Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1854-03-20
NO. ! l

JaneSFille, or the line between Fond dl
/, Lac and Chicago. But, sir, the object o
, this bill is to revive the credit of this com
, pany, and thus enable it to break do wr
private interests, and subject those interest
ed in the Madison and Milwaukee railroad
to serious pecuniary loss.
Mr.. Disney, (interrupting) | wish to
enquire Of the gentleman ifhe ever read a
celebrated chapter in one of Fieldlng's
novel5, in which the author undertakes to
show that man can work the better
tor knowing omething Of the subject
upon which he attempts to write. It
is very interesting. .
Apropos, has the gentleman from Vir-
gina read the bill upon which he is COM
menting! am sure he has not; for Jet
me say to him, that under the provisions
Of that bill, and by the construction givea
BY the land Office to simlla, provisions in
other bills, the road can obtain no land ex.
cept such as lie alongside of the road pro-
posed to be constructed: or, to use the Ian
guage ofthe Land Office, .hey cannot 90 TO
one point of the State and select lands with
which to construct and build a road be-
tween other points. 49,
Now, under these facts what becomes
of all the talk of the gentleman in refer.
ehce to raising the wind to BULL road
below the town OF Madison " 10y
Mr.. Letcher. | like to see this :.r.st-
lessncss on the part of the friends of tn.
bill. 1t seems to me to indicate that there
is good time coming flauebter1 and
that we shall find them hereafter, at least.
advocating little more consideration for
bills Of this sort than they have hitherto
been willing to allow them.
1t seems quite unfortunate that the gen.
t'eman from Ohio Mr.. Disney either did
not hear me, or did not understand nv
point. 1t therefore occurs to me that ba
might have read the essay to which he al
Iudes with advantage. It might be of some
service to him to listen to nv remarks be.
fore lie undertakes to reply. Now ali
say anything about the governor. ar n.
President or the Commissioner ofrbe T.ns
Office or anybody else, deciding how thes.
lands were to be assigned /, Not at all
But take the ground that the public l.nd.
beginning at Fond du Lac, and extend;no
to Lake Superior, are the lands out of .rb;ch
lhe company must procure their alternate
sec.iohs' And cannot the company pledge
.,a' laho as security for loans, and apply
the money SO raised to the building of the
road below What is to prohibit them
fiom doing SO under .lls law
suppose they do it. Cannot the twenty
miles begin at Chicago as well as anywhere
else; and cannot they make the twen,v
m'ies anywhere they please along the line,
Certainly they may. -
Well, Mr.. Speaker, there is one tb;oo
which will settle the matter. NUT ,bs
question to the gentleman from Ohio TMr.
Disney whether the company is not unon
Its last legs? Laughter The penfle.
mans answer will, have no doubt
settle the question.
NJ. Disney. respond again that hi.
grant is TO the State of Wisconsin, ana No..
to that or any other company. The st.ss
OF Wisconsin will have the control Of tbi.
grant Tor the purpose indicated by the bin,
LOT the construction of a road between fhe
points indicated; and whether that com.
Pahy be upon lis last or first legs. is mat.
Ter OF no sort o! Importance to thus Con.
gress because the grant is made for spe.
CHE purpose, the construction Of that road
aud the State Of Wisconsin become. tbs
trustee for that object, s
ny the provisions ofthat bill. as "a.
marked before, the proceeds OF thi. land
are to be applied to the building Of The
road in sections oftwenty continuous miles S
through the portion of country from which
.ne anus are selected; the sales to be made
as 'he consecutive sections are built.
VT. Letcher. The gentleman from
on'o ooes not answer me directly, and
'ake !, 'haf he lodges the question, be.
cause he does not want to saw anvtb;ng
aooas the dead. Laughter.i He does
not want to acknowledge the fact that tb;s
concern is really .insolvent. because if he did
he might lose votes for the measure. But
says The gentleman, you do not vote.money
20 20 inns company you give the land 10 the
St'te by this bill. But who gets the land
alter It is turned ovsr by the State TO the
roilroad company A few wears ago We
voted some land to Illinois for railroad
purposes. Who got il, The Wall street
brokers got it. it have read the history
OF that road Alright. Do they not hold i
now and have they hot absolute control Of
lit? y
Mr.. Bissell Will the gentleman allow
me to answer his question, The Wall street
brokers do nat hold this land.
MIR. Letcher. have pamphlet here
which will show the history OF this mat.
ter. We gave land to the State Of Illinois
ior the purpose Of building the Central
Road to Chicago, with branch running
to Galena. Who were the members of
rtals company We are aware of the fact
that Mr., Rantoul, a member of this House
OF this last Congress, was one Of the mar.
ties concerned in this road. How did hi.
gentleman, living in the State Of Massa.
chusetts, become interested in il? who
are the other parties mentioned in the act
incorporating this company' Their names.
! IN the first section of IAN act to incorpo.
rate the Illinois Central Railroad Com
pany," are recorded as follows:
"Robert Schuyler. George GriswolJ.
Gouveneur Morris, Franklin Haven David
A. Neal, Robert Ran,oul, ir.. Jonathan
Sturgis, George w. Eudlow, John +. A.
Sanford Henry Grinnel, William Fl. As.
pinwall. Leroy Wiley, and joseph w. Al
sop, and all such persons as shall hereafter
become stockholders in the company here.
by incorporated, &c.