by John Marshall Harlan

“ If, instead of making use of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, congress had itself created a corporation, with authority to construct a road from San Francisco, through the territories of the United States, to meet the Union Pacific Railroad Company, no one would suggest that the stockholders of such a corporation would have been liable for its debts, unless congress expressly imposed liability upon them. ”

“ In respect of the liability of stockholders to the United States, on account of its subsidy bonds, we cannot believe that congress intended to apply to the stockholders of the state corporation, selected to participate in the great work of establishing railroad and telegraphic communication between the Missouri river and the Pacific Ocean, any rule that it did not prescribe for stockholders of a national corporation created for the purpose of accomplishing the same object. ”

“ The supreme end sought to be attained was, by means of private capital and governmental aid, to secure the construction of the whole line, for the benefit, primarily, of the United States, and for the use of all the people. ”