82 KANSAS AND THE COUNTRY BEYOND.

facts which have a practical bearing upon the questions of the feasi.
bility and the success of the enterprise, and which will enable the
Citizen, the Patriot, the Statesman, and the Christian, to calculate the
results which are likely to follow its completion. It has been my
desire to give to the political economist data by which to settle the
question of profit and loss— the probable revenues of such a road
through such a country, and having such termini. We know that the
ardent Patriot will say, “Make it; for it will be the glory of our
country.” The Philanthropist will say, “Make it; for it will confer
blessings and benefits upon the whole human race.” The Christian
will say, “Make it; for it is essential to the progress of Christian
civilization westward, the only direction in which it has ever success-
fully travelled ;— make it; for it will be a highway for our Gop.” But
the Practical Man says, “Make it, if it will pay;” and we know very
well that all the generous impulses must stand in abeyance until this
last practical calculation shall be satisfactorily settled.

ey

LETTER XXI.—Will it Pay ?

Tuts, after all, is the practical question—the only one, indeed,
which the rigid economist or the capitalist cares to ask. To say that,
because the enterprise is one of unexampled vastness, magnificence
and grandeur, therefore it will be profitable, would be to offer logic
which no cool calculator would think of accepting. To say that,
because it links two vast oceans together, and with them two hemi-
spheres, therefore it must surely pay, would be to offer an argument
equally loose, inconclusive and unsatisfactory. Were we to prove that
two-thirds of all the tonnage that Western Europe and Eastern Asia
exchange would pass over this road, we should still be far from demon-
strating that the enterprise would be pecuniarily profitable. Great as
would be the revenue arising from this enormous foreign traffic, it
would fall far short of what would be necessary to meet the operating
expenses and the interest on the cost of a road of such length. Like
all other roads, the Union Pacific must be mainly dependent upon its
local trade and travel for its revenue. Its foreign business will be
very large; but, to be financially successful, its local and home business
must be still larger.

I have traced the course of this road from the Missouri to the Bay
of San Francisco, and set forth in terms of calm and sober verity, as
I believe, the character and resources of the country through which it
will run, and respectfully challenge any man who still doubts, to point