The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1854-03-01
CONGRESSIONAL.

|
gan, for railroad purposes. Me.srs. Dodge, of
iowa, Dawson, Cass, Rusk, Butler, Hamlin,
Douglas, Clayton, Benjamin Brown, Walker
and Johnson participated.
We copy portion Of Mr. Dodge's remarks
in defence of the Committee on Public Lands,
Of which he is Chairman, called out by an init
nation from Mr. Dawson, that the Committee
were disposed to force measures OF this charac-
ter through theSenate, without giving sufficient
time for investigation.
Mr.. DODGE, Of Iowa. now ask that
every word Of the substitute reported from the
Committee on Public Lands for the bill be read
| to the Senate. Far one, disclaim and rrpndi-
ate The intimations and assertions of the senator
from Gporgia, (Nlr. DAwsoN,) that the Com
nitee on Public Lands haze sought 10 smnggle
tn Sc bills through the Senate without consider
atiun and reading.
| MIR. DAWSON. | made no such assertion
| merely referred to the fact that there was no
| report from the committee,
| Mr.. DODGE The senator complained that
the bill under consideration was not read and
called on the Committee on Public Lands for
report as understood ljm, TO accompany each
bill. As one Of that committee, ! am ready
and willing to give such information, respecting
its objects and provisions | can. I insist,
| however, that the bill--every syllable Of it
be read want it read, and am sorry that any
one should have proposed TO pass it without
| reading. Speaking on behalf Of the committee,
can say that the bill has been prepared with
the greatest care and conside. .alion, after con-
ference and consultation with committee
of the other House, embracing many interviews
| and covering space OF days and almost weeks;
and that we have sought TO improve upon the
model bill, called, of the last Congress, and
have incorporated within the form adopted, those
| stringent provisions which originated in the
House of sentatives, and were ingrafed
on the Missouri and Arkansas bills, which
passed at the last session of Congress, and are
now laws on tie statute-book The bill under
considerations, by its provisions, grants TO the
State of Michigan alternate sections, six miles
in width, on each side of the road, with the
privilege to 90 fifteen miles either side to
make up any deficit in the quantity which may
be found wanting within the six miles, ac-
count OF sales by pre- empion, as yell as at
prlyae entry.
! The senator from South Carolina (Mr. Bur-
LER) asserted that we were disregarding all the
rules and principles which had heretofore GOV
erntd In making these grants, and were pro-
ceeding TO grant lands indiscrimnately all
over the States to these railroad companies and
railroad projects. For one, | deny the asser-
ton. l will vote for no such bill il it should be
introduced l affirm that all the bills reported
from the Committee on Public Lands are in
strict conformity with the principles and usages
heretofore governing in these grants We
have adhered faithfully to the alternate SECTION
principle, af1ixing fifteen miles as the ma xm.
um limit beyond which the State should not 90
to make up for the lands sold otherwise ap.
propriaied.
And by whom was that fifteen miles sugges.
! ted 1! BY the present Secretary of War He
did it upon that Illinois bill to which the sena-
tor from Georgia has referred, and in opposition
TO which, as well 10 the Iowa and other
bills, have heard him make a much better and
longer speech, if that were possible, than he
has made to-day When that bill was before
the Senate, and without any limit except the
boundaries Of the State, Colonel Davis moved
to restrict the privilege to fifteen miles, taking
the ground in his able argument that the con-
| stFuclian Of the roa d would certanly ENHANCE
the value Of the lands which would remain to
| The government within the distance named. The
Secretary Of War, well known in this body and
| oyer the country as stlct constructionist, and
follower and disciple Of Mr.. Calhoun, if
may be allowed the pression, offered the pro-
i position to extend the power OF selection 10
fifteen miles in width, and voted for the Illinois
bill. And what, Mr. President, are the results
to which the supporters of the alterna,e- -sec,ion
grants can point, SO far as they have been made.
Why, sir, every anticipation, every assertion
made ty the friends of the alternate section
principle, when the Illinois and other bills were
under consideration, by my venerable friend
from Michigan, Mr. Cass,) and by the depart
ed sehator from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun)
and others, have been more than realized. The
facts and the fgures present the most triumph
ant viGdication Of the policy, so overwhelming
that it seems to me that neither the principle
nor the policy should be any longer contested.
illinois receiyed grant Of several millions of
acres of public land. Bnt have the United
States lost one dollar, or one cent, by such
grant, They have not, but, the contrary,
the value Of the reserved lands was 80 much
enhanced BY the grant as actually to bring this
goyernmenl more money than il it had not been
made The federal government has actually
realized from twelve to fifteen cents more per
acre from the passage Of that very bill which
the senator from Georgia thought ought never
to BECOME a law.
SIR, will any senator pow rise in his place
and condemn that gra mt of land to Illinois; the
measure which raised her from PROSTATE
diiion increased the value Of her bonds--those
bonds of 1886 and 1887, which were hawked
about the markets of New York, and London,
and Liverpool without finding buyer, but
which, as the annunciation was made Of the
grant of land, rose immensely in value, spread
ing joy and gladness throughout the limits of
the State Those lands from Cairo norah for
several hundred miles had been in market thirty
or forty yeats without finding purchasers -un-
settled. and The abode Of wild beasts; by the
railroad gront they have been made to bloom
and blossom almost as the rose
That is the measure which the senator from
Georgia has to-day travelled out Of the way
to attack The Committee on Public Lands
have taken the illinois bill for their guide in
main, and in no instance have they reported
bills for any one State, az yet, granting to SUCH
as many acres as Illinois go, And, as be-:
fore remarked, they have introduced into these
bills section No. 4. understood to have orgna-
ted in the House Representatives, on motion Of
as member from South Carolina, Mr., ORR,1
and WHICH is in these words:
! "SFc 4. AMI he II further enacted, That
the lands hereby granted to said State shall be
disposed of by said Stlte only in manner follow
ing-that is to say, that quantity Of land
not exceeding one HUNDRED and twenty sectiens,
and included within continuous length Of
twenty miles Of said road, may be sold and
when the Governor of said State shall certify
to the Secretary Of the Interior that twenty con.
tinuous miles Of said road is completed, then an.
other like quantity of land hereby granted may
be sold; and 50 from time to time, until said
load is completed; and it said road is not COM
pleted within ten years, no further sale shall be
made, ana the landS unsolo revert 10 the Uniteq
States.n
\ This section of the bill provides that the land
shall only be sold as the road progresses. 1t is
a restriction never before ingrafted upon Ser.
ate bill, and was only done to make them agree
with the House form
The bill or my friend from Louisiana CON-
mcnces the road at Algiers, town near which
there are no public lands, and proceeds hun
dred miles before there are any and because
that and other points are named in it, forsqqth
it is grant to build road through regon
where here are no public lands Sir, if the Sem
ator from Maine, Mr.. Ilamlin,] and the sena-
tor from Georgia, Mr.. Daysop,l and the sena.
tor from South Carolina, Mr.. BntIer,] had
read the bill, they would not have made the de-
clarations WHICH they have made. 1t grants no
land except as the road is built, and not single
acre can be taken outside the fifteen miles for
the CONSTRUCTION of the road.
What more Mr.. President The committee
have asked and demanded of senators who have
introduced bills here upon their responsibility