The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-30

Mrs. Jane G.. Swissbelm makes fierce at
ia OK upon George Baber. through the
Weekiy Mirror, Of January ,, for what We
rsaii the week preyisas. iHthemmS 2apef
upon this question, she says: ''For the
benefit of MIR. Baber and others who may
not know, | will add that our public domain
cannot Be- s9ii 10 secglafors"
"Ca1not be sold to speculators," is de-
cided!y rich. A more glazing misrepresen-
tation Vas never placed upon paper, and i
the writer vas 10 Washington, IN the pay Of
Of the Gland ring" sbe could not make a
more reckless assertion.
Now, what are The facts? We must be
brief, and can give but a few. We begin
with the ? 500 QUO acres Of the choicest land
given 10 the Illinois Central Railroad Com
pany, which is now sold to whoever will buy
at from - to SIS per acre. True, these
lands were not ''soll 70 speculators,'' but
worse-they were giUen to them.
Next we have the land swindle connect ed
with the Pacific railroad. That gigantic
monopoly will have received, b. the time 1t
is finished, over one hundred and twenty
million acres, large majority of which is
Of the finest land in the world These land 5
are not sold but givsn to this corporation,
and by il kept out of the market, except a
small portion Immediately on the road at
stations and town sites, which is being sold
in town lots, at from ten to one
hundred times the government price. The
great bulk of these lands Will be kept out of
the market until the advance Of civilization
raises the price many times above the price
many times above the price fixed by the gov
ernment. Here is an amount Of land sufi !
cieut to sustain population Of 200 100000
gwen away from beneath the feet of the
people-but, sour public domain cannot be
sold 70 YecUiators."
In 1867 congress granted to the several
states, for the founding of agricultural
schools, an aggregate Of nearly ten million
acres. What has become Of this land
scrip? Where are the colleges that were to
be built Viii Mes. ). point US to a few Of
them II they have not been built, where
is the land She Gays it has not been sold
to SPECTATORS, We say it has. Nearly, or
quite the whole Of it has been sold at an
average price Of about sirty cents per acre,
and is now being sold to settlers at a very
high price, or withheld entn ely from the
market. One man bought half a million of
acres, and one company, or firm, in Ohio,
bought two and half million acres. But
sour public domain cannot be sold 10 specu-
ldtors"
There has been given. WITHIN few years,
to various railroad and canal companies, in
the Western States, over seventy Eve million
acres, the greater portion Of which 10 now
in the hands Of private spectators, and is
either Kept out Of the market or sold at a
very high price. But "Osr public domain
cannot Be sold to spectators"
But the most infamous of all the land
swindles is yet to be told. just previous to
MIR. Harlan leaving the interior department,
he sold to the American Emigrant Compa-
n.y." eight hundred thousand acres Of land
known as the Cherokee lands, at one dollar
per acre, or 500, 600 less than government
price. Plus these lands were 'ssold to spe-
eulatOrs," aud the government robbed of
near a quarter Of million Of dollars. How
much Of this Mr.. Harlan got for the job our
readers must guess. By various manipula-
tons, not necessary to explain, these lands
oundtheir nay into the hands Of Mr.. Joy,
who is uow 6IA Ownsf :
Previous sOsbs trsfsfsr ibf these lands to
private hands, osn dsrs u number Of peo-
ple--some two thouilad Vi oil had moved
upon them, built cabins, on them, cleared