Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-10-07
Contrasted Land Grant Policies.

the Republican party on account oil lts IN
fiuence in carrying out the land grant sys-
tenn by which the Pacific Railroad has
been constructed. They do not take 1t
at all kindly at being told that the giving
away of the public domain was originally
q Democratic measure, though, as we shall
zee, a very different one from that which
has been pursued by the Republican par.
ty. They attempt to explain the votes OF
such Democrats as Stephen A. Douglas
and Thomas Fl. Benton, by saying that
the grants were made to States, and not
to corporations. The Illinois Central
Railroad grant, for instance, was voted 10
the State of Illinois, and the State gave it
to the Illinois Central Railroad corpora
ton. In other words, If there was q
wrongful taking of portion OF the pub
lie domain, the State of Illinois, according
to Democratic logic, performed the kindly
office of cats paw for the railroad COM
pany. One thing is certain, the Illinois
Central Railroad Company is in posses
sion, forever, of an immense area of the
public domain, which amounted to 2 $780,
900 acres, and was valued at thirty million
dollars. The original cost of the railroad
was not far from $27, 100000. The total
number of acres of the company's lands
sold from the original appropriation, to
January 1, 1870, was 2,137, 220.83
acres, the sales amounting to near.
ly $24,000,000. There remained
on hand January 1, 1870,
457,77917 acres, most of it lying in rich
and desirable locations along the line.
The Company's lands, moreover, are rich
in coal mines, which, in the future, will be
sources of inexhaustible wealth. From
these figures some idea of the value of
this grant may be obtained. 1t gave the
Company, practically, line of railroad
seven hundred miles long, to have
and to hold forever, by paying to the
State Of Illinois seven per cent OF the
gross earnings of the road. This for the
year ending Dec. 81, 1869, amounted to
$479, 1853 Is, which is very low percent
age upon the capital invested in the road,
the entire cost of which will be realized
from the sale of the lands appropriated for
its construction. This grant was voted
for by such Democratic lights as Thos.
H. Benton, Stephen A. Douglas, Henry 3.
Foot, and Jefferson Davis. Sentor Doug
las was one of the most jealous advocates
of the measure, Speaking in favor OF the
bill, he said:
s'These lands have been in the market for about
twenty-three years; but they will not sell even at
the usual Government price OF one dollar aud
quarter per acre, because they are distant from
any Davigable stream or market for produce.
railroad will make the lands saable even at don Bile
the price, because the Improvement made by the
State will make them valuable"
1t is safe to say that to the efforts Of
Senator Douglas mainly was due the pas
sage of the bill. The Democratic party
now know too well their record to repu-
date their work; but they say that the
grant was made to the State of Illinois,
and not to corporation. But the avow-
ed purpose of the legislation was that a
corporation might eventually get the
grant. The General Government gave
away go much of the public domain, and
the corporation became possessed of it..
We cannot see what particular merit
there is in claiming freedom from respon-
sibility for wrong because it passed
through the hands of the State. The
lands granted to States prior to 1861,
amounted to 29,971 ,22665 acres. An
other fact may be mentioned in cornec-
ton with these gifts to States: That of
the above. 1s, 1893, o74 q acres were grant
ed to the States of Mississippi, Alabama,
Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mis-
souri,, showing that the South received
their full share of the domain gifts. The
majority of these grants were, like that
to the State of Illinois, made for specific
local objects having little or no interest
that could be called national. The State
of Illinois, for instance, simply received
the 10000 acres from the General Gov
eminent. and passed it over to the Illinois
Central Railroad corporation, and for this
little service it is now receiving and will
forever receive, Z per cent. upon the gross
earnings of the road. The Springfield
Qll.) Register boastfully says:
''The amount annually received from this
source will, even now. pay all the legitimate ex-
rom Year to year. Ieeving It" the people Of taxes
and giving the State means to carry out all neces-
airy improvements"
Now, we are not finding fault with this
grant; it has been the means of develop
ing the State in a wonderful degree; but
it was not national work in any sense OF
the term. There is not a State in the
Union that would not like to have a land
grant that would pay it's current expenses
for all time to come. But such a course
of legislation would be local, and is con-
trary to the policy of the Republican
party. Herein is one grand difference in
the old Democratic land policy and the
new Republican land policy The object
OF the Republicans has been to make
only such grants as = would inure
W VIZ eeNfSnssSO VI tuO WuO1C CouA-
try. Such was the Pacific railroad
grant, There is not State east
of the Mississippi that is not benefited by
the Pacific railroad. Theroad, moreover,
is necessary in a military point of view,
in order that troops can be taken across
the continent, for the protection of the
Pacific States. 1t was necessary to bind
in commercial and military bonds the
eastern and western coasts of the Republic.
For the grant to the State of Illinois,
there was not a shadow of military me-
cessity, while all the arguments that were
urged in its favor on the ground of ma
terial development are applicable in a
higher degree to any one of the Pacific
railroads which have been projected.
II, as Senator Douglas said, the rich
lands of Central Illinois would not sell for
the government price of 81 % per acre,
how much more might he have said it of
the immense region lying along where the
Pacific Railroad now passes. Millions
upon millions of acres of valuable lands
have been brought into market that would
otherwise have lain half century with.
out permanent settlement or any devel-
oping system of civilization. The Pacific
Railroad, whether viewed as ciyilizer. or
as necessary for our military defense, is.
beyond comparison, the grandest work of
the century. 1t is national in its benefits
and, as such, is an emblem of the general
land grant policy which has been pursued
by the Republican party. Contrasting
the two policies, we find that the Demo.
Gratis have donated to States immense