The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1871-05-26
THE BURNT OFFERING OF NEVA-
EX-SENATOR STEWART, RAIL
ROADS, AND PUBLIC LANDS.

the Act of 1850, granting swamp and
overlooked lands to the States, SO that
Nevada might be placed on an equality
with all the new States. In accordance
with that petition Hon. c. W. Kendall
brought the matter before the House
of Representatives and probably
would have succeeded in obtaining for
this State the full benefit of the Act,
but for the opposition developed in
the United States Senate by at least
one of the Senators chosen 20 repre-
sent this State. The extraordinary
spectacle is presented of a Senator
elected to watch over, protect and adj
vocate the interests of this State stand
ing up at his desk on the floor of the
Senate and deliberately repudiatins
the will of his constituents, expressed
in the most authoritative form known
to public affairs. In one branch of
Congress we find a Democratic Repre-
sentative promptly attending to the
memorial, and endeavoring to carry
out the wishes of the people whom he
was chosen to represent; while in the
other branch another representative of
the State wiIfuily ~disregards his i'm
piled instructions, and refuses to advO-
cate the grant to his own State which
heretofore he aided to extend to others.
What is the apology offered by the
Senator for this course? His speech
on land matters, of April Sd, furnishes
us with all that he has to say III de-
tense. That speech is nothing more
nor less than an elaborate plea tor
substituting railroads. In substance,
he says we have given away so much
public land to railroad corporations,
and we expect to give away so much
more, that we have nothing TO give to
the State of Nevada. This is II step
in this land monopoly business for
which the people of this State were
not prepared. They, as citizens OF the
United States. have generally viewed
this lavish w~astfulness of the public
domain with indignation. as an un-
called for, unjustitiable extravaganza,
by which the public treasury was de-
pleted for personal advantages, and
gigantic corporations built up and fos-
tered into powers superior to the laws,
, and utterly destructive Of a lsepubli-
,,- FDr,, 0f t.Oy-arnn mont hDr that
} this was being done at the special N
penSe of the people OF Nevada had no
occurred to many The State must
lose several hundred thousand acres
of its most valuable land, because
forsooth. the railroad wants them! II
Mr.. Stewart had entertained much re
I spect for his constituents he would
have had those swamp lands granted
to the State first. and then, if Nevada
chose, in turn. to give them away to
any railroad company it could have
done so. The Senator has been very
, generous with other peoples prop
ertv. He has, by virtue of his posi-
ton. granted away rights which prop
erly only belonged to the Legislature
of the State.
The amount thus far selected by the
States and claimed as swamp and over
flowed lands is G~O,i39,S5S acres. The
Senator SAYS: when all the selections
shall have been made under eN-
isting laws the aggregate donation
will be over 70.0O0. 900 acres" As cit
liens of the country the people of Ne
vada had some pecuniary interest III
these seventy millions of acres. They
, have parted with that interest for the
+, special benefit of those States to which
, these lands have been granted. Are
the people Of this State 50 flush that
they can afford to give to the wealth.,
est States Of the Union their Interests
in the lands of the United States, and
5 accept no such quota themselves? The
t State ought to pay its own debts be-
l fore it assists Indirectly i'll paying the
debts of its sister States.
Mr.. Stewart classes this claim for
; equal and exact justice a. "a project
! for S~quandering the remainder of the
great public domains" He declares
1T is also very clear that no nor
swamp land grants should be made,
nor should any furthergrantS be made
to States for any purpose under which
lands can be solicited in large bodies"
In his hungry desire to subsidize rail.
e roads the Senator is willing to sacrifice
l all aids by grant of lands to schools
:. internal Improvements, universities
agriculture, and even the soldiers who
bore arms in defense of that domain