MONOPOLY OF TRANSPORTATION. 571 



<{ In 1850, the application of the Illinois Central Com- 

 pany for assistance from the government was presented in 

 Congress. It was hotly opposed, but supported by the 

 persuasive eloquence of Senator Douglas, An Act of Con- 

 gress, approved September 2oth, 1850, granted to the State 

 of Illinois six sections of land per mile of road, in aid of 

 the construction of a railroad from Cairo to Chicago and 

 Dunleith. This grant was transferred by the State to the 

 Illinois Central Company, in consideration of which, and 

 in lieu of all other taxes, the company agreed to pay to the 

 State an amount equal to seven per cent, of the gross 

 earnings from freight and passengers moved over their 

 lines. The amount of land embraced |in this grant was 

 about 2,595,000 acres. This immense property consisted 

 of a broad strip of land lying on each side of the line of 

 the road throughout the entire length of the State, and 

 for a distance of about six miles on each side of the track. 

 It was a magnificent grant. 



"The company made a good use of the lands thus 

 acquired. They were promptly surveyed and laid off in 

 sections. Liberal offers for the company could afford to 

 be liberal, since the lands had cost them practically noth- 

 ing were made to actual settlers. As they comprised 

 some of the best lands in the State, the railway sections 

 were rapidly taken up, and all along the line of the road 

 there sprang up farms and settlements as if by magic. By 

 the first of January, 1873, the sales of the company 

 amounted to 2,250,633 acres, leaving 344,367 acres on 

 hand. The amount received and due for lands up to this 

 date was over $24,000,000. The example of the Illinois 

 Central company was not lost upon other corporations. 

 Each had its champion in Congress, and applications for 

 land grants began to pour in upon that body. Having 

 granted such aid in one case, Congress could not refuse it 

 in others, and the result was that the greater portion of the 



