Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-12-26
from our regular correspondents
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, d. c., Dec. 20, 80.

turbing the ''business interests" of the
country it is certain to proceed from
some great monopoly or some special
class who fear that something may b.
done to take away portion Of the
outrageous profits they are filching
from the people. AS ] stated last
week, there are indications of deter
mination on the part of some members
of Congress, republicans as well as
democrats, to "disturb" the Cuisines"
of some of the railroad corporations
which still hold on to enormous land
grants received from the Government
on conditions they have failed to fulfil.
The enormous amount of these forfeited
land grants may be conceived when it
is known that single bill introduced
by that most excellent republican, Mr..
Payson, of Illinois, repeats the grant
of total of S,453, 900 acres to four
teen different corporations which have
defaulted. In addition to this, Mr..
Cobb, Of Indiana, democratic repre-
sentative has introduced bill to pro-
hibit the Secretary of the Interior from
issuing patents for lands granted by the
United States to aid in the construc-
ton of railroads when said railroads
have not been completed within the
time fixed by the various acts. Other
measures have been introduced which
show that the House is in earnest in its
desire to put stop to this dangerous
source Of public plumber.
1t is now generally admitted by the
best political economists that monop-
oily of land is the most unjust and in
tolerable of all monopolies, from the
fact that the amount of soil on the
globe is fixed and limited. 1t is we'll
known that regions do not prosper
where large tracts of land are held by
nonresident capitalists. In this coun-
try we have been accustomed to speak
of the "bcundless West" but the sta
tistics of the Land Office show that the
public domain in this region is fast
melting away. In Kansas, Nebraska,
Arizona, and other states and terrific
rics, the greater portion and the best
lands have been taken from the people
and bestowed on railroad corporations.
In Colorado there is very little arabic
land left. With the rapid settlement
of the West by the large foreign immi-
grafton as well as from the older
states, we shall before long have a
scarcity of desirable land left for actual
settlers, unless they purchase it of
railroad corporations at whatever price
may be demanded. The government
should, without delay, provide against
this evil by retaining all the forfeited
grants. 1t is a matter of practical
moment that these lands become the
property of actual settlers who will
improve them and maintain civilized
state Of society in their respective local.
tiles, instead of allowing them to be
sold by the railways in large tracts tc
foreign capitalists for speculative pur.
poses. If the days of land "grabs" If
this country are not numbered they
should be.
Kiefer has at last got quietus from
his republican associates. He cam,
up smilingly with "vindicatton" il
the denomination for Speaker, and i'm
mediately began to assume the role o
leader in the House. But thi
was rather too much for his part,
friends, who had tolerated him, for thu
sake of the party, in spite of grea
dislike, and his known bad odor will
the people. BY almost unanimous &C
ton on the floor of the House, they OIL
Wednesday last stood up and repudi
ated him, through resolution he ha'
brought forward. Not one of then
cared straw one way or the other 70
the proposition under consideration, bu
it was Keifer they wanted to vot
down, and they did it with a ven
geance. The feeling against Keife
has been growing daily ever since Con
gress assembled and an opportunity ha
been awaited to show him where b
stood, This creature Of Robson,
coarse and clumsy blockhead with n
regard for ascsncy or respect for pub