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Transcontinental Railroads - John Bell · Classic Speeches

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Section fifty four of the World's Best Orations, Volume one. This is a
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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Gloria Lowry.
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The World's Best Orations from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Volume one
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by David J. Brewer and Edward A. Allen. Section fifty four Transcontinental
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Railroads by John Bell, delivered in the United States Senate February seventeenth, eighteen
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fifty eight, in support of the Pacific Railroad Bill. An objection made to
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this bill is the gigantic scale of the projected enterprise a grand idea. It
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is, a continent of three thousand miles in extent from east to west,
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reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is to be connected by a railway.
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Honorable Senators will remember that over one thousand miles, one third of this
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whole expanse of the continent, the work is already accomplished, and that chiefly
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by private enterprise. I may, as a safe estimate, say that a
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thousand miles of this railroad, leading from the Atlantic to the West, upon
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the line of the Lakes and nearly as much upon a line further south are
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either completed or nearly so, we have two thousand miles yet to compass in
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the execution of a work which is said has no parallel in the history of
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the world. No, Sir, it has no parallel in the history of
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the world, ancient or modern, either as to its extent and magnitude,
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or to its consequences, beneficent and benign it in all its bearings on the
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interests of all mainkind. It is in these aspects, and in the contemplation
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of these consequences, that it has no parallel in the history of the world,
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changing the costs of the commerce of the world, bringing the West almost
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in contact by reversing the ancient line of communication with the gorgeous East and all
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of its riches, the stories of which in our earlier days we regard it
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as fabulous. But now, Sir, what was held to be merely fictions
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of the brain in former times in regard to the riches of Eastern Asia,
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is almost realized on our own western shores. Sir. These are some other
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inducements to the construction of this great road. Besides its importance to the military
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defenses of the country and its mail communications. Sir, it is a magnificent
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and splendid project in every aspect in which you can view it. One third
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of this great railway connection is accomplished, two thirds remain to be Shall we
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hesitate to go forward with the work now? With regard to the means provided
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for the construction of the road, it is said here's an enormous expenditure of
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the public money proposed. We propose to give twenty million dollars in the bonds
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of the government bearing five percent interest, and fifteen million acres of land supposed
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to be worth as much more on the part of the government. This is
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said to be enormous, and we are reminded that we ought to look at
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what the people will say and how they will feel when they come to the
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knowledge that twenty millions in money and twenty millions in land have been given for
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the construction of a railway. Some, doubtless there are in this Chamber who
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are ready to contend that we had better give these fifteen millions of acres of
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land to become homesteads for the landless and homeless. What is this twenty millions
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in money, and how is it to be paid. It is supposed that
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the road cannot be constructed in less than five years. In that event,
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bonds of the government to the amount of four millions of dollars will issue annually.
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Probably the road will not be built in less than ten years, and
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that will require an issue of bonds amounted to two millions a year. And
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possibly the road may not be finished in less than twenty years, which would
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limit the annual issue of bonds to one million. The interest upon these barns,
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at five percent, will of course have to be paid out of the
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treasury, a treasury in which there is now a surplus of twelve or fourteen
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millions of dollars. When the road is completed and the whole amount of twenty
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millions in land is paid, making the whole sum advanced by the government forty
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millions, the annual interest upon them will only be two millions. And what
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is that? Why, sir? The donations and benevolences, the allowance of
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claims upon flimsy and untenable grounds, and other extravagant and unnecessary expenditures that are
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granted by Congress and the executive departments while you have an overflowing treasury, will
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amount to the half of that song annually. The enormous sum of two millions
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is proposed to be paid out of the treasury annually when this great road shall
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be completed. It is a tremendous undertaking, truly, what a scheme,
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what extravagance. I understand the cost of the New York and Eerie Road alone,
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constructed principally by private enterprise, has been not less than thirty millions,
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between thirty and thirty three millions of dollars. That work was constructed by a
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single state, given aid occasionally to a company which supplied the balance of the
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costs. I understand that the road from Baltimore to Wheeling, when it shall
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have been finished and its furniture placed upon it, will have cost at least
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thirty millions. What madness, what extravagance? Then it is for the government
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of the United States to undertake this in forty millions for a road from the
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Mississippi to the Pacific. Mister President, One honorable Senator says the amount is
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not sufficient to induce a capitalist to invest his money in the enterprise. Others
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again say it is far too much more than we can afford to give for
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the construction of the work. Let us see which is right. The government
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is to give twenty millions in all out of the treasury for the road,
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or we issue bonds and pay five percent interest annually upon them, and twenty
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millions in lands, which, if regarded his money, amounts to a cost
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to the government of two millions per annum. What are the objects to be
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accomplished? A daily mail from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific.
