The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-08-26
LAND-eRARsERs SCORED.

h6aSOnS, htu SIat6O, WHY /
Railroad and Other Monopolies, and
Greedy Thieves Generally, DO Not Like |
the Administration.
The first gun of the Indiana cam
paign, on the Democratic side, was
fred by Judge Lewis Jordan, of In
dianapolis, in an earnest and able
speech lately delivered at Lebanon.
After referring to the fact that the
navy contractors, steamship compan-
les, Pacific railroads, land and timber
thieves ct al. were all opposed to the
present Administration he proceeded
to show the reasons for some of this
opposition:
the land-grabbers has no parallel in history.
and 1t was all accomplished under the rule of
a party which in its infancy said in its Chi
ed to corporations. but reserved for actual
settlers. No hayward boy ever so soon de-
parted from the good resolves of youth Be-
fore the Republican party had reached man.
hood, in fourteen years, 1t had given away to
Sorporations LIZ, OSl, l5 acres Of your land Lam.
them with no favorable opinion to the gifts
and favorite Followers The people Of this
country, be they Republicans, Democrats,
Greenbackers Or Mugwumps. have not yet
had their eyes fully opened as to how lavishly
the Republican party has made gifts of the
public domain to favorite friends, This 49,
6Sl, 155 acres would make nine States the size
OF Indiana. II is twice the amount of land in
Great Britain and more than IN France or Ger
many. 1t would make 4,SOO,U0O homesteads of
Prior to 1861 not a foot of public land b ad
oeen gwen to corporations, and it was only
,najorits Of the lower house Of Congress
that a halt was called in these princely gifts.
So scandalous did these gifts become that
West, in a lucid moment of honesty, de.
nounced Congress for making a gift enter
prise Of the PUBLIC domain, and compii.
of Cong ress from Indiana for never having
failed to oppose. vigorously every one Of
roads have been selling these lands at an av-
erage price of S4.3 per acre, and you can
the enormous pile they will receive if allowed
to keep them all.
But snce the books have been opened it
has been discovered that the railroad COM
panies were not satisfied with the strict terms
of the act OF Congress and the amount al
lowed in them, but have had decisions made
by the General land Office that gave them
millions of acres not contemplated by the
acts. Every demand made upon that Office
was promptly honored, and because they can
not control the present Commissioner-Mr.
Sparks-the whole brood have been bounding
him down, and their allies, the Republican
press, have Joined in the cry.
The grant to the Union and Contra! Pacific
railroads. forty miles wide from the Missouri
| river to the bay of San Francisco, and that to
| the Atchison, Topeka s. Santa Fe is also forty
miles wiz. The Atlantic and Pac hc is Gig hty
miles vide. and that to the Northern Pacific
| Territories. But these swarhs were not wide
enough for the grasping sharks, so they go TO
the General Land Office and are allowed to
select what they call indemnity lands outside
of these limits In many cases these lands
had been entered, patented and settled. and
at the command OF the sharks the owners were
l driven off and made horQarS.
If. during the coming canvass, you hear
some wheezy Republican speaker ask: when
| are you going to open the bOok3?" tell MIN
/ tho books have been opened and disclosed the
| inhuman aud brutal treatment of the West
orders through the General Land Once
while 1t was administered by Republican
officials.
despotic and cruel rulesf landlordism. Right
| here in our own land have been practiced
outrages on the Western pioneer .seI that have have
robped of their homes by a great Govern.
ment, which had received pay for it, aad all
corporations. Thanks to u Democratic Ad.
ministration, this has all been stopped.
