The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-09-02
INEFFicIENcY IN GOVERNMENT
(By j. E. Jones)
Chapter IL.

Ohio, whose enabling act, adopted il
1902, contained a provision forming 8
sort of partnership in the proceeds O.
funds received from the sale of gov
eminent lands in that state. Congress
agreed that the money received nigh
be used for public roads. This was 2
hint to the canal builders, and in about
1920 canal grants were obtained from
the government for enterprises in
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The cana
builders were the first real p%lunderers
Of the public lands, and as far back as
a century ago they perfected schemes
by which they received two and one.
half sections in width on each side OF
the canal they built, the United States
reserving each alternate section. Be.
tween 1924 and 1880, 4,424,O73 acres
of public lands were voted by congress
for canal purposes. Search as dill.
gently as you will, and you will fail to
find most of these canals in operation,
or eve on the map.
The states of Wisconsin, Michigan
and Oregon evidently concluded that if
government lands were so easy to OBJ
tain for building canals in the eastern
states, that they might as we'll get
into the game, and as they were not
ready for canals, the next best thing
that presented itself was to build
wagon and military roads. Washing
ton put its O. X. on the suggestion
and the public lands were sold to pay
the bills. In the seven years between
1868 and 1870 these three states Sc
cured from the United States govern.
ment 1901 ,040 acres of government
land.
At the United States land Office |
learned that the grants by congress to
aid in the construction of railroads
amounted to 100, O0O, 900 acres. Be
causes of the grantees failing to build
their roads, $4,000 900 acres OF these
land grants were forfeited and revert
ed back to the government. The first
land grant vas made for building the
Illinois Central railroad ten years be-
fore the civil war, and it was only with
a great deal of difficulty that the little
town of Chicago was included in the
project, since it was so far up the
line. At the same time the petitioners
for the Illinois Central were edeavor-
ing to procure from the government
six sections of land in width on either
side of the road "and it's branches"
they succeeded in making the State of
Illinois eXpend a million dollars on the
enterprise. AS evidence that high
finance is not an entirely recent ac-
complishment, they finally got these
improvements along with their land
grants. Stephen A. Douglas denounc-
ed the original plan in the senate of
the United States, and exposed the cor
ruption and fraud by which it had been
carried on and approved by the Illi-
nois legislature.
But Douglas was the instrument thro
which a land grant was finally obtained
though in a modified form. When the
grant was finally voted by congress, it
carried with it 2,595,053 acres, but the
State of Illinois held a sort of co-part-
nership in the railroad enterprise, and,
counting the great development that
followed, it is doubtful whether the
state suffered any great injury. Doug
las rather prided himself upon his &C.
complishment, and wrote a story of
his generalship, r%ecounting' how he
played both ends against the middle,
as was customary in the political man.
euvers of those days.
OF course the greatest acreage vas
voted in connection with the trans
centennial lines, and when the Union
Pacific and the Central Pacific rail
roads met and were joined at Ogden,
Utah. in 1862, it constituted an epoch
in the history of the United States.
But when the land grants were doubled
for the Union Pacific and the Northern
Pacific, and the railroad enterprise was
given ten sections Of land for every
mile of railroad, then it became a
question whether or not the devices of
the railroads had not so manipulated
the machinery Of congress as to de-
prive the government of a good many
millions of dollars worth of its lands
to which they were entitled. Douglas
had a theory that the existing mini
mum price Of government land for pri-
vate entry, which had been $1.25 an
acre, should be increased along the
lines Of railroad grants to $3.50 an
acre. Since the usual procedure in
these railroad grants was to allow the
even sections to the railroads and re-
tain the odd sections to the govern
ment, or vice versa, 1t might appear