'^.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

1.25

111=

U IIIIII.6

— 6" -

v^^

Photographic

Sdences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques

Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques

The Institute has attempted to obtain the best
original copy available for filming. Features of this
copy which may be bibliographically unique,
which may alter any of the images in the
reproduction, or which may significantly change
the usual method of filming, are checked below.

L'institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details
de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image ;>iproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger una
modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage
sont indiqu^s ci-dessous.

Coloured covers/
Couverture de couleur

□ Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur

□

Covers damaged/
Couverture endommagee

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaurie et/ou pellicul6e

Pages damaged/
Pages endommagdes

Pages restored and/or laminated/
Pages restaurdes et/ou pelliculdes

Cover title missing/

Le titre de couverture manque

Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/
Pages d6color6es, tacheties ou piqu^es

□

Coloured maps/

Cartes g6ographiques en couleur

Pages detached/
Pages d^tach^es

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire)

Showthrough/
Transparence

Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Relie avec d'autres documents

Quality of print varies/
Quality in^gale de I'impression

Includes supplementary material/
Comprend du matdriel supplementaire

□

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/

La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distortion le long de la marge int6rieure

Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es
lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte,
mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas 6t6 filmdes.

Only edition available/
Seule Edition disponible

Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the best possible image/
Les pages totalement ou partiellement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure.
etc., ont 6t6 film^es d nouveau de facon c^
obtenir la meilleure image possible.

□

Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplimentaires:

This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqu^ ci-dessous.

10X

14X

18X

22X

26X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24X

28X

32X

■ i

The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:

National Library of Canada

L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grAce A la
g6n6rosit6 de:

Bibliothdque nationale du Canada

The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.

Les images suivantes ont M reproduites avec le
plus «]rand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettetd de l'exemplaire filmd, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Original copies in printed paper coverr are filmed
beginning with the front cover and eiiuing on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimde sont fiimis en commen^ant
par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmis en commenpant par la
premidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la dernidre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — »- (meaning "CON-
TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END ").
whichever applies.

Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:

Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la
derni^re image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: !e symbole — »> signifie "A SUIVRE", le
symbole V signifie "FIN".

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent §tre
filmds d des taux de reduction diffirents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 A partir
de I'angle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mdthode.

32X

h I

J I

A. 8. WOODBURN, PRINTEK, OTTAWA.

C ^ ' ' '

^ / n ,

y^A^C l*-

<^t..'U.O, yQ^t.^U,

THE S^5rr<riDIO.A.TE !

-♦♦♦-

■W"IT.^T IS IT

-♦♦♦-

"-A. Stor-y ror "STo-ULiig" Oa.ii6ic3.ia.rLS"

By Daluaink.

Tlic idea of writing this little sketch was suggested to the
writer by hearing in course of ordinary conversation, even by those
who might have been su])poired to know better, the oft-repeated
question, '' What is this Syndicate { and what does it all mean?"

1 am not writing this for the enlightened irhabitants of the
Ca2)ital of this Dominion, who know everything connected with
the Government or politics, or who think they do so, which
amounts to the same thing; neither am 1 writing for those whose
means enable them, and who have leisure to read and understand
the very lengthy and elaborate speeches of our wise legislators ;
elaborate certainly, some of them, so far as hgures are concerned,
— and for the generality of peo})le not versed in such things, very
dirticult to follow up or understand ; I am addressing myself to
the young and rising generation, who may be, and I hope are,
patriotic enough to take an interest in all that concerns the wel-
fare, ])rogress and future develoi)ment of this beautiful country,
destined at no distant future, if her soiis and daughters are only
true to themselves, to become one of the jjrightest and fairest
kingdoms of the earth.

The building up of a nation does not depend on the legisla-
tors thereof. These gentlemen make our laws, a nd according to
their ideas of good or evil, try to keep us in the " straight path ;"
but the building up of a nation is the work of every man and
woman ; no one is so small, no occupation so humble, but may
assist in thisgreat work; audi think if Canadians would only begin
to study this a little more and be less partisan in their politics,
incalculable good to our common country would come of it. In
making this little diversion, by way of introduction, I do so that

THE RYNDICATK.

my rciulcrfi may tlie hctter niiderstand tlio few remarks I am fijoing
t^' ma1<<! oil tlie all-absorbing (|U('stioii of the hour. Kvery one
who reads at all, and who in Canada does not read the newspapers ?
at all (!vcnts hear of the " (Jreat North West," that immense
conntry that to this day, for all the millions spent in exploring it,
remains, yon may say as far as practical knowledge is concerned,
'iUhknotni. Our legislators and politicians talk to us by the hour
of the vast fertility, the boundless wealth in this far-off, unknown
land. Now my friends, if these gentlemen were only sent out to
explore and till this very fertile land a few months before making
these grand speeches, their enthusiasm would be somewhat damp-
ed; not that I disbelieve the land is fertile and will be productive,
but what of the hard labor, the i)rivations of the first pioneers,
the sweat of our brothers and sons, the self-denial and hard labor
of our wives and sisters, before the glowing picture drawn by our
wise and able legislators, drawn by them in their comfortable
seats and warm rooms, becomes an " accomplished fact." I ask
any intelligent farmer if his crops grow by looking at the land, or
his cattle fatten spontaneously by l(M>king at the scenery. The
"great North West" my friends, will [ am sure become a great
country, bi will Ije after years of iai)or and many dollai's are
spftnt on it. Xow till we find this labor and those dollars, the
irreat North West is to vou and T, and everv son of Canada, as
if it were not ; unless indeed we except the cost it is to this
l)oor country to support and pay for what is called the "North
West Mounted Pol ice," a force, if reportsspeak truly, which will soon
re(piire another force to look after them. It costs money now, and
brings no revenue. What we want in the first place is population
to fill up and till the soil. To transport people in such numbers as
would even in our generation give us a beginning of a country
out there you must find the means of bringing them to the land ;
by this I do not mean a population of the poor from the crowded
cities of Europe. To make the country anything like the
Parliamentary picture, you must have at least a fair proportion of
men with means and experience. Neither our pi-esent govern-
ment system of emigration, nor all the fine speeches will ever
induce IJritiah agriculturalists who have money or brains to use
it, to come to the North West as matters are at present. In saying
this I am ii\)ii'A\\\\\^froin2>raGtieal knoioledae. Now to bring the
matter down to a fine point, I may quote a very familiar illustra-

^rr-

TIIK HYNDICATK.

tioii from an old Scotcili I'ueoipt for iiiiikiii<j^ luiru soup, l>y tliat
<iueuii of cooks in liurowii itountry iiiid guneration '' ^Ujs Dodds."
Tliu receipt eoiumenee.s l)y telling you — '' first catch the hare/'
Now W(? must first catch the emigrant, and then we must hring
him to the land ; to do this we must build a road, and it is out
(jf fashion now t<j use any other road than a railroad. Now my
friends for the last ten years alm(>stour clever and wise h'gisIatcM's
of both sides of politics have been trying to catch this hare, iind
have, T am sorry to think, made a very poor show— to <piote a
much used phrase in this country; I would ai)ologize for using it,
as it sounds somewhat slangy, were T writing for the great and
the learned ; as I am not my readers will understand and excuse
this and any other word I may introduce if moi*e e.\i)ressive
than elegant.

