The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-25
Monday, Nay rs, 1874.
DEPRESSING the Poor

Mr.. Cox, in his speech on the Currency
bill the other day, gave utterance to sig
ni6cant truth when he said that Congress
since 1868 had legislated for the bene1t OF
the rich. But If Congress in making Jaws
has merely disregarded the interests OF Ine
poor man. the present Administration IN
executing them has waged bitter and
aggressive warfare upon the humble citizen
wherever his rights have stood in the way
of the wealthy fayorites of the ruling
mower and law and Justice have been
openly defed in the furtherance of pro-
iects for the emolument of corporations
at the expense Of the industrious workers
of the land. whose labor forms the basis OF
al our wealth.
We have frequently referred to the
wrongs perpetrated upon Western settlers
through the unjust rulings OF the interior
Department, by which hundreds and thou
sands of farmers have been deprived of
their homesteads by forced constructions
of the land laws. in direct opposition to
the established usage Of the department,
for the benefit Of rich land grabbers and
monopolists. In some instances whole
communities have had their property sum.
marily con6scated by an order from the
II
the same office the grasping land grant
railroad companies have been invested
with the title to millions of acres of the
public domain to which the laws of Con
gress gave them no shadow Of claim.
We are in constant receipt of letters
from the unfortunate sufferers by the in
iquitous decisions of Secretary Delano and
Land Commissioner Drummond. and
among these narratives are many that no
honest man could read without having a
bitter feeling OF Indignation aroused with
in him against all who are engaged in thi;
great conspiracy to plumber and defraud q
most deserving class Of our fellow citizens.
Take the cose of Alexander H. Vance, OF
Milford, Seward county, Nebraska, for in
stance. Mr.. Vance was a soldier in the
late war, was three times wounded, faced
death in twenty eight battles, and was
twice honorably discharged. In May, 1871,
taking advantage of the liberal offers made
by the government to discharged soldiers
he entered homestead in the Lincoln
Land Office, Nebraska, paying for hi.
claim and complying with all the require
ments of the laws relating to homestead
settlement. Upon the land which he tool
up, in addition to his labor he spent about
three thousand dollars in improvements
all Of them of a permanent character
just two days before the expiration of thu
time at the end Of which he would have
been entitled to receive his patent Mr.
Vance received notice from the Land OF
fee in Washington that his eutry had beel
cancelled on the ground that it conficteC
with the land grant Of the Burlington an,
Missouri River Railroad Company cor
poration which has had given to it through
decisions of the Interior Department a
least l,OOO,O0O acres of land that were no
included in the grant made 10y Congress.
Mr. Vance was not inclined to surrende
his property upon the mere dictum of Mr.
Willis Drummond, and eroneously suppos
ing that if he could show that his home
stead was his own he would be protecte,
in the possession of it, he appealed from
the Land Commissioner decision, employ
ing the best counsel he could get in tn,
State. His lawyers showed conclusivel
that the Commissioner had acted withOu
authority in cancelling his entry that hi
decision was er pdrte; that Congress ha(
exempted the land on which his hOmeStea,
was situated from the operation OF the rail
road grant; that it had been homesteadet
seven months before the withdrawal Of tn
land from market by the government an
finally, that the railroad company had re
ceived indemnity for the identical quart e
section of land which it was claiming from
MIR. Vance. Ia the face of these facts De
lano reaffirmed the arbitrary decision o
DrummOnd, and the veteran soldier wa
turned out of doors almost beggaT. ''Th
very graves Of my children whom | ha
buried here were stolen from me, write
Mr. Vance in his account Of this transaC
ton, and | felt then that this government
could do me only one favor, namely, trea
me as Ahab, that venerable land grabbel
treated Naboth.'
The injured soldier, however, could NJ
believe that such injustice would be toler;
ted il it was made known in the right quar-
ter, and so he made a personal appeal t
President Grant in the hope of getting hi
wrongs redressed. Grant listened to hi
story and then colly referred him to Cou
missioner Drummoud, the tool of the lane
grabbers, and the very man from who's
unjust decision he had appealed 1t is ne
strange that under such provocation MI
Vance should express himself with som
warmth. He says
what now want o know IL whether there
another nation on earth, Civiliz d savage, whot
government would treat her disabled soldiers Il
government Of the United States has treated IN
For The sake Of humanity | would hope not. Wit
constitution broken by the hardship~ / cndur,
during the war, and prematurely old. / am robbie
insulted and turned out Of doors by the governme
which should have been my shield and protection
Docs II not look, fellow soldiers. ar If we had give
our lives and OF all to establish a government hi
he'll Itself cannot equal in oppression or infamy
The case Of this veteran soldier in NJ
braska is the case of thousands of deser7
ing men who have been stripped of til
fruits of years Of industry by the mere o.
ders of the Interior Department I'll
worst of it is that they have no redress, fl
it would be hopeless folly for them to Ell
ter into litigation with the corporation
which have despoiled them. The simp
fact is that under Grants AdministratiC
the poor man has no rights which eitht
the President or railroad corporations
Cabinet Ministers feel bound to respect
~ Y, Sun