The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-26

vious to the building Of tho branch line from
Malava It was an admitted mil
itary and public necessity. It was
intended to cover the whole coast north of San
Francisco, from military point Of view. and at
the same time develop an unsettled region
which was hedged in from the ocean by the coast
range on the west and the Sierras on the east
Its rich valleys were uncultivated, because their
products had to be hauled in wagons for dis
tances varying from two to four hundred miles.
The proposed road had the usual land grant, but
so mountainous was the country that not more
than one tenth of the whole grant was worth the
cost of surveying it, and even to-day much of it
has never been seen by a surveyor.
But the Stanford syndicate had be-
gun the work. had expended large
were issued. which covered the road aud its land
grant, but they had no buyers, and the syndicate
itself could not take them. The lands were not
regarded as security, and no one has ever be-
lieved that the road could be made self-sustain-
ing under ten years Finally the syndicate sold
bonds on over two hundred miles of the road,
but the members of it-Stanford, Huntington,
Croker and Hopkins-had to indorse every
bond, guaranteeing both principle and interest
They made these guarantees up to the limit of
their private fortunes and spent the money IN
building a road to the edge of the region where
the granted lands were valuable. Then began
the clamor to have the grant forfeited, and the
louder the clamor the less value the bonds had.
lOr Wn6ro PUBIC attention was CnuS Drawn TO
the scheme, it was seen that without the grant
the road could not support itself
Very recently came down from Oregon, and
rode by stage over the gap of one hundred and
fifty miles which yet remains to be built to
connect this road with Portland The country
along and tributary to that one hundred and
fifty miles of projected road would support
three million people if it had transportation ia
cilities But to-day there are not two hundred
souls living in the whole region. To day the
government has thirty million acres of land in
that region which it cannot give away; but if the
road was completed tomorrow, in less than five
years it could sell fifteen million acres for nearly
twice many dollars
The private guaranty OF Mr.. Stanford and his
friends have made it possible to completes this
road, which, probably. would never have been
built They went into it with land grant guar
anty of the government, the party which would
be the chief beneficiary, and pledged their credit
for more than ten million dollars The demand
now made is, that the sovereign United States
revoke its guaranty and take back its
pledge, because the people need this
land. The man who makes this argu-
ment is either knava or a fool.
Without railway, the people wonld not have
the land as gift, and it would remain as it is
now, free grazing ground for the cattle king 8
who are occupying it to the exclusion of honest
farmers who would buy it in small tracts from
the government or railways, and make homes
for themselves and children. If the land grant
is revoked, the land monopolists stand ready to
buy it at the government price. as was done in
Illinois, Iowa. Kansas and Nebraska, and when
the settler wants it, it will be sold at the stand
ard land -grabber price of $40 per acre.