantages is, with them, one of credit rather than personal examination, and any occurrence increasing the difficulties of the project, tends to excite their distrust and shake their confidence. In the State of Missouri, all are so much interested in the commencement and vigorous prosecution of some one leading railroad, which shall at the same time give life to the resources of the section through which it passes, and encouragement and credit to similar roads in other sections of the State, that we may look for less hindrance from this timidity, than usually prevails in the commencement of works of the same extent. Its existence, however, more or less, is one of the discouraging features of all enterprises of this kind, and the present occasion is one to call it into life. In connection with the Pacific railroad, we have thus far been wonderfully exempt from it. The directors of that railroad must have felt encouraged and gratified, by the hearty support which they have received at every point coming within the influence of this proposed road. This land bill is the first discouragement that has appeared. It is an important but not an insurmountable one, and will call forth, we trust, that personal action which the occasion demands. Upon the successful progress of this, the first railroad enterprise which has been earnestly taken hold of by our citizens, hinges the general faith in our ability as a State, to work out, like other neighboring States, the relief of our internal resources, by a prudent and successful system of rapid communications thro' the leading sections of the State, settling and cultivating the idle lands, opening their produce to the markets of the south and east, enabling the capital now lying dormant in the mining districts to procure a return, creating new establishments for the reduction of the metals, and enlarging, vastly, the trade

and commerce of our cities.

If this road languishes now, our more enterprising neighbors to the east of the Mississippi, will look northward, from Springfield towards Carthage and Kanesville, for a passage to the western country, and a connection with the great railroad enterprise of modern days, beyond the limits of this State, for it cannot be possible that the railroad from Hannibal to St. Joseph will be constructed, if the Pacific railroad, with the wealth and interest of St. Louis to back it, fails to be sustained.

But that it will be sustained admits of but little doubt, if our citizens and the friends of the road sufficiently value their own interests to secure the earnest advocacy of their just claims at the coming session of Congress, and thereby the passage of the land bill then, as the corner stone, on which depends, in a measure, the speedy construction of their railroad. Failing in that, there remains, doubtless, in this city, and in the southern counties of the route, ample means to make up the deficiency and build the road-but will that means be forthcoming with the emergency. Will not rather the discouragement attending this loss, and the hope that another session may correct it, lead to sluggish and temporising action, extending the time of construction over double the number of years necessary under better influences.

On the supposition that justice will, under proper representations prevail, and that a land bill in aid of the Pacific railroad will yet become a law, we propose to make a few remarks on certain provisions of the land bills of the late session.

The broad principle of these bills disclaims the propriety of affording aid in the shape of lands to any railroad company, without providing for the return, in some shape, of an equivalent in value. The correctness of the principle is conceded, but the manner of its application to this road and to the Hannibal road is objectinable. In strict fairness the government should not seek to secure more than an equitable consideration for the present money value of the lands granted, and in policy it could well afford to accept of less, for the sake of hastening the completion of any link of that westerly communication, which by bringing it near to the Pacific coast and to the intervening lands now in possession of the Indians, places within its immediate practical control, countries which are now all but beyond its efficient reach. This policy has been liberally acted on already, in the case of the lines of steam ships to Chagres and to Europe.

By one clause of the bill, the government arranges for the payment of the lands donated, by doubling the price of the alternate sections reserved. These reserved sections are thus made to pay for the lands conferred. By another clause the government further pays itself by requiring of the company the transportation of any "property or troops of the U. States," "free from toll or other charge." An explanation of this last provision has been given, to which we will hereafter advert.

This double payment shows, it must be confessed, a cautious protection of the money rights of the government, and cannot be attacked as a liberal encouragement of great public improvements.

We contend that in the case of this particular road and also of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, looking on both as

forks of a great road yet to be made to the Pacific, the government could well afford to grant them lands without providing for any equivalent on the face of the bill, the advantage in the shape of rapid and convenient transport and communication, and of a speedy settlement of the public lands, forming ample compensation on the narrowest grounds of trading practice.

