great demand for iron and coal, and for labor, thus inspiring and develop. ing the activities and resources of nation and country and bringing plenty to the homes where want and suffering are now felt. We equally urge the prompt completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad as opening up the finest wheat-producing region of the Northwest; as penetrating the Indian country, and quieting and civilizing the tribes of that region; as opening up the great Yellowstone Valley; as affording communication with the extreme northwestern part of the country; as rendering profitably available the vast trade of the Columbia River region, and as affording a new route to the Orient, in the region of the tradewinds, and with the shortest sea-voyage at all available. Many of the reasons which are referred to in connection with the Texas and Pacific apply with equal force to this road, and we claim for both equally the interest and aid of the nation. We also desire to bespeak your careful consideration of another subject to which your attention has already been called, viz, the permanent improvement of the Ohio River and the mouths of the Mississippi. The commercial importance of such a system of improvements as will make the Ohio navigable at ordinary stages of water can scarcely be overestimated. Notwithstanding the present uncertainty of its navigation, its commerce reaches in value hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. Draining an area of nearly a quarter of a million square miles, passing in its course through a most fertile and productive valley, besides thousands of busy workshops, along the borders of six most prosperous and wealthy States, the natural highway from the portages of the Allegheny to the Mississippi, and through to the Gulf and the vast Central and South American markets, already opening up to our products, and that must, before many years, be largely supplied from the United States, its claims are not inconsiderable, but merit at your hands immediate and liberal consideration, not only in view of the present benefit that will accrue, but also in anticipation of and preparation for the commerce that must find its natural course up and down the Ohio Valley. In view of these considerations we submit the following: Resolved, That having carefully examined these subjects in the light of the interests of the Government and welfare of the people, we urge upon the attention of Congress the foregoing as embodying our matured opinion and most earnest expression of sentiment on the subjects mentioned, and that the committee on resolutions be requested to forward this memorial to our Representatives in Congress, with the call for this meeting attached, and that they be requested to present the same. 2d Session. No. 45. J. J. BROWN. MEMORIAL OF FIRST LIEUTENANT J. J. BROWN, SECOND REGIMENT ARKANSAS CAVALRY. JANUARY 21, 1875.-Referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and ordered to be printed. To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: Your memorialist, J. J. Brown, respectfully represents to your honorable bodies, that he is a loyal citizen of the United States, and resides at present at Forsyth, in the county of Taney and State of Missouri, and that he has a just claim against the Government for pay, for services rendered as a first lieutenant, in recruiting the Second Regiment of Arkansas Volunteers Cavalry, as will more fully appear from the following statement of facts, viz: That he was enrolled at Helena, Ark., on the 24th day of July, 1862, and commissioned as a first lieutenant in said regiment, under Colonel Morgan, who was recruiting said regiment, and that on the same day he was ordered to Springfield, Mo., on the same service; and that on the journey to the said city of Springfield he was obliged to pass the enemy's lines and had to destroy his commission and other papers to avoid detection; that he went to Missouri as ordered, and continued to recruit for said regiment until the 30th day of April, 1863, at which time he was captured near Rolla, Mo., by the confederate army, and carried a prisoner to the city of Little Rock, in the State of Arkansas, where he was kept in close confinement, on less than quarter rations, until a few weeks prior to the capturing of said city by the Federal army, when he escaped from the prison and returned to Missouri, arriving at Springfield, in said State of Missouri, on the 1st day of November, 1863. Your memorialist would further state that, as he was informed during his imprisonment, said Colonel Morgan was dismissed from the service for misconduct in office, and Col. John E. Phelps appointed to fill the vacancy; and that said regiment had received its full quota of men and officers, so that your memorialist had lost his place in said regiment, and the said Colonel Morgan had either lost or destroyed the enlistment rolls of said regiment, rendering it impossible for him to receive. his pay through the ordinary course of business provided by law for the payment of officers and soldiers in the United States service. Your memorialist believes that he is justly entitled to the sum of $1,824 for said services. Your memorialist, therefore, respectfully asks your honorable bodies to pass a bill for his relief; and, as in duty bound, your memorialist will ever pray. J. J. BROWN. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 9th day of May, 1874. S. M. ETHIRIDGE, J. P. 2d Session. No. 46. WASHINGTON AND OHIO RAILROAD. PETITION OF THE WASHINGTON AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY FOR Aid in the construction of their road to the Ohio River. JANUARY 21, 1875.-Ordered to be printed. To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: The memorial of the Washington and Ohio Railroad Company respectfully shows: That they are engaged, under authority of charters from Virginia and West Virginia, in building a railroad to connect the cities of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria with the Ohio River, and from thence to be continued to the city of Cincinnati. We believe, after careful preliminary surveys, that the route to that river which we have selected is shorter and more direct than that of any railroad now built or contemplated, as the following table of distances will show: New York, via Erie Railroad and connections............ The distance by our road from Washington to Winchester will be 79 |