The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1870-05-31
TIE LAND GRABBERS.
Speech of Senator Thurman


Railroad Land Granis.-The Pub
tic Lands should be reserved as
Homes for the LandlesS.
The Senate having under considera
ton the bill Is. No. 1861 granting lands
to aid in the construction .of railroad
and telegraph line from Portland to A:
totia and McMinnville, in the State ol
Oregon:
Mr.. THURMAN said:
MIR. PRESIDENT l regret that l an
compelled to speak OH this bill, if an
to speak on it at all, in state of such
i'll health as almost to disquallfy me from
saying d word; bit feel it duty thai
| owe to my constituents.to oppose the
land grant contained in this bill, and to
state as briefly as / may he nhle to dc
the reasons of my opposition. If
needed any justification for occupying
the time of the Senate on this subject
| might find it in the resolutions Of thu
General Assembly of my State, passed
by an almost or quite unanimous vote
requesting her Senators to oppose al
grants of land to railroad companies, fol
reasons that are forcibly stated in those
resolutions; and now / embrace the frs
opportunity that have to comply with
that request and do it the more will
ingly because those resolutions coincide
with the dictates o. my own judgment
and because the case in which the ques
tion arises is one in which, perhaps, some
improvements have been made upon the
land-grant bills that have heretofore
passed, and therefore the bill makes as
good test case as any that will be like
ly to come before Congress for its con
sideration.
Although this is DILL to grant to a
little corporation, as it has been called
in the State of Oregon, a corporation
chartered to build railroad of only one
hundred miles in length, with branch
of thirty miles, land subsidy for thai
purpose, and it may, therefore, to those
who do not take time to consider it.
seem a small affair,in view of the mighty
grants that have been heretofore 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 in the whole State
of Rhode Island, one fourth more land
than is contained in the whole State ot
Delaware. This little State corporation
if this bill passes, for this little road oi
one hundred miles, with branch of thir.
ty miles, is to receive from the bounty
of the United States territory more
than twice as great as one of the States
of this Union.
Now, it does seem to me that that is
matter which should arrest our atten-
ton; that we should not consider it q
light or trifling affair, whether we shall
give to a mere private corporation, ere
ated by State, an extent of territory
twice as great as that of one of the SOW
ereign States of the Union.
But before / proceed to consider the
policy of these grants, l wish to make
some observations that are pertinent to
this bill alone, to suggest some objec,
tons that l shall look with great inter
est to see whether they can be answered
or not-objections that stand wholly
apart from the question whether the pol
icy of making these and-subsidies is 6
good policy or not. / have said that
this is corporation created under the
laws of Oregon, and not under any law
of the United States. suppose there
is no lawyer on this floor who needs to
be told that corporation possesses nc
powers, no faculties whatsoever, except
such as are conferred upon it by the law
of its creation. The first point, there
fore, which / make in respect to this
bill, after having carefully read the char
ter in the statutes of Oregon, is that
there is nowhere given TO this company
in its charter any faculty of receiving
or holding any such donation as this
It has not the legal capacity to take the
grant and therefore, if the grant were
made to day, it would in legal contem
plation be wholly imperative.
admit that the Legislature of Oregon
might confer that faculty upon it subse
quently, and then it might accept the
grant; but at the time / speak this cor
roration has no power whatever thai
enables it to accept this grant and be
come the owner of this property. Its
faculties are very limited The railroad
law Of that Safe, (which / have read will
care this morning, seems to have beer
drawn with a studied purpose of confin
ing such corporations within very mar
row limits; and the only power that is
given to hold real estate is the power te
hold such real estate as may be necessa
ry or convenient for the making and op
Grating Of the road, clause well known
to all railroad lawyers, and universally
interpreted, wherever it has come under
Judicial consideration, as conveying nc
power whatever to acquire or hold any
real estate, except such as is necessary
for the purposes of the road; for in
stance, roadway, depot-stations, and the
like; universally construed in all courts
not to authorize them to hold any out
lying ground, much less to become s
mammoth proprietor of real estate, to
become the owner of more than tho
whole territory of one of the States oi
this Union! s
But it may be said that the State OF
Oregon will confer upon this corporation
this privilege thus to become the great
land monopolst, of that State, Who
knows that it will do any such thing ?
Who is authorized to say that it will dc
any such thing? l am very much ol
the opinion that there are men, and j
am inclined to think wise men, too, who
if they were in the Legislature of that
State would not consent that private
corporation should become the owner
of nearly one million seven hundred
thousand acres of land in the very heart
of the State. Nearly one million seven
hundred thousand acres of land are Civ
en- to this corporation by this bill, when
no man can tell but that the grant may
include the richest mineral lands as well
II Al.