I do not think our legislators are altogether to ]>lame for
the failure, of either building a railroad to the North West, or
inducing the proper class of emigrants to come here ; for no one
except those who have had the expei'ience knows "how hard a
thing it is to be a government," beset on all hands by hungry,
and in numy cases by unscrupulous supporters who insist on, intlic
most cases, the very man being employed at what he is perfe(^tly
unfitted for and most incapable of. The conserpience is after
nearly ten years time, and two Governments trying their hand
at the business, altho' the pot is ready, there is no hare to put into
it, nor so far the means of catching it. And if things were left
{IS they are in the hands of the Government and ])olitical engi-
neers, the chances are that in ten years more wc^ would have
expended in useless surveys and expensive railroad making, a great
deal more money than is being given to the so-called Syndicate
for building the whole road. This word Syndicate, is what might
he called a high-toned way 'of spelling Company^ and to the
common sense practical public, Company would be more natural
and better understood. I need only refer my readers to some of
the wonderful speeches recently made against this new arrange-
ment, for the immense amount of money it is g(jing to cost, &c.
Now having read the terms of the agreement, we know at once
and forever all it is to cost. We heai" any amount of talk from the
gentlemen in opposition to the scheme, about the line bargain
the Syndicate have made for themselves and their heirs ; for you
must bear in mind that before this reputed fine bargain becomes

"♦••l

TIIK KYNDICATK.

tlic l)ayiiig coiicLM'ii it is said to 1k', a ^(^ncratioii M'iil liave pasHcd
away, ami in all liiiinan probability few if any of tliofo now form-
ing tlic vSyndicate will livo to reap in their own persons the
benefit of the risk. Not that I do not wish, and hope they may,
as they eertainly deserve to do, but they will be vei'y dilfcient
engineers, eontraetors or emigration agents than we have hitherto
bad, if their (jreat (jvdnd c/iUdren are to <lerive any benefit
from the speculation. ]*ut there is to me another impoi'tant p(»int,
I don't see touched npon in any of the speeches miide, and that
is the fact that tliis is, as soon as it becomes law is an ine(tri)orated
(!ompany, who will immediately issue their bonds, and any man
or woman in Canada who has a little money to spare, and faith
in tlieir country, can, and 1 hope will, become ihCDihcrx of the
Syndicate. These gentlemen now forming the (Jompany, are
entering on the acheme on purely commercial i)rinciples, anrl
their past lives and high character for careful and successful
speculations, is a gaurantee to any one choosing to invest their
savings in Pacific Jtailway stock, that the thing will be condnctcd
on undoubted connnercial principles, and that the smallest share-
holder, as well as the greatest, will be sure of his or her dividend
on the profits of the Company. So that our friends composing
" Her Majesty's loyal Opposition," will have the chance, by -and-by,
of being at least part of the Syndicate themselves, and reaping the
benefit of this, what they termed, great monoply.

Another thing we hear about is the fear the Syndicate will
make an inferior road, and that the Union Pacific is not a pro})er
standard, ifec. Now, I am not an engineer, eonsecjuently not
qualified to enter on that professional question, which even if f
did, possibly, a great number of my readers would not understand.
But this much I do know ; it would not pay the conq)any to
make a bad road, smash an engine or two every other week, kill
some and injure others. Only a (irovernment can afford to do that.
When the Syndicate makes the railroad it will be well made and
substantial, for their own sakes. It may not have carved stone on
the culverts as some Government Railways in this country have,
that cost you and I and every tax-payer extra money and added
nothing to the durability or utility of the road. But it will be
well made and safe to run over, and the very fact that it is
to remain the property of the Syndicate for all time gurantees
this. Had it been as the opposers of the scheme suggest to revert

TIIK SYNOICATK.

to the (i(»VL'niino!it or tlio (-oiiutrv iit souk; future tixccl date, tlicii
tliem wo\il(l luive 1)olmi danger ((t* an inferior road heinu: liiiilt ;
tiie Sviidi(5ato would very naturally have said, what is the use of
our huildinj; a j^ood l>rid<^e or a safe eulvert, a cheaper one will
last our time, let the (loverninent, wiien thi'V i^et tlie road, l)uild
better bridges, iV;e. I think that one of the wisest ])arts of t\w
i)ar;^ain is i^ivin*^ it to the Syndicate in feesiinj)]e. Now, we an;
sure that the road will hi; built, and also it will be a i^ood an<l
sid>stantial one wlien built, it will be well e<|ui|)|)('(|, well man-
a;j!;e<l afterwards, and the niinai;-t'rs and superintendents under
th(> Syndicate will be capable of doinj^ their work, and not live a
couple of thousand miles away from the scene of their duty, as
soin(! do at j)resent. The Syndicate will not ask or cxj)ect any
?nan to do the work an ani^el would shrink from uiidertakinL^.

Should any of my readers have time and money to spare, aiul
want to see the difference of a railroad run and owned by a Syn-
dictate, and one we are said to own, (that is the people of C/anada)
run by the (lovernment, let him take a trip over the St. Paul and
Minneapolis Railroad, and then prolon;^; their journey over our
Railroad, the Pembina Uranch, pass Winnipeiij, on to Kat Portau^e,
and r.turn, and if by the time they ^et back they don't vote for
the Syndicate, on even better terms, we will <j^ive uj) the contest.
Oidy, they must not take the trip in the company of a Cabinet Min-
ister or in the wake of a IFiiijh (rovernment ( )tK(ual, — tliey are more
precious than ordinary men who only pay their fare, —the former
has to be Hattered and feted, the latter feared and conciliated for the
power tem])orarily ])laced in his hands. It is a very easy (juestion
in Simple Proportion: if the (lovernment manaijement as at present
])ractised on the LSO miles is such as it is, what would it be on
two thousand ? not to speak of the political engine it would be in
all time to whatever Cxovernmeiit was in povvei", used for every
])artizan and political purpose, a sort of refu«jje for every incapable
havin<jj political influence, a mockeiy and a shame as far as com-
merce or the good of the country was concerned.