But the railroad companies to-dar are hold
ing on to 96,0Ol0O0 acres more than they are
entitled to, being a territory large enough to
make three States the size of Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois. They have not earned these
lands, but are holding on to them with a
death-like grip. The struggle is now going
On in Congress and the eyes of the Western
L ptsOplt L tuEuCu " Stobs II oNE
hight is over the Northern PACING grant. The
Democratic House says this bioated corpora
ton has %. OoO,0W acres more thar they have
any right to, while the Senate, looking
through Republican glasses, says the amount
Is only 6,00I,UUJ acres. 1t is some consolat or
to nave the Senate acknowledge even thi:
last number. Justice travels with a leader
heel but strikes with an iron hand and
hope the day is not far distant when Ill these
lands will be reclaimed and opened to private
entry.
But the railroads are not alone in theil
raids upon the public lands. They have for
panies which are organized all over the Terri
tories. These companies have carried OIL
their stealing of the public lands with perfec
system. Their mode of operation has been tt
employ wild, irresponsible scoundreis K
res. and then return and die Claims for ali tn,
land they have passed over. These claims ar
then transferred to the land companies
BY such outrageous frauds Scotch ant
English landlords have obtained estate
in our e4 tSntr h which en- t shurpa So b in extent t a an
glish syndicate holds 3,0J0,0W acres in Texas
and the Holland Land Company 4,5v0, 900 acre
find the Marquis of TweedaIe owns l,7O.U
acres, the Duke Of Sutherland 425,JOo acres
Lord Houghton 5000 acres, and Lord Dun
raven, in Colorado, 60, 1000 acres. Special agent
have found that an English firm has obtained
10000 acres of the choicest red-woo'
lands ill., IN C ann1ad and Inc road BOOKS SSt 50 Pave far + no nc
been found that foreigners own ~, 741,0O
acres of our public domains. The founda
tons have been lad for carving out severa
1relands in our own country. These startling
figures confirm the plea that it was time t,
open the books" discharge the book-keepe
aud place an honest man in charge of the Gen
oral Land Office. Should your local Republica
newspaper ask: when are you going to ope
this books?" give him some of the facts i hav
furnished you, and, my word for it, his orgal
will cease to grind out the question. 1t is tn
examination of these Fraudulent entries tina
has raised such a howl all along the Repuh
lican line. In one year, ending March 81, lSSt
2,2s5 of these entries were Cancelled or held III
for further hearing and more than 800; 20 y
does not include the large number of entire
win CHI have been Cancelled for fraud whic
has been developed by individual contests
and the books are bong opened every day
The great reform goes on, and MIR. Sparks j
making the sparks fly wherever his hand
reach.
The cattle kings have had a regular picnic
and have taken possession of the remainde
railroad corporations, the land com panios an,
the English lords. Grim nal and civil suits il
hfty-six cases were brought the first year o
the Administrator against these robbers, an
possession of 1,632,3a5 acres recovered. Il
forty 9th r cases fences were reno we'd from
around 5Ss lso acres; The cattle kings ar
arm of the Government had to be evoked t,
drive them out of the Indian reservations.
The railroad companies, the land companie.
the English lords and the cattle kings oper
ated in the open country, and left the forest
for the timber thieves. During the first yea
of the Administration 515 criminal cases an
2s6 civil cases were commenced against thes
timber thieves. The amount involved in tn
civil suits was So, 5Of, $40. 09, and thus you Sc
how extensive the depredations were. o
course they were all opposed to opening tn
books, nd are also opposed to opening tn
doors of the penitentiary.
Iwould like to refer in detail to the fraud
sanctioned by the Republican Admtnistra
tons in surveying private land grants in Ne,
Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. The histor
reads like a romance, but unfortunately tn
romance is founded on facts. The SPANS
and Mexican land claims are the foundation
for all this rascality. l can only give you
few specimens Mr.. Martinez has a gran
which was limited to 1850 acres. Survey
made, and he is given 594. SIS acres, and tn
patent issued. Salvador Gozales, in 1742, wa
granted by New Mexico "a spot of land to eI
able him to plant a corn-feld for the supper
of his family" A Republican Administrt
fion S1ryaued this cnrn.tald and raya hir