Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-04-02
THE INEAMY or IT.


An Infamous Act Perpetrsted by tho Re-
publican Psrty.
We are gradually getting more light
on the last act Of infamy of the Repub-
lican party. perpetrated as it was step
ping down and out of power. The
ruling passion strong in death" has had
one more dazzling and brilliant illus
tration. We refer to the last land steal
of 100000 acres of Government land.
The Washington correspondents arc
gradually getting at the true inward
ness of the big 50, zoe. 600 swindle. We
published a dispatch last Saturday from
the Chicago Tribune, which gave out
the impression that the matter was all
right; quite innocent, in fact; the usual
thing expected, of course, from party
that had piled up monuments of big and
infamous swindles. The New York
Uortd's correspondent has been looking
the affair up, and he uncovers some
very interesting details. According to
this account, it seems that several weeks
ago large additional force of clerks
was put on for the purpose of making
out these patents. so that they could all
be signed and issued before the change
Oh The 4ntSc pdkEntS
were all signed There never has
been. in the history of the Departments,
any patents issued for lands where Con-
gress had assumed jurisdiction to raise
the question of the propriety of the title
This backbone grant has been one Of
the most notorious of all the isolated
grants. It was passed by Congress in
1871, and was originally made to the
New Orleans. Vicksburg 81 Baton Rouge
Railroad. The condition was that this
road should be completed within five
years. This company never turned over
a spoonful of dirt, and never did any
thing beyond the issuing of some bonds,
which were palmed off on a confiding
public.
This railroad on paper transferred the
grant to the New Orleans and Pacific
Road, and here now is where jay Gould
comes in. This road then sold its
charter rights to the Texas Pacific, but
reserved the assigned grant and trans
ferred it to ''the American Improvement
Company Gould and others owned
nearly all this stock, which was a sort
of Credit Mobilier affair. The Worlds
correspondent concludes his investiga-
ton as follows:
The Backbone grant is upon exactly the
same footing as the Texas Pacific, which was
forfeited by the Senate the other day For a
number of years the people who held this
Backbone grant have tried to get Congress to
confirm it. The grant has been rejected
number of times, and no Secretary of the In
terror before Teller would ever consider what
was part cularly proposition to help steal
these lands for the benefit of the railroad lob
by. Whether there is an inve Stigation OF this
or not Mr.. Teller will be called upon to ex-
plain on the floor of the Senate his extraordi-
nary course in this matter. There is not much
doubt that this Gould and Huntington con-
sp racy also contemplated the theft of the
Texas Pacific lands. If it had not been for
the Senate action the other day in FORGETTING
this unearned grant there is reason to sup
pose that the Interior Department would have
issued patents for the fifteen millions of acres
of these lands
This outrage was perpetrated by the
last Republican Administration the day
before Cleveland's inaug ration. 1t
was the elimination of a giant conspir-
acy and colossal swindle all along
the line. What an appropriate cap
stone to the monument | infamies of
the Republican party! And they hope
to get back into power at the end of
four years. Not if the American peo-
Pile are awake. Indiana State Sentinel