The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1886-06-26
Northern Pacific Land Forfeiture.

HNaSo4 anu Z HtEcNtth publish
extracts of his speech which has
received high and general com.
mendatiOn. Itis in his usual strong
and turgid style:
"These were the terms which Mr..
Thurman proposed to make as an
original condition 10 this new
grant. They were about to lose
their rights. They were only with
in a few days of the time when
their rights would all be forfeited
under the charter. Mr.. Thurman
had perceived, as the country had
perceived, that this immense and
prohigrate grant needed in the ln-
terest of the American people to
bo recaptured if possible, and so
he proposed i'll the amendment
which has been read simply this :
That these lands should be sold
only to actual settlers, TO the hardy
pioneers who built up this coun-
try, at Sl.25 an acre, and that they
should be sold IN 40 and so and
l6O acre tracts to suit the means
of the poor man who, driven by
adverse fortune or possibly fol-
lowing his mate energy, sought to
better his condition and that of
his family on the frontier. He
made splendid speech in behalf
of this proposition, and 1t got the
poor aud pitiable number of 0
votes in its favor.
TWAS voted down; aud right
here | will notice the fact that
there were two Senators from
Mississippi on this floor at that
time, one of whom, though the
large majority of his constituents
did not own an acre of land, voted
against the Thurman amendment,
and the other one representing
that class which owned land did not
find it convenient to vote at all.
SO the company got all they
wanted. Their very last demand
that they had the audacity to make
on the American Congress had
been llberally and fully met. Then
what happened 2 This was Oh
May 81, 1870. Then on July /,
1870, just one day before tho for.
feiture of this land would have
occurred by reason that they did
not commence the work, they did
commence and at the same time
they put mortgage on this land
and this property for S30,OO0,000
Mr.. Thurman, IN the speecI
which he made in support of the
amendment which | have hat
read, predicted just exactly whal
did occur, that under the power
to make this mortgage they woult
make default on it, the property
of the company would be sold ana
bought by a ring. Let us set
whether his prediction was MOI
verified. No work had been done
mp to that time except little dig
gipg in the frozen ground in Min
nesota in February, 1870. They
commenced little work in July
1870, and they made mortgage
and here is the way they made tht
work and complied with their con
tract, complied with their promise
made in the charter by accepting
the charter, TO the American Con
gress and to the American people
Having got, as my friend from Or
egon suggests, the land grant from
Tacoma to Kalama, they com
meneed operations over ther,
, pretty soon, and the first worl
: was from Thompson, Mimi, t,
Red river, 22S miles, by the 1st o
October, 1872, and then from Far
go to Bismarck, 1876 miles, Octobe,
|, 1873. During this time the,
! worked on the Oregon brauol
from Kalama to Tenino, and fin
! ished those 60 miles by July Ii
1873. Then the 40.1 miles from
Tenino to Tacoma they finished
by March l, 1874. So altogethe
by the 1st of March, 1874, 500.
, or in round numbers $50 miles
were constructed.
Then the curtain dropped again
We see nothing of the action O
(. this railroad>company from its re
t port on March 1, 1874, for six year
and four months, IN which tim
100 miles of road were complete
by the LIST of july 1880, and 8
miles more by the LIST of Noven
Der, 1880; but in the mean tims
s after the report made in Marcl
1874, came that part of this gran
drama of fraud and imposition W
on the American people which tn
Senator from Ohio, Mr.. Thurman
had predicted. | do not see !
} the report of the Railroad Con
missioner the exact date, but pric
+ to April 16, 1876, the railroad con
t pany had made q default on tn
: interest upon the 930.0O0,O00 {
bonds, and on that date procee,
ings were commenced, as M
Thurman said they would be,