The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-10-11

employers, md has consequently lail
befote, the Interior Department diary
kept by him i'll 1870, In which he en-.
tered the amount given 10 Senators and
Representatives for voting for the bill
TINT gave 10 railrond corporation
territory tliat In extent Ii equal to
threc-fourths the size oil Ireland. This
il the celebrated "Tcxas Pacific
grant" which, though II was after
ward forfeited to the Government
through the failure of the Texas Pacific
to fulfill the conditions accompanying
tho grant, was transferred by Jay
Gould 10 6. =. Huntington, of tho
Southern and Central Pacific, and il
now claimed by tile latter in virtue Of
this so-callcd transfer
To return to Newell and his diary.
IL appears that he was one of the in.
corporators OF the Texas Pacific Rail
road Company, and In TINT capacity he
went to Washington to lobby through
Congtcss the act Of incorporation ant.
the accompanying land grant Of To-
1000 Of acres in New Mexico and
Arizona He tells IFS TINT he succeeded
in this undertaking by paying to
group Of Senators 500, 900 in land
grant bonds and $4,000 in money.
But the members Of the House had to
be propitiatel Ms we'll rs the Senators.
For this purpose $l,OOo,OOO IN land
grant bonds were appropriated by tho
incorporators of tho Texas Pacific.
With this corruption fund ut his COM
mand Newell had very little difficulty
in securing the passage Of bill that
placed in the hands Of Jay Gould and
n few other monopolists l5,O0O,O 900
acres of the public domain.
The story told by Newell shows us
the way in which the inheritance Of the
American people has been stolen from
them. The immense land grants TINT
have been layished upon the railroads
during the last twenty years have been
procured by tho same corrupt methods
that secured the Texas Pacific tract
Of land that il capable Of furnishing
~. 100 famili is with l6o-acre farms.
Bribery i'll every shape and form has
been resortea to to carry out this great
conspiracy against the people. The
Ncwclls have found in tho politicians
congregated Mt Washington agents only
too willing to sell themselves to cor
porations.
How Jay Gould and the other rail-
road kings have used the money they
have realized by the lands that have
been handed over 10 them by the politi
clans, We all know. The millions OF
acres that ought to supply homes for
thousands of families have only helped
to build up the power Of corporations
that are to day standing menace to
the republic
On NIL sides we hear honest men pro.
claiming that this power must be broken
if the country is to he saved. But the
practical question is, how is this to be
done? With millions mt their back to
bride courts and corrupt Legislatures
the corporations to-day WELD greater
influence than the slave power ever did
in its palmiest days. King Cotton"
was but fourth-rate prince compared
with the mighty monarch that has sue
ceeded him.
The only way to fight this monarch
is TO cut of his supplies. A good COM
can he made by taking from
him every foot Of land he has stolen
from the people.
The revelations made by Newell show
MS the methods by which this land has
been acquired. Even conccding that
Congress had the right to deed away
the peoples inheritance, the bribery |
that attended the transfer Of millions
of acres to the railroad monopolists
make such transactions null and void
in law. The people of the United
States, therefore, are legally justified
in annulling through their Representa-
tives in Congress, NIL such grants.
The first attempt to cripple the
ought to begin right here.
Let demand be made for the restora-
ton of every acre that has been filched
from the people, and let it be backed
up by firm resolve to vote for no cam
aidate for Congress who does not
pledge himself in advance to vote to
the corporations to restore every
foot of the public domain stolen by
them.