Another important point to the Syndicate, at lcar>t, never
seems touched upon in any of the speeches I have read, possibly
hecause not much known to the speakers, and that is that a great
proportion of this tine fertile " North West " is a series of
lakelets, and that what is and will be the the best land is totally
useless for settlement until an expensive system of drainage is

TIIK HYNDICATE.

i'WiU'tvA on ;i Uri^o scale. Most of our travt'Mui'H, such uh (^apt.
liutlrr aiuUoiue otliurs who rcallv naw the Xorth West, went over
tlie ^rouul ill wiiitiir, I tliiiik it* reeeut Hurv(!y(»rs will tell the
truth till'}' found more water than lan«l in what is suj)i>o«e(l to be
the trafk of the railroad. i*(.'for(! the Syndicate can sell tlicHO
lamls tlii\v must drain them, and in draining their own portion
they will at least drain oat'n. I say ours, as the opposition to the
Syndicate always talk of '' the people," and their very <lisinterertt-
ed love for you and I. VVc must ^ive them due credit and call all
that remains of the land ours. Hefore the Svndicate can scifl their
(»wn portion of the land tliey must he at jjjreat expense, more than
those not practically accpiainted with these matters have any idea
of. Then, when they do this, and hrin*^ people of means into the
ciuintry, every man, woman and child they hrin^ in honefits you
and 1 and every man in Canada, indirectly. They may till the soil
to he<jfin with, but they must for many years to come purchase
largely of our manufactures, must eat our sugar, (think of that
my friends in Quebec,) wear onr cotton and woollen goods, use our
iron and wood, both manufactured and sawn, for the great North
West is not irreat in timber. In fact the Svndicate cannot earn
one dollar for themselves without benefitting us Canadians indi-
rectly other two. The labor they will recpiire will be an outlet
for our surplus sous, who most naturally will call some of our
daughters after them, and prevent our young men and young
W(jmen from seeking a liome across the border, for it is a sad but
stubborn fact notwithstanding the laudable efforts the Govern-
ment have made, we have dep(>rted of late years nearly as many
as we have imported. Now the Syndicate will stop all this. We
will have a home market for our surplus population, and our manu-
facturoi's will then have increased sale for everything they can
make ; this will give work here and circulate money ; for it is not
so much the direct as the indirect advantages that benefit a country.
That there may be weak points in the Syndicate bargain
possibly no one will deny, but it would liave been hard to have
framed a measure which would liave pleased every one, and at the
same time be such as cautious business men would risk to under-
take. We are told a great deal by the opponents of the Syndicate
about the excellence of the scheme proposed by the late adminis-
tration, but it was so excellent that no one would look at it. We
want the road built and the country peopled ; this the Syndicate

THK flYNmcATK.

will do, luul if tliirt is done and a sto]) put to tlio dirt^raceful trattic
in (Tovt!riimentcoutrH(^tiiijr\vliicliruceiit in v(.'Ktij.';atioiishav(! partially
laid haru, for I am afraid l>nt a v(M'v nnmll part of tlic truth was
told, and if the (>!vnadian peopU^ know tlio wliolo truth and thu
whole coKt to thin pooi country they would think the Syndicate
even at harder terniH a ^ood bargain. What with unKcruj)lous eotj-
traetors, (rontract hrokijji^, not to wpeak ot the new moral code
bcin<j; introduced to ruin the hint upark of honesty left in our
youn^jj Canadian mindrt, 1 mean this doctrine of "' Nfental Iteser-
vation" when a man Ih on oath. Why, if the Syndicate di<l
nothing else than remove the occasion of surh a foul doctrine
takinj^ root in our midst it would bo worth payin«.»' :i yrice for.

We have heard a ^reat deal about the adoption by the Syn-
dicate of the ritaiuhird of the Union Pacific. From all we know
unless the Syndicate build a mountain on purpose it will be
ditUcult for them to jjjive us bad grades.

I am going to finish these few remarks made outside the
beaten political track by giving my friends the history of of the
building of what I think nuiy be called the ''first Pacific Railway. "
It will better illustrate to them what a Syndicate really means,
although 1 think these men were satisfied to call themselves a
company. It will show our ycning men better tlian twenty political
speeches what a few honed men, who believed in each other and
their country, could do, did and still continue to do, for they yet
own the railway and their heirs will continue to do so for all
time. The United States contains some smart men, and good
politicians, but they never attempted to build or run a (iovern-
ment railroad, tliey allow Syndicates to do this, consecjuently
attract twenty emigrants for our one, and keep them too.

ti3:e jstoi^^st

OF THR IJUILDINc; OF THK

CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD.

The tourist enters California by one of the most notable and
remarkable objects it contains, I mean tlic Central Pacific Rail-
road. All the Avorld has heard of the great Mount Cenis Tunnel,
and travellers tell us continually of sights and public v.'orks in
Europe ; but if the Americans were not the most modest people
in the world, they would, before this, have much more famous
than any European public work, the magnificent and daring ])iece
of engineering by whose help you roll speedily and luxuriously
across the Sierra Nevada from Ogden to San Francisco. But we
Americans have too much to do to spei;d our time in boasting.
We have accomplished some great things, we turn to something
greater, if it is at hand. And it is a curious commentary upon
this characteristic that the man wlu»se daring, determination, re-
sistless energy and clear pre-vision, did more than anything else
to build this great road--I mean C. P. Huntington,— has already
turned away to another enterprise in parts almost e(pially dith-
cult — the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

The story of the building of the Central Pacific Railroad is
one of the most remarkable examples of the dauntless spirit of
American enterprise. The men who built it were merchants
,. 'lo probably knew no more about building railroads when they
r.\A passed middle age and attained a respectable com])etence l)y
t "ide, than a Cohrea J'ike knows about Crreek. Ifuntington and
ilopkins were and are hardware merchants ; Stanford was at one
time a wholesale dealer in i>'roceries, thoui»-h later on Gov-
ernor of the State ; the two Crockers were dry goods men.
These five, all or past middle age, all living in Sacramento,
then an insignificant town in the interior of California, believing
in each other, believing that the railroad must be built, and find-
ing no one else to undertake it, put their hands and heads and
their means to the great work, and carried it through.

fNoTE.l Tliis stoiy is tnken fniiii " Cilifdiiiia," a book for travclli'i's and auttlcrs, by Charles
Nordoff. Pultlislu'd by narpei' Bros., Now York, 1S72.

