Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-04-28
THE PUBLIC LAND QUESTION.

Iney Degiected 10 state TIE iace
that the last Democratic President.
previous to 1862, vetoed a home.
stead law, upon the ground that IL
was unconstitutional. and that the
first Republican signed similar
bill passed by a Republican Con.
gress under which five hundred
thousand families have located, on
the public lands. If these Demo-
cratic speakers and editors were
honest in their statements, they
would not attempt to conceal or ig
more the fact that the policy of the
Republican party as to the public
lands and internal improvements,
has expanded the commerce and en-
larged the revenues of the country,
and built up thriving cities and busy
industrial communities, which add
to the grandeur and glory of the Re.
public.
1t is the purest and most unmiti.
gated demagoguery for the Demo.
cratic speakers to seek to make cap
ital out of the acts of Congress re.
claiming for settlement lands which
have been forfeited by the corpora.
tions to which they where donated,
because of noncompliance with the
condition of the donations. The
first bills introduced in Congress for
the purpose came from republican,
Mr.. Payson, of Iowa, and were sup
ported by republicans as we'll as
Democrats and it is sufficient that
most Of the lands thus reclaimed
were donations made by the Demo.
Gratis previous to 1861; and that
every railroad that has been con.
structed to bind the Pacific region
to the Eastern States and through
which the whole vast expanse of ter.
rltory from the Missouri river to
the Pacific ocean, has been convert
ed from an uuinhabltable desert in
to theatre of human activity and
business enterprise, was given shape
and form by the Republican party.
What would the public lands be to-
day, but for the railroads which
make them accessible and furnish
cheap transportation TOR their pro-
ducts; how could these vast i'm
provements have been constructed
except through the aid of what was
worthless territory. to the corpora
tioDs which constructed the works 7
And yet the policy was SO wisely de-
vised, that the government actually
made money by the donations. 1t
retained alternate sections for the
benefit of actual settlers under the
homestead law it had enacted, and
which a previous Democratic adj
ministration had defeated. These
alternate sections, divided into
homesteads, under Republican legis-
lation, are made far more valuable
by the railroads, than the whole of
it was or ever would have been but
for these great channels oftrade and
travel, and the country has been in-
vaded by the industry of the settlers
who located upon them under the
liberal provisions of Republican
enactments.
Why do not these Democratic
speakers tell the whole truth when
they refer to this subjecti They
will state that so many million acres
of the public lands were given to
corporations by the Republican par.
ty, as though it had been a clear
gift without remuneration. They
do not give the result of this policy
in the railroads which have been
and brought the Iich
and growing Pacific States and Ter.
ritories to the very doors OF the
East; built up an empire IN the
desert, extended the lines and the
influences of civilization into the
former range of the buffalo and the
hunting ground of the Indian, and
opened up free homesteads for the
hardy, industrious citizen. who has
planted school houses and churches
and thriving towns and cities as
to the wisdom and
craftsmanship of the Republican
party Valley Virgiaian.
A professional sneak thief in Con
necticut has placed himself at the
head of his class by the following
of his nerya. He walkad