Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-03-04
Railroad Grants.

Hon. J. - johnson, Democratic mem.
Der Of Congress for California, and prom.
inclt candidate for Governor Of that State,
recently made speech 10 Congress, from
which the following is an extract:
Mr. Speaker, am not frightened away from,
these railroad grants by the bugaboo that is
constantly presented to members Of wronginc
tie actual settlers We have now public do
main enough to make two hundred and fifty
States of convenient size. We have in che
State of California nearly one hundred million
acres Of vacan: lands, lands that " i'll be vacant
as long as tie sun shines unless we have rail.
roads in that country to carry settlers to the
lands and to enable the settlers to get their
produce to market. I'm addition to this ".
have more than fifty million acres in the South
ern States, exclusive Of Texas.
This short, practical, common sense par.
agraph efectually demolishes all the so i.
phystry aud demagoyical ar umcnts which
have ever been put forth against the poll
cy of granting lands in aid of the con.
struction Of railroads. In conccding alter
nate sections Of the public land for this
purpose, the Government gives no gratui-
ty; the common treasury is not robbed of
dollar; the rights and privileges Of the
settler are in no degree impaired. The
price of the alternate sections retained by
the Government is advanced to an amount
equal to the whole, with much more rea-
dy sale, increasing the demand for lands
where no demand before existed lands
which the settler would not before enter
upon at any price, are made worth to him
the full amount Of the increased price.
There is nothing in this system autago-
nistic to the most strictly construed demo-
cratic principles. 1t takes no money from
the general treasury for special sectional
benefit. The General Government receives
from it more than it comedies. This poll
cy was inauguratcd under Democratic rule,
and received the support Of strict construc-
zionist who uniformly denied the right of
the General Government to appropriate
money out of the public treasury for works
Of internal improvement of special char
acter. The concession to the State of ILL
nois, by Democratic Congress and Ad-
ministration, of ten alternate sections
a mile for seven hundred miles of railroad
in that State, more than quadrupled the
wealth and population of that State in
twenty years, enriched the settlers then
there, opened homes and profitable en-
ployment to millions of others, made an
immediate market for all the lands retain
ed by the Government, which were before
valueless, and all this without taking a
cent from the general treasury.
The argument that this system is liable
to abuse, applies as we'll to our whole sys-
tcm of government in all its departments
No form of government is more liable to
abuse than the popular government yet
few would advocate the substitution of
arbitrary power because venality and cor
ruption pertains to popular rule. 1t is
no good and sufficient cause for, opposing
anything that tends to the general benefit,
that bad men use it for bad purposes. We
may profit by the good while we reject the
evil of any system without describing all
because evil may be blended with it.