Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-11
FORFEITED LAND GRANTS

Senator Van Wyckls recent letter
to Secretary Teller calling attention
to the unearned grant of lands to the
New Orleans & Pacific railroad calls
forth the following comment from the
Pioneer-Pres
Senator Van WICK, of Nebraska,
who Is fond of posing as q champion
of the people against the land grant
railroads, has written q long letter to
the secretary of tho interior In rela-
ton to tho unearned grant of the New
Orleans & Pacific. Tnis is southv est.
srn road which was incorporated and
resolved a land grant In 1871, and has
done nothing since except to put bonds
upon the market and undergo several
corporate metsmorphoses. Of course
tho lands granted have not been
patented to the company, and
there is no prospect of its earning
them, but they remain Withdrawn
from the public domain and clorod
to settlement, E~pendiug congressional
l~rgiSiation declaring them forfeited
and restored. What S2nator Var
Wyck want, apparently, though he
is not very lucid In putting his case,
Is come declaration by the secretary
| of tho interior, in anticipation of con-
gressional action, which shall give
public notice that the company had
no title to the lands and prevent the
negotiation of any moro bonds upon
Them as a basis. The case Is interest.
ing as q type of several unearned land
grant cases, which will probably be-
come the subject of Legislation :: the
next eegslon. Judicial rulings,
the action of the executive de.
partments and the tacit con.
sent of congress have estab
lished the principle that the right of Q
railroad to earn Its land grant does moi
expire with the limit of time fixed fol
Its completion, without additional
legislation; that Is to say, q road may
earn and obtain title to lands granted
to 1t ever after the limit of time fixed
for Its completion had expired, unless
in the meantime congress, by statute,
has declared the lands restored to the
public domain. Congress has not YET
taken this action In any case, and II
not likely to take It In the case Of
roads like the Northern Pacific, which
have built q considerable part Of theil
lines, and are rapidly pushing
them to completion. But steps
will certainly be taken before long
and probably at the next session o.
congress, to declare forfeited the
grants of roads which have never
built = mile of line or spent adollsr Of
money, except In lobbying and stock
jobbing, and whose lands lie Idle ant
closed to public entry, without for
warding In the smallest degree the OBJ
jeot for which they were granted,
There Is q large number of such paper
land grants In the south and south
west, and some In the northwest, snG
the amount of land withdrawn
from the public domain in enormous
These lands would probably hav,
been declared forfeited long ago, hst
they not been confused In the public
and congressional mind with a number
of half. completed roads which hav,
established o moral right to thel,
land grants by honestly making effort,
to earn them. The revival of rail
road building within the last tive
years has stimulated every compan,
with any vitality at all to earn III
lands, however, and those which still
remain inactive are sharply separated,
and are a fair mark for congressional
| legislation,