a Union of sovereign States, our fate might be learned from the
history of other nations. Thanks to the wisdom and independent spirit
of our forefathers, this is not our case. Each State having sole
charge of its local interests and domestic affairs, the problem which
to others has been insoluble, to us is made easy. Rapid, safe, and
easy communication and co-operation among all parts of our
continent-wide republic. The network of railroads which bind the North
and the South, the slope of the Atlantic and the valley of the
Mississippi, together testify that our people have the power to
perform, in that regard, whatever it is their will to do.

We require a railroad to the States of the Pacific for present uses;
the time no doubt will come when we shall have need of two or three;
it may be more. Because of the desert character of the interior
country the work will be difficult and expensive. It will require the
efforts of an united people. The bickerings of little politicians, the
jealousies of sections, must give way to dignity of purpose and zeal
for the common good. If the object be obstructed by contention and
division as to whether the route to be selected shall be northern,
southern or central, the handwriting is on the wall, and it requires
little skill to see that failure is the interpretation of the
inscription. You are a practical people and may ask, how is that
contest to be avoided? By taking the question out of the hands of
politicians altogether. Let the Government give such aid as it is
proper for it to render to the Company which shall propose the most
feasible and advantageous plan; then leave to capitalists with
judgment sharpened by interest, the selection of the route, and the
difficulties will diminish as did those which you overcame when you
connected your harbor with the Canadian Provinces.