The Labor enquirer., 1884-11-01
DENVER, COLORADO. SATURDAY. NOVEMBER L 1884.

enough none. to make them rich for
doctorin9 him, without curing him the
farce and failure of the star-route trials,
and the fees received by the government
lawyers; the numerous fraudulent land
entries in the west by svndicates and in
diYiduals; the Importation Of Chinese
to snpplant American laborers in mines
and factories; all these, things and more
ought to call forth the execration Of every
honest man upon a corrupt government.
come now to the most stupendous
villainy ever practiced by the most prof
ligate of all legislative bodies an act Of
such high-handed rascality, injustice and
robbery that there can be found no par,
aIlel for it in the history of any: other
nation, Christian or heathen. Irefer to
the acts of congress giving the peoples
lands and money to different railroad
companies for the construction of their
roads. i cannot go into detail. I will
only mention few instances.
The Atlantic and Pacific received A.
600 900 acres, the Northern Pacific A.
000,O 900, the Southern Pacific 95,000,000,
the Central Pacific II 600, 900, the Union
Pacific IL, 600, 600, the Texas Pacific 49,
100000, and fifty other similar robberies.
Now right in connection with these
grants of lands comes in the homestead
law, measure for which the republican
party has received much praise and to
which it points with pride as crowning
piece of beneyolence to the poor wage
workers and soldiers. / believe in my
heart that this measure was effected in
congress at the instigation of these very
railroad companies. They saw that with
out settlers on these vast bodies of land
to improve and build up the country,
their grants would prove comparatively
vaIueless, and so they got congress to
pass the homestead law granting to eyerY
actual settler 160 acres of land, leaving
every alternate section on purpose for
the people to improve, thereby raising
the value of the contiguous railroad
lands. But as if it was not enough to
give them lands enough to constitute
whole empires, congress perpetrated a
more than double robbery by granting
some of the roadsev more money than
lands. The Union Pacific railroad re-
ceiYed donation of S65, 100000, which,
added to the value of the land, makes
the enormous sum total of S252, 100000.
The cost of building the road was $94,-
100000, leaving them q freergift of $l54,-
100000. nearly twice the cost of itneer ROAD ROAD
The Southern Pacific received lands
enough to pay for the building of three
or four such roads. One should, think
that was enough, but it seems it was not
Congress donated to the road, besides
the land, the sum of SlOu,ooo,Oo0. : ~ ~
Is it any wonder that the poorest men
interested in these. and other roads be-
come millionaires ? ,.-
This was the work of republican
congress. Now mark the contrast.
When General Butler was in congress in
1868, he introduced a bill to the effect
that the government should extend some
aid, not in the shape of gifts, but in the
form of loans, to poor families to settle
on the lands of the west. All honor to
General Butler for this. 1t shows that
his heart is in the right place. He did
not ask much, only a lew hundred dol.
lars, or say $1,000, to every family. He
was the representative of lazarus, trying
to pick up few crumbs from the. mag
nifcently spread table of Dives ..s
Well, no crumbs we're granted. Laza.
rus and his representative were both
snubbed Congress could make free
gifts of millions to Huntington, Crocker,
Stanford and others, while it could not
lend pittance to poor family. No, the
poor might 90 to the dogs. ...
"No villiany has ever before been per.
petrated in the history of the human
race to equal these and fifty other SINH,
lar robberies of the people of their
money and their lands. The members
of congress of this great nation have
put themselves on record as the most
stupendous robbers the world has ever
been cnrsed with" These are the words
of DIR. Rowland. of Boston.
Closely connected with the building Of
the Union Pacific railroad is the Credit
Mobilier steal, another infamous steal,
another infamous swlndle of the people
inaugurated and carried on by members
of congress. 1t is fresh in the minds o.
ALL The most prominent men of the
country were implicated in this scheme
of robbing the treasury Of millions upon
millions of dollars. Were these men
punished as anyother poor devil would
be who steals some irifling sum? Oh
no Far from it! Some of them were
re warded. 1t IS not necessary to men;
ton names.
Now, an honest man would think that
the government should exercise some
control of the railroads after bayingpaid
for them more than double and treble
with the peoples m oney and lands; and
that the railroads would only exact
nominal transportation charges; but
that is no part of the programme. By