Author:
Title: Postal Telegraph. Pacific Railroad. [Spine Title]
Description: Washington, DC, Government Printing Office, 1870. Hardcover. 8vo. Quarter brown calf with gilt spine lettering and marbled paper over boards. 27pp; 12pp; 126pp; 160pp; 19pp; 14pp; 15pp; 6pp; 24pp; 306pp. Marbled endpapers, marbled page edges. Very good. Quite tight and nice, with minor wear only to calf. Handsome collection of ten (10) House of Representatives and Senate reports on the critical topics of "Postal Telegraph" and "Pacific Railroad," bound together but surprisingly NOT in chronological order. Six of these ten are House of Representatives reports, in order: 1) "Argument of R.B. Lines Before the Committee on Appropriations.. April 23, 1872," 2) "Report No. 114" on "Postal Telegraph in the United States," 5 July 1870, 3) "Report No. 115" on "Postal Telegraph System," 5 July 1870, 4) "Report No. 440" on "Pacific Railroads," 24 May 1876, 5) "Report No. 479" on "Double-Track Freight-Railway from Tide-Water on the Atlantic to Council Bluffs on the Missouri River," 21 April 1874, 6) "Report No. 440" on ""Report on the Subject of a Sinking Fund for the Several Pacific Railroad Companies," 25 April 1876. The other four are Senate reports, in order: 1) "Report No. 111" on "A bill to alter and amend the act entitled 'An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes,'" 4 March 1878, 2) "Report No. 242" regarding telegraphs, 2 April 1874, 3) "Report No. 341" regarding railroads, 26 May 1876, 4) "Report No. 125" regarding railroads, 11 March 1878. These were the personal copies of Senator William B. Allison, long a member and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee that played a vital role in these endeavors. "W.B. Allison" is giltstamped at the foot of the spine, he writes "Postal Telegraph" in blue pencil at the head of the first House report and inks a few words on page 21 of this same report, and his large pencilled ownership signature appears at the top of the final House report. An intriguing deep dive into the many issues and challenges that faced Congress throughout the 1870s regarding these two related crucial developments and their implementation -- the very copies studied by a leading legislator up to his elbows in them. From the collection of William B. Allison (1829-1908), the powerful Iowa Republican who, as U.S. senator from that state (1873-1908), was one of the "big four" who controlled the Senate; as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for most of those years, he championed tariff legislation and co-authored the Bland-Allison Act of 1878; as member of the Senate Finance Committee he was often courted by U.S. presidents to hold cabinet positions. Late 19th century bookplate on front pastedown notes: "Carnegie-Stout Free Library / Dubuque, Iowa. / Gift of / Hon. W.B. Allison" and until deaccessioned was part of Allison's non-circulating collection at his hometown public library across the street from his Dubuque residence. Notes Leland L. Sage in his 1956 biography "William Boyd Allison: A Study in Practical Politics," Allison owned "hundreds of books on government, economics, history, banking, finance, and the tariff.. An omnivorous reader, Allison doubtless read most of these volumes, if only for relaxation from the strain that accompanied his efforts to solve the many problems facing the Nation...

Keywords: Americana Railroad


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