Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/285

 " Mails and express 300,000 Total earnings per annum $9,200,000 "From this deduct: Running expenses 650 miles @ $4,000 per mile..$2,600,000 Annual repairs ^ 1,000,000 Total expenses $3,600,000 Net earnings L 5,600,000

"Which," he said, "is 18 2/3 per centum on thirty mil- lions of dollars—the estimated cost of construction of the whole line."

4. Arguments for Aid.

Not only would the road be a paying proposition but it would have several distinct advantages which he said were:

"1st. It runs through and connects with each other and with the Pacific Ocean at either end, all the great valleys and grain growing districts on the Pacific Coast.

"2nd. It is located on the direct line of the great coast- wise trade and travel that is now rapidly springing into existence.

"3rd. It will be the only internal mountain-defended military road, safe from the raids of our enemy, on which the nation and the American communities on the Pacific could rely for the speedy transportation of troops and munitions of war, in case of an invasion by foreign nations.

"4th. When constructed, it would connect the States of Oregon, Idaho, Washington and British Columbia and Vancouver Island on the North, with the States of Cali- fornia, Nevada and the Atlantic States on the South, and transport all the travel and the great majority of the freight between these two groups of states.

"5th. It would be the only line running thru the only country in the world combining the three great resources of wealth—great agricultural resources, unlimited water power for manufacturers, and great forests of good tim- ber with inexhaustible mines of the useful and precious metals.