RAILROAD LAND GRANTS. 103 



I will therefore say, one half is bought from a railroad 

 corporation and the other half is absorbed from the 

 lands contiguous. The purchaser runs his plow 

 through the government, or absorbed, sections, and 

 thus takes possession. No one can reach those sec- 

 tions without crossing the lands that have been 

 bought from the railroad corporations, and thus com- 

 mitting trespass. The only even sections that I have 

 seen where there was even a pretense of respect for 

 the people's rights, have been the school sections, 

 numbered sixteen and thirty-six, which the adjoin- 

 ing proprietors say they will purchase when offered, 

 but in the mean time take possession of. 



The local courts confirm the possession and punish 

 the trespass, and thus the title is quieted. Inasmuch 

 as these proceedings are thus legalized it can not be 

 stealing nor robbery. But somehow the people have 

 lost all rights and monopoly is triumphant. 



When the noncapitalist, or would be small farmer, 

 finds a government section that is not covered as 

 above described, he can obtain only what the law al- 

 lows at the cost of two dollars and fifty cents an acre, 

 instead of one dollar and twenty-five cents, as for- 

 merly. Or if he desires some of the railroad lands he 

 must pay whatever the cupidity or power of extortion 

 on the part of the corporations may compel ; often 

 amounting to ten, fifteen or more dollars per acre. 

 For as settlements and society advance, the value of 

 the land is enhanced ; and this enhanced value, cre- 

 ated by society, is the premium which the corpora- 

 tions are sure to extort. 



They fill the countries of Europe with their agents 



