The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-05-28
The Policy of Railroad Land Grants


Washington, d. c., on Wednesday even
ing, April 27th, 1870.
& Business before pleasure" is a maxim
Of some age and responsibility. | earnestly
hope it is in favor with my present auditors,
for | am about to ask your attention to a
matter which is in most important, prac-
tcal, and literal sense the business of every
American citizen. do not expect to amuse
you; ] shall not even attempt to entertain
you but the facts which | have to present
have SO direct and vital bearing upon the
well-being Of the whole nation, including
yourselves as individual citizens, that, how
ever dry they may be, however unsuitable
they may seem for popular lecture, shall
nevertheless expect you to follow me, not
merely with attention, but also with lively
interest. | do not pretend to know any
thing as 10 the pecuniary circumstances Of
any Of you, but may truthfully assert that
the least affiuent among you is the owner
Of certain amount Of real estate. Not to
mystlfy you as to my meaning, let me say
NJ once that | refer to the share which each
Of you owes in the public domain. Let no
one be too much elated, and imagine him.
self at once rich landowner, for there are
over forty millions Of us in all, and if we
should conclude now to divide the whole
estate which we at present own in common
into forty millions equal shares, taking
in good land and bad, valuable and
valueleSs, we should only get about thirty
acres apiece.
Now thirty acres is more or less valu-
able, according to the standpoint from which
it is viewed.
To the English nobleman, with his fifty
fertile farms, or the American railroad
company, with its land grant equal to two
or three good sized States, thirty acres
seems mere speck Of dust in the scale
(yet | may say parenthetically that when
It comes to parting with thirty acres il
seems sufficiently valuable even to them
But to the INDECENT laborer, inhabiting an
attic or cellar in a great city, working
for a pittance, when be has work to do, and
often lacking even this; engaged without
ceasing in fighting off the grim specter o.
starvation from his wife and little ones
to him whoknoWs what it is to look at .
ten cent piece as the slender barrier between
him and days fasting, and to rake up bis
last coppers for the purchase of few sticks
Of fuel who often sees bis children hungry
and shivering for the want of even those
few cents; to him thirty acres seems a vast
estate 1t means comfort, decency, food
clothing, education for bis children, respec-
liability, society, and the power to hold NJ
his head among men-everything in shor
which makes life desirable And so wide
and impossible is the gulf which separates
him from it, that be looks upon its fortunate
possessor with the despair of Dives lookiny
from the bOttomless pit at Lazarus il
Heaven.
Therefore, since thirty acres may be 81
much to millions efEenf people, | shall nd
quarrel with you if you insist upon regard
ing it as a highly valuable inheritance.
Indeed, it is because | believe most d
you, in common with the people generally
underestimate your share in the nations
estate that | am speaking 10 you at tbl
moment. !
Judge this from the extreme liberality
or rather the prodigality, with which
through the agency Of the Government, you
are giving it way. Already you have giveO
away, to railroads alone, more than 1925.
100000 acres, which il about four and .
half acres a piece, or more than one
seventh as much as your entire remaining
share in the public domain. 1t will be we'd
also, to reflect that this 1872 200, 600 acres
is an area more than seven times as large NJ
the great State Of Ohio, and if settled 3;
densely as that State, would accommodate
population Of fifteen or twenty millions
Moreover, 124,0O0,000 acres of tb,
amount, or over two-thirds of Il wholh
has been presented to the various Pacih,
Railroad companies within the last Al
years, and it was only on Thursday last tba
the Senate passed bill granting additiona
lands to the Northern Pacific company;
corporation to which had already been givel
the alternate sections in belt Of land eigbty
miles wide, extending from the western
boundary Of Minnesota to Puget's Sound
in Washington Territory, and a belt fofty
miles wide, within the State of Minnesota
from Lake Superior westward.
This donation compris some AZ 900,
900 acres, or about $4,000 square mi LEI
more than the entire area Of England anc
Wales-a zone embracing the finest la1ds
between the Mississippi and the Pacific, and
having a very small proportion Of waste
surface
Such lberality-that is the name ;by
which many Of the newspapers call it-sl.et
liberallty on the part Of the Government
seems almost Incredible but | assure yor
there is no mistake about the figures, fol
they are taken from the official records
Nor does it seem that this Z" liberality', il
likely to stop here. It is estimated that ah,
Immigrant bills, introduced during the pre-
sent Congress, propose to give away SOM
10000, 900 acres, and a correspondent 0
the New York Tribune, wri..ng from thi
city in December last, estimated the amOun
to be given away, by bills then pending a
upwards Of 248, 100000.
1t would seem, therefore, that Senate
Thurman's statement on Monday, the 1ltl
instant in the debate on the Northern
Pacific railroad bill, to the effect that till
are now pending proposing to donate nearly
400,0O0,0 900 acres to railroad and ochel
companies, was not very wide of the trath
Of course it is not to be supposed Cha
all these bills will be enacted into laws
but many Of them will be supported by {
very strong outside pressure, and to judge
BY past experience, it is quite probable
that very large number Of them will pass
unless We and the people generally indicate
to Congress IN some way that we do not an
prove Of quite 50 much generosity. Besides,
we may exP ect to see an indefinite nuuibe,
ofnew applications each year, for each hev
grant is used by other applicants as a ore
cedent wherein to base claims for sin:Ea,