of the net earnings should also be applied to the same purpose. The act was subsequently modified so as to allow the company to retain one half of the charge of transportation on government service, as the cost of the same, and also relieves the company from paying the 5 per cent, of net earnings.
(A claim having been made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, that the company was bound to pay the interest on the bonds issued by the government to aid in the construction of the road, and that the whole charge for government transportation was to be held to be applied to such interest, Congress, by an amendment to the army appropriation bill which passed March 3, 1871, provided, "that, (sec. 9,) in accordance with the fifth section of the act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled 'An act to amend an 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', approved July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to pay over in money to the Pacific Railroad Companies mentioned in said act, and performing services for the United States, one half of the compensation, at the rate provided by law for such services heretofore or hereafter to be rendered; provided, that this section shall not be construed to affect the legal rights of the government or the obligations of the companies, except as herein specifically provided.'")
(Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1872-73, p. 389)
