The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-06-17

SIR: The course of your journal for the
last few months in reference to the
granting of public lands to railroads
has grieved many of the lifelong oppo-
nents of land monopoly, myself among
the number. We were always led to
look up to the Tribune as our advocate
and defender, but, of late, several arti-
cles have either crept or stepped into
your columns advocating grants of land
to railroads with arguments and COM
mendations. The earnest land reform
ers, who have fought the monster land
monopoly for the past thirty years, with
the Tribune as their organ and the edi-
tor as their able advocate, naturally feel
agrieved at what we term backsliding.
While we understand your arguments,
and acknowledge their force, as to rail-
roads opening up the wilderness to the
settler, we dissent from that part of the
theory which should give them the right
to entail themselves upon us and pos
terity as giant land corporations. We
maintain that the object sought by leg
islation in aiding railroads could be
far better accomplished, and with entire
Justice to the people, by refusing to vest
the title to land in the roads, but stipu-
lating, on the part ofthe Government,
to give these corporations the proceeds
of the sale of these lands instead.
Would it not be wiser and more just
for the Government to be the almoner
of its own bounty, than to intrust mil
| lions of acres of our public domain to
irresponsible corporations, to be gam
| bled about Wall street in a few years by
men like Vanderbilt and Fisk Please
give us your own views on this impor-
| tant subject.
Yours, truly, JOHN II. KEYsER.
MIR. GREELEY's REPLY.
The first point in discussion is to
agree upon terms. For want of this,
people often dispute when they mean
the same thing.
/. Mr.. Keyser speaks of the govern
ment "bounty" to railroads. l emphat-
ically dissent. A land grant to help
build railroad through wild and va
cant public lands is either an exchange
of benefits or it should not be male at
all. So far as / know, the Government
| that is, the American people-has been
the gamer by every such bargain.
IL. Mr.. Keyser suggests that the Gov
ernment should retain the lands and
only give the railroads the proceeds of
those lands, when they shall have been
disposed of to actual settlers. Consid-
ering that each actual settler is entitled
by law to take 160 acres without paying
for it, and that settlers always squat
| thickly and rapidly on lands through
which railroad route has been laid,
this amounts to saying that the railroads
should have nothing at all.
III. / differ from Mr.. Keyser funda-
mentally. lie conceiyes that the Gov
eminent gives lands to railroads. ], on
the other hand; hold that the railroads
substantially and practically give lands
to the Government, by making them ae-
cessible and desirable. If Mr.. X. were
offered his choice of 100000 acres in
Alaska or 1 600 in Kansas, am sure he
| would prefer the latter. Now, suppose
a company, by running a railroad
through the heart of Alaska, would
make 100000 acres of her land equal
in average value and attraetiveness to
the public land in Kansas, and should
receive 100000 acres as ''bounty" to
the company while should consider
that the company had practically en-
larged the public domain by not less
! than 1900, 600 acres.
| ". / have personally traversed and
scrutinized most of the. lands ceded by
the Government to the line of railroad
already completed from the Missouri to
Sacramento. Most of those lands, ]
| judge, are of very little value, and can
not be sold, nor even given away, to
actual settlers, even with o railroad rum
ming through them but that what are
x
deal more, and viii attract and retain
many more settlers with the railroad
than the whole did or could do without
it. / canlno more doubt than / can doubt
my own existence
V. Mr.. KeYser seems to think that the
railroad companies will seek "to entail
themselves upon us and posterity as
giant land corporations There is nc
shadow of danger of this. The COM
| Do3 ~
such foolish conceit. They all need
money, want to realize, and will natur-
ally seek to sell their lands so fast as
they can. The real danger is that indi-
Yiduals may buy tracts of ], eco to 90
600 acres each and hold them for high
prices; and ] think this should be
guarded against in the acts which grant
the lands. Require the companies not
+ to sell more than $40 acres TO each per-
. SON interested in. the purchase, and fix 9
maximum price which they are not tc
, Eexceed, and judge that no further re.
striction is needed. ssn2 1855
vi. There are many millions of good
!. Hand belonging to the Government
, which any one may appropriate, to ths
. extent of 160 acres, by settling thereon
, land paying S16 for Land Office fees, pa
peers, etc. Yet the great majority o
|, | settlers pass these by, and settle instead
on railroad lands which cost them S21z
j | to SIS per acre. I submit to Mr.. keysel
! | that this fact is an argument. Very few
/, are so poor that they will not pay S:
! per acre for land near railroad, rathel
: | than fifty cents per acre for just suci
/ lands one hundred miles from q station
! / think this choice should be respected
!, by the Government, and even by MT
heyser. - y "