Bancroft Library SPEECH 
 
 HOI. T. G. PHELPS, OF GAL 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 
 
 DELIVERED IX THE HOUSE OF KEPKESENTATIVE8, APEJL 8, 1862. 
 
 The House having resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, 
 
 Eta the consideration, as a special order, to aid in constructing a railroad and telegraph 
 ne from the Missouri river U> the Pacific Ocean, Mr. PHELPS said: 
 
 Mr. Chairman, after the nble argument of the chairman of the committee, I pro- 
 pose to submit but a few remarks uptfn the important measure under consideration. 
 
 It has been thoroughly discussed in the public prints and by the great men of the 
 country in and out of Congress, and its merits are so well understood by not only 
 every member upon this floor, but by all of our constituents, that I cherish the 
 hope that Congress will be as willing to act speedily and favorably upon the bill as 
 the country is willing and anxious it should, as I believe the people, with a una- 
 nimity seldom known upon a great measure of the kind, have been desirous for a 
 loi g time for the consummation of this great project, that, is to be the means of 
 ing up the territory between the two inhabited portions of the country, and 
 bringing the Atlantic and Pacific States into a closer alliance, affording them the 
 means of intercommunication arid exchange so necessary to the peace, progress, 
 happiness, and security of a people living tinder the same Government. 
 
 While we have all seen and acknowledged the necessity of this great national 
 work when the country was in the enjoyment of peace, its necessity has become, 
 amidst the trials and dangers that now unhappily surround us, most painfully ap- 
 parent. A few weeks ago, when dark clouds hung like a pall over this city, 
 threatening Kuropean war, there was not, I presume, one of us who did not feel 
 that our Pacific possessions were isolated, exposed, and difficult of defence, rendering 
 us weak for standing the shock of battle with a foreign Power, and that we had 
 been negligent to the extent of guilt, in failing to prepare the country for the emer- 
 gency that then seemed to be upon us. The danger of European war is happily 
 ] for the present. But should we not profit by the peril through which the 
 ship of State has just been happily guided, and prepare for future difficulties that 
 may not admit of so easy an adjustment It is not my purpose to speak at much 
 length of the importance of this measure iu securing the safety of the Pacific States. 
 On that score my colleague has made an unanswerable argument, for which I thank 
 him, and for which his constituents and the country will thank him. I could add 
 but little to the force of his able speech. 
 
 :, sir, were words of greater wisdom uttered than those used by our great 
 states nan when he counseled us to prepare in time of peace for war. Our weak 
 and assailable points should at once be strengthened and made secure. The safest 
 and cheapest way to avoid foreign dictation and war is to create an impregnable 
 :<;e, to place ourselves in such a position that we cannot be assailed by any na- 
 tion with any chance of success to the assailant or permanent detriment to ourselves. 
 At the present time our Pacific slope is not only isolated from the central Govern- 
 ment, and from the wealth and population of the country, but is almost wholly de- 
 fenceless; entirely so in fact, except the partial defences in the harbor of San Fran- 
 cisco. We have a line of sea-coast of more than one thousand miles in extent, 
 stretching from 32 3<)' to 48 30' north latitude, and making in this distance seven and 
 one-half degrees of longitude. Along this whole line there are no defences worthy 
 of the name, except the works at Fort Point and Alcatras Island; all the rest is at 
 the mercy of an invading force, which could be easily lauded at almost any poinfc 
 which might be selected. 
 
 a navy, we have upon the Pacific waters some three or four steam and other 
 war vessels, and perhaps as many more that could, under an urgent necessity, be 
 converted into war vessels without much delay. The population along the whole 
 ! numbers less than one million souls, scattered over an area much larger than 
 the original thirteen States of the Union a territory possessing a wealth in the 
 precious metals sufficient to tempt the cupidity of the world, and richer far in soil 
 than any other which we possess, excepting the deltas of some of the rivers in the 
 southern and western States. This people, though brave and loyal, are so scattered 
 and exposed at every point that they could, with the defensive resources with which 
 they are uow supplied, mak,e but afe.el ; u^aiudt^n invading fue. Weoughtj 
 
not, sir, to leave this distant portion of otrr domain longer thus exposed a tempta- 
 tion to other nations to make war upon us for its possession ; or, in case war ensues 
 from other causes, its exposed condition inviting the first notice of the enemy. We 
 should not subject to such hazard, or to any hazard at all, that portion of our coun- 
 try the mineral products of which form the basis of our currency, and which is add- 
 ing so much, year after year, to our national wealth; nor subject the Government 
 to the possible expenditure of untold millions for its defence after a crisis has arisen, 
 To fortify the whole coast \>y the erection of forts is a present impracticability ; that 
 is a work requiring a half century of time, and millions of money. 
 
