Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-11-11
GETTING BACK THE HOMES.

| 1E ltN1 BALM 7E TUNES
The Republicans Party Believed in Giving
/ Away the Land to Gre at Corporations.
and the Democratic Party Is Reclaim
ing It for the People.
II was the Republican party which
| inaugurated the wholesale giving away
of the homes of the people, in the vast
areas of good land added to our do
main by the Democratic party. Il is
often said that the Democrats began the
| policy, and the land given by the State
of Illinois to the Illinois Central has
been held up as a frightfal example.
/ But that was not gift The consid-
Grafton was heavy annual tax which
has been and still is faithfully paid,
and the taxes thus saved to the people
| have reimbursed them over and over
again for the origiaal investment.
It was the Republicans who inaug-
urated giving the lands directly to the
corporations in large slices and letting
! them keep them whether they ever
| built the roads or not. The extent to
| which this has been done has often
been made public, but it will be a long
time before the theme will grow old.
Here is 3 brief list of a few of the worst
cases.:
Kansas Pacific. 6.000 900 acres
Central Pacific. .............. 7.977.600 acres
! Western Pacific ........... LOO, 400 acres
Central branch Union Pacific. 50, 400 acres
Sioux City Pacific Senator
Jim Wilson's slice). ...--... 4L000 acres
! Union L. 100000 ae1 es
/ Northern Pacific Il, 000.2l5 acres
Texas Pacific. ............... l4.G03. coo acres
Atlantic Pacific ............ 49,000,0o0 acres
ra+,I 100 .oo oae ,ar,s
Iotal. lo3, 4o5.U-o acres
/ This is almost exactly four times as
much land as the State of Iowa con-
tains. Think of the happy homes it
would make for the miserable toilers
crowded in our large cities. Think of
how much anarchy and rioting and I'M
rest it would save by relieving the
crowded centers of population of their
pressure.
But this is not all. In his recent
/ speech at Koesauqua, Mr.. L. A.
Palmer, of Mt. Pleasant. said:
The vast areas taken by railroads are only
part of the maladministration of the million
! aire leaders of the Republican party. When
tne II OF aat f
land had been allowed by past Secretaries of
the Interior to slip into the hands OF wealthy
kings whose barouieS Of land covered by
multitude of cattle controlled by cattle bar
ons who were as insolent as they were
| wealthy.
In the report of Commissioner Sparks the
following startling facts come to light: Dur
s,,its have been brourht to the attention. of
the land department. OF these, thirty-ive
cases have been decided. These decis ons
turn back into the public domain l.34o.00J
| acres. Fences are being removed which en-
| closed 9, ia, 926 acres.
But the report says further that the syndi-
Gates and corporations trespaSsinE and hold
ing these lands are SO powerful that it will
| take some years to remove them all There
| is probably twice as much land inclosed by
them as is shown by the foregoing report.
Already the Democrats have reversed
| this wicked policy and restored mill
ions of acres, and millions of homes,
to the people to whom they belong,
| and for whom they were acquired by
| the Democrats of past generations.
| Who can refuse to thank them for it?
| Let not those who have homes forget
to be thankful for good to those who
! have none. The poor We have al
| ways with you," and the best way to
| help them is to give them homes and
| fertile fields in which to dig and delve
| and find their own living. The follow
| ing telegram shows that the Demo
| cratic policy is to be still pur sued as
| long as the Democrats are given the
| power to do it:
| The Interior Department has in contempla
| ton plan by which the efforts to forfeit the
| unearned land gratis, which were unsuccess
| full in Congress. may be successful tn rough
! departmental action. The law officers of the
| land office have the subject now under con
sheraton, and if the plan shall meet the APP
! provai Of the Secretary OF the Interior it will
| be put into operation. Some time ago the In
/ terror Department decided that no land grant
| road should be cons dered to have earned its
grants until it had filed a corrected plat OF
| the entire road and of the granted land
| claimed. Proceeding from this decision as a
| basis it is suggested that a suit may lie
| against the Northern Pacific road, in which
the Government will maintain that 1T is not
entitled to any of the land which it claims:
| for instance in the grant from Duluth to
! Puget's Sound, because these lands were not
earned, and the perfected plat for that part OF
the route WAS not filed within the time pre-.
scribed. This theory proceeds, of course. from
| the assumption that the road could not earn
| any of the lands if il did not return the whole
| grant, and on this theory the Secretary of the
! Interior will doubtless be asked to clear the
| lands forfeited and open to settle meut-Des
| MOjHes Leader.