THE SYNDICATE.

Every one knows what is the common fate in tliis country of
raih'oad projections, A few sanguine and public spirited men
procure a charter, make up a company, subscribe for the stock,
drag all their friends in, get the preliminary surveys made, begin
the work, and then break down : and two or three capitalists who
have been quietly waiting for this forseen conclusion, forseen by
them, I mean, buy the valuable wreck for a song, and build, and
run, and own the road. This is a business in itself. Dozens of
men have millions apiece by this process, which is perfectly
legitimate, tor the French say in order to succeed you must be
successful, or as we say in this country, to the victors belong the
spoils.

Now the projectors of the Central Pacific Eailroad complet-
ed it and to-day control and manage it. They did not let it slip
out of their fingers ; and, what is more, being only merchants,
totally inexperienced in railroad building and railroad managing,
they did their work so well that, in the opinion of the best engin-
eers, their road is to-day one of the most thoroughly built and
equipped and best managed in the United States. Their bonds
sell in Europe but little, if any, below United States Government
bonds, and their credit, as a company, in London, Frankfort,
Paris, is as high as that of the Government itself.

Moreover, you are to remember that these five Sacramento
merchants who undertook to build a railroad right through eight
hundred miles of an almost uninhabited countrv, over mountains
and across an alkali desert, were totally unknown to the great
money world ; that their project was pronounced impracticable
by engineers of reputation, testifying before legislative commit-
tees ; that it was opposed and ridiculed at every step by the mon-
ied men of San Francisco, and even in their own neighbourhood
they were thought sure to fail ; and the " Dutch Flat Swindle,"
as their project was called, was caricatured, written down in
pamphlets, abused in newspapers, spoken against by politicians,
denounced by capitalists, and for a long time held in such ill re-
pute that it was more than a banker's character was worth for
prudence to connect himself with it, even by subscribing to its
stock. How much of this could be applied to the proposed Syn-
dicate and it's terms !

Nor was this all. Not only had credit to be created for the
enterprise against all these difficulties, but when money was

THE SYNDICATE.

1,.,

raised, the material for tlie road, the iron, the spikes, the tools to
dig, the powder to blast, the locomotives, the cars, the machiner;y,
everything, had to be shipped from New York aronnd Cape
Horn. Not a foot of iron was laid on the road, in all the eight
hundred miles to Ogden, not a spike was driven, not a dirt car
was moved, nor a powder blast set off, that was not first brought
around Cape Horn ; and at every step of its progress the work
depended upon the promptness with which all this material was
sliipped for a sea voyage of thousands of miles around Cape
Horn.

Men, too, as well as material had to be obtainedtrom a great
distance. California thinly populated, with wages very high at
that time, could not supply the force needed. Labourers were
obtained from New York, from the lower country and finally
ten thousand Chinese were brought over the Pacific Ocean, and
their patient toil completed the work.

When you get to Sacramento, if you have a quarter of an
hour to spare, ask some one to show you No. 54: K street. It is
not far from the railroad depot, and it is the place where the
Central Pacific Railroad was nursed, and from which it grew.
You will see over the plain frame store a weather-beaten old sign
" Huntington and Hopkins," and if you walk in you will find a
tolerably complete assortment of hardware. . Here C. P. Hunt-
ington and Mark Hopkins, the first from Connecticut, the last
from the hill country of Massachusetts, gathered by diligence,
shrewdness, and honest dealing a respectable fortune. They were
so cautious they never owned a dollar of stock in a mine, never
had a branch house, never sent out a " drummer" to get business,
never sued a man for debt. It is still related in Sacramento that
the cardinal rule of the firm was to ask a high price for every-
thing, but to sell only a good article, the best in the market.

In fact Huntington and Hopkins were merchants, and noth-
ing else in business. They sold hardware. But in politics they
were free soilers and later Republicans, and thet/ did not sell their
principles.

Sitting around the stove on dull winter evenings in the store
at 54 K street the two hardware merchants, and their Republican
allies, Stanford and the Crockers, when politics flagged are said
to have returned again and again to the project of a Pacific Rail-
road. The desire for a road was in everybody's mind in Call-

THE SYNDICATE.

f an

It is

tlic

forniii. The question entered so fully into politics that no man
for years could hope to be chosen for an office by either party
unless he was believed to be a zealous friend of the railroad.

Finally there came to build the Little Sacramento Valley
Railroad, one Judali, an engineer, who, many people thought
was Pacific Railroad crazy, lie begged some money amongst
the most sanguine railroad men, and made a reconnoissance of two
or three gaps in the Sierra. After some time, he proclaimed that
he had discovered what everybody wished for, a possible passage
for a railroad. By way of Dutch Flat, he asserted, there was a
long easy ascent, practicable for a road. Judah, sanguine and
restless, personally solicited subscriptions from the people of
Dutch Flat, Auburn, Giass Valley and Sacramento, to help him
10 make a more thorough exploration. Public meetings were
held, and men gave according to their meanc, ten, fifty, one hun-
dred dollars, for this object. A law of the state, which made
every stock holder liable individually for the debts of a com-
pany, made people cautious about subscribing to new projects,
and Judali got his support chiefly in gifts ; and among his lead-
ing supporters in this way were the five merchants that I have
named.

About this time came the rumble of war, and the San Fran-
cisco capitalists, mostly at that time Southern men, would not
have anything more te do with the scheme ; and once more it
seemed to be crushed.

