10 Conecrvativc.
20 per ceiit of the compensation fixed
by law for carrying the mails should
thereafter be withheld from nil land
grant roads , and this has over since
been done. The amount of such de
ductions to June 80 , 1899 , was $10,676-
671.
671.In
In the case of the Burlington com
pany , this deduction for the fitato of
Iowa alone has been $804,630. Its land
grant in Iowa was 858,424 acres , which
could have been bought outright from
the government in 1856 for $448,000.
Who made the better bargain in that
case ?
All the laud grants contained the fol
lowing clause : "And the said railroads
shall bo and remain public highways
for the use of the government of the
United States , free from toll or other
charge upon the transportation of any
property or troops of the United
States. "
Statistics are not available as to the
amount of this burden in the aggregate ,
but upon many western lines it has
been large.
Appeal to Posterity.
The suggestion is made that it is
largely to posterity that arguments up
on the question of the land grant policy
must be addressed. In this , as in many
other public matters , our after thoughts
are often our only thoughts. The rail
roads have been built ; the country has
greatly developed ; the enterprises are
successful and the lauds have , in many
cases , enhanced in value. A spirit ex
ists and probably always will exist that
prompts criticism of success. In this
case , it will take the form of question
ing whether too much land was not
granted , whether other conditions might
not have been imposed upon the rail
roads , \\hether the roads would not
have been built anyhow , and whether ,
afttr all , gome other and better disposi
tion might not have been made of these
particular lands.
But posterity , in parsing judgment ,
will not fail to note the conditions
which exibted when the grants were
made. Nothing more clearly recalls
and reveals those conditions than the
Senate debate on the Illinois grant in
1850.
Si'inu Utteranci-H.
Mr. Douglas said : "It is simply
carrying out a principle which has been
acted upon lor thirty yeais , by which
you cede each alternate section of laud
and double the price of the alternate
sections not ceded , BO that the same
price is received for the whole. These
lands have been in the market for 15
to 80 years ; the average time is about
28 years ; but they will not Eell at the
usual price of $1.25 per acre , because
they are distant from any navigable
stream or a market for produce. A
railroad will make the lands salable at
double the usual price , because the im-
provenient made will make them valu
able. "
Henry Clay said : "With respect to
the state of Illinois and I believe the
snuie is true to a considerable extent
with reference to Mississippi and Ala
bama , but I happen to know something
personally of the interior of the state
of Illinois that portion of the state ,
through which this road will run , is a
succession of prairies , the principal of
which is denominated the Grand Prai
rie. I do not recollect its exact length ;
it is , I believe , about 800 miles in length
and but 100 in breadth. Now , this road
will paFS directly through that Grand
Prairie lengthwise , and there is nobody
who knows anything of that Grand
Prairie who does not know that the
land in it is utterly worthless for any
present purpose neb because it is not
fertile , but for want of wood and water ,
and from the fact that it is inaccessible ,
wanting all facilities for reaching a
market or for transporting timber , so
that nobody will go there and settle
while it is so destitute of all the ad
vantages of society and the conveniences
which arise from a social state. And
now , by constructing this road through
the prairie , through the center of the
state of Illinois , you will bring millions
of acres of land immediately into the
market , which will otherwise remain
for years and years entirely unsalable. "
Thomas H. Beuton said : "From the
consideration which I gave to that sub
ject at that early day , it appeared to me
that it was a beneficial disposition for
the United States to make of her refuse
lands.to cede them to the states in which
they lay. Lands which had been 20 or
25 years in the market at the minimum
price , and had never found a purchaser
up to that time , were classed as refuse ,
and it was deemed that the state , as a
local authority , might be able to make
some disposition of them , which the
general government , without machinery
of land offices , could not. The princi
ple of the bill before the senate is to take
the refuse lands and appropriate them
to a great object of internal improve
ment , which , although it has its locality
in a particular state , produces advan
tages which , we all know , spread far
and wide ; for a good road cannot be
made anywhere without being bene
ficial to the whole United States.
* * *
' But Mr. President , with respect to
the general proposition. This applica
tion rests upon a principle that the
young states are made desolate , in a
great degree , by having lauds in their
midst that pay no taxes , undergo no
cultivation , that are held at a price that
nobody will pay , and which , in fact , in
some parts of the country become jun
gles for the protection of wild beasts
that prey upon the flocks and herds of
the farmers. "
From 1850 to 1856 , every political
platform and every letter of acceptance
. "
/.r"
by a candidate for president urged upon
congress the making of land grants for
the purpose of developing the country.
No man could be elected to congress
without pledging himself to vote for a
land grant.
The Fiimncliil Kinks.
Posterity will note , moreover , the
financial risks incurred by those who
undertook these railroad enterprises.
Neither the general government nor the
states would take the risks. The great
question then , was how to induce
private individuals to invest their means
in these doubtful projects. Many of
those who ventured , if not the majority ,
lost everything. Of the five railroad
companies to which land grants were
made in the stnte of Iowa , only one
( the Burlington ) survived to complete
its line to the Missouri river. The four
others all failed , the mortgages they had
given were foreclosed and the property
including the laud grants , passed into
other hands. The large Pacific grants
were made in the war period to secure
the prompt building of roads through
uninhabited regions to make more
certain the retention of the Pacific coast
states in the union. I believe that every
Pacific road , except one , has been in the
hands of a receiver , notwithstanding
the land grants. Baildiug railroads in
1856 to 1870 , was a different matter
from the present. Money commanded
ten per cent interest and iron rails were
from $80 to $120 per ton , with other
materials in proportion.
Posterity will also fairly consider the
question from the standpoint of the
government at that period. No pecu
niary loss to it was involved. Alter
nate sections only were granted and the
prices upon the uugranted sections were
doubled. But the great and paramount
consideration was that of bringing the
great body of unoccupied and unsala
ble lauds within reach of settlers and
creating markets where none existed.
Aside from all these considerations
relating to the past and part of the his
tory of the country , who can say that
a better or wiser disposition would have
been made of these lands ? If donation
to homestead and similar settlers was
preferable , it is clear that it was the
railroad which provided the opportu
nity for settlement and cultivation by
the homesteader. Moreover , the rail
road companies have induced , en
couraged and facilitated settlement and
cultivation , as the government never
could have done. It has boon to their
interest to seek out the best class of
farmers , to sell the lands to them on
long time and at reasonable prices , to
transport their household effects free ,
and by every means to stimulate them
to industrious and prosperous citizen
ship , for by so doing , they would best
promote the prosperity of the railroad.
In so for as these results have been ao-
