Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-07-25
WAVERLAND.
A Tale OF Our Coming Landlords.
BY SARAH MABIE BRIGHAM.
Copyrighted 1886.
CHATTER w. CONTINUED.

sit has not been three years since / first
! located these lands. Then l was far in ad-
vance of civilization, but now IL has gone
way beyond me. If Lord Sanders had not
come with me should never have got pos
session of so much land all in one body as
have it now"
"I was just going to ask you how you
got possession of so much land.
'There are two classes Of land open to
settlers: railroad lands and government
lands. The railroad lands bought by the
section was told that no foreigner could
obtain lands from the government in any
form, but Lord Sanders understood the
ways of the land Office and helped
me. There are three forms by which
! government land can be obtained, home
stead, pre-emption and timber claims.
Homestead laws give to each head or
the family right to enter a quarter sec
ton by living on it five years and then
proving up. The presumption laws re-
| quire the applicant to till the soil and pay
from one dollar and twenty-five cents to
two dollars and fifty cents per acre, ac-
cording TO the location. And the timber
claim allows quarter section to the quail
fled man or woman who pays fourteen dol
lars and breaks five acres the first year,
cultivates it the second and plants either
seeds or cuttings for timber until he can
show some six thousand living trees on the
land he claims"
"Well, you could not comply with any OF
those requirements, could your"
THAT is where Lord Sanders helped me.
! We thought of every name we could and
then went to the land office, and, with the
aid of a good bonus, we had names enough
/ entered TO take up the alternate sections
| Then, as soon as my tenants came, each
one was placed on the desired quarter sec
ton and began to cultivate it. When the
time comes for proving up it can be shown
that the lands have changed hands and
are in the hands of actual settlers l shall
enter it in each tenants name and pay all
the fees and rent the lands to them, while
they transfer to me the fee simple"
Now l see how you manage it. But
should think the American people would
object to foreigners coming here and hold
| ing so much land"
"They are always glad to have foreign
ers come and make actual settlement and
my tenants will qualify just as soon as
possible; then there can be no objection to
them. And the railroad lands we can buy
as much Of as we like; though some wild
/
IL understand that Englishmen now
own about twenty million acres in the
United States"
II believe that is true We are gaining
the lands our fathers lost without fighting
any bloody battles for them"
II remember reading in an English pa
per before l left home that NO matter
what course Congress may take TO prevent
it, the inheritance of the American people
will yet come into the possession of the
English nobility Now | see what it
meant. But some are working to defeat
your plans"
II do not wonder that the American
people are waking up TO the truth of the
situation. English and Scotch landlords
already own rs much land in America as
the entire state of New York"
Here is piece of ground that must
have been under cultivation before you saw
it," | said, as we came TO an old log cabin.
Eyes, Waverland, that l bought of an
old man who had lived here number of
years. When l fenced my property he
found himself without highway"
But you had no right 10 do that"
"The COW boys l had here herding my
stock made him feel little uneasy"
"Then you forced the old man to leave
this beautiful piece of ground where he
had toiled to start homer" l asked.
81 bought HIM out" said the duke,
wincing under the word force.
"Did you pay him for his improve
ments?"
mo, could not afford TO do that. paid
him the same that l paid for railroad
lands"
"Then his two or three years hard work
went for nothing
HE had one or two good crops from the
land"
'1 think the equal rights to ALI clause
in the American constitution has been
abolished and might makes right has
been inserted in its stead"
"You are right in that, Waverland. Tile
boosted liberty of America is only in the
name. when they submit to being gov
erned by money, backed up by physical
force. Just look at Jay Gould; he counts
his wealth by the hundreds of millions!
When he wants TO steal anything by law
he finds plenty to help him. Liberty, in.
deedl It's all boshv'
81 do not wonder that we hear of riots
and strikes. No one would object to his
great wealth If he would allow fair wages
| to his employees But when, month after
month, he cuts down their wages few
cents at n time, until starvation is Mt their
doors, am not surprised that they rebel.
Then have heard that his men are COM
PEELED to pay monthly tax to establish
and maintain hospital fund, under Mr..
Jay Goulds finely organized system OF
tyranny" / said as we started for our
little boarding house after long ride in
this dukedom.
Thus riding and chatting from day to
day, sometimes on horseback, sometimes
on wheels, but always in hunting suit;
with game bag dogs, servants, and guns,
we spent two weeks on the dukes great
estate. IL is in extent about twenty-five
miles wide by fifty long, equaling in size
4 about two counties of the common size in
Kansas, Illinois, or Nebraska, n medium
principally in Germany, or a small duke
dom in England. 1t is huge joke on the
American theory of liberty and equal
tights.
CHAPTER xv.-A DOUBLE MEETING.
From the Duke of Melvorne's great es-
I tatQ I'm noloto xs-o want oo,tI, f1,r,1,C1, fha