The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-06-04

lOney raised from an lnulrScG LAX OH
labor, to traverse the continent with {
steam and to monopolize it.
Whenever any combination of men ;
thus concentrate in their hands the
ownership of earth, so that the larger
will be compelled to pay
what the few see fit to exact for the
privilege of occupying and cultivating
it, there is found the spirit which will,
unless conquered, reeStablish and per-
petuate human slavery.
EXTENT OF LAND OWNERSHIP BY
CORPORATIONS.
In 1880, the various railroad corpo-
rationS alone owned Seventy-eight
millions of acres of land out of over
one hundred millions which had been
granted by the state and national gov
ernments. The magnitude of land
gifts to corporations will be under
stood when we remember that there |
are but five hundred and thirty-six
millions of acres occupied by all the |
farms in all the states. So that the |
railway corporations alone own about !
one-seventh as much land as is occu
pied by all the farms.of the country.
So magnificent gift of property
has not been made on earth before
not even when William parceled
out the English farms among his
Norman barons. But that gift of the
.onQuerer was to natural men, who,
at Hastings, had, with sword in hand,
| won q kingdom. This new conquest
was by an artificial person; Volunta-
rily created by a free people, who au-
| thorized it to appropriate the soil on
which their p0sterity must live, and
which now by the concentrated pow
er of its willing servants threatens
to control its creator in the fu ure, aS
it has done in the recent past.
Once before in the worlds history,
such favor to special classes soWeu the
soil of a republic with dragons teeth,
which, at harvest time, bristl, d with
its crop of armed men.
How can posterity believe that at the
very time when business corporations
were almost monopoliziDg the public
domain, a law was on the statute
books, still in force, which prohibited
any charitable corporation from ever
owning more than fifty thousand
dollars worth of land in any one terri.
tory.
LAND GRANTS FOR CORPORATIONS
AND FOR EDUCATION COMPARED.
The Government estimate, published
only few months since, shows that If
al the land grants to railways were
made available by their construction,
it would require two hundred and
fifty millions of acres to satisfy them,
when we know that from the founda-
ton of the GoverF ment, whose dura-
ton must depend on intelligence, less
than sixty seven millions have been
given for the education Of the people.
10 what extent corporations of d
strictly private nature have acquired
land ownership, no one knows. In
Texas, trading and cattle corporations
aloe own over five millions of acres:
and we caE only conjecture how vast
is such ownership elsewhere, when
Pennsylvania alone prohibits it-eXcept
to the extent needed to carry on some
business. The Secretary of the Int
rior, in his report to Congress, men-
> toned the fact that people were kept
from settling upon public Ind
granted to railroads twenty-five years
ago, though nothing had been done
,, towad building the, road. The grants
are tied up in corporate ownership
until Congress shall declare for
, feitule.
REQUIRING CORPORATIONS TO AL
IENATE LANDS A DELUSION.
, The requirement to ALLEVIATE their
J land IS delusion and snare, for the
same corporations merging their indi-
vidual identity in some new charter,
! stand ready to appropriate it for an
other term.
INFLUENCE OF LAND OWNERSHIP ON
CIVIL LIBERTY.
Land is the great source of life; its
ownership the best guarantee of mans
independence and devotion to his
country. To permit corporate capital
to speculate in its value, is 10 tampeI
; with Our destiny. What emotion OF
patriotism can the half starved outcast
, feel, wh1, though by nature joint
heritor Of earth, under social laws can
claim no right to slumber on foot OF
its surface, even in the public streets;
and to whom no right attaches after
; death to be buried even there. By
what claim Of right is his patriotism
moved? But once grapple him to the
soil, by ties Of ownship, and of home
stead, and he exults with manly
priC e, which springs from a sense OF
Independence; for he feeels that this
country which nourishes him is his,
and that wife and home and children
are 1nseparably connected with its
glory, and the guardianship of its con-
stutition. This feeling has nerved the
arms Of England's sons on many a
well reaped field, and steadies her flag
around the world. 1t gilded Valley
Forge with hope, triumphed at York
town, and challenged mutual respect
as AppomatoX. Not kings or titled
| 50 nd hot oh woo O
arbiter of nations, moving in the van
guard of civilization, but it was the
unquelled spirir of her freeholders and
working men. This power confronted
King ohm at Runnymead, and cons
! PEELED twenty>six guarantees for the
rights of the people to six secured for
their leaders. This spirit created
the House of Commons, and
when occasion required it, not
only do )me1 a crowned head
to the bolck, but as often as on
assembled the throne, required an oath
to preserve its chartered rights; and,
that same spirit in the reign of Elias
heath and George IL (robber as Eng,
land was and is on Irish soiD, enacted
! the laws of mortmain, which prohi-
bited to operations the ownership of
lands.
EFFECTS OF UNIVERSAL CORPORA
| TON.
Unless the evil which I have dis
cussed is abolished, our whole bust
ness and industrial system will soon
be carried on by corpOratihns instead
of by men; for the individual dwarfed
! and baffled in the unequal contest
for bread in private pursuits, will
lose his identity in some corporate
creation, in self defence, except
those who have nothing but their la
Dor, and for that no market would be
be found; except at the corporation
office. The pic.ureis not overdrawn and
will be the il evitable result of causes
now at work unless they are checked.
To answer me "that the age is pro-
crraSsi We % and that I attack its nrn=