 If, then, we would avoid the hazard of losing our Pacific possessions in case of 
 war, we must provide the means of defending them. This can only be done in one 
 of two ways. We must either have a railroad across the continent, by which troops 
 and munitions of war can be rapidly transported to that coast, or weViust maintain 
 a sufficient force there in time of peace to meet the exigencies of war, for it would 
 be wholly impracticable to send a force to that coast across the continent by the 
 means which we now have after hostilities are declared against us by a foreign 
 power, and equally impossible to send such a force by sea. To keep such a standing 
 army as would be necessary for its protection, on that coast, for a few years only, 
 would equal the entire coat of constructing a first class railroad from the Mississippi 
 to San Francisco; and the policy of keeping such a force in time of peace is more 
 objectionable to our people, and more obnoxious to the theory and practice of the 
 Government than to lend its aid in constructing a work of such national importance, 
 and one so clearly demanded in the absence of & large standing army, as furnishing 
 the only means of defending this important portion of our domain. Every one of 
 us would repudiate with infinite scorn the idea of relinquishing a single foot of our 
 territory, in any part of the country, whatever may be the cost of preserving its 
 integrity. Then we must elect between these two alternatives, namely, a large 
 standing army on the Pacific, or that of supplying the means of transporting an 
 army there in case of emergency. Can there be a doubt as to the choice the country 
 would make if submitted to the people? In regard to the importance of early action 
 in this matter, I find in a most able letter from our counsel at Paris, addressed to 
 Mr. Seward, the following timely suggestions : 
 
 "The un on of the Pacific and seabaard States by an iron road never appeared 8" clearly a na- 
 tional necessity as it lias since the recent threatened rupture with England. Ttie first and inevita- 
 ble result of a war with any great naval Power would be the loss of onr California possessions. 
 
 "Whatever may have been the traditional policy of the Government heretofore, some easy, sure, 
 tnd rapid communication between the Atlantic an.l the Pacific is now a subject of such direct 
 national concern that the Government must charge itself with the execution of it without much; 
 delay." 
 
 Never were words more true or more opportunely spoken. No one who has 
 visited our western coast has failed to realize their complete isolation from the Gene- 
 ral Government and their perilous condition in case of foreign war. But none 
 whose interests and homes are not there can appreciate the anxiety of the citizens 
 of that coast on this score. Should they not have all the security from foreign in- 
 vasioa which the General Government can reasonably extend to them? Have we 
 passed that period when any portion of our people can appeal in vain to the Gov- 
 ernment for protection ? I will not believe it. 
 
 It may be urged by some that the expenditure will be large. True, nominally it 
 is so, but in fact it is most insignificant, considering the great results to be gained. 
 The whole of the land to be donated, should all the lines of road mentioned in the 
 act be built, amounts, at Government prices, to not more than $11,000,000. So far 
 as concerns the issue of bonds of the Government, the amount which is provided 
 may be issued, as the road by sections of forty miles is fully completed, does not 
 exceed one half the cost of its construction, and the issue is only made on a first 
 mortgage of the road, which is to be uriincumbered by any other lien whatsoever, 
 the mortgage stipulating that the company will pay back to the Government in 
 mail and military service and in money the principal and interest of the bonds loaned, 
 and provides for a forfeiture of the road in case of a failure on the part of the com- 
 pany to fulfill the conditions imposed. 
 
 Does the Government take any hazard in making a loan of its credit in this way 
 to secure the construction of a great work so necessary to the general interests and 
 security of the whole country. Is it not one of those perfect!} 7 safe operations in 
 which bankers and merchants, when the amount does not exceed their means, do not 
 hesitate to engage. We believe it to be so, and that no loss can ultimately befall 
 the Government from aiding this enterprise. 
 
 But it is claimed by the anti-progressives that it is illegitimate for a Government 
 to .give aid in this way or in any way to any purpose of the kind. This is error. 
 f)n the contrary, sir, it is to carry out such great enterprises, which are demanded 
 for the safety of communities, and the wants of commerce and civilization, and are 
 beyond the means and ability of individual and corporate enterprise, that Govern- 
 ments are formed, and are just as legitimate objects for Government to engage in as 
 the construction and maintenance of ships of war, 
 
For what are Governments formed if not to protect their citizens from foreign in- 
 vasion and wrung to secure their happiness and promote their general welfare? 
 And are they restricted in the manner in which they shall .protect their citizens or 
 promote their general welfare? If we are satisfied that the building of this road 
 will render us as strong for defensive operations as would the building and manning 
 of an hundred line-of-battle ships, may we not assist the enterprising subjects of the 
 Government in building it by the exercise of the sara powers that we exercise 
 every time we make an appropriation for the increase of our Navy. Certainly we 
 inav do all this; and as I feel there can, at this day, be no lingering doubt in the 
 mind of any well informed man as to the imperative military necessity of this road, 
 I will pass from its consideration in this aspect, and consider for a few moments the 
 benefit* our Government and people are likely to derive from it in other respects. 
 
