People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1897 — Defeat of the Pacific Railroad Bill. [ARTICLE]

Defeat of the Pacific Railroad Bill.

The defeat of the Union and Central Pacific railroads funding hill in the house of representatives last week was just what was expected. The territory through which the roads run strongly opposed the measure, and the Western states in general were against it. Of course partisan lines were not drawn on it. Eighty-six of the 102 votes in favor of the measure were cast by Republicans and sixteen by Democrats, while the 168 votes cast against it came from ninety-nine Republicans, fifty-eight Democrats, five Independents and six Populists. It was the purpose of the bill to permit the issue of new bonds to the amount of about $140,000,000 in behall of the Union and Central Pacific railroads, the bonds to run eighty years, and the rate of. interest to be about 2 per cent. In addition, the railroads were to pay a sufficient sum in annual installments to extinguish the principal in the period covered by the bonds. The debt due the government by the two roads is in the neighborhood oi $120,000,000, and as security the government has a lien on both lines, which is subordinate, however, to a prior lien on each amounting to over $60,000,000 in the aggregate.—GlobeDemocrat.