Working under the state laws, which provided that before
a company could have a charter |1,000 must be paid in for
every mile of its proposed road, it was not easy to raise the cap-
ital, about $135,000, needed to obtain a charter, and yet affairs
had now come to such a pass that it was no longer worth while,
or even possible, to go on without organization. Sacramento
w\as canvassed, but with too little success ; San Francisco had
buttoned up its 'pockets ; and at last, Huntington, who had refus-
ed to give any more money for mere reconnoissancos, proposed to
half a dozen others to undertake the enterprise among themselves
of making a regular and careful survey. " FU be one of ten, or
one of eight, to bear the whole expense, if Hopkins will consent,"
he said at a meeting called at Governor Stanford's house, and
thus the great work was at last begun, seven men binding them-
selves in a compact for three years to pay all needful expenses

THE SYNDICATE.

of a thorough survey out of their own pockets. Of these seven,
one, Judah, had no means, and shortly afterwards died, and an-
other person dropped out. There were a few outside subscrip-
tions ; but it is curious to remember tliat when apromine it banker
friendly to the project, and having faith in it, was asked to take
some stock, he declined on tlie plea the credit of his bank would
suffer if he were known to be connected with so wild a scheme.

This was in i860, twenty years ago.

The Central Pacific Railroad Company was thus at last or-
ganized, with Leland Stanford, as President. C. P. Huntington,
as Yice-president, and Mark Hopkins as Secretary :.nd Treasurer.

Affairs now began to look, to the prudent hardware dealers
at No. 54 K street, as though they were likely to have more rail-
road presently than would be good for the hardware business.
While the explorations and surveys were going on in the winter
of 1860-61, and while a Pacific Railroad Bill was getting drawn
in Congress, business details began to be examined, and at 54 K
street they asked themselves why it was that so few railroads in
this country had been successful in first hands. The answer was
that they were not prudently and economically managed in the
beginning, and second, that American railroads are built largely
on credit ; thus it almost always happens that the interest account
begins to run before the road can earn money ; and to pay interest
when no business is done would ruin almost any undertaking, even
the hardware business, thought these shrewd merchants.

As to the first fault, the engineer had designed what to his
professional eye, seemed a proper building for the Sacramento
business. It was large, elaborate, complete, and would have cost
$12,000. Huntington approved of the plan, which he said was
admirable for by-and-by. " For the present," said he, " we are
not doing much business, and this would do better ;" and with a
piece of chalk he drew the outline on one of the iron doors of 54
K street of such a board structure as he thought 'sufficient. The
four sides were nailed together in an afternoon, it was roofed the
next day ; it cost $150 ; and when it grew too small for its orig-
inal uses, it was removed and used as a paint shop. There was
no nonsense or flummery about 54 K street. And, I may add,
the same spirit still prevails there. As to the second point,
Huntington was, after consultation, sent to Washington, strictly
enjVined to see that in the Pacific Railroad Bill it should be pro-

THE SYNDICATE.

seven,

nd an-

bscrip-

jaiiker

;o take

would

jlieme.

vided that the Cotnpaiij should pay no interest on the bonds it
received of the Government for at least ten years ; and if this
condition was refused, to abandon the whole affair, and sell the
wreck for what it would brinor.

Another and more notable thing these five men did. When
they sent Huntington to Washington, they gave him power of
attorney authorizing him to do for them and in their name any
thing whatever, to buy, sell, bargain, convey, borrow or lend,
without any if or hut, let or hindrance whatever, except that he
should fare alike with them in all that concerned their great project.
It is not often that five middle-aged business men are found to place
such entire confidence in each other as this ; but it was vital to
their success that they should feel and act just thus.

At last Huntington telegrr plied from Washington : " The
bill has passed, and we have drawn the elephant." Thereupon
the company accepted the conditions, and opened books for stock
subscriptions to the amount of eight and a half millions to carry
the road to the State line. The beginning was not hopeful. 'The
rich men of San Fransisco did not subscribe a cent. One man
in Nevada took one share. Others elsewhere took five one-hun-
dred dollar shares more. Six hundred dollars were subscribed at
the fii'st rush to build the Central Pacific Railroad ! Later,
mechanics, working-women, and others in Sacramento and other
small towns, homesick people who wanted to go back to the
Atlantic States without the perils of the sea, it was said, took up
one hundred and fifty shares more. It was a long time before a
million and a half of stock was taken.

Meantime in the summer of 1^61 a considerable traffic had
sprung up between Nevada and Sacramento. This was done over
the Placerville Turnpike, and Mark Hopkins took pains to ascer-
tain the amount and value of this commerce, which the Pacific
Railroad would do, of course, as soon as it was sufficiently com-
pleted. He caused the number of teams, on the turnpike and the
number of passengers to be counted ; and this gave a certain pro-
mise of local business Next it was necessary to cause well known
bankers to certify to the world the good standing and pecuniary re-
sponsibility of the principal subscribers to the stock. The Californ-
ian Legislature then merged the State charter into the Federal char-
ter ; all the statutes of the State bearing upon the Company were
gathered together ; and thus armed with facts and credentials,

THE SYNDICATE.

I >

it.

Huntington went to New York to raise a great many millions of
dollars.

lie was promptly told by the capitalists that the bonds of the
company had no value in their eyes until some part of the road
had been built. The Government bonds, of course, were not to
be given until a certain part of the road was completed. The stock
subscriptions cameintooslowly for practical purposes. Huntington,
courageous, full of resources, and of faith in what he had under-
taken to do, announced that lie would not sell his bonds except for
money, and that he would not sell any unless a million and a half
were taken ; and finally, when that amount was bid for, he called
all the bidders together, explained in detail the full importance
and value of the enterprise, and thereupon the bonds were taken,
on condition that Huntington and his four partners, Hopkins,
Stanford, and the two Crokers, should make themselves personally
responsible for the money received, until the bonds could be
exchanged for Government bonds. Huntington did not hesitate
a moment to pledge his own moderate fortune and those of his
associates to this effect. These bonds built thirty-one miles of the
road, the easiest part of it fortunately.

And now came the severest test of the courage and endurance
of the men at 54 K street. Eleven months passed over before
they could get the Government bonds for the completed and
accepted portion of the line ; these bonds in the mean time had
gone down from one and a half per cent, premium in gold, where
they had stood when the charter was accepted, to thirty-nine
cents for the dollar. Railroad iron in the same period went up
from $50 to $135 per ton. All other material, locomotives, &c.,
rose in proportion ; insurance increased for the eight or nine
months' voyage around Cape Horn, which every pound of the
material of the road-bed and running stock had to make, rose
from two and a half per cent, to ten per cent. ; freights from $18
to $45 per ton.

Intoit on keeping down their interest account, the five men
at 54 K street asked the State to pay for twenty years the interest
on a million and a half of bonds, in exchange for which they gave a
valuable granite ouarry, guranteed free transportation of all stone
from it for the public buildings of the State, and also free trans-
portation over their line of all State troops, criminals, lunatics and
paupers. This was done. Then Sacramento and some of the

CO]

col
m(i

ol^

ch
cal

THE SYNDICATE.