 The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. CAMPBELL) has shown us, by authentic 
 figures, that the f.o-st of transporting military and navel stores and the mails to the 
 Pacific coast, amounts to $7,000,000 per annum ; and that, of this sum, an amount 
 more than large*enough to pay the interest on the bonds to be issued under this bill, 
 would be saved by the construction of this road. 
 
 This I believe is the only Government that does not admit, as one of its proper 
 objects, the aiding of great enterprises of this kind, in forwarding the interests of 
 its commerce and development of its internal resources. Whether in this respect 
 we are more prudent than wise, time will determine. Is is not well to glance occa- 
 sion-ally, however, at the doings of other Governments, and perchance learn a lesson 
 thereby? France has aided her railroad companies in the last few years,, much in 
 the manner proposed in this bill, to the extent of $245,000,000, not only with great 
 advantage to the general interests of the country, but to the financial interests of 
 the Government. Mr. Bigelow, speaking of her railroad system, says: 
 
 " It was inaugurated when the finances of France were in a deplorable state, and it has added 
 incalculably to her wealth, as well as to her political power, and is to-day the main basis of her 
 financial credit.'' 
 
 Speaking of railroads in Russia, he says: 
 
 ia. had scarcely signed the treaty of peace which brought the Crimean war to a close when 
 *he began !> carry out tbe v.-ist designs Cor opeaiug up to commerce and settlement the vast pro- 
 portions of her empire, of which the war had revealed the necessity, and also to inaugurate a sys- 
 tem of common schools and to emancipate her serfs. These were a few of the great enterprises 
 which she commenced, and with every prospect f success, when she was pronounced by the Eng- 
 ksh press exhausted ami bankrupt." 
 
 But is she bankrupt, or impoverishing herself? No, sir; quite the contrary. 
 There is no Government on the globe now making such wonderful strides towards 
 wealth, greatness, and power, ai Russia. What is to be the effect of this extensive 
 European i ail way system upon our commerce and interests, is a question of great 
 importance to us. Speaking of that, Mr. Bigelow says: 
 
 ''Mr. Beckwith tkinks, and not without good reason, it seems to me, that we shall find at the 
 cl >s<- of this war one half of our cotton business has been transferred to India. Soon, too, Russian 
 roads will be opened through the whole region of the Terre Norre, from the Black Sea to the Bal- 
 tic, which, from its rich bottomless soils, will y eld incalculable quantities of food now inaccessi- 
 ble. France is pushing kef railway system down into Spain, and, in concert with that Govern- 
 ni'/nt. is opening up vast reg ons hitherto uncultivated, which would grow wheat enough to feed 
 all Europe. In these ways our export trade is seriously threatened, and can only be preserved by a 
 railway system proportioned to the magnitude of our territory and its natural resources, by which 
 everything that the industry of the country can produce can have its market." 
 
 That he is not mistaken as to the danger of our export trade being destroyed is 
 but too apparent. We have not only to suppress the rebellion, but, as far as we 
 can, to do away with its disastrous results upon the industry of the country. 
 
 It is not alone the enterprises of France, Russia, and Spain with which we have 
 to compete, but England, too, is fully up to the requirements of the age in her rail- 
 road projects, carried forward in aid of her commerce and industrial interests in 
 every part of the globe. She has expended ia the Indies more than sufficient to 
 build a road across the American continent, and chiefly for the purpose of securing, 
 independently of the United States, the single article of cotton, on which the indus- 
 try of a portion only of her citizens depend. Canada has expended in the last ten 
 or twelve years, in rivalry of American interests, more than forty-three millions of 
 dollars in the construction of canals and railroads; an amount equal to the aid pro- 
 posed to be extended to this road on its first mortgage bonds ; and yet, Canada, with 
 all of its surroundings, does not more than equal in population the State of New 
 York. Yet, sir, there is no country where a railroad would serve such great pur- 
 poses, and in so much demanded as the one under consideration. England, France, 
 :'t, and Spain each have their commercial and local interests to advance by their 
 ro:uls ; but we have, by the construction of this road, a country to settle and pop- 
 ulate almost as large ao the whole of Europe, and a commerce which we may obtain 
 by it larger than was ever enjoyed by any nation since the world began. All that 
 vast territory lying west of Kansas, east of the Sierra Nevadas, and between Mexi- 
 co and the Briiish possessions,, is inaccessible to settlement except by railroad. 
 Throughout most of the settled portions of the country our lakes and rivers have 
 
been highways of commerce, and have aided much in settling the country, "but, in 
 nil that region mentioned we have no such advantages. There railroads must sup- 
 ply the indispensable purposes of communication and exchange which lakes and ri- 
 vers have done in other sections. 
 
