Year: 1870

II
The Senate having under consider


alton the bill (S. No. 1850 granting
lanis to aid the construction Of a rail
road and telegraph line from Port


land to- Astoria and MeMinnyilles il
the State of Oregon on-.gs3,egs -.fl,.
Mr.. Thurman said:


Mr. President. regret that ] am


compelled to speak on this bill, if


am to speak on it ut all, in a state OF


such Ill health Us almost to disqualify


me from saying q word but i feel Il


a duty that I owe to my. Constituent


to oppose the land grant contained in


this bill, and 30 state as briefly as


may be able to do the reasons of my


opposition. IF r needed any justif.


cation for occupying the time of the


Senate on this subject, I might find


it in the resolutions of the General


Assembly of my State, passed by an
almost or quite unanimous vote, re-
questing her Senators to oppose all
grants of land TO railroad companies,


for reasons that are forcibly stated in


those resolutions; and now embrace


the first opportunity that I have to
comply with that request and l do
it the more, willingly becauge those
resolutions coincide with the dictates
of my own Judgment, and because in


the case in which, the question arises
is one in which, perhaps, some i'm
provements have been made upon the
land7grant Lills that have heretofore
passed, and therefore the bill makes
az good q test case as any that viii
be likely to como benre Congress for
its consideration. = 80 -. - -
!. Although this Is bill TO- grant 10
q little corporation, as it has been
called, in the State Of Oregon, cor
poration chartered to build a railroad
of only one hundred miles in length,
with a branch Of thirty miles, a land


subsidy for that purpose and it may,
therefore, to those who do not take
time to consider it. seem small affair
in view of the mighty grants that
have been heretofore made; yet beg
Senators to mark the fact that this


bill proposes to grant to the State
corporation more than twice as much
land as is contained in the whole State
of Rhode Island, one-fourth more
land than is contained IN the whole
State of Delnwaae. This little State
corporation, If this bill passes, for this
little road of one hundred miles, with
a branch of thirty miles. is to receive
from the bounty of the United States
q territory more than twice as great
as one of the States of this Union.


Now, It does seem to me that that
Is matter which should arrest our
attention that we should not iconsid-
er it light or trifiing affair, whether
We shall give to q mere private corpora
tion, created by State, an extent OF
territory twice as great as that of one
of the sovereign States Of the Union.


But before ! proceed to consider
the policy of these grants, / wish to
make some observations that are per
tinent to this bill alone, to. suggest
some objections that shall look, with
great interest to see whether they
can be answered or .not-objections
that stand wholly. apart from the
question whether the policy OF making
these iand-subsidies Is goad pol 'cy
OF, not I have said that this is a.
created under the laws of
Oregon, and not under any law of the
Unified States. I suppose there is
no lawyer on. this floor who, needs to
be told that q corporation possesses
no powers, no faculties whatsoever,
except such as are conferred upon it
by the law of its creation. The. first
point, therefore. which I make in re-
spect to this bill, after having careful
" read the charter in the statutes of
Oregon, Is that there is nowhere gwen
to this company in its charter any
faculty of receiving or holding any
such donation as this. 1t has not the
legal capacity to take the grant and
therefore, if the grant were. made to-
day, it would in legal contempiation
be wholly imperative, -


/ admit that the Legislature Of Or
sgon, might confer that faculty upon
Il subsequently, and then It might ae.
,ept the grant but at the time !
speak this corporation has no power
whatever that enables it to accept
his grant and become the owner. of
This property: Its faculties are very |
Iimited.' The railroad law of that
State, which I have read with care
his morning, seems to have been
drawn with studied purpase of con-
ining such corporations within very