Jgton,

counties were asked to cxcliange their bonds for the stock of the
company, and this was done l)y a popular vote. Meantime the
money was used up. Tlie business was from the first kept rigid-
ly under control ; every contract was made terminable at the
option of the Company ; every hand employed was paid off
monthly ; and in reading over some old contracts I came upon a
clause specially obliging the contractor to keep liquor out of the
camps. When Huntington, after long and trying labors in New
York, returned to Sacramento, he found the treasure chest so low
that it was advisable to diminish the labouring force, or at once
raise more means. " Huntington and Hopkins," said he, " can out
of their own means, pay 500 men during a year; how many can each
of you keep on the line ? " The five men agreed in counsel at 54 K
street that out of their own private fortunes they would maintain
and pay 800 men during a year on the road.

This resolution ended their troubles. Before the year was
over they had received their Government bonds. They still liad
the worst and most costly part of the line to build ; they still had
to transport all their material around Cape Horn ; they had many
trials, difficulties, and obstacles before them, for nearly four years
were consumed in crossing the Sierra ; they had to encounter law
suits, opposition, ridicule, evil prophesies, losses ; had to organize
a vast laboring force, drill long tunnels, shovel away one spring
over sixty feet of snow over seven miles of the line, merely to
get at the road bed ; had to set up saw mills by the dozen to saw
ties ; haul half a dozen locomotives and twenty tons of iron twenty-
six miles ov^er the mountains by ox teams ; haul water forty and
wood iifty miles for construction trains on the alkali plains ; but
it seems to m.e that this brave resolution was the turning 23oint in
their enterprise.

Surely there is something admirable in the courage of ifive
country merchants, ignorant of railroad building, and unknown
to the world, assuming such a load as the support of eight (8)
hundred men for a year out of tlieir own pockets, for an enterprise
in the success of which, in tlieir hands, very few of their own
friends believed.

The secret of their success was that these five country mer-
chants meant in good faith to build a railroad. They did not
expect to get money out of an enterprise before they had put
money of their own into it. They managed all the details as

THE SYNDICATE.

ir.

carefully and prudently as they were accustomed to manage the
hardware or dry goods business. They were honest men. When
Huntington began to buy iron and machinery in New York, people
flocked to him to sell, and there is a story of some one who came
with an offer of a handsome commission to lluntiongton if he
would deal with him. " I want all the commissions I can get," was
the reply ; " hut I want them put in the hill. This road has
got to be built without any stealings."*

Don't keep a man at work whom you can't pay regularily at
the end of the month : we won't stop work if we can pay only
one man, we will employ only one man," was their rule. There-
fore every contract was made terminable at the will of the
Company. In New York, where the money was to be raised on
the bonds, and the material had to be bought and shipped, the
bonds were sold only for money, and the iron bought for cash,
and all this time the interest was kept down by every possible
provision. " If there is any money to to be made in building
this road," said Huntington, " I mean that the Company shall
make it." When some person tells you that the Central Pacific
people were close you icill understand that they were honest.

Nor were they satisfied to merely complete their road. They
have busied themselves establishing feeders for it in California,
and already own and manage almost the whole railroad system of
that State. North towards Oregon, and southward, through the
great San Joaquin Valley, towards Los Angelos, San Bernardino,
and the Colerado River, engineers are busy laying tracks or com-
pleting surveys. The Californian and Oregon Railroad, which
will be completed this year, opens the whole of the Great Sacra-
mento Valley and the northei-n part of the State, and connects
with the Oregon Railroad system. The Southern Pacific Railroad,
with the Visalia branch, in like manner opens up the still richer
San Joaquin Valley, as well as the series of smaller valleys lying
west of the Coast Range, which already produce enormous crops
of grain. The Western Pacific and Californian Pacific Railroads
complete connections between Sacramento and San Francisco ;
and the Napa Valley, the Copperopolis, the Watsonville, and
other branch roads gather in the products of other fertile regions,
and carry them to the main line.

t(
h
h

•Coinphre this with our Canadians and their mi»ae of doing business. This honesty (fool
now) of purpose and faith in each other.

THE SYNDICATE.

ge tlie
WJien
people
came
if he
," was

The Central "aciiic Raih'oad was one of the most expensive
to build in the world. Its engineers, Montague and Grey, would
have been famous all over the world had they constructed a road
half as difficult in Europe.

Nor will you see, unless you enquire for it, in Sacramento,
an admirable institution, the Central Pacific llailroad Elospital, a
fine building which stands in an open square, cost $60,000, and is
supported by a monthly contribution of fifty cents from every
man engaged with the company, from the President down. One
of the ablest physicians of Sacramento has charge of this Hospital,
and he too was one of eight men who, in 1850, organized the
Republican Party in California. In the report of the State Board
of Health this Hospital is spoken of as " first in the order of
salubrity and successful results in the world," and it is in every
way a complete and carefully managed institution.

The Company, which, as I have told you, has still its head
quarters at 54 K street, Sacramento, now employs more than all
the other manufacturers in California, its pay roll in the State
alone contains nearly seven thousand names. It manufactures
within the State every article and material used in building and
running its roads : it is spending half a million dollars per month
in building new roads, and it has, still at 54 K st' '^et, Sacramento,
the most complete land office in the United States, not excepting
that at Washington, a place where you may select on maps, locate
and pay for, any quantity of the Company's lands you wish for,
and where you may obtain in a few minutes detailed and specific
information concerning land in any part of California.

One incident of the building of the road will conclude what
I have to say of it. In April, 1869, ten miles of the road were
built in one day. This is probably the greatest feat of railroad
building on record. What is most remarkable about it is that
eight (8) men handled all the iron on this ten miles. These eight
giants walked ten miles that day. lifted and handled one thousand
tons of rail bars each.

Now possibly few of my readers can follow or comprehend
the wonderful tables of probable cost and estimates, the grade,
gauges, &c., talked about so profusely ; sometimes, I am afraid,
as little understood by the parties using them as by you or I, but
any ordinary man or woman can understand the huslness grade
and moral standard followed in the building of " the Central

THK fiYNKICATK.