 The experience of the infant settlements already made in Utah and Nevada teach 
 us how utterly hopeless is the task of peopling that country without the aid of 
 railroad communication. The people of Salt Lake, though industrious, and occupy-* 
 ing the richest soil, and aided greatly hv the overland emigration to California^ 
 with which they have been able to make desirable exchanges, and who, from their 
 peculiar religion, seek to live wholly within themselves, have made but little pro- 
 gress during the last few years. In Nevada we have a mining population of pome 
 twenty-five or thirty thousand, to wh<jm all articles of consumption have to be 
 freighted from the Sacramento valley at an average cost of not less than $4,000,000 
 per annum to every twenty-five thousand persons, or $160 to each person, an amount 
 greater than the average -earnings of our citizens. Thus, sir, these settlements, though 
 small, are sufficient to demonstrate the utter impracticability of settling that Terri- 
 tory with the present avenues of communication. Yet it is very important those 
 lands embracing more than five hundred million acres, much of it rich agricultural 
 land, and the mineral wealth of which cannot be estimated should be brought into 
 market, and that country settled and made to add to our wealth and power, instead 
 of draining our wealth and contributing to our weakness. 
 
 These, sir, are some of the considerations that urge upon tis immediate and favor- 
 able action on this bill. Time does not permit a full presentation of the arguments 
 in favor of the enterprise; besides, few even among its most earnest supporters' could 
 "begin to detail all the benefits that would follow from its consummation. 
 
 We can sometimes make a closer estimate of the benefits of a contemplated work 
 of the kind from analogy than in any other way ; and, fortunately, we have a work 
 that will serve our purpose, to some extent, though of far less importance in every 
 point of view. It is but a short time since, though before the era of railroads, that 
 western New York was almost a wilderness, and its sparse settlements, together 
 with those of western Pennsylvania and Ohio, had no markets or means of inter- 
 course with commercial centers. The progVess of settlement in all that section 
 then the far West, but now the center of wealth and population was but slow, as 
 the wants of a market more than offset the advantages of soil and climate. But 
 De Witt Clinton conceived the project of constructing the Erie canal to afford them 
 the means of reaching a market with their surplus products with which to buy the 
 luxuries of more civilized life. After surmounting numberless difficulties, and meet-- 
 ing the persistent objections of the timid, the weak minded, and the do-nothing-anti- 
 progressive school, who feared to depart from the beaten paths of their ancestors, 
 he had the satisfaction of seeing the great work commenced ; and then it was that 
 all through the West the noise of machinery and the din of busy multitudes began 
 to break upon the quiet, of ages; the trails of the savage became obliterated by the 
 tread of a resistless emigration, and the native forests began to disappear before the 
 sturdy pioneer, and the face of nature to be made glad by the arts of civilization, 
 and towns, villages, and cities sprang up everywhere as if by magic. And so it 
 will be in our now great western wild if we authorize the construction of this road. 
 The Erie canal nrmv not have paid back in mere tolls the cost of its construction, but 
 it has added to the aggregate wealth of the State of New York more than five 
 hundred millions, has made her the Empire State of the Union, and her chief city 
 the commercial emporium and center of the continent. 
 
 But its results have not been altogether local ; on the contrary it has contributed 
 in no small degree to our national prosperity, in the early settlement of the great 
 West, the wealth of which contributes so much to the support of the Government, 
 and whose hardy, patriotic, and gallant sons have been dealing such telling blows 
 against the rebellion and in favor of the Constitution and the Union, and without 
 whose aid we should be powerless to cope with treason to-day. And yet, Clinton, 
 like Watt and Fulton, at an earlier day, was denounced as a speculate dreamer for 
 undertaking that magnificent enterprise, so grand in its results, so extensive in its 
 benefits. So much must those meet and endure who dare to take a step in advance 
 of the position neld by cotemporaries. But Clinton lived to see the triumph of his 
 project, the completion of that great undertaking ; a work that is a more enduring 
 monument to his name than perpetuates the memory of almost any other man; a 
 more noble achievement than though he had secured the Presidency, and dispensed 
 Federal patronage through a half dozen terms of office. 
 
 Sir, I desire to draw no unpleasant comparison between the relative condition of 
 State?, but it is sometimes profitable to notice the difference in their prosperity, and 
 trace the causes that have led to it: Virginia, possessing an area one fourth greater, 
 a better soil and climate, had, in 1700, more than double the population, wealth arid 
 commerce of the State of New York ; now, New York has double the population, 
 five times the woalth, and twenty-five times the commerce of Virginia. The causes 
 which have led to tiese wonderful changes in the condition of those States are al- 
 
most as npparent, as the fact that the changes have occurred. Virginia has rested 
 content with her natural advantages, while New York, through her great public 
 works, has been constantly marching forward on the highway to wealth and great- 
 ness, until now she is an empire within herself, possessing as large a population, and 
 more wealth and commerce than was possessed by the whole country eighty years 
 ago. May we not learn a wise lesson from the history of those States, and profit by 
 their experience 1 What the Erie canal has been to the State of New York, a Paci- 
 fic railroad is destined to be to the whole country. 
 
