The Placer herald., 1871-01-14
THE ROCKS AHEAD.

just at this time the following remarks OF
the San Joaquin Republican are so appropri-
ate and in such complete harmony with our
own views that we give them to our readers
without further comment:
Underthc pretensc Of great public good the
donation of the peoples property to private
corporations has become a mania both with
Congress and State Legislatures. Alta glance
it is difficult to comprehend the enormous
wealth absorbed ly different railroad compa-
MES within the past few years, and every
dollar Of this vast sum il taken directly from
the laboring mans pocket. Twenty-three
jobs accomplished by the Forty-first Congress
swept from the people no less than Is .0OG,
800 acres of the public domain. This num-
Der of acres is included in twenty-three bille,
every one of which emanatcd from the Sen
ate. There are pending in the Senate bills
asking in the aggregate ia, ,21S, 800 acres.
The total quantity already given away, and
that demanded, amount to lS9, 224 920 Pre-
vious Congresses have given to fayorite cor
porations over 900 600 600 acres of the best
land in the United States. These figures
show that within the past few years 400, 224
920 acres of public land have been or will be
given away to private corporations and indi-
vidual spectators. The actual cash value of
this land at n low estimate, is not less than
$500 900 ,000. 1t is so much money taken
from the peoples pockets. These lands
should have been held subject to entry at
81 % per acre. Once in the hands of the
land grabbers, the poor man seeking a farm
cannot purchase a single acre for less than
= so, and the greater portion is held at
S. and $40 per acre. Millions Of acres of
this land has not received nor never will re-
ccive an actual increase in value from the
railroad really or prospcctiyey built BY the
speculative corporations whom Congress has
enriched at the expense of the people. In
addition to this stupendous land robbery, Con
gress has loaned hecredit ofthc United States
to private corporations TO the amount of 1928,
9l4 $50, beside ;ha authority to issue an un-
limited amount Of bonds authorized by the
United States Government. altogether Con
grcss has, within the last decade, taken from
the people at large and given to few favor
ed individuals fully 5000, 100000. Iti. the
IoIor;,,. Il ,c,,, from, -, hon, 4l, ,,rao4 ann, :;
taken. 1t is taken from those classes who
settle the land and till the soil, and it is the
industrial classes who pay the taxes, and
from them the Government secures its rcve-
nue. 1t is the laboring olasses-the bone
and sinev, the true nobility ofthe land--whom
Congress has robbed of its heritage. Al this
the people have suffered at the hands of Con
gress How have they Jared at home? State
Legislatures have voted taxafter tax on States
counties and towns all for the same purpose
to enrich few individuals. The little farm is
taxed five or ten per cent on it's full value
every year, to pay the interest on bonds voted
to half dozen spectators. Congressional
and Legislative born lcechcs are sucking the
hard earned substance Of every laboring man
in the Inited States. Cannot the commonost
mind see here this will end? IF we continue
in our present course few years longer We
shall have ceased to be a nation in which the
governing power is derived from the people
The wealth Of the country will be absorbed by
a few-an ignorant, tyrannical, shoddy aris-
tocracy-Who viii control and rule, and the
mass, stecped in poverty from which they
can never emerge, will have sunk to the level
of serfs and slaves. Congress and State Leg
islatures are contralizing the wealth of the ma
ticn by taking from The many and giving to
few-robbing the poor and donating to the
rich. The people are riyeting on themselves
the chains Of bondage by voting tax on the
many for the enrichment of a few. This cen
tralization of wealth, ifpresisted in, will prove
..le rock on which our Government will dash
TO fragments.
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