Year: 1870

ted, unless he becomes what IS termed il


vulgar parlance a land grabber," anC


makes his money off of his less fortunate


neighbor who comes on the scene a few
days or months later thsn himself. Where


there are neither, railroads are valueless
They cannot create or increase popula
ton. They can scatter it. They NAV
carry population to remote places and


enable it 10 live, but whatever these re


mote places gain by the transfer, either
IN wealth or population, other section:


of the country lose.


The nation itself gains nothing by the
change, but on the contrary suffers IN
I consequence, for it becomes necessary


to protect these weak and widely sepa-


rated settlements, this extended frontier.
/ at an expense of millions of dollars per


annum against the encroachments of the
/ savage, between whom and the settler
| there is continual feud.


| There may have been, and | think


was, some excuse for rendering Govern
ment assistance to the Union Pacific
| road, for It was of the highest import
ance to the nation that the States on the
Pacific slope should be connected BY rail
with those on the Atlantic, not only be-





/ ify the two widely separated sections of
the country, but because easy and speedy
/ communication would assist in an inter
change of products, which must add ma
terially to the wealth and general veal
of both.


While, therefore, it was, perhaps, well
for the nation to encourage, and, to
some extent, aid in the construction of
this great road. it does not by any means
follow that we should give subsidies to
all the projected roads to the Pacific which
come here clamoring for assistance. 1t
is said if we do not, the people will be
deprived of the benefits arising from
competing lines, and the Union Pacific
have monopoly of the carrying trade,
and thus be enabled to charge exorbi-
tant rates. To all this / answer, Con
gress should exercise its right to inter
fere IN behalf of the people, and fix by
law the rates of fare and freight which
this road shall charge.


The original grant to the Northern
Pacific, whereby forty-seven million
acres of the public domain were trans
ferred to a few men, and the additional
grants made during the present session,
to the same company, were simply a
wholesale robbery of the great body of
the American people, for which no valid
excuse can be framed. This infamous
outrage was Consummated at the solici-
tations of few men who expected, and
with good reason, to make princely for
tunes out of the transaction. do not
charge, nor do / wish to intimate, that
gentlemen on this floor had other than
what they regarded as a general interest
in the measures referred to. They doubt
less thought these grants were for the
public good They were he'd to under
estimate the value of these lands dona-
ted, and to overestimate the advantages
that would result to the country from the
construction of the road-errOrs of iudg-
ment simply, which must, nevertheless,
entail loss upon the people, the mag
nitude of which the majority of this
House, composed of men of both politi-
cal organizations, seemed utterly unable
to comprehend, but which the directors
of the company fully appreciated and
fairly estimated, when in an official re-
port they stated that the lands granted
to them by Congress were worth $3.50
OOO, 900 more than the entire cost of
building the road. So that, according
to their own testimony, the Government
has given them substantially railroad,
extending from the head of Lake Supe-
Tior two thousand miles across the CONT
nent to Puget Sound, and $3.50, 600, 900
What king or potentate Of feudal times,
or of any age, ever SO robbed his people
to enrich his favorites The poor man
who struggles a whole year to lay up
500 with which to purchase a home for
his family viii readily understand how
disinterested the men were who insisted
upon developing the wilderness by ac-
cepting so valuable franchise.


There are many bills of like character
on our files to-day awaiting the action of
the House Under the 9uise of develop
ing other sections of the country they
seek to enrich other coteries of specula-
tors by filching from the people territory
enough for an empire. They follow in
the wake of that gigantic fraud, the
Northern Pacific, and, if successful, will
be followed by still other schemes of
public plunder, all of which, however
Ubiquitous they may be, will have their
plausible and eloquent advocates in the /
Iobbies and corridors of this Capitol,
ready to oil the wheels Of legislation and
forward the work of spoilation. Have we
not done enough for monopolists and
spectators Would it not be well at
least to pause until we ascertain the ef-
feet of this legislation


The Union and Central Pacific are
now in operation, the Northern Pacific
will soon be under contract, and I doubt
not soon completed. If they accomplish
for the country all their friends predict,
and render to the people fair return for
the bounties bestowed, we may, per
haps, safely. grant subsidies to other
roads; but if, on the contrary, they de-
mand from the settler exorbitant prices
for the land which the Government has
given so freely; if they e>tort from tIze
farmer, mechanic, lumberman, and -
ner, for Transporting to market tl-s'r
products, all the profits of their toll if.
in short, they use the immense privileges |
and great power which Congress has
conferred to rob and impoverish those
who seek homes within their domain,
this Congress will have no cause to re-
gret that it did not endow any of the
other roads which are here clamoring
for aid.