Year: 1879

LAND GRANT SUBSIDIES.





We anticipate that at the next meeting o


Congress some definite action will be takel


on extending the time and fixing the term


for the construction of the North Pacific rail


road. What those terms are to be is a matte


of Importance to the whole country, but O


the highest importance to US. The position


of the company will doubtless be that they


have been prevented from living up to th'


letter of the agreement by circumstances be


yond human control, and that now they hav.


recovered strength and credit and have re


sumed work, they should be granted an ex


tension pure and simple with all the benefit!


of the old land subsidy unchanged. They


will plead, too, that no cash subsidy or bono


subsidy, nearly the same, such as was giver


to the Union Pacific is asked, though the en-


terprise promises as rich returns to the


general welfare. The old story that giving


away alternate sections of land and doubling


the price of those reserved costs the govern.


ment nothing, is better understood now than


when first introduced. Directly it does moi
cost the government, but indirectly it does
cost full three times as much as is asked or is
intended to bestow. The worst part of the
whole transaction is that the government
gives not Out of its own treasury, but out of
the pockets of settlers. The man who buys
quarter section of the government at So so
per acre, pays for another quarter section
given to the railroad. But when this land
gets into the hands of the railroad COMPANY
1t is no longer open to settlement by the first
conner On the same terms as government land.
but generally at from $4 per acre upwards.
1t is vain to say that this does not interfere
with and delay the settlement of a country.
Montana would have many hundreds more of
settlers to-day but for the fact that the con-
tlngent claim of the North Pacific company
has kept one-half of its best and most avail
able lands out of market. 1t is time that the
operation of these land subsidies should be
understood. In the first place the grant is
altogether out of proportion to the cost of
building railroad. If we count the value Of
the land grant to the North Pacific company
at 40 sections for every mile, would amount
to %, 600 acres of land which at the average
price charged by the company, 81 per acre,
would come to $1O9, 400 per mile. Even if
we counted this land at only 50 per acre it
would yield the company $51 200 per mile
which is three times the total cost of con-
struction and equipment


Jesse L. Williams, government director
and competent engineer, gave the estimated
cash cost of the Union Pacific road at only
$35, 900 per mile, a sum considerably less
than the value of the lands granted, to say
nothing of the bonds issued besides. The
cost of building roads now is iscertainlyles by
one-half. In fact We understand that the
company is now contracting for its grad
ing::at the rate Of $4,000 per mile, and it
cannot cost more than $1s,000 per mile to
put down ties and rails and equip the road
for running. What is the justice then in
government paying or allowing the poor SET
tiers of its wilderness to pay six times at least
the total cost of building and equipping
railroad? 1t would be more sensible and just
to give outright to the company the fair cash
cost of building the railroad, and retain in
its own hands the lands which at its own
minimum price of 81 rs per acre would pay
more than twice the total cost Of tho road.
Certainly any railroad company ought to be
satisfied with having its road built and equip
ped and presented to it free of COST And
government ought to care enough for the
welfare of its own citizens not to allow them
to be taxed for an enterprise, no matter how
beneficial, several times more than the actual
cost. 1t may not come out of the govern
ment treasury, but it comes out of the pockets
of the people who can poorly afford to spare
it. Besides, as we have often shown before,
it delays the settlement of the country, and
actually delays the construction of the road.
It is a curse to everybody. 1t leads to the in
dation of the ccmpany's capital. the watering
of stock and the attempt to make the rates
high enough to pay dividends on capital
from three to six times a. large as it has any
business to be. The government could plead |
ignorance as an excuse for its lavish folly |
towards the Union Pacific, but it is impossible |
now with it's experience and knowledge to |
use such plea any longer. Let it resume its !
land grant entire. which has SO long been |
forfeited, and grant instead q cash subsidy |
sufficient to build the road ascertained BY its |
own engineers, and BY the most direct and
available route also ascertained by ito own
enpineers. Then let II raiso the price of its |