Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1894-06-09
Special Correspondence.

entire nation is directed toward the pro-
posed Union. Pacific legislation by con-
gress which proposes to fund the Pacific
railroad debts by making those obliga-
tons payable hundred years off at two
per cent During the past few days it
has been noticed that the bill as report
ed by the committee is not satisfactory
to G. P. Huntington, as he thinks that
it does not give the stockholders in
those roads enough chance to rob the
people. Huntington and the Hopkins,
the Croker ard the Stanford estates
have several hundred million dollars
which have been made by those men
out of the opportunities afforded by the
general government already, and yet
these people are not satisfied. They and
their estates are now under the laws of
California to the extent of these great
fortunes and if there is not some means
soon provided by congress for their re-
lief they will soon have to disgorge some
of the millions they have stolen. At
mass meeting just held in San Francisco,
the preamble to the resolutions recited
the fact that the present bill, although
not yet satisfactory to G. P. Huntington,
would provide for an out and out gift to
the Union Pacific OF over seventy-five
million dollars. The resolutions declar-
ed that the bill was huge job and that
if the proper investigation was had it
would develope the largest corruption
fund outside of the sugar trust.
The great Union Pacific railroad cor
poration came into existence at the time
the government found it necessary to
cause the construction of railroad
across the plains and mountains in or
der to avoid the delays occasioned blythe
six months trip overland or around the
Horn. In 1862 congress passed an act
to "Aid in the construction of a railroad
and telegraph line from the Missouri
river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure
to the government the use of same for
postal, military and other purposes. !"
The act granted the right of way through
public lands; gave earth, stone, timber,
etc., on adjacent lands to aid in con-
struction; gave alternating sections of
land for ten miles on each side of the
road; gave $4,000 six per cent thirty
year bonds per mile and trebled that
amount in the mountain section; in
1864 the land grant was double in width
and the expense of the surveying charg-
ed to the road. The provisions for all
this assistance were that the interest on
the bonds were to be paid semi-annually;
that the government was to have the
first mortgage on all the road, telegraph
lines, rolling stock, and every other
kind or description of property, and in
case the company at any time failed or
refused to comply with all these condi-
tions, the secretary OF the treasury was
to take possession for the use and bene-
fit of the government.
The corporation known as the Union
Pacific railroad was always foreign in
stitution so far as Kansas is concerned.
Yet it secured control of the Kansas Pa
cifc road, 694 miles long, and in the
most arbitrary manner proceeded to OPP
crate the same in violation and constant
defiance of the laws and the state con-
stitution of Kansas. The road simply
gobbled up the old Kansas Pacific and
rushed into the state, took possession
and carried on the business with the
same indifference to the courts and laws
of Kansas as if the property had been
located in the Sandwich Islands. This
caused quo warranto suit to be insti-
tuted in the supreme court of the state
on July 1, 1884, but after a long fight
the road removed the suit to the federal
court, and it was finally forced to a COM
promise against the state.
The records of the land Office show
that the total land grants to this cor
poration amounted to 35, 49,, 1888 acres.
The road was assessed by the govern
ment to the amount of 81 mills per acre
for the surveying fee. This on the ag-
gregate amounted to quite a sum, and
it was not paid except where the pur-
chasers from the road forced it to pay
the fees, as the land department would
not issue a land patent without this fee
being paid Thus it was that few
years ago the company had about three
million acres of land in this state on
which no tax could be collected although
it had long ago ceased to be government
land. By refusing to pay this small
surveying fee they were barred by the
terms of the land grant from securing a
patent, and as long as no patent was is-
sued the land was supposed not to be
subject to taxation. Thus this foreign
corporation, which has persistently de-
fed the laws and courts of this state,
avoided the payment of its proportion of
taxes on over three million acres of land
in this state for over fifteen years. The
records show that the land it sold to
settlers brought an average of $471 per
acre, and yet it refused to pay the 27
mill fees.
There is not only rich field for a
thorough congressional investigation,
but there is fund of interesting reading
for the voters and tax payers of Kansas,
in this Union Pacific railroad and its
high handed work in Kansas. The cold
fact is that if justice could be secured
this company would be forcibly kicked
ont of tho state of KanSas az If has no