186 



II Ml. ROAD COMI'AM.' 



As I hare already said, they have sold only 708.000 

 acres out of the 42.000.000 acres given to them, for 

 the simple rea- might turn a r.i.-.rback 



pig loose on the land in that country and it 



, , !\ II " 



In opposition to the measure Mr. Molts*, of Ar- 

 kansas, said, when proposing his sub-tit ute : 



Mr. Sneaker, as a general proposition I am op- 

 posed to the granting of Federal charters at all. I 

 think soch should be done by the States. In this 

 case it dors not appear to me that there is any m- 

 cessit llcyond all question the bill as pn- 



1 hould not pass unless amended in several 

 particular*. 



he original act of July 27. 1866, granted to the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Kailroad 



.f land, and million zed !?"> private individ- 

 uals, nnined in the granting act. scattered all the 

 way fn>tn Maine li California. u)>on the conditions 

 that they should build -.-m. -thing over 'J.(NM) miles 

 >:lroad fnm Springfield. MO., to the Pacific 

 iicraii. U-f.-n- .Inly 4. 1S?K That is to say. that be- 

 fore the title finally passed from the Government 

 tht construction was to be fully completed. With- 

 in the time fixed by the granting act for the com- 



n of the entire mail they built only I'J.I miles 

 They came to Congress and asked Congress 



. them the right to mortgage the road, 

 authority brought them no money. They then 

 asked and obtained authority to* mortgage the 

 lands franchises, privileges, and other rights am! 

 prop. \ executed the mortgages, but. as I 



have said, they completed only r.M miles of the 

 mail within the time fixed in the granting act. 



ie mortgagees deliberately, with the full 

 knowledge of the terms ,,f the grant as to the 

 time prescriU-d for the completion of the road, 

 made the mortgages due at a later day. There 

 was inserted in the act authorizing the mortgage a 

 provision that any forfeiture should extend only 

 to as much t hereof as shall be conterminous with o> 

 appertain to that part of said road which shall 

 have been constructed at the time of the foreclo- 

 sure of said mortgagee. These mortgagees, at > 

 meeting of the committee when the forfeiture bill 

 was being considered, and when Congress sought 



feit the grant, contended that Congress had 

 no authority to do so under the law. The act of 

 Inlv 6. 18H8, was passed with the understanding 

 that it would restore to the public domain 10,795,- 

 480 acres of land. And yet in the fa--e of the rec- 

 ord they have made, after they have violated every 

 condition imposed on them by the granting act, 



'ill deny the power to fo'rfeit. Congress, on 

 the 6th dav of July, 1886. declared a forfeiture of 

 all lands a/1 jacent to and conterminous with the un- 

 completed |Kirtions of the road at that time, and 

 attempted in this manner to exercise its sovereign 

 right and power to restore to the public domain 

 som" 10,000.000 acres of the lands granted. 



These mortgagees and this faithless corporation in 

 the courts of law have ever since been light in 

 Government and the settlers, ami 

 testing in the Supreme Court of tl, states 



for these lands nnon the same ;i tj,,n that 



oofressof the 1 id no authority 



to declare the forfeiture. And yet the mortgagees 

 of this corporation come to us with its r-eord of 

 broken pledges and asks that we give them the 

 same rights and powers and privileges granted bv 



< ily -J7. 1*W. Thirty vears 

 elapsed since the grant wa made, ami yet more 

 than one half of the road i- urnon-trm-ted". the cor- 

 poration bankrupted and now in the hands of a re- 



-. being unable tn pav interest on its bonds. 

 Across the great Mojave desert, where it w.< 

 pected that by this grant we would secure railroad 



faeilities. no road has yet been constructed, and 

 there is but little prospect of any by this concern. 



! given to thc>c debtors 



who come here as mortgagees and 1 will ^rant f.r 



itneiit that -tiiih- of them have aHed 



ily and in pod faith in the investment of 



their money we should see to it (l)that no relief 



is given to 'the men who ac.jniiv.l this charter and 



afterv. misfl made by them 



and brok- lid it ion imp..M-d upon them l>\ 



hat t he terill" of the forfeit II! 

 of .1.. ,.-ce|,ted b\ the I)e\V 



I condition precedent, and" that this 

 Mail not take effect until th. v the 



land- thus forfeited: Cli that the Settlers shall' ha\e 

 the lands which have been earned and not sold at 

 the minimum (iovernment pri-e of $l.'J."i pel 

 and thos. who have purchaseil fully protected \\\ 

 their titles; (-1) that the Imnn (i<i> debts due for 

 w..rk. labor, material, etc.. shall be paid; and I."M 

 the Stock should be limited to the actual value of 

 the road. so as to prevent the watering of the -lock. 

 and that the interest, shall not i-xe,-,-d -1 percent. 

 The substitute which I have offered will secure all 

 of this. If it is not adopted, I hope amendments 

 will be that will secure the same tiling. 



M r. >peaker. shall we. by breathing into thi< 

 corporation a new life, permit it to repudiate the 

 hone>t debts of those who have performed lal> 

 itf I have provided that all the debts, except those 

 due to the old Atchison. Topeka and Santa I-Y- and 

 to the St. Louis and San Franciseo Kailroad Coiu- 

 |>anies. shall | H . paid. As for the-e railroad cor- 

 porations who have wrecked the Atlantic and Pa- 

 cific and themselves and rcorgani/ed. I ha\ 

 concern. They have second mortgages, and as 

 they have been relieved of the pa\ment of a part 

 of "their debts by similar reorgani/ation. 



.ress sees fit to give the Atlantic and Pacific 

 relief against them. I have no objection; but as to 

 the laborer and the mechanic and those who have 

 legitimate claims growing out of the operation of 

 the road, I say it would be legali/ed repudiation to 

 permit these mortgage creditors to defeat the pay- 

 ment of their debts, or be preferred to them, even 

 though they may have originally invented their 

 money in good faith. So 1 have endeavored t., 

 proVKM fr the protection of tln-M- men. I think 

 that the settlers along the line of the road should 

 be protected in their pun-hases already made, and 

 also by reducing the price for which these lands 

 may lie sold, so that the price shall be n more 

 than the (iovernment price. Thc-e Ian-Is have 

 been withheld from settlement for thirty years. 

 The act of forfeiture of 1880 redn 

 inent j'l-ice of land along this grant to $l.i."i an 

 acre, and I think the railroad lands should n 

 ceed that sum. L< i u^ -ay to this corporal ion : 'If 

 you are to be reorgani/ed under authority from 

 Congress, yu shall first accept as a condition prece- 

 dent the terms imiNised by the forfeiture act of 

 1886; and you shall sell tin- lands you have earned 

 or acquired to actual -el tier- at the price at which 

 the Government sells its public land-.' 



-Why should there be any objection to my 

 propo-it'ion to limit the stock to be issued by tin's 

 company as reorgani/ d to the actual amount due 

 upon mortgages and other just indebted 

 Why shou: -ation authority 



froin the Congress of the I'nitcd States \,, do what 

 the old one dill water its stock and enrich its 

 stockholders at of the Government and 



the people? The old incorporators contributed 

 nothing to the building of this road. These do not 

 propose to contribute anything to it. I rjue-tiou 

 whether the old set honestly and in good faith ap- 

 propriated the money they borrowed from the 



