The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-07-15
ALLEN c. THURMAN
On the Tendency of Land
Grants 30 Produce a Finan-
ciaI Crash.

I'm the United States Senate. oh
June 11th, Senator Thurman made
an able speech on one of theprojects
to grant lands TO Railroad Compa-
MES, in which he said
81 want to say, however, while |
am up, a few words on a more gem
eral topic than the details of tins
bill. l have already stated to the
Senate again and again my opposi>
tion 10 these land grants because of
their effect to create land monupo-
lies and to deprive the actual set
tiers Of the country of the homes
that ought 10 be preserved for them.
/ wish now to state. in regard TO all
these enterprises, another objection
that with me has great forcU, and
the more 1 think of it the more force
1t has.
Il cannot be denied for a moment,
that if these projected railroads
would be pre6table investments OF
capital, they would be built without
any Government aid. How are rail,
roads built IN all the old States P
How are they built in all the States
east of the Alleghanies? How are
they built in all the States east Of
the Mississippi river2 Without ono
dollar of Government aid; and yet
they are built by the thousands o.
miles per year. Why built? Be-
cause capital finds that 1t can be
~proftablv invested IN them. o.
course there are exceptional cases
where it is not proitabIy invested
IN them; but yet the Inducements
IS strong enough to turn capital II
that direction. Then the building
of roads west of the Mississippi riv,
er with Government subsidies car
only be upen the principle that they
will not be profitable investments
and thereforeth the Government must
come in and bear a portion of the
expense.
Now, what l have to say, and tC
ask for IL the serious consideration
of Senators, is this: is there no dan
ger Of bankruptIng your country by
~divertiRg capital into improbable
enterprises? You stimulate the iD.
vestment of capital IN enterprises
which confessedly do not pay. Yor
stimulate it by giving great subsi'
dies; because if the road be bull
with the private means Of the COR
poration there will be no return OF
that investment, no profit whatso'
ever, and therefore it is that ",
arc asked to bHrld the roads outanC
cut with Government subsidies, By
giving as much as it will cost K
build them, or at least to share. ii
? the expense, so that the indIvia1a
investment of the stakeholder Is bR
a small portion of the cost of tn,
roads, and therefore he may ge
some little profit upon his inves:
ment. Phat is the theory of It,
You thus stimulate the inYestmen
of capital in uRpreftable e~nterpris
es, and when you do that, are yol
not in danger o~fbringing upon thi
country such a financial crash as i
has never experienced before2
Why, sir, there r some of u
that cannot but recellect what
crash was produced in this country
about the year 1887: principally by
the fact of immense Investments o
capital in waste lands. | am quite
sure that you, Mr.. President, Mr.
Trumbull In the chair, will recol'
lect it, and l am quite sure thatm my
friend on the right who is paying
such attention to me Mr.. Davis
will recollect 1t, too. Then, nearly
the whole surplus capital in the
country was invested IN wild lands
to be held for speculation; and that
was the chief cause of the inaHclal
crash in 1887. What have we seen
since? What have we seen IN Eng
land? The worst hnaDcial crisis,