People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-04-01


to give some facts in regard to allen
ownership of land in this country, as
they may benefit many readers of the
VOICE, who otherwise might not see
them. And again. as the land ques-
ton is one of our great issues, it may
be well for us to keep posted on these
matters, so that when attacked by the
old parties, we may be able to refute
them by plain facts.
1t is well known that for years it has
been the custom of the representatives
of the people in the United States con-
greSs to make large grants of land, not
only to home corporations, but to leg
iSlate in such a manner that aliens.
foreigners, might get possession of
large tracts of the public domain,
which the ninth article of the platform
adopted at st. Louis, February %,
holds to be the heritage of the people.
Here it is:
"The land, including all the natural
resources of wealth, is the heritage of
the people and should not be mOnOpo-
lized for speculative purposes and alien
ownership Ofland should be prohibited.
All land now held by railroads and
other corporations in excess of their
actual needs and all lands now held by
aliens should be reclaimed by the gov
eminent and held for actual settle
ment."
But what are the facts in the case ?
Laws have been passed creating cor
pOrationS. Large tracts of land have
been given them gratuitOuSly. Char
tiers have been granted to railroads
built by foreign capital and laws have
been passed year after year by which
foreigners have been enabled to gain
large possessions on American soil,
until today thousands of American
born citizens are not able to procure a
home. In the name of justice we ask,
is this rightH Many of them own
thousands of acres, which, through
agents, they are renting to poor ten
ants, from whom they exact the last
penny they can get for rent; and upon
which lands they will not erect COM
Portable houses, that the poor tenant,
his wife and little one may be sheltered
from the bowling blasts of winter,
while they are lords and mobiles, living
in SplendOr and fattening upon the i'll
gotten gain they have stolen from the
poor tenant.
Do not think the picture Overdrawn,
dear reader. 1t is only too true. Lit
tie do those who are not well Informed
on this point know of the suffering
and restitution to be found in our land.
l propose giving some figures which
will show the facts as they exist.
Over 100000 acres in our United
States are owned by men holding high
official positions in foreign govern
mentS; 100000 are owned by rail
roads, controlled by foreign capital,
while private citizens of European
countries own 100000 more; 10000
600 acres, making an area four times as
large as the state of Pennsylvania, an
empire in itself and yet all under con-
troll of a foreign power and foreign
capital. Large quantities of it are in
cultivation in the Mississippi valley
and much in the gulf states.
The men who cultivated are some of
them foreigners and tenant farmers
but very many of them are citizens of
American birth and paying tribute to
lords and dukes, many of them, in
many instances, lords and dukes of the
British empire. Is it any wonder that
we howl at this state of affairs?
Suppose we allow 100000 acres as
all necessary for the actual necessities
of railroads and corporations, or to be
fair we will say 100000. Then out
of the 100000 acres held by foreign
ers, we would have 100000 left for
home for american citizens. Now
suppose Uncle Sam gave every man
100 acres; this would give homes to
$4,000 men. Or suppose every man to
get 50 acres this would give homes to
10000 men. But we will give every
man 100 acres and this will do away
with many homeless families. We
hold this to be right, that Americans
should own American soil 1t is one
of our great cardinal principles and
one for which we will fight to the bit
ter end. Many of the great corpora
lions created by our laws have sold
out to foreign capitalists, until today
foreign capital virtually controls many
of the great industries of our country.
These things cannot always be so. We
will be free. D. T. ROSE.