THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 45 



to a land grant from Irwing, Kansas, to New Mexico ; 

 and all for the national good, of course. 



" These, it must be remembered, are such railroads 

 as Northern companies, Northern lobby-men, and 

 Northern Congressmen have concocted. The word 

 concocted is good for most, though a few are meritori- 

 ous. The Southern States are just beginning to vote, 

 and the scent of Southern men in Congress is now as 

 keen in respect to all material interests as the Northern 

 Congressman's nose. The reason is evident. Southern 

 smelling is now done with Northern noses. Carpet, 

 bags have wrought this change for the South ; and as a 

 result, among the very first subjects to call out bills 

 from Southern men are the railroad interests. 



"And heading the column, comes Mr. Senator 

 Spencer, with a bill making a land-grant, not through 

 the public domain on the plains, but through the 

 States of Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and 

 Louisiana, with permission to get all the ( earth, stone, 

 timber, and other materials' for the construction of its 

 roads, off the public lands along its line, and then to 

 receive ten sections of land to the mile, wherever they 

 can find that amount within twenty miles of the line 

 they may see fit to locate, and from Mobile onward to 

 the western boundary of Louisiana ; if the land cannot 

 be found within twenty miles of the road, these patri- 

 otic gentlemen are to be obliged to hunt it up within 

 forty miles north of their line. As this is the first 

 attempt on the part of a Southern Senator to follow in 

 the paths already worn so smooth by his fellow Repub- 

 licans from the North, it will be interesting to see what 

 a fine start Senator Spencer, of Alabama, makes. Sec* 

 tion second of his bill is in part as follows : 



