272 NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA. 
the trunk line from San Francisco and to meet the shore 
about the Colorado River. 
The Northern Pacific has at present no other company tal 
share its task. The last line is a branch from the Hum-_ 
boldt valley to Portland, uniting Oregon with the Central 
Pacific route; it does not, therefore, directly form pon of 
any of the bas continental routes. j 
One point of importance in the Bill is a change in the — 
mode of granting the subsidy. Instead of issuing to the j 
railway companies Government six-per-cent. bonds, varying — 
in amount with the supposed difficulties of construction, the — 
same system is proposed as we have adopted with our East 
Indian railways, viz., a Government guarantee of six per — 
cent. upon the capital stock of each company. Very strin- 
gent measures are proposed in order to guard against the — 
Government aid being misapplied, as well as to ensure prompt 1 
payment of the interest. 
If the Bill is carried, the Pacific and Western States, as 
well as the Territories lying between them, will be provided 
with a railway system so complete in itself that the develop- 
ment of these enormous regions must proceed with a rapidity 
never before witnessed. Five years is the time named for 7 
the completion of all these railroads, and there is little doubt — 
but that this short space is sufficient. 
From two points of view, we as a nation, and, in fact, all 
Europe, are immediately and closely interested in all these 
railroad projects. In the first place, we are led to inquire 
whether the main currents of trade between Europe and the 
East—China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia— 
will be shifted into new channels. In the second place, 
emigration will certainly be systematically encouraged upon 
2. ae a scale that we are likely to lose no inconsiderable 
