, 1884-02-09
25l az -.

The Holman ree0iutio1, VI
much Ia. been said, declaring 1t the
iuasm.nt Of the Nsriousl House o.
REPRESENTATIVES that oil unesrnsd land
grants should bs forfeited end the LANDS
restored to the public donAin. and that
ali Law. permitting the Purehsse OF large
tracu of public lands b repealed, snd
ins.ructing the COMMITTEES on public land.
to report b;lls carrying into effect these
declarations, was passed after An ami
mated discussion BY q vote of ISL to
IS.
In spite of this overwhelming majority
for the rights of the people IN the lower
bouses. ts are not saaguiue that the
monopolists and corporation lawyers who
are misnsmsd United States S-ns'ors
will permit any such legislation Bu'
law or no law, it il high time for the
railroad companies that have not llreo
up to their contract with tie government
to restore to it the immense bodies OF
lsna which they have forfeited by non
fulflinsnt of their promises and pledges
The Republican party has given away to
the Pacific railroad companies and other
railroad corporations more than one
hundred and fifty million acres OF tn
public lands. In return the companies
agreed to do 90 ,nd 60 But IN mos
instances the agreement with the govern
ment has npt been kept. aUi after get
ting hold of the land the companies snap
ped their fingers q. Uncle Sam and
told him that they would fulfil their CON
tracts when they got ready.
The question now is, shall the fraudu-
lent companies be allowed to keep these
valuable lands or be compelled TO restore
them to the government Every man
of sense snd spirit will at once say thai
the land must be forfeited, and this If
the object of the Holman resolution
Among the railway magna'es who are
now fighting the governments efforts to
repossess these lands, Is Mr.. G. Z. Hunt
ington, who declares that there shall be
twenty yeaIs of litigation before he will
surrpndsr tho share of the plunder thai
has fallen thus unjustly into his control
and into the possession of the companies
he represents. These are the kind Of mel
into whose control a vast proportion oi
the public domain thus trh7d away has
fallen and they have specula,ed with 1t
until they have grown immensely rich,
their fortunes running away up into the
millions
The Democrats Of the lover branch Of
the National legislature have giver no
tice that it is psrt of Democratic policy
TO compel the restoration Of all the uu-
earned railroad land grants. They wer,
g;Esn these grants 10 assist them IN build
ing their lines of railroad whereby the
country vas to be developed and the
sands If the desert made TO TEEN with
life. But in many cases, as ate above,
the companies have not given value foT
the lands they have received, snc
these are the cases in which the lands are
10 be restored to its rightful owners, the
people. The Republican party when 1t
had control OK Cpnprsss was wicitedly
reckless in it's besroHsl Of the public
lands, and now it has become the Gu'y
of the Democratic parry, through IS
Representatives q. Washington 10 car-e-'
the evil The people are looking to tn
Democracy for the restoration OF thes"
lands to the control OF the government,
and the House has already shown i's
temper by the passage of the Holman
resolution. Let the Senate now do Its
part in the matter, and millions of the
imperial acres of the public domain will
be rescued from sharks and sharpeCs, aud
reclaimed and set apart as homes for the
people.