The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-05-31
RAPACIOUs CORPORATIONS.


people and nominate State ticket.
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RAPACIOuS CORPORATIONS.
UnlawfuIIy Holding Six Hundred Million
Dollars Wrrih ~f Land Hon. Joseph n.
Cobb Interviewed on tho Forfeitufe d
Ra'irond Land Grants.
From tho Indianapolis sentincl.l
The question OF declaring forfeited
l30,OOO,000 acres Of land which wcrc
granted to railroad companies about
the year 1854 is destined to become ono
OF tho leading questions with which
Congress will have to deal At its next
session, Unless tho Secretary Of tho In
terror, Teller; takes tho responsibility
bf robbing the country Of 5000, 900, 900
by declaring tho titles to this vast
territory, which was granted in pre-
senti, vested in companies which have
failed to comply with their contract.
In 1864 great spirit of railroad enter.
prise took possession Of tho country.
The rneSplotcd West awaited develop
ment, which statesmen foresaw would
be greatly facilitated by having its dis
tances trayersed by railroads. Hence
n scheme was adopted by Congress to
grant to corporations every alternate
section Of land for distance Of twenty
miles on either side of railroads which,
in consideration of the grant, were to be
built by these corporations within ten
years after the date of this conditional
grant. 4 few OF these companies.
ely, the Union Pacific and tho
Central Pacific, havo complied with
the terms OF the contract, and thus
iO,000.0OO acres of tho 100000, 900
which, in all, was thus given away has
been legally acquired. The balance
l3O, 100000 acres, is held by cor
porations, which, although never
having built mile of the roads
they contracted to build. now
come before the Department OF the In
terror and seek to have their titles in
PRESENT. declared vested in them abso-
lutely. Hon Joseph II. Cobb, author
of bill in Congress to declare these
titles forfeited, was called upon at the
Bates House, and, in response to n re-
quest of the interviewer, hc said: Dur
ing the early part Of the long session OF
Congress / presented bill declaring
these land grants forfeited, and l
moved the reference of the bill to the
Committee OH Public Lands. But the
Speaker, for some uneAplainablo reason,
took issue with me as to the proper ref
erence of the bill and said that it ought
to go to tho Committee on Pacific Rail-
roads. / knew that ii it went to that
committee it would die, and made q
speech defending it from such fate.
Then Mr.. Hammond, OF Georgia, moved
as ss.ea. ~ ansnamfnt q ems thst tbs hi he re-
called for the ayes and nays on that vote,
but it carried by u vote OF seven. !
then offered a resolution, which was
adopted, requiring the Secretary OF the
Interior to farnish all the information
available as to the number OF miles
grated to each corporation and tho
date aud term Of each graft. That re-
CURED great amount OF work. Other
bills similar to miae had failed, be-
cause that information had never been
collected. 1t was not until during the
last days Of the session that the Secre-
tary made his report under that resolu-
ton. Then the committee had only .
short time in which to act ON the bill after
it had gotten the necessary specific IN
| formation. However, out OF the
twen,y-seyen grants named in the bill,
they recommended that seven be de-
clared forfeited. Among those seven
were the Texas Pacific, l4,0OO.nOl
acres. The committee vote was ten fol
forfeiture and ono against, there being
only eleven members present when ths
vote was taken. On the Northern
! Pacific, the vote was seven Tor for
feiturc and eight against. Congress:
adjourned then before it had time K
consider the report of the committee
and during the short session last win
ter, Congress was too busy to take it mp
But intend on the first day of tn,
next Congress to re-introduca my bill
All the information necessary for de
ci,iye action is now ready, and We cal
60 to work on the consideration Of tn,
bin without the loss Of time which wa
necessary during the last Congress.
find no fault with Congress III tho mat
ter. But now since the adjournmen
of Congress these corporations com'
in aud claim that by its failure to legs
late on the matter. Congress has waive,
the right to declare the titles forfeited
even though they have failed to com
ply with their contracts. The railroad
corporations own Slo,ooa, 10000
worth Of property, which is equal I
one-tenth the value Of all the propert
of the country. They have plenty 2
money, with which they employ tn
best lawyers in the country to tigh
their cause. Ii they get absolute pos
session of this land they will hold
until it is to their interest to sell, an
all this land will remain undevelop,
until it becomes valuable"