 There are, then, two good reasons why we should pass this bill, either one of 
 which is sufficient to justify its passage, namely: it is a military necessity; and, 
 secondly, it is absolutely essential to our internal development. But there is another 
 reason, "which would be sufficient of itself to induce any European Government, un- 
 der similar circumstances, not only to give the aid proposed, but to wholly construct 
 the road in the speediest possible way ; and that is, sir, the fact that beyond its 
 western terminus lies Japan, China, and the East Indies, with their more than four 
 hundred millions of industrial inhabitants, whose commerce, the most tempting 
 prize ever within the reach of &ny country, niay be secured thereby. To secure 
 this commerce wotild not only add vastly to our national wealth, but it would 
 build up, through individual enterprise and the currents of trade opened by it, 
 such a fleet of sieam and sail vessels, and give us such- a naval predominance upon 
 the Pacific, as would enable us to defy the maritime Powers of the world on that 
 ocean, and would render our Pacific possessions safe within themselves for all time 
 to come. And not only would we derive the advantages of an increased trade and 
 national security, but we would save in the present condition of our commerce, 
 as may be learned from facts within the reach of all, on freight, interest, and insu- 
 rance on our precious rnetals, and on our money exchanges, an amount every ten 
 years equal to the entire cost of the road. As this source of drainage xipon our na- 
 tional wealth does not appear to have been much examined into, I beg the indul- 
 gence of the House for a few moments to present some facts in relation to it. 
 
 pur imports from China, in the year 1857, amounted to $8,356,932, and our do 
 mestie exports to China amounted to $3,019,900, leaving a balance of trade against 
 \is of :?5,o37,032. In 1858, our imports from that country amounted to $10,57 0,536, 
 and our domestic exports to onlv $2,467,645, leaving a balance against us of 
 $8,102,891. Jn 1860, the amount" of our imports from the same source was $13,- 
 666.641, and that of our domestic exports $7,170,784, leaving a balance against us 
 of $6,395,802. These figures exclude the exports of gold and silver. For the yeara 
 185',) and 1861 I have been unable to obtain the statistics. 
 
 It will be observed that our trade with this nation is rapidly increasing, our 
 imports having increased from 1857 to 1860 about, sixty per cent., while our exports 
 of domestic produce show the gratifying increase of more than one hundred and 
 thirty-three per cent. This commerce, so rapidly increasing in importance, needs 
 facilities which it does not now possess; and by giving the facilities necessary to 
 its prospective growth, such as England and all other nations so willingly extend 
 to interests of like magnitude, it may be extended and increased, until at an early 
 day it will profitably absorb annually millions of dollars' worth of our manufac- 
 tured goods, and all of the gold and silver taken from the mines of California, 
 Oregon, Washington, and Nevada, and give remunerative employment to a merchant 
 fleet as large as that which we now possess. 
 
 It is not reasonable to suppose, under any circumstance, that the balance against 
 us in our trade with China, will, at any time, be less than in the year 1860 say 
 $6,400.000 in round numbers. This amount of indebtedness is now mostly paid 
 through English houses, at a cost to us of about twenty per cent. At the present 
 rate of exchange, then, the balance against us, to be paid by remittances of money 
 or bills of credit, will cost us annually, the sum of $1,280,000; that is to say the 
 $6,400,000 purchased by us in excess of our exports, will really cost us, $7,680.000. 
 This exchange, of course, is paid in part by every person who consumes a dollar's 
 worth of Chinese goods, as it becomes a part of their cost; and one section of 
 the country is as mqch interested in reducing the amount as another, it being 
 placed upon the people of the entire country as equally as the duty on imports or 
 any other tax. If we can by the construction of this road open a irew channel 
 of commeree which will turn this treasure currents to direct shipments, which can 
 be made from Sari Francisco in twenty-three days, saving from the present specie 
 route at least sixty days in time, reducing the cost of shipment, including exchange, 
 freight, interest, and insurance, to not exceeding four per cent., it would make, an- 
 nually, a net saving to our people of $984,000. To the sum thus saved should be 
 added the cost of shipment of the same amount of treasure from San Francisco 
 to New York, which cannot be done at less rates than three and one half per 
 cent., and would amount to $259,0uo. I may very properly add, that the entire 
 balance of trade against us, on what is known in mercantile parlance as the " Kast 
 India trade," will not fall short, of $18, 000,000 per annum. On this sum the saving 
 in exchange would amount to $3,000,000. 
 
