The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-06-04

CONTINUED.
These facts may assist members Of Con-
press in Judging whether thu nation can
afford to make such grants as are now asked
for and such as have been so fRealy made
within the last few years Let it be remem-
bsrsd, then, that every EAy milliOp acres,
given away equals very nearly One-twSlfth
~ our entire available area. With tins
clear idea of the extent Of our resources
constantly in mind, we shall be better able
to 'cut our coat according to our cloth" -
II may be said here that the railroads get
a proportional share Of the waste land as
well as the good. This, however, would at
BEST only be true Of the waste land outside
Of that great repository Of waste land,
Alaska, and would give, as we have seen,
a fraction less than % per cent, as the pro-
portion Of waste land to their entire grants
But they get no such proportion. Railroads
are projected with an eye to population, and
: population does not seek the deserts but the
fertile plains and valleys Their bhSWd
projectors know the country through which
they propose to construct them, and they
may be trusted TO choose their routes IN the
richest sections, where they not only get the
best lands in aid Of their enterprises, but
where they can also count upon the most
rapid settlement Of the country adjacent to
their lines. Besides, even for enginecfine
reasons, hey would usually follow the
course of the rivers, where tbe best land,
and il fact the only timbered land through.
out a large section of the western country,
Is always found Thus the Union Pacific
follows the rich valley Of the Platte for
hundreds of miles, and the Kansas Pacific
tie valley Of Tie Kansas and its Smoky
Han Fork, while on line Is projected down
the NeOsha valley and others through other
valleys equally rich. Even the trans-con-
tinental lines do mot get near their propor-
tional % per cent. of waste land, because
in the very nature Of things they must seek
the most open routes through the noun.
tains and the lowest elevations; and beside
they contrive to get various branches subsi.
dised near their exTemities, which branches
adds hundreds Of miles to their aggregate
length, and do not pass through the noun
tains at all, thus largely increasing tbeil
proportion of 6rst-olass land. There can
be no doubt that if all the railroad billi
now pending we're passed, they would skim
the very cream off the entire body of the
public domain, and create such an array 81
land monopolIes as the world has never yet
seen. If the railroad builders have Their
own way we shall not long have occasion Il
sing the good old song, whose pleasant re.
frain was that "Uncle Sam is rich enough
to give US all farm" Poor Uncle Sam
will stand agbast with wonder to see how
cleverly be has been Overreached, and p0s
sibly in his desperation he may feel very
like Shakespeare's poor Jew, when he cries
Nay take my life and all. Pardon no
that Or he may retire to one one 0
the elevated peaks left him among the Rock!
Mountains, and regale his ears with th
loud shrill laughter Of the locomotive as
rushes through the valleys below, moekm;
bis folly.
| come now to another and most impor
tant point, viz: the under estimation Of
value of our public lands. A Senator frOH
Minnesota, in speaking Of the low value Q
the lands along the proposed line of tn
Northern Pacific railroad recently remarked
that Paradise itself so situated would no
be worth ten cents an acre tt "a astOund
ing that any intelligent man should holC
such an opinion for moment in the face o
the experience Of our country during tht
last twenty years. Twenty years ago thai
Senator's State was as much a wilderness
as the Red River country of Dakota is to-
day, the first land having been offered fol
sale within its limits on the 22d of OctO
Der, 1856, less than fifteen years ago ; vel
the average price of land included in farms
in that State in 1860, according to the cen
sus for that year, was SO IA an acre, only
OnO-hfth of the area so included and 70 val
ued being improved land And according
to carefully prepared statement puHisheC
10 the Agricultural Report for 1867, the in
crease in value during the intervening sever
years amounted to 100 per cent, making
the average value of Minnesots farms il
1854, $50 % an acre. Yet, according to
that Senator's theory these lands, twenty
years ago, Were not worth ten cents an acre
To an owner obliged to sen under the sher
ifs hammer and unable to obtain day.
grace, they might not have been worth tina
amount but At strikes one very forcibly thai
any one who had then invested a hundred
dollars at that rate would find bis thousand
acre farm, which would be worth to-day
$4,000, magnificent return for, his in.
vestment Two hundred times his capital
returned to bin In twenty years, bOsidss 1
good living off his land inthe intered, and
probably profits enough TO exchange bis
first log cabin for stylish house
twill be instructive, in this connection,
to note the prices of land in the various
Western States, and I Will therefore read q
table based upon the census of 1860 and
the volume Of the Agricultural Report
already cited. ri1at -..
This table shows that the average value
Of the lands included in farms, Improved
Il r