The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-10-06
OUR RECORD ON PUBLIC LAND

The Detroit Post foots up the grants o
land In aid of railroads, made prior tt
1861, and chargeable, therefore TO tho
Democratic party, %, ,226 acres
while those made since 1861, and which
are, therefore, chargeable to the Repub.
lican party. amount to IS, 932, 553 acres.
IF the railrond aid grants were, under al
circumstances, wrong, per Sc, we are not
sure that this would be satisfactory re-
cord for the Republicans, inasmuch as it
shows that they have given away as
many acres within ten years as the Dem
ocrats had within the proceeding twenty.
It is to be remembered, however, that
railroads fairly began to be run by steam
only in 1884, and the system was still
in its infancy ten years later, and
the complaint against the system of sub
sides in aid Of railways is against its
abuse. The Illinois Constitutional Con-
yentlon has declared, as matter Of law,
that all railwys are public highways,
under the control of the State. There
can be no inherent objection to using the
public lands as means for the promotion
of the building Of public highways to the
extent necessary to secure the highways.
The complaint has been that this power
was wastefully exercised, in a manner to
withdraw vast quantities of the public
lands from the market, in q manner to
prevent their actual settlement, and en-
sich monopolists, without materially
Fastening the building Of the roads,
This had grown to such an abuse that
there was no way to simplify the question
so as to make the popular will effective
but to shut down on ali land grants, and
send the lobbyists home. This a Repub-
lican Congress did at the last session,
making no grant, except small modified
aid one to the Northern Pacific, in order
to secure the early construction OF the
great trunk line.
In the matter of canals, the Democrat
&c party, prior to 1861, had granted q,
705, $50 acres, while the Republican party,
since has granted only 100000 acres.-
This difference, however, is very much
like the reason why white sheep yield
more wool chan black ones. The Re
publicans havesmade few canal grants,
because few canals are building since
1861.
In passing the Union and Central Pa
cifc Railroad bills. the land grants for
which are, in the main, approved by the
people, the Democratic party voted, in
the Senate-yeas, eight nays, ttvo i; in
the House-yeas, ID; nays, %. Total
Democratic vote, yeas, D; nays, "a
If to these we add the Affirmative votes of
b owning, Cowan, Doolittlc, and Dixon,
who were ca route to the Democratic par
ty, as now constituted, voted yeas % to
nays 81 on those grants. The Repubii-
cans voted for them by a large majority,
and are fairly entitled to the credit. and
can we'll afford to stand the responsibility
of having caused that great national high
way to be built. The Republican party
passed the Homestead law, as to the
public lands in the Territories, over the
veto of Democratic President, and af-
ter being once defeated by a Democratic
Senate. They still further, since the war,
applied the same law to the unsold pull
lic ..ods in the South, amo uting to forty
five millions of acres. A few Democrat
&c votes have sustained these homestead
measures, but in their inception and in
the majority of the votes which passed
them, they are Republican measures.