CONGRESS. (DEB MOINES RIVEK LANDS.) 



251 



July 1, the question of passing the bill over 

 the President's veto came up in the House. 

 In the debate on the subject Mr. Payson, of Illi- 

 nois, said: 



" There are three classes of persons inter- 

 ested in these lands amounting to some 271,- 

 000 acres, that will be affected by this bill. 

 There are, first, the men who claim under the 

 navigation company, who are in possession and 

 that nobody has claimed adversely to ; there is 

 a second set of people in possession under the 

 general land law; and, third, a set of men 

 claiming under the State of Iowa as remote 

 grantees from the Des Moines Navigation Com- 

 pany. Now, what does the bill propose ? It 

 settles the titles of the first and last named 

 classes in possession, and provides that the ti- 

 tle of everybody in the Des Moines Navigation 

 Company and its grantees, not in possession, 

 that their title shall be validated. 



" It provides, secondly, that those who are 

 in possession claiming as grantees of the Des 

 Moiues Railroad and Navigation Company or 

 as grantees from the State of Iowa shall have 

 their title validated. And as to the other class, 

 those who are claiming in good faith under the 

 general land laws of the United States, it is 

 provided that they shall be permitted to assert 

 their rights in court. This bill does not seek 

 to interfere with the title of any man whatever 

 which does not clash with that of a settler. It 

 does not presume that the title of the railroad 

 and navigation company is invalid. It leaves 

 all that question for judicial determination 

 where it interferes with a settler's title. But 

 the officers of the Interior Department have 

 failed hitherto, and still fail, to remove the 

 state of reservation. An act of Congress which 

 was passed in 1853 provides in substance that 

 wherever an entry is made on public lands in 

 good faith and the land is then in a state of 

 reservation and when that state of reservation 

 shall afterward be removed, the rights of these 

 people shall be respected. 



"It is provided that under that statute these 

 men may be allowed and permitted to go into 

 court and set up their homestead and pre-emp- 

 tion rights as against the railroad and naviga- 

 tion company. This is all the bill purports to 

 do, and the only other thing that can result 

 from the passage of this bill is the inconven- 

 ience of a lawsuit to the Des Moines Railroad 

 and Navigation Company. In one side of the 

 balance are the interests of twelve hundred 

 American citizens who rely upon the promise 

 which was made to them by those on whom 

 they had a right to rely, the officers of the In- 

 terior Department. Relying upon that prom- 

 ise, they went out upon the frontier at an ear- 

 ly day and braved the dangers and endured 

 the hardships and privations of a frontier life. 

 They paid their money into the treasury for 

 the land on which they are living. That is one 

 side of the balance. On the other side there is 

 the inconvenience of a lawsuit to a corporation 

 which has set up a claim to 270,000 acres of 



land to which, in my judgment, it has no more 

 right legally or equitably than I have to the 

 desk under my hand. 



" That is the case in a nutshell. Nobody pre- 

 tends to gainsay it. I know what will be the 

 argument on the other side, and the President 

 of the United States intimates it in his mes- 

 sage. The doors of the courts are open if 

 these people have any legal rights, and he asks 

 why they did not come in an assert them. In 

 this he studiously avoids the proposition that 

 under existing law the doors of the courts are 

 shut to the people because of the state of res- 

 ervation in which these lands have been for all 

 these years." 



The motion to override the President's veto 

 failed by the following vote less than two 

 thirds voting in the affirmative : 



YEAS G. E. Adams, J. M. Allen.J. A. Anderson, 

 Atkinson, Barker, Barksdale, Barry,Blayne, Bingham, 

 Bland, Bound, Boutelle, Brady, T. M. Browne, 0. E. 