But, sir, these are but a small portion of the benefits the country would derive 
 from changing the specie route of the world into American channels of trade. It 
 is estimated thai, ihe annual balance of trade against Europe and America, and in 
 favor of the Mongolian race, reaches an aggregate of less than $50,000,000. This 
 vast sum should be met by the shipment of gold and silver from San Francisco; 
 and our merchants on the Atlantic sea-board, instead of buying exchange in England 
 to pay for purchases in China, should themselves sell to England and all Europe the 
 exchange to pay their balances. When we reflect that almost the whole of the silver 
 shipped to China and the East Indies is collected on the Pacific Coasts of North and 
 South America, and shipped thence across the Isthmus of Panama, via London and 
 Suez, to the point of its destination, thus traversing three-fourths of the circumference 
 of the globe, we may well marvel that our Government has' failed for the last ten 
 years to appreciate fully the importance of changing these currents of trade by 
 building a continental road, to direct shipments from our own ports by our own 
 people, and by so doing have made New York, instead of London, the point at which 
 the world's balances should be settled. We have probably paid to Europe for ex^ 
 change or credits in the East, during the last ten years, not less than $14,000,000; 
 and to pay our European balance, our merchants have paid for exchange and freight 
 from the Atlantic sea-board to Europe probably not less than $10,000,000. The 
 gold to pay these balances during that time has been drawn from San Francisco, 
 and has been shipped to New York, at a cost to our miners and merchants of 
 not less than $20,000,000 making, in the aggregate, $44,000,000, which has 
 been paid for freight on gold and silver and exchange, which, might have been 
 saved, almost wholly, by building this road an4 the establishment of steam com- 
 munication between San Francisco and the East, which its construction would have 
 immediately caused to be done, ten years ago. 
 
 Nor is this all, sir. A profit on this freight and the world's exchange, which 
 now goes to England, amountii g to nearly as much more, would have been realized 
 by our commerce and people. Thus the"country is sixty or, perhaps, seventy-five 
 millions of dollars poorer to day because of our failure to discern and improve our 
 opportunities in this direction. 
 
 1 am aware, sir, these are startling figures, but they are, nevertheless, correct, 
 being made up from actual computation of our trade and balances, and the rates of 
 exchange as they have existed. For t,he last half century China has been the silver 
 market of the world; thither have flowed and converged the silver currents of the 
 globe. Within the last two years, and while our attention has been particularly 
 directed to the subject of Asiatic commerce, we have discovered almost upon our 
 western border the silver mines of Washoe and Esinaralda, abounding in wealth in 
 this metal beyond the ability of man to compute. It is estimated by those compe^- 
 tent to judge, that the yield of Washoe alone, for the coming year, will amount to 
 820,000,000, and this, too, in the very infancy of those mines. When a sufficiency 
 of proper machinery is introduced, probably within two or three years, the yield 
 will not be less than thirty or forty millions of dollars per annum. The question, 
 sir, is, shall we take such steps as will lead to the sending of tliis silver to its natural 
 market directly, and reap all the advantages to be gained by so doing, or shall we 
 pursue the old narrow-minded policy which has governed us so long, and allow it 
 to take the route via Panama, New York, London, and Suez, a distance of twenty- 
 five thousand miles, to reach its final destination, only five thousand miles from our 
 shores, ourselres losing the freight, interest, and exchange, and giving to another 
 and a rival nation the profits which should be our own? In other words, shall we 
 avail ourselves of our own resources and apply them to our own benefit, or shall we 
 continue to be, in this respect at least, a mere tributary, serving to swell the current 
 of a rival's wealth, commerce, and power? 
 
 This subject, is not one which concerns the Pacific coast alone, but is eminently 
 national ; New York, Boston, and the whole country being quite as much interested 
 as the Pacific States. If any one section, in fact, is more interested than another, 
 it is the great cities of the East, for it is there the balances of trade would be settled, 
 and the profits of exchange would be paid. California has, however, an interest 
 peculiar to herself in changing the present specie route. The balance of trade 
 against her, and in favor of her Atlantic sisters with whom she deals, is about forty 
 millions of dollars per annum. This amount she pays by shipments of gold, at a 
 cost in freight, interest, and insurance, of little less than two millions of dollars per 
 annum. If trade was changed, as it would be by a continental road, this balance 
 against her would be adjusted by shipments to China, at the expense and to the 
 credit of the merchants of New York, Boston, arid Philadelphia, thus saving Cali- 
 fornia this large item of expense, and largely benefiting them, as the money thus 
 placed to their credit would settle their balance- due China and the Indies, and 
 form the basis of 'exchange to be sold to English and European merchants. I should 
 not ffiil to notice in this connection, as a matter of great commercial importance, 
 the i'act that the Chinese are beginning to receive with much favor gold and silver 
 
bullion, and it is probable that, hereafter gold will be as acceptable to them as silver, 
 and we may use as much of it in our trade with them as may be desirable. 
 
 I now propose to notice more particularly the advantages which would be deriv- 
 ed from it^in an extended commerce and increased markets for our manufacturers 
 and agricultural productions. 
 