Pacitic Rail road," and can contrast tlietrutli, lionc>stly, and Rterlin*:;
])rincipk'S followed l>y those tivc merchants of 54 K street,
Sacramento, and compare them with the recent ''.I^ook of Keve-
lations," published hy the Canadian Koyal Commission on our
Pacific llailroad. I should like to know what these <i;entlemen
would thiidc of our new Canadian Doctrine of "mental reserva-
tion," or whether the wise and ])ious authors of that well-known
theological work the Shorter Catechism would rank the pro-
pendus (»f this new moi'al code, amongst those wIkj are " effectually
called unto Salvation," and c!illin<r to say the least, what looks
to us ccnnnon folks, a very (lucstionable action, a puiely business
transaction. No country, no (irovernment can afford this, any-
thin<j: my friends is better than to allow such moral weeds to grow
uj) aniontrst us. We arc going to stand shoulder to shoulder to
build up this grand country of ours, but we are going to do so by
teaching our sons to be honest iacn\ we are going to build our
railroad, and people our wide and fertile country, and if a section
of our would-be leaders screech and scream, it is because they see
the power passing out of their hiuids, to prey on the vitals of the
people by letting government contracts in the future.

The Svndicate will give a contract to men of known abilitv
who can and will perform their work, without having to bond
their whole ]x>ssessions in security, leaving them crippled for
means to carry it on honestly afterwards, nor will they have to
M'ade through a host of broken political hangers on, cajoling
one another, bribing till there is not a strictly honestaction connect-
ed with the whole concern. The Syndicate will employ engineers
who really kiiow their business, not political nominees, whose
sole (pialitication for the work is their i)arliamentary influence,
and who use the p<j^ver temporally placed in their hands, to harass
and so far ruin contractors, wdio in their turn, to save them-
selves, must scheme, and to use their own words "alieat tlie
government" and in many cases are after all kept for years, for
some political reason, out of their just earnings. There will be
nothing of all this under the Syndicate, they may not in all cases
Come up to the high moral standard of 54 K street, but for their
own sakes there will be a very different monopoly from that
we at present enjoy.

In conclusion 1 may tell my readers I am neither a politician,
nor expectant member of parliament, only a Canadian believing

tin

TIIK HYN»I("A'iE,

1 stei'liiiir
' .street,
'f lieve-
o?i our
Mitlernen
reserva-
l-I<no\vn
the pi'o-
fwtually
lit looks
l)iisiiieHs
lis, any-
to grow
>ultler to
h so by
uilcl our
section
tliej see
8 of tlie

» nhiJity
to bond
^Jed for
Iiave to
cajoling
lonnect-
igiiieers
. whose
Alienee,
> liarass
tliein-
Jat tlie
irs, for
will be
1 cases
' their
ti that

ticiau,
eving

in my country, llavin^^a young faniily I am trying to bring up
as honest nu'U and ;rood citi/ens, and who one dav may be called
on to take their part in buihling up this great nation, and regret-
ting, as eyery honest man must do, at the yery parti/an and
unpatriotic spirit disjilayed on this great (piestion by those who
must ;ind do kiujw better, and who for the most tcmpoi'ary and
selfish interest, woidd sacriiice the whold country for generations
to come. The country had one edition of this work and gave it
a readin<ir and .1 trial witii vei-y barren results ; we do not want
another, and I am williuic to add a stone howeyer small in i)uildin;r
up an edilice that will do more in a few years, to make Canada a
a great and [)rosj)erous country, than anything that has ever yet
been done. Without this railroad confederation was only half
complete, I ho])e the honorable gentlemen who haye brought this
scheme, to perfect their former work, will liye to cross the con-
tinent on our long talked of Pacific Jlailroad. We all hope one
day to " look down on it," but we will be content for the present
to look on it, and run oyer it, and in our own day see and enjoy
the wonderful land God lias giyen us, and point with ])ride to the
men who were able to make such, and in giving us this a truly
commercial road, will build up our beloved country and make it
as it deserves to be, second to none on the continent. This is what
Canadians really want, and wish for. It is immaterial to the great
body of the peoj)le who makes the road, so long as it is nuide, and
if the Syndicate can by their good management make it a good
thing for themselves, so much the better for all Canada. So long
as the world lasts as at present constituted, it is the :^ew will be
rich and the many who will be poor, and for all the prate about
the people in their grand political speeches, left in the hands of
the Governinent, the peojjle's money would be wasted, commer-
cial morality undermined and common honesty thrown to the
wind. We would soon, become a by-word amongst nations, twice
the amount i^romised to the Syndicate would be spent and no
road made, a few political parti/ans might be enriched, but the
]ieo})le would remain poorer than ever.

Our agitators need not distress themselves about this or that
branch. So soon as that becomes a commercial necessity the
branch will be built. Nor need they talk so loud abont the
freight of grain when they have not yet got the farmer to sow
or reap. Another set clamour that the Syndicate will build a

THE flYNDir'ATK.

cljoap road wiintc the nioiu'v and htch >ij> fhc h(n<f, it would pay
the ('oinpany wcdl to run a road tlirou^li a country \\\v\\\ were n(»
people in. Another net tell uh tliuy are u^oin^ to introduce land-
lordisin into ('anada. PortsiMy these gentlemen want new ^anie,
now the buU'alo art; <lyin^ out. No fear of thifi, my friends; let
Air. Urassey, or any other I'ritish capitalist, buy our land, so
lon^ as they pay for it. They will he the cheapest and best ini-
nii;::ration agents ('anada ever saw, and they will bring out what
wc want, men with ea})ital and experience, who will give a new
impetus to agriculture in tliis country.

Landlords, as the term is understofid in (ireat IJi'itain, are
like lieather, they would not thrive on Canadian soil.

I have made these few, homely remarks on the all-absorbing
topic of the hour, from a mctial as well as ])atriotic pcnnt of view,
and to try and shew my young friends wliiit a Syndicate is like in
the little story embodied in this, aF well as the indirect good a
successful company can do to a country. Tf F have served to
illustrate this, or counteract in the smallest <legree, the many f*d-
lacious statements, sneers and cartoons put forth against it, the
writer will be amply rewarded.*

I cannot close without adding one word in ])raise of the
illustrious statesman who is ])resently the head of Iler Majesty's
Government in Canada. I cannot help feeling j)roud of the
man wlio first gave Canada confederation, and now \\2A tlie pat-
riotism to give us the railroad, and because he knows they are men
who can and will make the road, he has given it to those who are
well known as not of his party. It would be long before those
who so loudly ci-cry the scheme would have done in like manner,
and in future years when he will have passed from amongst us,
we will be proud to tell our children, no matter what his faults
may have been, (and premiers are not angels.) we can point to all
he did for Canada, and not for himself, and tell them that amidst
all the political corruption of the age in which he lived, not his
most bitter enemy could say he ever spent a dollar for himself at
the expense of the country. The welfare of Canada was his first
and last thought, and if ever he had to descend to do things he
personally recoiled from, it was the corruption and unscrupulous-
ness of those he had to deal with, which was the cause. If, as I

* Our hitherto indepdent friend Gri-p, seems of late to have gone over to the enemy. Has
th« Hon, Mr. I^aurier got at the Jlaven with 8ome of his "Human deyices."

