Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-25
LAND GRANTS.
How the Northern Pacific has Swim
died the Government.
An Attempt to Declare the Grant forfeited
The Census Frauds-The Tax Bin
Mississippi River
Commission. as.- "a
POINTS, PERSONAL AND POLITICAL.
Special Dispatch to TIE Re0ister.

Special D1Sp0fch 70 L1e heOISfeT.
WASHINGTON, Pa, July 24.-In the Housed
to-day. Messrs. Payson and Knett present.
ed the minority report Of the Judiciary
Committee upon the subject of the North
ern Pacific land grants. The report is
signed by seven of the fifteen members OF
the committee, and after referring to the
conclusion arrived at by the majority, that
:tbe sole right which remains in the Uni
ted States at the present time in respect to
the lands granted to that company is the
right by its Congress TO do such acts as may
he needful and necessary to insure the
speedy completion of the road, and deny
inc in toto the right of the government to
declare the lands forfeited, notwithstand-
ing breach of the conditions upon which
the grant was made and which are distinct
ly set out in section of the act from which
the company derives its existence ana It's
chartered rights, which the minority char
acterize as a remarkable conclusion"
tbey proceed TO demonstrate its falsity, and
show by the records the President OF the
company states that the present cost OF the
road has been $5l, ,0l9, ,4O2. 80. and estimates
! the cost of completion at $42, ,507 1857, or
a total of sos, ,526, ,66SS6, or at the rate OF
SSS. SIS. 10 per mile, while the auditor OF the
company states the cost TO be $4,000 per
mile, or total Of about $I5, 100000.
The minority then show that to construct
the road the government granted 5I,92O-
900 acre of land, of which the auditor esti-
mates, ,deducting all the worthless portions,
42, 500 900 will be available TO the company,
worth at least calculation over $lO0,OOO,OOO
The auditor reports that the company
have sold up TO June 80, 1850, 26OO,OOO
acres for $4,000, 600, and adds: The value
of the company's lands, vested and invest
ed NAV reasonably be estimated at $3.50
per acre, so that the lands unsold are worth,
saw 80 OOO. 900 acres at $3.50 per acre, S9I,-
500 900 which would be fully $lOS, 100000
for the whole" The company has only
offered it's agricultural lands for sale, with
holding its coal and timber lands until the
countryshall be occupied; yet the answer
of the president diSclOseS the fact that
l SOS3. .053 acres have been sold for Sll, $780,
4G6, or at an average price OF more than
s.. - per acre, and it is not at all lmproo-
able that much of the land now considered
worthless may prove to be extremely yalua-
bic.
Ii is not unreasonable, therefore, the mi
nOrity say, to suppose that, conceding 81
| per cent. of the entire area to be worthless,
! the ultimate value of the remainder will be
| sufficient to yield an average price OF at
| least S. per acre for the entire grant. Pro
| ceeding, then, upon the hypothesis that
| the data upon which the auditor OF railroad
! accounts made the report were correct and
| that the entire grant shall be confirmed, the
| result will be as follows: Value OF land
! grant, $lOS, ,75O, 900; cost of 2,4O9H miles OF
| road, $2S,O 900 per mile, S6T, 1856 900; surplus,
| 81, $4,000.
| Adopting the extravagant estimates sub
! mitted by the President in response to the
committee, the figures will stand thus:
Value of land, 3,0S3 95S acres, sold for Sill
5Si5, ,4G6. 65; residue, 39,4I6,047 acres, $685.
! 54O,ll75O. Total, $ll0, lO55 5S4. l5;' cost or
| 24O9J5 miles of road, $93, ,526, ,66S.S SO. Sur
| plus. l6,57S, ,9l5.29. Taking the mean be-
tween the two, the following will result:
Value of lands sold and unSold estimated
at last above, Sll0, ,lO5, ,5S4; cost OF 2,4O9H
miles of road at S33 iO7 .65 per mile, $50, 49i,-
| I32. Surplus, S29,6lO,652.
The report concludes with the following
( resolution;
Rssolrsd, by the Seaate and HouSe Of ReprcSelI-
tgtires Of the United States Of .imertcd, nl
Congress assembled, ds tOitOlrS:
Thai all the lands granted to the North
ern Pacific Railway Company under an act
OF Congress entitled IAN act granting lands
to aid in the construction of a railroad and
telegraph line from Lake Superior TO Puget
Sound, on the Pacific coast, by the north
ern route" approved July ., 1864 which
had not been patented TO said company on
the lst day of July, 1882, be and they are
hereby declared forfeited to the United
States by reason Of breach of the condi-
tionS upon which such grant was made,
and that said lands are hereby restored to
the public domain ana made subject to sale
and settlement under existing laws.
As soon as the reading of the report had
been concluded, Knott asked unanimous
consent to have the resolution placed on
the calendar, but Coswell objected. Knott
made the point that as the majority report
contained no recommendation, 1t was the
right of the minority to move its resolu-
tiOn, but the Speaker overruled that it
could only be ordered printed and laid on
the table. From this decision Cox appeal
ed, but the appeal was laid o2 the table by
a vote of % to 20, and thus another victory
was recorded for the railroad ring.