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The free transportation of all troops and munitions of war required for the protection and
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defense of our possessions on the Pacific, which we could not hold three months
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in a war, either with England or France without such a road. By
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building this road we accomplish this further object. This road will be the most
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effective and powerful check that can be interposed by the government upon Indian depredations and
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aggressions upon our frontiers or upon each other. The northern tribes upon the Southern
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and the Southern upon the Northern. You cut them in two, you will
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be constantly in their midst and cut off their inner communications and hostile depredations.
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You will have a line of quasi fortifications, a line of posts and stations
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with settlements on each side of the road every few miles. You will thus
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have settlements strong enough to defend themselves against the inroads of the Indians, and
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so constituting a wall of separation between the Indian tribes composed of a white population
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with arms in their hands. This object alone would perhaps be worth as much
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as the road will cost. And when I speak of what the road will
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be worth in this respect, I mean to say that, besides the prevention
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of savage warfare the effusion of blood, it will save millions of dollars to
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the treasure annually in the greater economy attained in moving troops and military supplies and
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preventing hostilities. I have been thus particular in noting these things because I want
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to show where, or on which side, the balance will be found in
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the adjustment of the responsibility account between the friends and the opponents of this measure,
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which will have the heaviest account to settle with the country. For myself,
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I am not wedded to this particular scheme. Rather than have no road,
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I would prefer to adopt other projects. I am now advocating one which
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I supposed would meet the views of a greater number of Senators than any other.
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I think great honor is due to mister Whitney for having originated the scheme
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and having obtained the sanction of the legislatures of seventeen or eighteen states of the
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Union. Rather than have the project altogether fail, I would be willing to
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adopt this plan. It may not offer the same advantages for a speedy consummation
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of the work, but still we would have a road in prospect, and
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that would be a great deal. But if gentlemen ought to rise here in
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their places year after year, and this is the fifth year from the time
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we ought to have undertaken this work, and tell us it is just time
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to commence a survey, we will never have a road. The honorable Senator
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from South Carolina, mister Butler, says there ought to be some limitation in
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this idea of progress when regarded as a spur to great activity and energy.
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As to what we shall do in our day, he says, we have
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acquired California, we have opened up those rich regions on our western borders,
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which promises such magnificent results, And he asks, is not that enough for
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the present generation? Leave it to the next generation to construct a work of
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such magnitude as this requiring forty millions of dollars from the government. Mister President,
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I have said that if the condition was a road or no road,
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I would regard one hundred and fifty millions of dollars as well laid out by
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the government for the work, though I have no idea that it will take
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such an amount eighty or one hundred millions of dollars will build the road.
