Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1878.djvu/19

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The act of Congress approved June 19, 1878, established a Bureau of Railroad Accounts in this department for the purpose of having all matters relating to indebted Pacific Railroad companies, and certain land-grant railroad companies taken cognizance of, examined, investigated, and reported upon. The following abstract of the operations of this bureau since its organization on July 1, 1878, is presented:

The Auditor of Railroad Accounts in making his first annual report states the immediate causes which led to the establishment of the bureau, and gives a review of legislation in regard to reports and investigations of subsidized railroads had and proposed since the incorporation of the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 1862. The government directors of the Union Pacific Bailroad Company, in their report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, strongly recommended, the establishment of such a bureau in this department. In view of the condition of the affairs of all the Pacific Railroad companies, and the discussions relative to their indebtedness and operations, the recommendation of the government directors met with my full concurrence. The necessity that exists for some officer of the government, specially charged with such duty, to examine the books and accounts of these railroad companies, and to see that the provisions of the act approved May 7, 1878, for the establishment of a sinking fund in the national Treasury to provide for the payment of the indebtedness of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad Companies to the United States, are properly complied with, is fully confirmed by his report. Other reasons, however, demanded that it be made the duty of some officer of the government to familiarize himself with the affairs of these railroad companies, and to verify the correctness of their reports by personal examination of their books and records. The act of Congress approved June 22, 1874, by which the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to make demand upon the Pacific Railroad companies for the payment of 5 per cent. of their net earnings due and unapplied, made it a necessity that the amount thereof should be properly ascertained. Under the same act the Attorney-General has instituted suits against the Union Pacific Railroad Company and others, which are still undecided; the one, however, against the Union Pacific Railroad Company, involving an amount of nearly $2,500,000, has reached the Supreme Court of the United States — the lower courts having given judgment in favor of the government, both as to date of completion of the railroad and as to the amount claimed on account of 5 per cent. of net earnings, and as soon as determined further settlements with all of these companies must be made and become the duty of some officer of the government. In this and the other suits of the same kind, the bureau just organized has been and will be able to give its assistance to the Department of Justice. It has also been of some service in the suit of the Atchison, Topeka and
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