Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-12
THE UNrAxED N

Judge Dundy's injunction, perpetually
restraining the commissioners of But
fslo county from levyIng or collecting
taxes on more than 200 square miles
of Union Pacific lands, has startled
the railroad officials and called out a
defense from the leading attorney of
that corporation. Mr.. Poppleton's
elaborate legal argument In Sundays
Herald Is directed to the establish
ment Of one point, upon which there
ls no Issue. That point Is the uni.
formity of the decisions of the United
States supreme court In three
separate casee, In which the court
laid down the law that lands
granted to corporations from the ma
tional domain cannot be taxed until
title has passed absolutely from the
government to the corporations. This
wal especially %enunclated according to
Mr.. Poppleton In the Prescott and
McShane cases. In the Plat case the
quostion involved was simply whether
the company had acquired title to
their unsold lands, or whether such
lands had revealed to the government
and were subject to entry.
No one will dispute that under the
Interpretation of the law as made by
the supreme court on bogus cases and
jug hsndled hearings, the lands of the
land grant roads cannot be taxed until
the railroads condescend to pay for
the cost of surveys and take out their
patents. Both the Prescott and Nc
Shane cases were begun before the
three-year limit after the acceptance
of the road had expired, and while
the lands were still legally In the
hands of the company and MONITOR
feitable. 1t was the plain intention
of the decision In the McShane tax
case that the company should be
allowed the full time given by the act
of congress- for perfecting their titles,
but not that the roads by refusing to
pay the costs Of survey should bs
permitted indefinitely to postpone the
time when q complete title passed
from 1t to the government. In the
Prescott case, which Mr.. Poppleton
dwells upon as the ground.
work Of his argument, the decision
that lands could not be
taxed until the right to the title wa,
complete was also Influenced by the
fact that several years yet remained
before, under the act of 1862, the
lands could be declared forfeitable
because not disposed Of. And the
Platt case, by Mr.. Poppieton's re-
markable confession, was originated
by the road, with one of Its agents a,
plaintiff, and carried to the supreme
court by railroad assistance, and with
railroad attorneys on both sides
What wonder Is It that the decision
which followed was In favor of thu
company
1t ID because the people of Nebrask,
know under what %unfavorable circum
stances they have been heard at Wash
ington on the Issues involved that the,
are anxious to reopen the cases ant
secure a fair r~ehearing on the facts a
they exist and not Of they have beel
twisted and distorted by corporation
lawyers. Supreme courts are fallible
They have been known to reverse thei
judgments where the original decis
ions have been shown to have BEEF
based on q mistaken conception of tn
facts, or IN colluuion between the Goa
! testing parties to III a favorable de
clsion for either plaintiff or defend
ant. That the true history of tn,
conduct of the land grant oompanie
: In their relations to the people of tn
United States, their reckless dis
: regard of all law and equity an,
their shameless refusal to carry out tn
plain Intention of the acts of congress
which gave them q princsly domain
1 may yet be brought before . full benoI
+. OF the supreme court by attorney
a who will present the claims of tn
people In their true light, il what MI
Q Poppleton's employers dread NOR
than anything else. 1t Is this fea
which Ia responsible for his late brief
whose evident aim 10 to brighten tn
u people of Nebraska from endeayorln
to regain redress through q reopeniu
: of the land tax cases.
Bat Mr.. Poppleton does not satlsf
: himself with defending the decision O
. the supreme court, and applying then
to the Issue raised by Judge Dundy'
Injunction. He steps out Of the pat
n to euloglse the paternal care that tn
o Union Pacific has exercised over Ne
braska, and tells us that when BuffAl
4 county was In sore distress and an
psaled to the Union Pacific for assist
ance, 1t was rescued from b~ankruptc
by the efforts of the company. An,
why should not a county be bankrup
4 In which nearly 250 rquare miles G