New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-17

line, as will be seen from the following
table. showing the number OF acres given TO
the different railroad corporations
Chicago and Northwestern. lSS,SSl
Bay de Noque and Marquette. i2s,00O
Marquette and 0ntouacon 2i32o9
ST Paul and Pacific 500 900
Branch St Paul and Pacifc. 10000
Minnesota Central. 100000
Winona and st. Peter. ......-.. $4,000
Memphis and Little Rock ......... 365,535
Cairo and Fulton 9G5,63I
Little Rock and Fort Smith. ...... ijS,77l
Iron Mountain Railroad ...... $4,000
Cairo and Fulton ou. 1865
Iron Mountain. 100000
Jackson, Lansing and Saginag ,052, 459
Flint and Permaquette. .... 5S6,522
Lake Superior and Mississippi. 80. 100000
Minnesota Southern. ........... $4,000
Hastings and Dacotah. .... $4,000
st. Joseph and Denver City...... 100000
Bansas and NeOsho Valley. 1850 600
Southern Branch Union Pacific. 100000
Placerville and Sacramento ...... 100000
California and Oregon. n........... 1,540,000
Atlantic and Pacific c..... .42 ,000,0 900
Northern Pacific c.......20.0 20 900 900
Stockington and Copperolis. ...... 320,O0
Now, Of all this long catalogue of acts
only four were passed by the present Con
gress, and but one of these includes a land
grant, that from Portland to Astoria. in
Oregon. running through - forest, where
the government would not probably be
able. except for the railroad, to sell its
lands at any price. for long time: and to
protect the rights OF the public and to guard
against speculation. it is provided that the
lands granted to the corporation shall be
sold 'only to actual settlers, in quantities not
exceeding one hundred and sixty acres. or
quarter section, TO any one settler, and at
prices not exceeding two dollars and fifty
cents per acre" The remaining lands Of
the government, when the rsad is built, will
be worth more than the whole is now. Of
the other three acts. one extends the time
for completing the first twenty miles OF the
Little Rock and Fort Smith road. one eX-
tends the time for the completion of the
first twenty miles of the Cairo ard Fulton
road. and the other authorizes the Northern
Pacific Company to issue its bonds for the
construction of the road. The rest of this
long list is made up of hills that have not
passed Congress. Some of them have
passed the Senate and failed in the House:
some Of them are in committee; some ot
them passed years ago, and some OF them
are mere projects. Of such stuff are Demo
cratic facts man utactured :or the political
market.
The land grant system originated with
the Western Democrats. as the means OF de-
veloping that section Of the country, and
opening the public lands 70 settlement. Its
first great work was the Illinois Central
The railroad companies are endowed with
ten alternate sections, on each side OF the
road, for every mile completed. The price
of the remaining land is doubled by the gov
ernment, and made available for settlers. to
whom none of it was open before the com
municatIon was established; and IN the lat
ter grants the corporations are restricted TO
the sale OF these lands, to actual settlers. in
small quantities, and AT tie government
price. Now this may be a good system or
bad one. Of course, like everything else
it is liaHe to abuse. We think that when
properly guarded, with tie requisite protec-
ton against speculation, and security TO
the rights OF settlers, /: is the best sys-
ten that has been devised for opening the
West and developing the country. But
whether it be better to let the land await
the slow settlement that pushes out on the
frontier, or whether it be better to extend
the domain Of civilization by constructing
the mode Of modern communication, it is
quite certain the Republicans are not enti-
tied more than the Democrats to the praise
or the blame of the prevailing system The
new States are clamorous for railroad COM
munlcatiOn, and there is no way to construct
it. except by making the public lands, which
are largely benefited by it, bear the chief
cost OF it. 1t is not necessary, however, to
defend the land grant system, in contradict
ing the manufactured statements which are
SO industriously going the rounds of the
Democratic newspapers. The whole charge
is an invention. 1t will do us no harm here,
when it is explained and will help us in the
West. where the great complaint will be
that il is not true.