The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-05-18

c:fc =; 81, 1903. 000 to the Kansas Pa
cilic; SIG 5000 Ia tho central branch
of the Union Pacili', late Atchison
and Pike Peaks railroad; SI,G2S,3 20
to the Siouv City AMI Pacific. and
S32),00J to the Western Pacific"
As | sail, the lanl prt u: these
vast q antS of aid was not 50 great in
1861 is it has become since; bat the
extract from the land Commissioners ;
report shells Il apod OF light on the
situation ~ congress met 1t in 1854.
Congress then found Itself in 1864
forced to ablndnl its policy of land
and money grants. In the then Goa
dition OF the country ard OF public
sentiment it could not do Otherwise
Ii determined t. grant no more aid
in money. 1t determined, further,
that any all given sh0ull be conline.i
to land. Upon the solicitation OF the
Northern Pacific rIiirOrd complny,
and in view OF tho undo .bted national
Importance of the work, the purpose
Of Congress was To mike the land
grant Il liberal one, in fact the most
valuable ever bestowed for railroad
purposes. The railroad company was
allowed substantially t. fix its own
terms. 1t knew whit it wuntpd far
better thrn congress dill. 1t askcl all
it wanted. If it erred at AL it did
not err on the sile of asking too little.
From all our information since, there
is 20 manner of doubt that the grant
was made at IL at time for + rty-s"ren
million acres, the finest great b, ly of
lands on the continent, was largely in
excess of the amount required to build
this road, and OF cure nor largely
in excess of any sound policy of grant
ing aid. The two things are entirely
different, | take it. What is necrssl-
ry TO build 4 road complete, equip it,
and open it ready for business t. the
public, is m tang. What is called
for in the way OF substantial, efficient
aid toward the same result is quite
another thing IL is Il pervcrsion, al
low IN to say, of all sound policy Is
between the government and lis citi-
zens TO hOi | Or for cOHgrcSs to admit
by legislation, that the government
shall in any case put into the hands Of
Il railroad company ail tac re-
quired to complete thu road, in its
in it: iron, in its equipments,
80 rs t. give the road substantially
when finished TO the company as its
property out anil out. This is not
the company to build the road.
1t is building the road for it. 1t is IL
paralysis of all individual energy; it
is Il sitting of the wholesome free ac-
ton of private enterprise.
= = i Nor is this all. The eff
feet of the system pursued by con-
gross OH the morals of the country WAS
necessarily most mischievors. Con
gress tempted the people. 1t held ont
lure to Il class of ON citizens nat
uralIy too speculative; | mean the
railroad men of the United States. 1t
filled them with Il fever of railroad
adventure; anil by the pro 'pcct Of I'M
mensc gains to he realized out of COLI
g~rcssional subsidies it excited them to
engage i'll great railroad enterprises
without much OF any reference to the
legitimate profits of tt undertaking.
Worst of all, the system vitiatcd I'LL
Legislation III congress on the Suhjc'
of aid to railroads, and rendered Il re-
to wholesome principles well
nigh if not wholly impracticable.
The abuses of the past i'll congress
rise up against all reformation. What
WAS then yielded rs Il special favor is
now claimed us Il settled right. What
was an exceptional excess or the pub
lie liberality in the imminent cmergen-
cies of the war has now passed inro an
ordinary precedent. To-day in the
miGst of peace with one completed
in iull operation from the At
to the Prcific, the railroad COM
pany interested in this bill is here de-
handing ofus TO be put ON a war foot
ing-on the vantage ground Of that
military necessity which knows III law
and admits of no impoSsibility- If
hesitate We arc censurcd. We are
found guilty of Il great wrong if, with
The best good will to forward the
building of the road, we ann ut the
same time TO protect the general i'll
Lerest and maintain the efficiency OF
the public land system by keeping the
free to the settlers while we give
the proceeds to the railroad compa-
ny.
WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN GIVEN TnE
COMPANY.
The grant rs made to the company
n 1864, was dictated by myself. 1t
gave the company fo~rty-scven million
,crcs, to be selected out Of the odd sec
ions in a belt of one hundred miles
vide by Il length stated by Commits
.oner Wilson, i'll his letter Of June -,
1868, already mentioned by me, at
,wo thousand twenty-five miles. With
hat grant it was then entirely salts
Ma such grant had ever before
Dccn made or dreamed of in the history
IF our government. 1t is double the
and grant made TO Union Pacific
Railroad Company, which VAS the
next largest made In value it is out
IF all comparison with the Union Pa
;ific grant, for it is at least four or
i've times us valuable, acre for acre.
Sir, it was ;iot much to say that no
such grant was ever Def re made by
our government. None such has
been made within the last one humid
red and fifty or two hundred Years by
any government in Europe to any
private corporation, nor indeed to any
grantee. No emperor or minister
There to day, however secur his pow
rr, would venture on such s%poliation
Of his country. Considering the wide
difference between 10 day i'll the Uni
ted States, with all its golden promise
and a hundred Years ago in India, l