 :it occuri ences in China have opened the door to trade with millions of that 
 people heretofore shut out by their expulsive policy. Mercantile men everywhere 
 regard the opening of the Chinese rivers to commerce as one of the greatest events 
 of the age in its commercial aspects; and one that we may avail ourselves of, if we 
 will, to the great benefit of the whole country, by extending our commerce and in- 
 creasing the markets for the productions of the country, particularly our coarse cot- 
 ton goods, to almost any extent we may desire, for the building of this road with the 
 steam lines it would call into existence, would enable us to transport freight between 
 New York and China in thirty days, and as time nearly governs commercial opera- 
 tions, would five us such an advantage that no nation would be able to compete with 
 us in the Asiatic trade. 
 
 One of the greatest wants of the country on the close of this war will be a market 
 for our cotton. England, by her constant" exertions, will have the ability in a few 
 years, at most, to supply herself with this important staple independently of the Uni- 
 ted States. Unless, therefore, proper care is now taken, this once great element of na- 
 tional wealth will be lost to us forever. This w-e cannot afford and should not al- 
 low. It is no argument to say that the cotton planters are traifars, and deserve no 
 encouragement from Government. The planter may be a traitor, but, cotton is an 
 important staple of commerce, and its 'loss would be a national calamity, affecting 
 every interest wherever situated throughout the country. Great interests of this 
 kind, though apparently local, are not so in fact. Whatever benefits any one great 
 branch of industry, indirectly advances all others, and he who cannot see the inti- 
 mate relations existing between them, and their mutual dependence upon each oth- 
 er's prosperity, can lay no claim to the title of statesman. But let England cease to 
 purchn.<e our cotton, when by her persistent efforts, continued through many years, 
 the has gained an independence of us in this respect. I honor her for the careful 
 guardianship she exercises overall her interests, and if we are equally careful, and 
 display equal foresight, in advancing the interests of our people by creating a mar- 
 ket in China for our manufactures, then, when she ceases to buy our cotton, it will 
 only be transferred from the looms of Old England to the looms of New England, 
 much to the benefit of the industrial and financial interests of the country. 
 
 Another consideration of great importance that should not be overlooked by any who 
 have the-wellfare of the country at heart, is the agricultural interests on the Paci- 
 fic coast. We have in the States of California and Oregon and Territory of Wash- 
 ington, an area, in square miles, as <rreat as that embraced in the seven States of 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, with enough left 
 to make seventeen States the seize of Rhode Island. This extensive region is as 
 rich in soil as any which we possess, and, as it extends through sixteen degrees of 
 latitude, has a greater variety of climate than is to be found on our Atlantic border, 
 and thus favored in soil and climate, is capable of sustaining a population of many 
 millions, and is undoubtedly one of the greatest fields for agricultural enterprise 
 ever opened to the industry of any people. Properly settled and cultivated, it is 
 capable of turning off a larger surplus of cerals than is now produced in the whole 
 country. And even now, notwithstanding the great majority of our people have 
 been engaged in mining, and neglected agriculture almost wholly until 1854, our 
 exports of wheat from San Francisco amounted, in I860, to nine hundred and forty- 
 eight thousand two hundred and twenty bushels; and of flour, to fifty-seven thou- 
 sand eight hundred and twenty barrels, or more than one fourteenth part of the en- 
 tire exports of the country in these articles; while our export of barley was proba- 
 bly somewhat larger than of wheat. This surplus will be increased, under ordinary 
 circumstances annually from ten to twenty per cent., until it reaches a maximum 
 greater than I should like now to name, for fear of being considered speculative. 
 Our herds .of neat cattle have already become so numerous that we scarcely know 
 what to do with them, and are even now being slaughtering for their hides and tal- 
 low, upon the Mexican system. 
 
 What is to be done with these surplus products, is a question that addresses itself 
 to every statesman, as the future prosperity of the country in no small degree de- 
 pends upon the people of that coast finding a remunerative market for the products 
 of their industry. In my opinion, if we provide for a continental road, it will be 
 the means of giving us such frequent communication with Asia, and make our rela- 
 tions with the countries of the East such, that they may be made to occupy, as re- 
 gards their excess of productions, the same position which England does to the At- 
 lantic .-ea-lioard. In this direction we have already made an important beginning. 
 ]n 1857, we exported to China, in farm products, in value, $202,5:52, and in in ' 
 
 ll, ar 
 
 The.ii; exports, though small, are gratifying, as they more than doubled 
 in three years. In our exports of 1857, the item of flour amounted to only eleven 
 
thousand five hundred and ninety barrels. In 1860 it had increased to thirty-seven 
 thousand three hundred and twenty-eight barrels. The process of introducing our 
 products is necessarily slow, as the" Chinese are unaccustomed to our habits and arti- 
 cles of diet : but the progress already made is a sufficient indication that, with closer 
 commercial relations and more frequent intercourse, they would, in a short time, 
 adopt sufficient of our habits to require from us all the surplus cereals we shall have 
 to spare them. 
 
