LAND FOR THE LANDLESS 205 



the then terminus of the Grand Trunk through to 

 Puget Sound, fit out an entire fleet of sailing vessels 

 and steamers for the China Sea, India, and coast 

 trade, and leave a surplus that would roll up to 

 millions. He deemed the probable value of the 

 land grant $990,000,000, its possible value $1,320,- 

 000,000.1 



It is out of these railroad land grants that many 

 of the bonanza farms of the West have been carved. 

 They are to be found from Canada to Mexico and 

 from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The 

 Texas Land Syndicate No. 3 owns, or did own, 

 3,000,000 acres in Texas. Another British land 

 company owned 300,000 acres in Kansas. The 

 Duke of Sutherland owns hundreds of thousands 

 and Sir Edward Reed controls 1,000,000 acres in 

 Florida. Another English syndicate controls 2,000,- 

 000 acres in Mississippi. There are Dutch, British, 

 and German syndicates whose estates exceed a 

 million acres. Fifty-four individuals and syndicates 

 own 26,710,000 acres, an area greater than seven of 

 the more populous Eastern States with a popula- 

 tion of 8,359,000 people. 



Much of the land so acquired was obtained by 

 fraud. False entries were made, and when the 

 land was patented to the individual claimant it 

 was inmiediately transferred to corporations and 



' The United States in Our Own Times, E. Benjaruiu Andrews, 

 p. 4. 