TIIK flYNDirATK.

said ill tlio bofjiiniinir it U hard Hoiiu'timcrt to be a (Jovornnioiit,
it is (l(>ul)ly liiird to l>e a IViiuc MiTiistcr.

Till) (juc'stion (if tlio hour is not Himpl}' Sviidicato or no
Syndicato. it moans Countrv or no Counfrv, in ho far as it nicnns
arc we to remain a set of scmidctaclMMl Provincfs notwiflistand-
in^ ConfiMlcration, or are w(^ to hccomo a mi^lity Kinj^dom,
bound to<^i'flior by an iron band of comninrncation, a (v.^untry
teomin«:j with iidial)itants, not a prairie desert for our K'^islatora
to extol, and vear after vearand make meanitii^less s|)eeelies about.
The country is siek of this, sick of parti/an politics carried to
Rueh an extent as would sink the countrv's <;o(»d for a j^eneration
to come if they could blackt-n oi- kill Sir John Afacflonald. They
remind me of a Rection of Scotch Liberals in, I think, 1SG7, when
Karl Beaconsfield, then Mr. Disrueli, carried the Reform ]>ill ;
altliou<^h it was virtually their own measure, they would rather
want it than accept it at the hands of the Conservative party. So
now with the Opposition'; the most dama^in<^ point in the Syndicate
bargan is that it has been pro])osed, perfected and will be carried
through by Sir John Macdonald and his Government.

When the people of CVmada, led astray by the former, and
for the time too successful agitation of the JJberal Party, sup-
ported by all that was anti-Canadian in the United States, were
induced to give these men a trial, what was the result ? Millions
of money wasted, time lost, and neither road nor emi<»:rants, unless
we accept those of the latter who were attracted to Kansas by the
anti-patriotic speeches of some of our would-be Canadian States-
men.

The Opposition and indeed some of the Government support-
ers talk of modifying the bargain. Now, my friends, it does not
do to tinker a pot, it mi*jcht become leaky and in the end turn out
like the saucepan the late Hon. George Brown presented to Miss
Canada in the shape of a reci])rocity treaty. When his friends
were in power it was so punctured by repairs Miss Canada had to
tell him it would not hold water.* No, no, we are going to
accept the Syndicate bargain as it stands for the present, and if
modifications are wan<-ed they can come afterwards, when it may
appear that Canada has got the best of the bargain. You have all
heard the story of driving a coach and six through an Act of

* See cartoon of Canadian niustroted of thli date.

THE SYNDICATE.

Parliament. There is no fear that if after a fair trial, things do not
suit means will be found to remedy them.

One of the things made much of is the loss of duty on steel
rails, ifee. Well, we can suppose, as Sir John Macdonald put it,
had the Syndicate been compelled to pay duty, they would have
required so much more money. Again, were the road built by
the Government, as the Opposition clamor for, and not by a
Syndicate or Company, where would the duty be ? But, my friends,
there is another way to put this question, but it is a secret known
only to the initiated,— all the amount in question would not pay
the blunder of one political Engineer, and you might count them
by the dozen, — would not pay the subsidy of one set of political
contract brokers on a single contract ; and on how many contracts
would we, the people, have to be bled by these vampires before
we reached the Rocky Mountains ?

No use to blame a Minister or Chief Engineer. Their hands
were tied, and so far their tonguei ; they were compelled to ap-
point these men, I mean the Engineers, to M^ork ?,nd positions they
were perfectly incompetent to till. The country's money was
wasted and they were held responsible. Again, have we not
reason to fear contracts were adjudged not to the proper men or
those intitled to them, but to some political supporter. Those
contracts, in 8ome cases before all was done, — in most instances
for politii^ai reasons — cost the country double the original contract
price. Some room here to pay duty on steel rails to an honest
company, or rather to relieve them of it. This is a question, or
phase in it rather, none of our political friends care to touch
upon, yet it concerns the people, and is a potent argument in
favor of the Syndicate. As matters stand, no Government could
be held responsible for such ; i?i a manner it is the political im-
morality of the people, that is to blame; for the moment a Minister
possesses the fatal power to be in a position to reward his support-
ers, he is compelled to do so or out he goes. As we cannot hope
to educate the present generation up to the mark of even semi-
political honesty. Sir John Macdonald and his Government
are going to do the next best thing ; they are going to remove the
temptation, so as those gentlemen may with a clear conscience
repeat the latter part of " the Lord's prayer," and in saying " lead
us not into temptation," may with sincerity add ''deliver us from
evil doing."

THE SYNMCATft.

It would be waste of time and lowering to the respect we
owe to ourselves, to notice the mean personal, scurrility indulged
in by the opponents of the Government ; some of the latest ad-
ditions to Syndicate literature is a proof of this; it only shows
the poorness of their causC; and the smallness of theintellect of those
personally employed by our American Cousins to prevent our
Canadian road being built, when they can find agents willing to
descend to such arguments. My friends that game is played on' :
we know more than we did in 1872. The people want tlic
country served, no matter by whom ; the railroad built and tlic
prairie peopled, and they are going to have it. Worse than this
is the taste of dragging the name of the noblemen, who so ably
represents Her Most Gracious Majesty in Canada, into this now
partizan quarrel. No, my friends, we must tell these gentlemen,
the boots of Mr. Letellier de St. Just would in no way become
the feet of the son of McCallum Mohr and more than that, allow
me to whisper in their ear, His Excellency was born " north of
the Tweed." You must fight out this question yourselves ; and in
the meantime abide by the verdict of your representatives ; a few
years hence you will have it in yonr own power to get the voice
of the country, and if by that time the Syndicate are as we have
every reason to suppose they are, honorable men, who will per-
form duly their share of the contract, we have no reason to fear
the verdict of the people.