THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 231 



of thirty years the whole land of the company shall 

 have changed hands and been transferred to private 

 owners. So far as human calculations can at all fore- 

 cast what may be accomplished in periods of such dura- 

 tion, this question may be answered in the affirmative. 

 The experience of the past in the United States, as well 

 as what is seen every day, gives ample proof that, as a 

 rule, after a number of years have passed subsequent to 

 the opening of a line in new and uncultivated regions, 

 and new settlements have been established in conse- 

 quence of the railway, such land can be sold well and 

 easier than any other land. Thus, though a period of 

 several years following immediately upon the opening 

 of a line may have few sales to show, yet in the long 

 run all will be right, and the period of redemption is 

 long enough to warrant a confidence, based upon expe- 

 rience, that within the period of redemption the area 

 of the Northern Pacific Railway Company will have 

 changed hands for the benefit of the company. How- 

 ever, that during the first few years after the opening 

 of the line the sales will assume but small dimensions, 

 can hardly be doubted, since, as has been already ob- 

 served, the immigration turning toward the newly- 

 opened regions of the Northern Pacific Railway will not 

 be of sufficient magnitude to create an active demand, 

 and as, furthermore, a great many immigrants who may 

 turn in that direction to look out for new settlements 

 will prefer to avail themselves of the facilities offered 

 by the Homestead law, according to which every man 

 on American soil, above twenty-one years of age, and 

 declaring that he will remain, may secure on easy terms 

 the possession of eighty acres of public land by simply 

 paying a fee. Now, as in the regions crossed by the 