 In securing a market in China and Japan for the production of the people of 
 this distant portion of our country, the grain-growing and stock-raising States lying 
 east of the Rocky mountains, are particularly interested, for if they do not find a 
 market ID that direction, they must continue to be competitors of those States in. 
 the markets of New York and Europe. This they may not darnagingly feel now, 
 but they will seriously feel such a rivalry in the future. 
 
 Sir, the benefits to be derived by obtaining control of the oriental trade cannot 
 well be over-estimated ; and I apprehend the more thought we devote to the sub- 
 ject, the more we shall be convinced we have hitherto failed in its just and pro- 
 per appreciation. Towards the possession and control of this trade will the com- 
 mercial strategy of nations be directed for the next ten years, and within that time 
 it must be won by us or by some more enterprising people. Whether it shall be 
 ours depends almost wholly upon our action in regai d to this continental road, which 
 alone can give us the facilities to command and to contpol it. 
 
 We may obtain some, idea in reference to the magnitude and importance this 
 vast eastern trade is likely to attain, when we consider the progress made in but a 
 single branch of it for a few years past. An eminent commercial writer, speaking of 
 England's India trade, says: 
 
 "The whole tra 'e of India, in 1823, amounted to some three millions sterling, and now that of 
 Bengal alone is thirty; while if that of Bombay. Madras, Pe.gu. and the straits be added, the 
 total will not he tar from seventy-five millions. "Estimating the pn.fli on that commerce at only 
 twenty-five per cent., carrying trade Included, India still adds nineteen millions a year to British 
 wealth. And if the trade of India has increased in value within the last twent v-fhe years, to tho 
 extent (if seventy millions sterling, when it has, with one exception, Bengal. *ren almost entirely 
 confined to the coast and the deltas <>i the great rivers, the boldest conjecture will hardly exceed 
 probability iu guessing ut its expansion within the next tweuty-flvc years, or by the end of the 
 century.' 1 
 
 Of course, so far is Hindostan is concerned, or the bay of Bengal, we cannot hope 
 to affect the supremacy of English commerce, but we may make it in some measure 
 tributary to us ; and we would certainly command a fair proportion of the light 
 freight and passenger travel between Europe and Asia, and our trade with Sumatra, 
 Java, Borneo, the Philippines, and surrounding islands, so rich iu their commercial 
 products, would be greatly increased. 
 
 We have, then, in urging us to favorable action on this measure, all the consider- 
 ations of national safety from foreign aggression, internal development, the foster- 
 ing of great interests, and a market to supply to the Pacific coast, which is in itself, 
 in area, an empire, and in soil arid climate the most favored portion of the country. 
 Are not these sufficient reasons for the passage of this bill without delay ? Let it 
 not be said that this war will leave the country too much involved to give the re- 
 quired aid to this important enterprise. If we are poor, there is so much the 
 greater reason why all the avenues of wealth should be opened to our people. 
 
 If the aid to be given towards the building of this road was a donation, instead 
 of a loan of the credit of the Government, on unquestionable security, it would 
 be but a mere bagatelle, considering the great results to be achieved by its con- 
 struction. 
 
 .Shall we delay, then, until England has built a road from the Canadas to Van- 
 couver, and obtained absolute control over the oriental and even the Mexican trade 
 on the Pacific, and established a protectorate over the Sandwich Islands, lying al- 
 most at the entrance of our Golden State, as France has already done over the 
 Society Islands? Shall we longer permit the energy of our citizens, in carrying 
 out great national objects of this kind, to maintain doubtful struggles against rival 
 enterprises carried on by the combined efforts of the Governments and people of 
 other countries, unaided by the friendly care and strong arm of our own Govern- 
 ment f Are we to follow in the footsteps of the old-school politicians, who could 
 find no power in the Constitution to do anything but plunder the national Treasury, 
 by distributing the spoils of office among wrangling adherents, and whose masterly 
 administration of the Government masterly in its shameless frauds and wrongs 
 terminated in t,he present rebellion? Or shall we rather seek the public good, and 
 by wise and judicious legislation fertilize all the fields of enterprise iu which our 
 citizens are engaged; and by aiding the construction of this road, not only secure 
 the national safety, but indirectly give profitable employment to millions of our 
 citizens in their factories, workshops, and mines, and on their farms throughout the 
 country, and abroad on the high seas ? Never did a single work promise such grand 
 results. And, sir, that we shall thus gird the continent by belts of iron is not only- 
 demanded by the majority of our people, but is due to American enterprise and 
 interests, and to the position, standing, strength, and safety of thia grat Republic. 
 
Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 
 Syracuse. N. Y. 
 PAT. JAN. 21, 1908