Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-07-18

request OF either House OF Congress
10 remit this question of forfeiture to
Tue courts Is to shirk lust aud prosel
! ieeisiative responsibility and tie up The
poDle lands involved an indefinite De-
roo OF Time The question Of how far
He forfeiture can or NAV affect the ac-
CURED OF vested rights of the grantees.
or those noiding under them. Is tee ssa.
iiS judicial one, and the labor of the
c"Hf's 10 determining these will in any
cAse' u ~ believed. be gr-asly facilitates
and sim piihes II the forfeiture be de-
ciared by Congress-
IL mas been urged with great apparent
confidence that. 10y reason of the - far
th@r couOltIou cont aimed III section 9,
Tue grant of land - tue Northern PacItis
htl!road Company became "A dsdIc .tlou
10 tue Use and plrp0se of the coustrac-
tIoa VI said rbad lErevocAble IN chsrac
1eI' and ina: Congress cannot intervene
ih any mAnner eIsept to secure tae COM
plellon Of tue said road
Ii Is admitted taat uader the coudi-
ti0Es OF section : the right or power of
forfeiture for breach of condition Is full
and complete Ia Congress; tnen does the
further condition" cOntaiued in sec
tion restrict that power. and, II SO, to
what extenl:
That 1t vas not intended to modify or
restrict the power Of Congress over the
granted lands uader the conditions of
ssction Il apparent from the language
OF section itself. Section y declare.
In terms that "the several conditioned
grant herein are made and accepted
upon further condition" That ID to
say, the grants herein made and sub
Ieet To the conditions annexed, AS pro-
Vided III section >, are made and ac
cepted q Jon an additional condition, to
wit:
That II the said company make any
breach of the conditions hereof, and
allow the same to continue for upward-
oi one year, then, in such case, at any
TINE hereafter, the United States. by its
Congress, may do any and all acts and
things which may be needfnl and neces-
sary 10 insure speedy completion of
the said road"
Under section the power of Congress
IL limited solely to the right of resum-
ing tue title to the granted lands III case
the conditions were not complied with.
No power was conferred or retained. by
Implication or othe rIlse, whereby Con
gress might intervene to do any act or
thing IN respect Of the construction of
the rsad or TO secure Its completion,
even within the time prescribed In the
conditions OF section 3. Bat, under the
provisions OF the " further condition
of section 3, Congress could have inter
fered at n time and In a way not con-
templated under the conditions imposed
In section s. The provisions of the
" further condition" of section were
therefore plainly intended to place in
power OF Congress the control of the
construction OF the said road so that il
might by proper legislative action, If it
should beoone Necessary, provide for
such completion within the time pre-
sorioed In section :, and that the right
to 80 Intervene was to be determined by
the failure of the company 10 perform
any of the conditions OF the act, such
failure having continued for upward of
one year. The re-enactment of section
., July l, 1865, four years after the pas
sage OF the original act, in precisely the
same language, except as to the time of
the beginning and completing of said
road and the number of miles to be com
pleted each year after the second year,
must be taken as strongly indicating
that Congress never intended that its
conditions should be in the slightest de-
gree restricted or modified by the provi-
sions OF section ., except to empower
Congress 10 intervene TO secure the early
constructions of the read.
lt must also be noted that the provi-
sions of section 3 are In no sense man
datory upon Congress. Ii simply places
~ l.. "a .k..
certain contingencies do certain acts
and things, the doing or not doing of
which IN no way affected the poser of
Congress To resume the estate in the
granted lands under the conditions of
the grant. Ii cannot be doubted that
one of the acts or things contemplated
IN or that might have been done under
section 3 any time after the suspension
of construction, which occurred IN 1873
had continued for upwards of one
year." was the forfeiture of the grant
absolutely or it's transfer To some other
corporation IN furtherance Of the con.
struction of the road. The object, and
the only object of making the grant WAS
To induce private enterprise, through
corporate action, to construct a railroad
telegraph liae from Lake Superior to
tue Pacific coast, and to secnIe such
construction within a certain specified
time. and To that end the grant was
made.
BY the delays of the grantee another
corporation stepped in and bull some
PA miles on the main line of sid road
without the aid of the Government. and
that, too. since the expiration of the
time within which the Northern Pacific
Railroad Compsny was To have COM
pleted its ehtlre road, main line and
branch. With this section Of 2l4 miles
from Wallula to Portland. running con-
neotion has been established, so that
there is now n through line of railroad
from Lake Superior to Portland, Ogn.,
PA miles Of which. however, was built
by other parties, and along which por-
ton lie 5,t7s, 400 acres of land proposed
to ne restored. Every purpose of the
Government is supplied in the construe-
ton of this section of PA miles. There
IL no reed for the construction of par
ailel line To supply any demands of
business either upon the part of the
Government or she general public. If.
then, the claim that this grant was an
irrsvoasbls dedication of the lands
granted is to be accepted "a the correct
Interpretation of the further condi-
ton " of section 3. the Government has
ouiy the alternative to surrender all
claim 10 these five and one-half million
acres of land or build PA miles of rail
road parallel to an existing road, for
which il has no use. which this com
pany WAS 10 have built more than five
years siace for this land, but which il
did not build and does not new propose
to bald.
To place such a construction upon
this clause would be violative OF every
rule Of Interpretation applicable to pub
lie grants which are to be strictly con-
strued against she grantee. IL would in
effect have made Congress the euarsntsr
for the ultimate construction Of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, uotwith-
standing the enormous aud valuable
grants of land 10 endowed the COM
psny vith. Such a construction is
wholly inadmissible and repugnant to
every principle OF equity and justice.
It is strongly urged in behalf OF the
company. and particularly IN behalf of
the bondhoiders Of the company. that
when Congress. by joint resolution of
May 81. 1870. gave its consent that the
company might issae its bonds in aid
Of the constr actisn of its road. and So
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