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But with regard to what is due from this generation to itself, or what
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may be left to the next generation, I say it is for the present
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generation that we want the road, as to our having acquired California and open
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this new world of commerce and enterprise. And as to what we shall leave
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to the next generation, I said say that after we of this generation shall
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have constructed this road, we will perhaps not even leave to the next generation
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the construction of a second one. The present generation, in my opinion,
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will not pass away until it shall have seen two great lines of railroads in
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prosperous operation between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, and within our own territory,
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and still leave quite enough to the next generation. The third and fourth
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great lines of communication between the two extremes of the continent. One at least
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is due to ourselves and to the present generation. And I hope there are
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many within the sound of my voice who will live to see it a come
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pomplished. We want that New Dorado, the new o Fear of America,
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to be thrown open and placed within the reach of the whole people. We
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want the great cost the delays, as well as the privations and risks of
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passage to California by the malarious isthmus of Panama or any other of the routes
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now in use, to be mitigated or done away with. There will be
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some greater equality in the adjoyment and advantages of these new acquisitions upon the Pacific
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coast. When this road shall be constructed, the inexhaustible gold mines or places
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of California will no longer be accessible only to the more robust, resolute,
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or desperate part of our population, and who may be already well enough off
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to pay their passages by sea or provide an outfit for an overland travel of
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two and three thousand miles. Enterprising young men all over the country who can
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command the pittance of forty or fifty dollars to pay their railroad fare. Heads
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of families who have the misfortune to be poor, but spirit and energy enough
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to seek comfort and independence by labor, will no longer be restrained by the
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necessity of separating themselves from their families, But have it in their power,
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with such small means as they may readily command, in eight or ten days,
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to find themselves, with their whole households, transported and set down in
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the midst of the gold regions of the West, at full liberty, to
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possess and enjoy whatever of the rich harvest spread out before them. Their industry
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and energy shall entitle them too. It will be theirs by as good a
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title as if any can boast, who have had the means to precede them.
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We hear much said of late of the justice and policy of providing a
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homestead a quarter section of the public land to every poor and landless family in
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the country. Make this road, and you enable every poor man in the
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country to buy much better homestead and retain all the pride and spirit of independence.
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Gentlemen here may say that the region of California so inviting ain't abundant in
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gold now, will soon be exhausted and all these bright prospects for the enterprising
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poor pass away, No, Sir, centuries will pass ages, and ages
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must roll away. Before those gold bearing mountains shall all have been excavated,
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those auriferous sands, and alluvial deposits shall give out all their wealth. And
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even after all these shall have failed, the beds of the rivers will yield
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a generous return to the toil of the laborer. Mister President, I alluded
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to the importance of having a communication by railway between the Mississippi River and the
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Pacific Ocean in the event of war with any great maritime power. I confess
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that the debates upon the subject of our foreign relations within the last few weeks,
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if all that was said had commanded my full assent, would have dissipated
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very much the force of any argument which I thought might be fairly urged in
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favor of this road as a necessary work for the protection and security of our
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possessions on the Pacific coast. We now hear it stated and reiterated by grave
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and respectable and intelligent senators, that there is no reason that any one should
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apprehend a war war with either Great Britain or France, not now, nor
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at any time in the future at all events, unless there shall be a
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total change in the condition, social, political, and economical of those powers,
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and especially as regards Great Britain, All who have spoken agree that there
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is no prospect of war, none at all. I agree that I can
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see nothing in the signs of the times which is indicative of immediate and certain
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war. Several gentlemen have thrown out the idea that we hold the bond of
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Great Britain to keep the peace with ample guarantees and sureties, not only for
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the present time, but for an indefinite time, and as long as Great
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Britain stands as an independent monarchy. These sorties and guarantees are said to consist
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in the discontented and destitute class of her population, of her operatives and laborers,
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and the indispensable necessity of the cotton crop of the United States in furnishing
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them with employment and subsistence, without which it is said she would be torn
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with internal strife. I could tell gentlemen who argue in that way, that
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we have another guarantee that Great Britain will not break with the United States for
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any trivial cause which they have not thought proper to raise. We may threaten
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and denounce and bluster as much as we please about British violations of the Clayton
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and Bulward Treaty and the Mosquito Protectorate, about the assumption of territorial dominion over
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the Balize or British Honduras, and the new colony of the Bay Islands.
