The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-03-15

speech Or Hon J. L. Orr, Of SSuth Carolina,
On The Bill Granting Public Lands 10 Missouri
| 10 Aid in constructing Railroads Delivered
IN he House Of Representatives., ftbyaary
"a, 1872
coKcLUDED
| This bill proposes to donate one-half Of the
public lands within six miles, ether side Of
the railroad, TO aid in the construction Of that
work Does this reduce the revenue accruing
from the sale of the public lands into the ;roasu
ry of the United States Not farthing and
why! Because the bill provides that when you
give away alternate sections, that those reserved
TO the government shall be doubled in value !;
and those which you are now trying to sell at
| Isl rs per acre, lands which have remained un-
sold in the market for twenty, thirty, or forty
years, at that price, raised in price to 81 80,
with the confident assurance, founded upon uni
versal experience, that those lands will sell
more rapidly then at the enhanced price, than
they do now at s 20 per acre Ii this was a
proposition simply to give the alternate sections,
without those remaining being increased in val
u, or if it reduced the revenue of the treasury
OF the United States from the sale Of the public
lands, then admit the objection OF my friend
from Tennessee Mr. JoNEsl would be valid
one But that objection does not exist to this
bill. II is phantom fitting before his imagi
nation.
have demonstrated that nothing is abstract
ed from the treasury by the grants for the con-
struction of these works, and that all the re-
| sources out of which and from which the funds
are to come into the treasury, are not reduced.
II this is so, how can it be charged that it ia in
volving the government of the United States in
system of internal improvements, which has
been warred against by the Republican or Dem
ocratlc party throughout all time. My friend
from Tennessee Mr. JoNEsl also in the same
speech intimated that it was clearly anti Demo.
cratic, as well as unconstitutional What are
the facts Almost every one of the present and
late leaders of the Democratic party have sup
ported bills Identical with this bill in principle
believe MIR. Polk, while he was a member of
Congress here in 1928, voted for bill similar
to tfis, to aid in the construction of canals. Mr..
McDutlie voted for such bills, as you have al
ready heard from some of the gentlemen who
have preceded me in this debate. General Cass,
Mr.. Douglas Mr.. Davis of Mississippi, Mr.
| Calhoun, and Mr. Houston, in fact the whole OF
those who are now or were heretofore looked
up to as the leaders of the Democratic party,
have advocated and supported bills identical in
principle with the bill now upon your table. 1t
is not, therefore, anti Democratic If you are to
form its articles Of faith from the principles and
acts OF its high priests, you may take the vote
! by which the Illinois bill passed the Senate, or
the vote by which The Mississippi bill passed,
and you will find that majority of the Demo
Gratis voted for it. Upon the Mississippi bill
there were but eight senators, of the entire Sen
ate, who voted against it. | think shall be
able to show that this bill, as reported by the
Committee on Public Lands, is Infinitely better
fhu ~, t1,., :
bill. will show when come to speak Of the
bill ITSELF that it is not to be secuted from this
hall, first, either upon the plea that it is uncon
stisutiona or, second, that it is anti Republican
or anti Democratic do not credit it that either
of these pretexts will be available to drive the
bill from this haA; and the gentleman from
Tennessee Mr.. JoNEsl does injustice to his own
party when he makes an imputation of that sort;
| for take it that even in this House there is a
majority ofthe members Of the Democratic party
who will vote for the bill
| Having disposed Of this constitutional ques-
ton, more by authority than by Argument, and
having also disposed of the question of Democ-
racy, | desire to direct the attention of the
| House TO the advantage which is to result to
the government from the passage of these land
bills
| What advantage will the government derive ?
| The first is this: 1t will bring lands into market
which have been exposed to sale and have not
found purchaser, for thirty years. The road
for which this identical bill provides grant
passes through a portion Of the public lands in
| Missouri that have been subject to sale and en-.
try from fifteen to twenty five years. Those
lands have not been sold, and why Because
they are situated so remote from market so re
note from navigable waters, so remote from all
| ~ l. fo oh,r
for large part Of the land consists of pra;-
ries---that persons have been deferred from oc-
cupying ana settling them. Give them the ia
cilites of railroad give them the opportunity
Of bringing timber to these prairies give them
facilities for sending off produce to market, and
you vii. find the lands reserved to this govern-
ment selling rapidly at Sc so per acre. when
| they have remained now in market for twenty
years, not bringing dollar and quarter per
acre.
This Missouri bill provides for donating al
ternate sections of the public lands between the
towns of Hannibal, on the Mississippi river and
st. Joseph, upon the Missouri river For a
distance Of thirty miles west of the Mississippi
river and an equal space east of the Missouri,
the public lands have been taken up, 80 that,
although the line of railroad is long one yet
there are sixty miles of that distance where the
company will not receive an acre of land. The
settlements there go to illustrate the truth of
the theory which I laid down, that when settlers
are brought wthip convenient distances of nav
igable rivers or Of railroads, the publ; lands are
taken up. Where these facilities are not CON
venient, the public lands lie idle-are of no sort
of use to the States or the general government.
In many regions Of the country there are public
lands, as have already stated which have been
exposed to sale for many years for 81 25 an
acre. but remain unsold, and will remain unsold
| for fifty years to come, unless improvements of
this kind are projected, and the land brought in
to market.
might speak OF the lands in Florida. The
Committee on Pablo Lands will report a bill
for the purpose of constructing railroad there,
extending from eighty to one hundred miles in
length where there are no settlements at all In
my own State railroad was constructed from
Charleston to Hamburg passing through pine
country, where the land was not worth more
| . 90, "a,