The liberality contended for is one which is clearly for the interest of the giver as well as the receiver. It is one, as regards the land which is familiar in both State and county legislation, where, in the construction of new roads, the benefit conferred by the road or railroad is directed to be considered, in estimating the value of the lands applied to the purposes of the road. It is a common provision in railroad charters in the eastern States, that the damage done to lands in passing over them shall be compared with the benefit accruing to the land, and payment made only where that damage shall appear to exceed the benefit, and this provision is constantly acted on in land appraisements there. It is true that the U. S. does not receive the whole of this benefit as in the case of the settler, but it receives a large share of it in two ways. In the rapid sale of land on either side of the railroad which would otherwise have remained unsold, and have been disposed of after a a time at reduced rates, and in the reduction of the annual outlay attending the action of land offices and land agents. But these considerations we look upon as entirely secondary to the more important one of placing the central government in prompt communication with its distant States and territories.

And as the Pacific railroad of Missouri fulfils to the extent of 300 miles the last condition, as a link or branch of the great road to San Francisco, we are led to speak of the proposed railroad to the Pacific ocean, which, to distinguish it from the Pacific railroad of this State, will be named here the California railroad.

The one prominent difficulty attending the construction of a railroad is usually that of the ways and means. The capital once obtained, the other difficulties of execution gradually

vanish.

The California railroad project presents two prominent difficulties, which discussion will doubtless bye-and-bye solve.The first is the immense capital required. The second is the organization of a company or companies, and a system of management and operation practically applicable to the construction of 2500 miles of one continuous route of railroad.

We hold that when a fair remuneration can be demonstrated, or predicated on reasonably just grounds, capital will be forthcoming, and a close scrutiny of the statistics of the last two years in connection with California, taking into consideration the still undeveloped commerce of the Pacific ocean, will pro

bably satisfactorily show that a fair return for the capital required could be depended on.

The second difficulty, is at this moment the great difficulty of the project. With a liberal grant of land from Congress, and ample means provided for the construction of the railroad, the efficient application of the means under proper control and within a limited time, would still form the problem to be solved: A clear perception of a business like mode of going to work, would go far to untie the knot which at present, more than any other feature of this great project, perplexes business men.

Independent of the value of this project as a private enterprise, and its pressing importance to California and Oregon, the Government in the execution of its bureau duties is deeply interested in its speedy accomplishment. It is on account of this interest of State, of convenience and of economy on the part of the government proper, that it can afford to make large concessions whether in the shape of public lands or otherwise, to secure through private means the execution of this project, and this without further return than the important facilities which the road will afford it. A connection with two most important States and their sea-borde on the Pacific, of six days instead of six weeks; the means of concentrating troops on such short notice upon any one of the Indian tribes; the opening of lands now beyond the reach of settlement to emigrants, and the commerce and security resulting thence. Are not these benefits worth more than any land which has been proposed to be granted. The more closely the considerations indicated are scrutinised, the more clearly will they be perceived to be advantages cheaply procured at the expense of any donation of land which the government will consent to give.

The distance of California and Oregon from the seat of government must render its control over the operations of its agents there, very unsatisfactory, and must oblige it to trust them with a discretionary power about as extensive as if they were established in the Mediterranean instead of in the United States. At Washington, the evils attending the lapse of time in receiving answers to important communications must be constantly felt in the State Department and in the Army and Navy Departments. When there is no remedy, such evils are submitted to-where a remedy is at hand at a reasonable expense t will be coveted and procured. To knit herself to her colonies, and have prompt communication with them, England created a steam post office marine at great expense but with most satisfactory results. Her relation with the Canadas now as respects time, is as intimate, as has been hitherto the city of Washington with Pensacola or New Orleans during the winter months, and greatly more intimate that those of our government with the territories and States west of Missouri, Acting on the