The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-03-17
xEIEN OWNERSHIP or LAND

XElEN OWNERSHIP OF LAND.
n Subject for Immediate Serious and
Earnest Consideration.
One of the demands of the Alliance
is that alien ownership of land should
be prohibited. Perhaps''we have not
seen the Importance of this demand
as we think we have of some others.
The subject is worth our most seri-
GUS and earnest consideration. We
do not propose here and now to enter
into an exhaustive discussion of the
question, but simply to call your at
tention to the report made to the
Fifty-first congress'by the judiciary
committee, which had been instruct
ed to investigate and report ito that
body the extent of alien ownership of
land in this country. In this report,
No 1883, first session of the Fifty
first congress, we find the following:
Your committee has ascertained
with reasonable certainty that GER
tain noted men-principally English
men-have acquired and now own in
the aggregate about 21,OOO,OOO acres
of land Within. the United States.
Now mark you, says the Progress
i've. Farmer, these are English noble
men. and they have acquired the
land. and it is in large bodies.
The report says further:
We have not sufficient information
to state the quantity owned by I'M
titled aliens, nor is this so important,
as it is generally held in smaller
bodies. This alien nonresident
ownership will, in the course of time,
lead to. a system of land-lordism in
compatible with the best interests
and free institutions of the United
States The foundation of such a
system is being laid broadly in the
Western states and terri tories. A
considerable number of immigrants
annually arriving in this country are
to. become tenants and herdsmen of
the vast possessions of these foreign
lords under contracts made and en-
tered into before they sail for our
shores.
The avarice and enterprise of Euro
pean capitalists have caused them to
invest in American railroads and land
bonds, covering perhaps 100000, 900
acres, the great part of which, under
foreclosure sale, will most likely be-
fore many years become the property
Of those foreign bondholders in
addition to their present princely
possessions. It is thus manifest that
if the present large alien ownership
is an evil, of which we have no doubt,
the probabilities of the near future
will still more imperatively demand
legislation for it's prevention This
aggressive foreign capital is not con-
fined to lands it has purchased, but
overlapping it's boundaries has caused
hundreds of miles of public domain
to be fenced up for the grazing OF
vast herds of cattle, and set at de-
tiance the rights of the honest hut
humble settler.
The committee cites one instance
in which Mr.. Scully. subject OF the
queen and residing in England, owns
10000 acres of land in Illinois, ten
anted by ignorant foreigners from
whom he receives 5000, 600 per annum
| and expends it in England; and an
other instance, the Scheu1ey's estate
in Pennsylvania, from which they
draw annual rentals of not less than
100000, and says, mo other nation
in the world allows subjects of other
governments to acquire such posses
sions within it's jurisdiction. We
/ present these extracts from this re-
port to show that those who are in
power now know full well what is go
ing on. They see the danger and
cannot shirk it. This report was
made by Mr.. Oates, of Alabama, and
he closes it with these words, which
are. as true as gospel:
! With the natural increase in popu.
lation and the $780, foreigners who
flock to our shores annually and by
competition are reducing the wages
OF labor, the battle .of life is made
harder to win How, q few years
hence, to provide homes for our poor
people is problem for the Ameri-
canstatesman to solve. The multi.
plication, of the owners Of the soil is
a corresponding enlargement of the
number of patriots, and every land.
lord in this country should owe al
legiance to the United States.
Now, we wish our people to see
and to know that the party now in
| power sees and knows, and tally cou-
pfehends the meaning of this and
other demands we make, and we
wish the people to keep an eye on
them and see if they will show them