The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1871-05-24
SENATOR STEWART AS A LAND
GRABBER.

DIS "a iAhAtN
Journal of April Goth reviews the
speech delivered in the Senate by
the Senator from Nevada about six
weeks ago i'll defense of land grantsto
railroad corporations. The article is
anything but complimentary to the
Senator, whose reputation as the
m~outhpiece and attorney of the Cen
trail Pacific Railroad seems to have
overshadowed whatever reputation he
NAV have achieved in his character of
a representative of the State of Ne
yada. The journal referred to is the
the organ of the Grand Army of the
United States-an organization auxif-
larry to the political party to which
Senator Stewart is indebted to his po-
sition, and its criticisms may there
fore be accepted as emanating from
a source at least as loyal and patriotic
is the Senator himself.
The assertion of the Senator that
only, SO, 1000, 900 acres have been granted
to railroad corporations within the
limits of the States, and l56, 900 900
within the Territories for rams conti-
mental railroads is diSeredited by the
Journal, which declares ''these fig
ures much too small to owe the ac-
tual amount of the land granted-but
much too large for the good of the
nation" Even this amount is equal
to more than seven times the extent
of the State of New York. and more
than land enough to sustain the pres
ent population of the United States.
in four is arabic is met by the Journal
with the fact that she fails to cite for
us a single instance where a railroad
has not demanded the last acre grant
ed, or where n has offered an acre
for sale at less than the full double
minimum price, while in nan in
stances the price has been put up ten
fold"
The danger TO which this country is
drifting under the present railway
management is caustically referred to,
as in the following paragraph:
Turn TO New York. where the rights
of the people are bought and sold,
where elections are made a fraud and
Justice IL farce by his friends, the rail
road corporations. Look at Pennsyl-
vania, where industry is paralyZed
and society cOnvulsed by the influence
of his allies, the railway corporations.
Turn to New Jersey, Maryland, and
half a dozen other States, where legis-
latures are corrupted by the money
power of railroad corporations. Let
him take us with him toward the Pa
cific and show us the half dozen men
who OWN HIM and others like him,
and before whose decree all interests
on the Pacific Coast must bend. Let
us go with him to the halls OF Con-
greSs. where legislation is being more
and more shaped TO benefit the few at
the expense of the many, and where
HE and his confrereS stand ready to
barter away all that Is left of the peo-
pies inheritance FoR \ PERCENTAGE.
Then let him say to US that these rail
way corporations are an unmIXed
good.
Senator Stewart's course on the Sol
Giers' Homestead bIli has made for
him a record which the soldiers of the
late war are not likely to forget nor
forgive. On this record the Grand
Army Journal speaks with bitter EN-
piasis as follows:
Tie Senator from Nevada opposes
the soldiers Homestead Bill, of course.
II we provide for the soldier it may
Iuiure the corporation of which he is,
or hopes tn be, 4 member. The men
who stood between him and danger
while he WAS piling up his lens of
thousands are nothing to him ROW.
The soldier whOasksf for a home on the
lands he has saved To the nation is
asking too much.
"SeVenty-three millions of acres"
Mr.. Stewart says, have been ''>qUan-
derett under ureten>c of benetitting
soldiers since the foundation of the
Government. That l., Congress has
>quaulered one-third as much for tile
men who founded. who preserved,
and who extended the bounds Of the
Republic. us it has given TO Mr.. Stew
arts railroads.
Does this man grudge the little that
has heen done for the few survivors of
The Revolution: Were the heroes of
1872 overpaid for their services? How
muck al the thousands of acres the
Sanator owns would have been his
but for the bravery of our soldiers i'll
she Mexican war; What State would
he now represent in the Senate ifthey
had filtered at Buena Vista or failed
at Chepultepec?
Senator from Nevada, We carried
our muSkets or our sahers over the
plains of the South. facing fire and
foe, storm and starvation, while You
were seated in your cushioned chair
in the marble halls of the Capitol. We,
saved the country while you grew
rich. We now ask our comrades, who