Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-12-20

and many other minor grants.
This is the Cuisines" interest which
is to suffer by Democratic legislation, q
la Senator Thurman, and fear ofmaking
these corporations respond to the gov
ernment is what makes the New York
Herald remark that it "belicves the res
toration of the Democratic party to
power after twenty years exile, would
be as disastrous as Il revolution"
This disaster, dreaded as a revolution,
is the compulsion by the present Con-
gress of these railroad monopolies to
comply with the terms upon which
they received these vast tracts of land.
In former Congresses, these corpora
tions have fought to retain their royal
domain, and won by mysterious intiu-
ences when the law and the facts were
all against them and theirprincipalities
were on the point of slipping from their
grasp. They have now to face Con-
gress of the people, not composed of
their lawyers, their stockholders and
their advertisers they have not to deal
with Reid, of Maine, and McCoid, of
Iowa, who weakened at the moment of
success. Hence, this "business" cry!
The following article, showing how
the public lands are managed under the
present administration, is taken from
the american Register, and indicates
that little "business" in the Depart
ments would do no harm:
The General Land Office, under Re-
publican management is either con-
Quoted in very stupid manner, or the
men who have managed its important
interests are not the friends of the peo-
pie. Thousands of poor homesteaders
on Government lands in Iowa are now
in pitiable plight because of serious
error or blunder perpetrated by the Off
cials in the Land Office here. 1t seems
that the Land Office gave the Des
Moines River Railroad q Navigation
Company many thousands of acres
more than by any construction of the
law they were entitled to. The Su-
preme Court has three times decided
that the company's grant did not ex-
tend as far by two hundred and fifty
miles, as the company claims, but, in
the meantime, the settlers and rightful
owners have been dispossessed and
much of the land sold to the other par
ties. The Cincinnati 7smes-Star says
that at the land Office in Des Moines
there are filed away over twenty-five
thousand patent deeds for Government
lands, every one of. which should be in
possession of the rightful owner. Can
anybody conceive of greater wrong
which could be perpetrated upon inno-
cent people? Here are thousands of
homesteaders unjustly deprived of their
property for the benefit of a powerful
corporation, and that too, by branch
of the Government which is supposed
to be conducted with strict regard for
the rights of the people, and acting
with full knowledge of all the facts in
the case. What sort of an opinion of
the benefits of government must these
defrauded settlers have when they con-
template such wrongs as this? It may
be unjust to say that this was done to
benefit a rich corporation at the expense
of defenseless settlers, but if so great a
wrong can be excused upon the ground
of blunder, then it is certainly time
to select other public servants. This is,
perhaps, not the only case where the
rights of the people have been inter-
fered with for the benefit of soulless
corporations, and it is not putting the
case too strong to say that party which
could perpetrate SO gross an outrage is
not to be trusted with the management
of public interests.