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And Great Britain will negotiate, explain, treat and transgress and negotiate again,
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and resort to any device before she will go to war with Thus, as
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long as she can hope to prolong the advantages to herself of the free trade
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policy now established with the United States. It is not only the cotton crop
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of America which she covets, but it is the rich market for the products
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of a manufacturing industry which she finds in the United States. And this has
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contributed, as much as any other cause, to improve the condition of her
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operatives, and in part increased prosperity to her trade and revenue. As long
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as we think proper to hold our present commercial regulations, I repeat that it
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will require very great provocation on our part to force Great Britain into a war
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with the United States. As for this road, we are told at every
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turn that it is ridiculous to talk of war in connection with it, for
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we will have no wars except those with the Indians. Both England and France
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dare not go to war with us. I say this course of argument is
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not only unwise and delusive, but if such sentiments take hold on the country,
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they will be mischievous. They will, almost to a certainty, lead
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to a daring and reckless policy on our part. And as each government labors
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under a similar delusion as to what the other will not dare to do,
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what is more probable than that both may get into such a position the result
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of a mutual mistake that war must ensue. It is worth while to reflect
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upon the difference between the policy of Great Britain and this country in her diplomatic
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correspondence and debates in Parliament. When we make a threat, Great Britain does
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not threaten. In turn, we hear of no gasconade on her part.
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If we declare that we have a just right to latitude fifty four degrees forty
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minutes and will maintain our right at all hazard, she does not bluster and
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threaten and declare what she will do if we dare to carry out our threat.
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When we talk about the Mosquito King of Belize and of the Bay Islands,
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and declare our determination to drive her from her policy and purposes in regard
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to them, we do not hear of an angry form of expression from her.
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We employed very strong language last year in regard to the rights of American
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fishermen, but the reply of Great Britain scarcely assumed a tone of remonstrance against
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the intemperate tone of our debates. Her policy, upon all such occasions is
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one of wisdom. Her strong and stern purpose is seldom to be seen in
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her diplomatic intercourse or in the debates of her leading statesmen. But if you
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were about her dockyards, or in her foundries, or her timber yards,
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and her great engine manufactories and her armories, you would find some bustle and
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stir. There all is life and motion. I have always thought that the
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proper policy of this country is to make no threats, to make no parade
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of what we intend to do. Let us put the country in a condition
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to defend its honor and interest, to maintain them successfully whenever they may be
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assailed, no matter by what power, whether by Great Britain or France,
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or both combined. Make this road complete the defenses of the country, of
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your harbors and navy yards. Strengthen your navy. Put it upon an efficient
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footing appropriate ample means for making experiments to ascertain the best model of ships of
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war to be driven by steam or any other motive power, the best models
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of the engines to be employed in them. To inquire whether a large complement
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of guns or a few guns of great caliber is a better plan, we
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may well upon such questions. Take a lesson from England at a recent period.
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She has been making experiments of this nature in order to give increased efficiency
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to her naval establishment. How did she set about it? Her Admiralty Board
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gave orders for eleven of the most perfect engines that could be built by eleven
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of the most skillful and eminent engine builders in the United Kingdom, without limit
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as to the cost or any other limitation except as to class or size.
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At the same time, orders were issued for the building of thirteen frigates of
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medium class by thirteen of the most skillful shipbuilders in the Kingdom, in order
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to ascertain the best models, the best running lines, and the best of
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every other quality desirable in a war vessel. This is the mode in which
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Great Britain prepares for any contingencies which may arise. She cannot tell when they
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may occur, yet she knows that she has no immunity from those chances,
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which, at some time or other are seen to happen to all nations.
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In my opinion, the construction of this road from the Mississippi to the Pacific
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is essential to the protection and safety of this country in the event of a
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war with any great maritime power. It may take ten years to complete,
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but every hundred miles of it which may be finished before the occurrence of war,
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will be just so much gained, so much added to our ability to
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maintain our honor in that war. In every view of this question I can
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take, I am persuaded that we ought at least prepared to commence the work
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and do it immediately. End of Section fifty four. Transcontinental Railroads by John Bell