The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-01-14


preparing to receive applications for q
D much more. The land actually granted il
iour times as large as the whole of New
Engiand' twice as large as all the Centra
AIant,c States combined, including Ohio
: ana half as large again as the Eve SoutherI
Aeiantic States. or as the five great West
: ern states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wis
eonsln and Michigan united. All erdinar,
means OF estimating size and value fai
DeIore these stupendous amounts. Yet thi
Is only what has been irrevocably given
Inc grants now under more or less favor
aele consideration BY Congress woulC
doabie them, and the grants asked for, bu
nos yet considered, would more than trebl,
.nem' Il is no wonder that public opinion
nsits at the idea of giving away to privat,
individuals territory as big as half Of Eu-
rope. N -
But even the magnitude Of the gift ha
seaEeely aroused public opinion as mucl
ss the evil influence which the opportunity
q amaking these gigantic gifts has had upoI
'ne conduct Of pubic affairs, the character
0. legislators, and the actions OF public
omclals. Not even the tariff has led to SC
much lobbying, so many corrupt influences,
ana such neglect of other public business
az tne lncessant applications Of railroad and
o'ner corporations for more grants of public
lands: Over one hundred companies are
now before Congress with applications Of
THIS kind, each represented by from two to
ten agents, who fill the lobbies of the Cap
ltoi, who crowd the committee rooms. who
bore the life cut of honest members. and
MI the pockets, or at least the pocket
books, OF the less scrupulous ones with cur
rent or uncurrent promises to pay The
waste of time, the disgraCeful wranglings,
the charges Of corruption, and the palpable
neglect Of legitimate business have so dis
gusted the public that the enquiry has be-
come common: Do these enormous grants
which seem in themselves the source Of SO
much evil, really result in the advantages
which have been anticipated from thom
DO they really cause our waste territories
to Be more rapidly settled?
What the indirect influence of the roads
may be, it is as yet next to Impossible to de-
termlne. But that their direct influence,
by sales of their own, materially affects the
settlement Of the country, is now demon
strated to be delusiOn. OF the total lands
for which the United States issued patents
or tltle-deeds last year, to wit, 1850, 900
acres, nearly four-ifths were for cash sales
and homestead entries. only very small
portion of which were along the lines Of the
subsidized railroad companies, while the
entire amount certified or delivered to all
subsidized corporations Of whatsoever nature
was less than 100000 acres, or less than
one tenth Of the entire amount disposed of,
showing that the total sales of all the com
Panles together, including tOWn,sites and
railroad depots, ETC., was less than one
eight of what the government itself sold,
and received a valuable consideration for
AT this rate of annual sales it would REQUIRE
about 250 years for the existing companies
to dispose of the lands given them BY the
United States, suppOsing they should be
able to continue their sales for town sites.
railroad depots, ETC., at the present ratio,
which can scarcely be expected. That this
proportion Of sales is fairly divided among
the different lines is apparent from the fact
that out Of the 3j,0O0,000 Of acres granted
to The Central Pacific, Union Pacific, and
Kansas Pacific companies, only 165, 900
acres had been sold in all up to the close of
1869, which would be at a rate requiring
about 300 years for the disposal Of the
whole. The first few years Of a railroad,
scarcely afford an adequate test Of its abiIi-
ty to draw population itself and to dispose
Of its lands. 1t may, therefore, be useful
to examine the experience of lines that have
had much longer existence, and of these
an admirable illustration is furnished by the
very line which initiated the system under
discussion. In 1850, the government of
tho United States granted to the Illinois
Central Railroad a subsidy of 1900, 900
acres of the very choicest prairie lands in
the United States, along line of road
traversing the entire breadth Of thriving,
POpulous State, singled out by nature to be
the most progressive State of the North
west. BY system Of elaborate advertis-
ing, Of aiding immigration, of extremely
liberal terms of sale, the Illinois Central
has succeeded in selling in twenty years
nearly two millions IQf acres Of choice
land in the heart Of Illinois, and is to-day
Ofering,by its wide spread advertisements,
the remaining six hundred and thirty thou
sand acres. In other words, the Illinois
Central horolu Suooaa1al - gall,rr oDa
hundred thousand acres year in the very
heart of the most prosperous State of the
Union. If we suppose that the present
subsidized roads can equal these efforts
made under the most favorable circum-
stances, and shall wholly escape the attacks
Of bankruptcy, which periodically visited
the Illinois Central during its career, we
shall find that it would take about 1870
additional years from now to sell the last Of
the Government land grants. 1t is useless
to formulate hypothetical result based
upon the unquestionsbly tar less favorable
circumstances under which the present
roads will have to operate. 1t is evident
that the popular doubts as to the rapid
settlement of the waste lands by The
means of these land grants are not alto
gether unfounded.
But if the sale of these lanGs, in spite O
the efforts of the companies, is extremely
slow, and promises to extend through cen
turies, and to be accompanied by seriou.
and continued expense, the question natu
rally arises, Why are these colossal corpor
stions necessarily clamoring for more If
in the first place, there is such urgent neet
for these roads, why can they not be bull
without government aid And if there i
no such urgent need for them, what in
duces SO many men, of wealth to spenc
year after year Of time, and man,
many thousands of dollars in money, in or
der to obtain these land grants, and bull,
J these roads that are not wanted The trutl
is, that In modern railroad building tn
r need OF the road is the last consideration