 Brown, Brumrn. Buck, Burnes, Burrows, Butterworth, 

 Bynum, Caldweil, J. M. Campbell, J. E. Campbell, Can- 

 non, Carleton, Caswell, Cobb, Conger, Grain, Culber- 

 son, Cutcheon, Daniel, Davis, Dingley, Dockery, Dor- 

 sey, Dunham, Eldredge, Ely, Everhart, Farquhar, Fel- 

 tpn, Fisher, Fleeger, i rederick, Fuller, Funston, Gal- 

 linger, Geddes, Gimllan, Grosvenor, Grout, Guenther, 

 Harmer, Hatch, Hayden, D. B. Henderson, T. J. Hen- 

 derson, Henley, Hepburn, Hermann, Hiestand, Hires, 

 Holman, Holmes, Hopkins, Jackson, James, J. H. 

 Jones, Kelley, Kleiner, Laffopn, La Follette, Laird, 

 Lanham, Lawler, Lehlbach, Libbey, Lindsley, Little, 

 Long, Louttit, Loury, Lyman, Markharn, Matson, 

 Maybury, McComas, McKenna, McKinley, Millikcn, 

 Mills, Moffatt, Morgan, Morrill, Morrow, Murphy, 

 Neal, Neece, Negley, Nelson, O'Donnell, O'Hara, 

 Charles O'Neill, Owen, Payne, Payson, Perkins, Pe- 

 ters, Pettibone, Pirce, Price, Eeagan, T. B. Eeed, Rice, 

 Rockwell, Romeis, Rowell, Ryan, Bayers, Sessions, 

 Skinner, Spooner, Steele, Stephenson, Charles Stew- 

 art, E. F. Stone,W. J. Stone of Missouri, Strait, Stru- 

 ble, Swinburne, Symes, Tarsney, Taulbce, E. B. Tay- 

 lor, I. H. Taylor, J. M. Taylor, Zachary Taylor, 0. 



B. Thomas, Tillman, Townshend, Van Eaton. Van 

 Schaick,Wade,Wadswortb,WaitWakeneld, A. J. War- 

 ner, William Warner, J. B. Weaver, Weber, Well- 

 born, West, A. C. White, Milo White, Wilkins, Wi- 

 nans, Wise, Wolford,Woodburn,Worthington 162. 



NAYS J. J. Adams, C.M. Anderson, Barnes, Beach, 

 Belmont, Bennett, Blanchard, Blount. Boyle, Bragg, 



C. R. Breckinridge, W. C. P. Breckinridge, CabeU, 

 Candler, Cowles Cox, Crisp. Curtin, Dargan Daven- 



Krt, A. C. Davidson, R. H. M. Davidson, Dibble, 

 )ugherty, Dowdney, Dunn, Ermentrout, Findlay, 

 Ford. Forney, C. H. Gibson, Hale, Halsell, Ham- 

 mond, J. S. Henderson, Herbert, Hewitt, Hill, How- 

 ard, Hudd, Hutton, Irion, F. A. Johnson. T. D. John- 

 ston, Ketcham, Lore, Martin, McAdoo, McCreary, Mc- 

 Milhn, McRae, Merriman, Millard, Miller, Mitchell, 

 Morrison, Muller, Nprwood.Oates, O'Ferrall, Outh- 

 waite, Peel, Perry, Pidcock. Pindar, Randall, Ranney, 

 J. W. Reia, Richardson, Robertson, Rogers, Sadler, 

 Sawyer, Seney, Seymour, Singleton, Snyder, Sowden, 

 Spriggs, Springer, Stahlnecker, St. Martin, W . J. Stone 

 of Kentucky, Storm, Throckmorton, Trigs 1 , Turner, 

 Viele, Wallace, T. B. Ward, Wheeler, Willis, Wil- 

 son. 93. 



NOT VOTING Aiken, C. H. Allen, Arnot, Ballen- 

 tine, Barbour, Bliss, W. W. Brown, Buchanan, Bun- 

 nell, Burleigh, Felix Campbell, T. J. Campbell, Catch- 

 ings, Clardy, Clements, Cole, Collins, Compton, Corn- 

 stock, Cooper, Croxton, Dawspn, Eden, Ellsberry, 

 Evans, Foran, Gay, Eustace Gibson, Glass, Glover, 

 Goff R. S. Green, W. J. Green, Hall, Han back, Har- 

 ris, Haynes, Heard, Hemphill, Hiscock, Hitt, Houk, 



