Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1856-06-07


tion of the act of Congress providing for
its construction, and that the road cannot
be considered as completed until the same
has been extended to this city bv bridge.
JOHN G.. SHIELDS,
"Mayor of the city of Dubuque.
Per order OF TIE cit, council:
up. w. CRAWFORD. Recorder.
IF. v. GOODRICH.
"Pres. of Board of Trade OF Dubuque.
"Per order Of the board of trade:
"EDwiN JAMES, Jr., Secretary.
DUBUQUE, January II, 1856"
We are told that these companies are 10
carry the mails a, the price fixed b, the
Postmaster General. And if the company
and the Postmaster General cannot agree,
what is the remedy The company con- t.
to this House which has created it, which
has given it birth aud being and vitality,
and this House will settle between the
Postmaster General and the Railroad Com
pany. How will il be settled. IL the
power Of the company is so strong in this
House before dollar has been realized by
the corporation that it can have a bill pass
ed through under the operation of the pre-
vious question: and can gag down every
man who seeks to open his mouth here
against 1t, how much stronger will it be
when the road is made, and when monev
is daily and hourly coming into its treas
ury?
have no other objection to these bills !:
| canpot debate II, as would like to do,
within the limited time allowed me. My
objection to them is this. NV friend from
Alabama Mr.. Conn was the old soldiers
TREND here in the last Congress. He was
for donating bounty land to them, Tor Civ
ing them an increased quantity, so as 10
make it one hundred and sixty acres. And
now what IS he doing' He rs now dona-
ting these lands to corporations, knowing,
as he does, THAT since the Iowa and Florida
railr BAD bills were passed the land war
rants have been steadily going down in
price. lie is tor shutting up al! these lands
required for railroads, and thereby shutting
off the old soldiers from every opporsnity
OF locating their warrants, and thus dimin-
i,hiug the price of Them.
Mr. Cob. VIII the gentleman from Vr-
gina allow me to state that introduced
the bounty land bill Of 1850, and voted for
that also2
Mr.. Letcher. Very well, sir. And now
the gentleman is tying to destroy those
who were to reap the benefit of his lcgs-
lation. am sorry 10 see one " ho thought
then that there was something due TO the
old soldiers, AMI who helped 10 procure
their land warrants. seeking now to destroy
their value, so as to make what he then
considered act of justice entirely worthless
to them. Now take this case OF the Iowa
railroaa bill. When that bill was passed
the Commissioner Of the General Land or.
flee teegtaphed the land officers there to
close their Offices. Land is no longer to be
taken by those warrants. The land is no
longer it, the market. The railroads mist
be accommodated They mus, make their
selection. The value of The land warrants
three or fo3r cents an acre. So with the
Wisconsin bill. When il becomes law Z,
the land warrants will. Of coulse, fake a
further fall.
Now, il seems TO me that all these are
considerations which ought 10 have some
weight in controlling the action OF the
House OH this subject. should like 10
know, Mr.. Speaker, how many more bills
there are yet behind this. should Ike
to know Low many more miles Of railroad
ATE yet TO BIZ made-how many more acres
Of public lands are yet 10 be taken for their
construction under the arrangements enter
ed into by the Conuitte on Public Lands.
| | should Ike TO hear from the chairman OF
that committee how many more bills he
has upon the stocksl
Mr.. Bennett. The committee h as agreed
to report a bill for the State of Louisiana.
MIR. Letcher. How many acres does
that propose to takei
Mr.. Bennett. lcanno, give tot the "a.
act quantity something less than hall A
million of acres. There is another bill
for the State of Mississippi.
Mr.. Letcher. How many acres is that |
MIR. Bennett. A httle over half a mil.
| lion.
Mr.. Letehe.. Well, how many acres 70,
these Alabama roads. lal
Mr.. Cobb, TO Mr.. Bennett.l Say mil
lion Of acres, so as to make i, big sum
Mr.. Letcher. Now, would like ,c
know how my friends from the South have
permitted themselves to be 20 taken in
According to the Commissioned Of the Ger.
eral Land Office, the land required under
tins Iowa bill is tour million three hun
Jred aud twenty thousand acres the Wis
"a nsin bill take one million nine huhdrrd
thousand acres the Michigan bill gives
about one million Of acrcs-in all some
seven million two hundred thousand acres.
Now, let us see how it is with the South.
Here is Mssissippii she is to get five hum
bred thousand acres Louisiana is to act
five hundred thousand acres; and then here
is the Alabama bill giving one million Of
acres. This makes two millions of acre.
lor.the South, against seven millions for
the North how much is Florida TO have
MIR. Bennett. want 10 correct a ms.
take or two into which the gentleman ha.
fallen, unintentionaIly no donbt, The fact
was, That the Iowa bill and the Wisconsin
bill were printed and lay heae where eve.
~ gentleman could obtain copies. i do
not know whetherthr gentleman from, Vir.
gina was aware Of the fact but the bills
were seen by a great many gentlemen
then. Now, az 10 the lands Tor Iowa; il
is true, there is statement Showing as
understand, that there are granted to Iowa
over four m,lhons if the State gets six Sec
| lions for each mile of road And then il