CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (TnE PUBLIC LANDS.) 



215 



House passed, by a vote of 139 to 26, a bill de- 

 claring forfeited the Oregon Central Railroad 

 grant made by the act of May 4, 1870, passed 

 " to aid in the construction of a railroad and 

 telegraph line from Portland to Astoria and 

 McMinneville, in the State of Oregon." The 

 Senate let the measure severely alone. June 

 6, the House passed a bill declaring forfeited 

 lands granted by the act of July 25, 1864, to 

 aid in the construction of a railroad from the 

 Central Pacific Railroad in California to Port- 

 land, Oregon. No action was taken by the 

 Senate on the measure. June 20, the House 

 passed a bill declaring forfeited all unearned 

 lands granted by the act of May 12, 1864, to 

 the State of Iowa, to aid in the construction of 

 a railroad within its limits, and granted by the 

 State Legislature to the Sioux City and St. 

 Paul Railroad Company. The Senate let the 

 bill sink out of sight. June 26, the House re- 

 jected, after a long debate, an act to repeal 

 section 22 of the act to incorporate the Texas 

 Pacific Railroad Company, approved March 3, 

 1871, and to declare forfeited the land grant 

 made therein. The section gave to the New 

 Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Vicksburg Railroad 

 Company, chartered by the State of Louisiana, 

 a right to connect with the eastern terminus 

 of the Texas Pacific Railroad by the most eli- 

 gible route, with right of way through the 

 public lands and alternate sections of public 

 lands in Louisiana, to the same extent per mile 

 as granted by the act to the Texas Pacific in 

 the State of California. There were measures 

 introduced in the Senate for the forfeiture of 

 the unearned lands granted to the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad Company, but nothing was 

 done with them. Both House and Senate 

 passed, on June 7 and June 16 respectively, a 

 bill for the forfeiture of all unearned lands 

 granted to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad 

 by the act of July 27, 1866, except the right 

 of way and lands for stations. The original 

 grant was made " to aid in the construction of 

 a railroad and telegraph line from the States 

 of Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific coast." 

 The measure as passed by the House was 

 amended in the Senate by the addition of pro- 

 visions for the settlement of disputes as to 

 title, and then passed; but the bill was not 

 brought to completion. 



June 18, the House passed a bill to amend 

 an act entitled 



" An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and 

 telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific 

 Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of 

 the same for postal, military, and other purposes," 

 approved July 1, 1862: also to amend an act ap- 

 proved July 2, 1864, and also an act approved May 7, 

 1878, both in amendment of said first-mentioned act. 



After reciting the failure of various subsi- 

 dized railroad companies to fulfill their obli- 

 gations, the bill enacted that the provisions of 

 the Thurraan sinking-fund act be extended to 

 the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company, the 

 JSioux City and Pacific Railroad Company, and 



the Central Branch of the Union Pacific Rail- 

 road; that the Secretary of the Treasury be 

 allowed to invest the sinking fund in first- 

 mortgage bonds of the various railroad com- 

 panies or in United States securities; that 

 there shall be carried to the credit of the sink- 

 ing fund, on the first of February each year 

 by the Central Pacific Railroad, an amount, 

 variously made up,, aggregating 55 per cent, of 

 the net earnings of the road for the previous 

 year ; by the Union Pacific, an amount aggre- 

 gating 35 per cent. ; by the Kansas Pacific, 

 amounts aggregating to 45 per cent. ; by the 

 Central Branch Union Pacific, amounts aggre- 

 gating 35 per cent. ; by the Sioux City, amounts 

 aggregating 35 per cent. ; that in cases where 

 the residue of the net earnings is insufficient 

 to pay the interest on obligations paramount 

 to those of the United States, the Secretary of 

 the Treasury remit sufficient of the amount 

 levied for the sinking fund to pay such in- 

 terest; that on or before January, 1885, the 

 Central Pacific pay into the sinking fund 

 $5,000,000, the Union Pacific $5,000,000, the 

 Kansas Pacific $2,000,000, the Sioux City 

 $500,000, and the Central Branch $500,000, 

 subject, however, to certain deductions for 

 services rendered ; that none of these roads shall 

 pay a dividend at any time when it is behind- 

 hand in its obligations to the United States, 

 or its obligations on claims paramount to those 

 of the United States, and, in case of any such 

 payment, the dividend may be recovered by the 

 United States from the stockholder who re- 

 ceived it, and the directors who voted it shall 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor ; that the 

 sinking fund shall be used to redeem bonds of 

 the United States issued in aid of the railroads, 

 and to pay off all lawful liens and mortgages 

 in order of priority; that the sums required 

 by the act to be paid shall be considered a lien 

 upon the roads and their property ; and that 

 the failure of any of the railroad companies to 

 comply with the terms of the act shall be con- 

 sidered, after the lapse of six months, a for- 

 feiture of all its franchises derived from the 

 United States. On this measure the Senate 

 took no action. 



The Public Lands. January 21, Mr. Holm an, 

 of Indiana, brought forward in the House the 

 following resolutions, moving the suspension 

 of the rules for their passage : 



Resolved. That in the judgment of this House all 

 the public lands heretofore granted to States and cor- 

 porations to aid in the construction of railroads, so far 

 as the same are now subject to forfeiture by reason of 

 the non-fulfillment of the conditions on which the 

 grants were made, ought to be declared forfeited to 

 the United States, and restored to the public domain. 



Resolved, That it is of the highest public interest 

 that the laws touching the public lands should be so 

 framed and administered as to ultimately secure free- 

 hold therein to the greatest number of citizens ; and 

 to that end all laws facilitating speculation in the pub- 

 lic lands, or authorizing or permitting the entry or 

 purchase thereof in large bodies, ought to be repealed, 

 and all of the public lands adapted % to > agriculture 

 (subject to bounty grants, and those iii aid of educa- 



