The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1852-02-18

nnds are not definitely Iucaled, amounted T.
of about TIVE and halt m lions Of acres in r,un,
in numbers. That IS the whole grant vii
le r'mtrk therefore, that Illinois has been benefit
ic I'd to thatex,ent The senator from Georui,
T., wishes It TO be under stood that because W,
pi have get two and half millions of acres o
n the public lands, and thus have been benc cfitcd
st therefore the government has been cheated t,
). that extent. nave shown the argument to b.
ID uns nund. We admit that we have been benr
ID htcd, but that d cs not prove that the govern
1t mcnt has been cheated. W.. prove that The
Is government has been benefited by the sam.
d operation. | would like to STE him answer
's that position, instead Of repeating the objection
;, that party must have bree the loser mere ly
l. because the other the gamer,
e In regard to this policy, | would say that
= do not wish to carry it to any ex,ravagant ex
l. tent. only wish to apply 1t where we can
G show that it comes fairly within the principle
: which have so often stated. But gentlemen
: say we must have a general system and the
!, senator from Georgia [Mr. Dawsonl wants a
# system to reach his State Ii he complains Of
5 this being partial, and wants one that will apply
r to Georgia, will make him proposition We
illextend the same principle precisely, In hoec
a rerba, of this bill to Georgia, and enact that
e all the lands belonging to the government Of
the United States within fifteen miles Of all
t the lines of the Georgia railroad are hereby
granted to the State of Georgia
> Mr.. DAWSON. 1t the senator will then
, allow me to introduce bill like the one
he did yesterday, that where there lands
belonging to the United States on our railroads
we may go into all the public lands and locate,
will accept the proposition.
MI. DOUGLASS ! will adhere to my pro-
position, and give him the benefit of the bil to
which he refers. The bill which we passed
yesterday granted lands to the State of Illinois in
lieu OF those which you had taken from the
State after having previously granted them in
aid OF the construction OF canal which We
have completed at cost Of nine millions of
dollars Whenever you will show that the
United States owned lands in Georgia which
they granted to the State and afterwards took
possession of and sold part of them for the
benefit Of the United States, will pass an
] act or Congress to make up the efficiency
from lands elsewhere, according to the bill of
! yesterday. .... .- .
Mr.. DAWSON. Very well
Mr.. DOUGLAS. Therefore I think the
senator from Georgia and myself will come ,n
an amlcable adjustment of the question. The
fact is, the senator from Georgia and gentlem" n
from other States where there are no pupIc
lands forget that they once had propre' ary
right to the use Of every of the lands with
! IN the limits OF either respective States. We
DO not complain of that. 1T was their legal
right, and we were willing that they should ap
propriate all the lands within their limits Bat
alter having thus appropriated to their own use
/ All the lands within their own States, we do not
| deem 1t generous in them to deprive us of this
pittance to the new States, when we can show
that they ere not injured by the act which ben.
etits u.s. When we bring forward bill which
beneh's us at the same time that it promotes the
puolic interests. the senator desires fair diyi,
ION by extending it to Georgia How can the
principle be applied to Georgia, or any other
State where there are public lands' How
VIII the senator contrive to double the value of
and the price of the remainins half equal to the
whole, II you donate lands in the distant terri
t'res 10 make railroads in the State of Georgia:
VIII the senator explain how he will bring his
case within the principle Of this bill The mo-
ment you apply the provisions Of the bill to n
State where are no public lands, you ahand ,n
the principle which sustains and iustfies this
bill
Mr. UNDERWOOD am member of
the Committee on Public lands, and have had I
these railroads under consideration, tor the con
structlon of which bills have been reported III
conn xion with the subject generally. | have
been thinking great deal as to what was the |
proper mode of administering the great fund,
ana have come to the conclusion that would, |
as speedily as could, prepare and present, by |
way ~ am" ndment to some of the railroad
bii,s which We have under consideration,
proposition t. grant 10 the old States of the |
unl"n certain quantities of land for the purpose
'o internal improvement within their respective
States. 1t | submit proposition of that sort
as expect 10 d., intend to maxi. something
Ike distributing among the old S a.es, in pro-
position to their federal populations; of an
am ,unt of these lands that will bear some pro
portion to those VIII ch are gran ed to the now
States tor railroad purposes and Purposes of
internal improvement.
| think that this Is suitable occasion, after
the remarks which have been made by other
gentlemen, to bring to the attention ofihe Sem
ate some considerations in respect to the proper
mode OF administering TO pnblic domain And
first wish to notice he proprietary idea which
is advanced here as being the legitimate fnun
dation upon which we can appropriate the pub
lie lands for works of internal Improvement
II you will recollect the past history of appro
priat'ons OF this sort for purposes Of internal .
improvement Connected with the idea of owner
ship on that part Of the government of the
United States as the proprietor Of these lands,
you will discover one remarkable PECULIARLY,
and that is this That this proprietary id, a
limits the appropriations for the purp ,se of in
ternal Improvement 10 the States within which
the lands lie, and does not allow you to app.o-
pirate lands fer internal improvements when
those Improvements are situated out of the,
State in which the lands lie.
Now, sir, | never could sec tho rr ason for
that difference If the United Suites are to be
regarded as the proprietor Of all the pnlic lands
in those States where there are public lands, and
as proprietor it be legitimate 70 make canal
or railroad for the purpose of enhancing the
va.ue of the lands situated in the States whv
may they do that and be prec'uied from tn
right of making road leading to those States
Y wi r. en- ante tn
make purchases The original appropriations
made for the Cumberland road were justified
upon the ground that as proprietor Of tn
land in the States Of Ohio, Indiana, and III.
n,is, through, which IT. was proposed tn make
the Cumberland road tor the enhancement If shg
value Il the lands situated in those Safes ii
was just as legitimate /" apprc pirate lard or
money to make the road leading 10 those pub
lic lands as to make the road WI hin the States i
wftre the lands themselves were siiuated-
Bat you will remark that in the progress If
events, IN this aye of progress o. ours. we have
repud.a'cd The old notion that it would be prrp
or and legitimate to appropriate money or land
to Eiikc road leading to the Stat S whrc thu.
public lands situated aud now the doctrine
seems TO be that it is only lcgll, ,dcr the pro-
pritirv notion, to make an appropriation with n
the lini of the States or Territories where the
land themselves are situated.
AZ FIopfIptoT, never CDU11 see reason any |
for such difference this. But under tins
idea, that you can only legiiina,ely make ap-
preparations in the States or Territories where
the lands are situated, you entirely cut I'll
from making an appropriation 10 connect tn
railroads which run through Alabama, MissIs
>ipp, and Louisiana, to connect us with New
Orleans and Chicago, running down to Car
tlnme the lakes TO the mouth Oh the Ono i
You cannot unit" these great public works un
DIR the proprietary idea. Why
Because here happen to be- little point of
Kentucky and a narr w strip of Trnuess'" p"
jrct'ng ,wn t. the Mississippi river, between
he road in Illinois and the road in A!aha'na
aud Mississippi. The mind that can come t"
such conclusion, and reason upon the propr'
piary idea TO determine that yon
cannot even connect works, that nnaAr
the proprietary idea YOU build, by running
across the Iittl- strip of land in Tennessee and
Kentucky to have them united, seems to me 10
be Straur,1v constituted Vet this ha = h,c c,,n,