Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-09-27
IRONTON. NO. THURSDAY. sEPTEMBER 27, 1888.

LEM DER 1000.
and, also, the Florida purchase; an
empire. in extent and capable Of sup
i porting the population of all Europe.
Think of this, the gift Of party to !
people, in record of less than sixty
| years.
But . large amount of this public
property has been alienated. has been
granted away to private persons and
corporations, without one dollar being
paid into the common treasury in re-
| turn.
Let us see what are the records of the
two chief parties of to-day III connection
with such grants.
From the foundation of the govern
ment on July 4th, 1776, t, March the
4th, 1861, almest. or quite. eighty-five
years elapsed. Great soldiers and
greater Statesmen were born and labor
ed ard passed away in that period; and
political parties were founded, waxed
strong, achieved power. decayed, and
were annihilated between those dates.
The Federalists, the Wigs and the
Democrats each by turns triumphed or
| met defeat.
In that period, and during the era of
,, these parties power not one acre Of the
public domain was alienated to pri-
vate individual by act of Congress, save
for homestead, or for a money consid-
Grafton. or for services as a soldier in
war. There we're no land grants to cor
poratlons or to favored private individ-
uals.
During the latter part of that period
there was great advance in internal
improvements made by the states and
under state supervision. Toad in those
works during those eighty-five years
Congress granted to The states tdnd not
to Individuals or corporations sc, ,47O.- :
920 acres of the public domain, in
each instance the lands granted ly-
ing and being within the limits of the
state to which they were granted. I'm
der these various grants to the present
| time there have been patented TO the
| various states to whom granted the
sum of %, 105. .467 acres. so that in fact
though the grants to the states called
for more, those grants only resulted in
/ alternating to the states of the last above
number of acres. Bear in mind this
was in perioa of eighty-five years,
and that not one acre was granted By
Congress to private corporations or per-
sons, and that every acre was granted
to the states, and that the justice and
advisability of those grants have never,
in single instance, been called In
question.
Compare this with arecord Of q much
shorter subsequent period. From
March 4th, 1851, to March 4tb, 1874,
the Republican party was In power,
They had not control merely Of one OF
two Of the departments. They had all
From the merest understrapper of q
aupervisor.and whiskey gauger, to the
Presidency Of the United States, they
had control. The Federal judiciary
was theirs, both houses ofcopgress were
| theirs, and the executive was their
own. Whatever was done in that per
iod worthy of praise is due to that par.
ty, and I have yet to find a Republican
who does not say so. The converse il
equally so. Whatever in the period
worthy of reprobatlon was accomplish
ed the Republicans are responsible for
But, however inconsistent it may
seem, / must admit that, illogical1y
the Republicans deny my logic.
| In this latter period when the Re
publican party logically was respopsi
BILE for tile acts OF government. theil
congress granted to private individuals
and to corporations, out of the public
domain the immense aggregate O
| 163, $40. .9i4. And to corporations ano
all other persons combined the tota
aggregate of lS6, ,624, 4,177.66. A grant t
railway corporations in that time O
140. 538, ,477 acres, more than had in tn,
lpreceding eighty-five years beer
granted to the states or otherwise al
/ first hereinabove set out. Or total o
more by 1853, SIS, ,410 acres granted away
in that time by congress to du persons
free, than in eighty-five proceeding
years.
/ This is equivalent to having givei
away in that time fully eighteen acre.
for every voter there is in the United
States at the present time, or 10 carr,
the comparison further. in this periot
they gave away what belonged not Il
them but to the people, an equivalen
to thirty acres per head to every heat
of afamily in America to-day.
But let US look at their conduct II
giving away the peoples heritage OF
particular days. and when we examine
it at. short range we are more nearly
paralyzed a. its en- 1rmity.
On July 1st, 1862. they passed bill
which went into effect by which the,
gave away to the Union Pacific Rail
road Company II, ,OOo, 900 acres, besidel
) leiving then $64, ,0Oo. 900 in money as II
: Undue. ment to take it. And on th,
/ same day to the Denver and Kansal
{ Pacific Railroad 6, ,0O0, 900 acres. Max
ling total i'd one day Of Is, ,000. 900 acres
lltaken from the peoples property ami
given 10 Huntingdon, Stanford Crock
! er aud Flood. This one days work nnlJ