Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-03-09
Mr.. THURMAN said

Mr. PRESIDENT: ! regret that am
compelled to speak on this bill, If am
to speak on it at all, in a state oi
such i'll health a. almost 10 disuualily
me from saying a word; but ! feel il a
duty that ] owe To my constituents "a
oppose the land-wrant contained in this
bill, and to state a. briefly rs | may be
able to do, the reasons of MY opposition.
If needed any justification for occupy
ing the time of the Senate on this sub
iCct. might find it in the resolutions of
the General Assembly of my State, pas
sed by an almost or quite unanimous
vote, requesting her Senators to oppose
all grants of land to railroad companies,
for reasons that are fUicibly stated in
those resolutions; and now / embrace
the first opportunity that have
to comply with that request; and
I do it the more willingly because
resolutions coincide with the dictates of
my own judgement, and because the
ease in which the question arises is one
i'm which, perhaps, some improvements
have been made upon the land-grant
bills that have heretofore passed, and
therefore the bill makes rs good a test
case any that will be likely to come
before Congress for its consideration.
a
little corporation, as it has been called,
in the State of Oregon, a corporation
chartered TO build Il railroad of only
one hundred miles i'm length, with Il
branch of thirty miles, land-Suhsidy
for that purpose, and it may, therefore,
to those who de not take time to cumsid-
er it, seem Il small affair, in view of
the mighty grants that have been here
tOfOTe made, yet beg Senators to mark
the fact that this bill proposes to grant
to that State corporation more than
twice as much land as is contained i'm
the whole State of Rhode Island, one
fourth more land than is contained in
the whole State Of Delaware. This lit
tie State corporation, if this bill passes,
for this little road of one hundred miles,
with Il branch Of thirty miles, is to re-
ceive from the bounty of the United
States territory more than twice as great
as one Of the States ofthis Union.
Now, il does seem To me that that i Il
matter which should arrest our attCn-
ton; that we should not consider il a
light or tTiiling affair, whether we
shall give TO a mere private corpora
ton, created 10y a State, an extent Otter
TitOTy twice rs great a. that Of one of
the sovereign States nfthe Union.
But before I proceed To consider the
policy of these grants, ! wish to make
some observations that are pertinent To
this bill alone, to suggest some Obicc-
tiOns that shall look with great inter
est to see whether they can bCamswCred
or nUt-ObicCtiOns that stand wholly
apart from the question whether the pol
iCy Of making these Iand-SUh~idies is a
good policy Or not. ! have said that
this is a corporation created under the
laws Of Oregon, and not under amy law
Of the United States. suppose there is
40 lawyer on this floor who needs to
be told that corporation possesses no
powers, no faculties whatsoever. uNrept
such as are conferred upon il by the law
of its creation. The first point, therefore
which ! make in respect to this bill, af-
ter having carefully read the charter in
the statutes of Oregon, is that there is
nowhere givon to this company in its
charter any faculty of receiving or hold
ing any such donation as this. Il has
not the legal capacity to take the grant;
and therefore, if the grant were made
to-day, it would in legal contemplation
he wholly imperative.
admit that the Legislature of Ore
gon might confer that faculty upon il.
subsequently, and thaH il might accept
the grant; but at the time I speak this
corporation has no power whatever that
enables it to accept this grant and be- f.
come the owner of this property. Itsl
are very limited. The railroad
law Of that State, which ] have read
with care this morning, seems to have
been drawn with q studied purpose of
such corporations within very
narrow limits; and the only power that /
is given to hold real estate is the power /
to hold such real estate as may be nee
ossary or eonyenieHtfor the makingand /
doerating Of the road, a clause well /
En0WB 70 allraiirpad lawyers and uni
NorsaliY intepleiedi wherever Il has I
ae under Judicial consideration, asl
conveying ~ power Wlaiefr ~ ges