St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-03-29
Tl,e Land Grabbers.

HI was IligI IiIu6 lOI IhO
party in Congress to call halt III the
long history OF land robbery which this
country has been called upon to Wit
ness. When the course of empire began
it's march westward, the American I'm
ion owned millions of acres OF arabic
land, and there was rich provision Tor
all who might want to cultivate the
soil, and for a hundred years to come
the people could contemplate this
splendid domain as their own lnherl-
lance, and be sure of home, it the
struggle of life in the cities became too
great. This was the prospect when the
Republican party came into power, but
where is this vast inheritance now Is
it still the property of the people of the
United States Yes, what remains of
it is, but the grasp of monopoly and po--
litical speculation has cut this grand
heritage of Il free people into fragments
and now holds perhaps the largest and
best part of it for purely speculative
purposes. The robbery of the public
lands of the United States is the great
est piece of political villainy which has
ever cursed this country, and this alone
should drive out of power the political
party which aided and abetted it. 1t
has often been denounced in the press
and upon the stump, but the enOrmity
of the steal and the magnitude OF the.
wrong has rarely ever been properly
made known to the people. We all
know in general way that our lands.
have been stolen from US by one device
and another. But the amount of this
robbery and the wealth it represents,
is not known. And the worst of it all,
is that this land is being accumulated
in the hands of foreign capitalists, who
have no interest whatever in this peO-
pile, except the money which can be,
made out of their investments. Of late
this greed and rapacity upon the part
of railroads and capitalists has become
SO great that well-grounded alarm is
felt, and this has taken shape in appeals
to Congress to check the iniquitous
system under which these IObOeries
have become possible.
We have before us table of twenty
nine foreign capitalists who have co.
IA, 600 acres or an average of ia, 413 acre
each. Here is land enough to make
nearly 100000 farms of 100 acres each
comfortable, prosperous, and happy
farm homes for more than 100000 OF
people, This represents vast possi
billties to an active, enterprising and
industrious people, but held now in the
it is taken out of the reach of those for
whom it was intended, and becomes
simply d cold blOoded investment, ia
which the claims of the people, the
rightfnl owners of the soil, cannot have
a particle of consideration. Congress
first votes away these millions of broad
acres for windy railroad schemes, and
when the bold adventurers get the land
they sell it in immense bodies to Euro
pean capitalists and nabobs, and divide
Eup the proceed among themselves. Thus
they get the money, and the foreigners
have the land, and the Government has
nothing but miles of railroad, which,
under the practice of combination and
monopoly, are more of a curse to the
country than blessing; and the citi-
zen finds the land gone, and the thing
created by them an oppression and q
menace to his independence and pros
perity.
But the above list, startling as tits, is
by no means the only record of land
grabbing and monopoly work which the
history of this great wrong disclOses.
We have in addition pretty good list
of American barons, and it is needed
not the assistance of foreign syndicates
and wealthy noblemen to parcel out
this land. It may be we'll to add the
names of these land monopolists to the
list that the people may be able to see
being bound up in the hands of rich
men. Figures, such as these, tell their
own story, and the honest. patriotic
citizen would do we'll to study them aud
Judge for himself what the end will be
Acres.
nerd, MINI. 100000
els cisco. l'' - $4,000
A P. Moore, Santa Rosa, Cal. 1876. GOO
The Murphy Estate, Santa Clara 10000
f. C. SherWin, in New Mexico 100000
G. w. Dorsey, 100000
Senator John A. Logan $4,000
Whitmore g. Co., of Wisconsin,
in Alabama $4,000
J. w. life Colorado is 600
Grandlin Brothers, of Tidionte,
Pa, in Dakota 10000
Oliver Dalrymple, of st. Paul,
MINI. 100000
H. DisstOn, of Philadelphia 2,00O, 600
Hon. William Larahee, in Iowa $4,000
Walter Brown, of Kansas, in
Kansas, $4,000
Co., , in Kansas : 100000
j. B Watkins, Louisiana 1,225,0O0
Daniel Murphy, Nevada zoe, 900
Mr.. David Scissor, of Ohio 25 900
Thompson & Warner, Mimi. $4,000
F. B. Walker, Minneapolis $4,000
Hon. j. S. Pillsbury, Minneapolis 10000
NJ. Richmond g. CO., Buffalo, in
Missouri 10000
Michael Brand, ST., Missouri 100000
Adirondack Land Co, N. Y. 500 600
Hiram TT. Sibley, of Rochester 500 900
William Clark 100000
The David Raleigh Estate, in