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 Copy 1 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 / 
 
 HON. W. P. HALL, UF MISSOURI, 
 
 '^. 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE BEING UNDER 
 
 CONSIDERATION; 
 
 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 11, 1851. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
 
 1851. 
 
\ 
 
 
SPEECH. 
 
 Mr. HALL said: Mr. Chairman, it is not my ; 
 intention to discuss the President's message. By 
 the indulgence of the committee, I design to say a 
 few words with reference to a bill I introduced 
 into the House on yesterday. That bill proposes 
 to grant to the State of Missouri the right of 
 way and a portion of the public domain to aid in ; 
 the construction of a railroad from Hannibal to 
 St. Joseph. Some gentlemen seem startled at tlie 
 project. I assure tliem it is nothing new nor un- j 
 heard-of in the history of our country. It is only i 
 about fifteen months since Congress made an ex- 
 tensive grant of land to the State of Illinois, to aid 
 in the construction of a railroad from Chicago to 
 Mobile bay. I am not aware that that grant has 
 ruined or seriously injured either this Government, 
 or any State, or any individual. On the contrary, 
 I believe it has been of general benefit. At all 
 events, the road it was intended to promote will 
 be one of vast importance, and is destined to exert 
 a most happy influence on the country at large. 
 It is not, however, to l)e concealed that the Chica- 
 go and Mobile road must run nearly parallel with 
 the greatest river on our continent, and must enter 
 into competition with most of the great thorough- 
 fares of the West. All the rivers of our great 
 valley tend from the North to the South. The 
 Ohio and its tributaries on the one hand, and the 
 Missouri, the Arkansas, and the Red river and 
 their tributaries on the other, in conjunction witli 
 the Mississippi, open up the entire West to New 
 Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. But between 
 the Atlantic seaboard and the New States there is 
 no direct natural channel of intercommunication. 
 Commerce can be carried on successfully between 
 the old States and the Mississippi valley only by 
 doubling Cape Sable or through means of artifi- 
 cial avenues extending from the Atlantic coast far 
 into the interior. Hence if the last Congress was 
 justifiable in aiding the construction of a railroad 
 from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, 
 we shall be more than justified in aiding the con- 
 struction of a highway from the extreme confines 
 of Missouri to the States this side of the Allegha- 
 nies — a highway which will open a direct, speedy, 
 safe, and economical communication between parts 
 of the Union that now hold intercourse only by 
 the most circuitous, tardy, hazardous, and expen- 
 sive routes. The Hannibal and St. Joseph rail- 
 road will form an important part of such a line of 
 intercommunication . 
 
 The town of Hamiibal is situated on the west 
 bank of the Mississippi river, in latitude 39'^ 45' 
 
 north. The town of Saint Joseph is one hundred 
 and eighty miles due west of Hannibal, on the 
 east bank of the Missouri river. The city of 
 Philadelphia, and the seats of government of Ohio, 
 Indiana, and Illinois, are nearly on the same par- 
 allel of latitude with the town of Hannibal. So 
 that a railroad running due west from Philadelphia 
 would pass through the centre of the States of 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, cross the Mississippi 
 at Hannibal, and strike the Missouri at Saint Jo- 
 seph. Within eighteen months a railroad will be 
 completed from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Within 
 the same time a railroad will be finished from 
 Pittsburg to Columbus, Ohio. A railroad is nearly 
 finished between Terre Haute, near the western 
 line of Indiana, to Indianapolis, in that State. The 
 Illinois cross-cut railroad is already finished from 
 Springfield to the Illinois river, and in less than 
 two years will be finished to the town of Gluincy, 
 which is only twelve miles from Hannibal; so that 
 in the course of a few years we may reasonably ex- 
 pect to see a railroad communication complete 
 between Philadelphia and the Mississippi river. 
 1 The construction of the Hannibal and Saint Jo- 
 ' seph railroad will complete the connection as far 
 I west as the Missouri. The same chain of rail- 
 I roads, too, which will connect the western por- 
 I tions of the State of Missouri with Philadelphia, 
 I will unite with that great railway line already 
 I extending from New York city to Cincinnati, and 
 { also with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and 
 j with the road from Louisville, by way of Nash- 
 I ville, to Savannah, Georgia, and to Charleston, 
 South Carolina. Thus, in a few years, may we 
 hope to see the banks of the Missouri river, and 
 the fertile country bordering thereon, brought with- 
 in three days' travel of the metropolis of the 
 I Union, and of the great cities of Charleston, Bal- 
 j timore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. 
 ' Nor is this all. The railroad from Chicago to the 
 mouth of the Ohio river is to be completed within 
 j a few years. The Hannibal and Saint Joseph 
 railroad will connect with the Chicago and Cairo 
 ro;\d, by means of the Springfield, Illinois, railroad. 
 In this way will be opened to the South and to the 
 northern lakes, as well as to the Atlantic seaboard, 
 all the fertile country included within northern 
 1 Missouri, and all that immense country to the 
 j west of our State, which is destined in a few years 
 i to be the home of multitudes of white men. Let 
 any one, sir, turn to the map of the United States, 
 anil endeavor to trace out the line of railroads 
 I which will most promote the welfare of the whole 
 
country, and he will inevitably fall upon that 
 very line of which the Hannibal and Saint Joseph 
 railroad makes a part. That road is on the par- 
 allel of latitude which passes midway between the 
 northern boundary of the United States and the 
 mouth of the Mississippi river. It is on the hne 
 which passes through the heart of Missouri, Illi- 
 nois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It is 
 on the line which passes between the north- 
 ern lakes and the Ohio river, at nearly an equal 
 distance from each. It is on the line which divides 
 the population of the United States into two equ£il 
 parts. It is on the line which connects at the same 
 time with the great New York, Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, Virginia, and southern railroads, and 
 by means of which, therefore, more distant and 
 more numerous points of the Union can be brought 
 into easy communication than any other which 
 can be conceived. 
 
 The opening of good roads between the eastern 
 and western portions of the Union has been a 
 favorite object with our greatest statesmen almost 
 from the foundation of our Government. The 
 Cumberland turnpike was projected by one of the 
 " early Presidents," and has been carried forward 
 at the expense of millions of dollars. In conse- 
 quence of modern improvements, that work has 
 become nearly useless. But the time has been 
 when the Cumberland road, by its promise of 
 opening a way from the old to the new States, was 
 a mucii-cherished object with a large portion of 
 the American people. It is now proposed to effect 
 the same purpose by the greatest of modern im- 
 provements without the cost of a dollar to the 
 Government — without the exercise of any danger- 
 ous or doubtful power, by the mere appropriation 
 of a small portion of the public domain in a man- 
 ner that will cover it with an industrious and 
 active population, and convertit from a wilderness 
 to cultivated farms and flourishing villages. There 
 is no portion of this vast country which contains 
 so large an area of fertile land, in proportion to 
 its extent of surface, as northern Missouri. Yet 
 that fertile and beautiful region is, to a great de- 
 gree, a waste, because it possesses no channel for 
 the transportation of its products. Its citizens 
 are almost entirely dependent upon the Missouri 
 river for getting to and returning from the markets 
 of the country. That river is closed to steamboats 
 for four months every year, and during the re- 
 mainder of the time it is so difficult of navigation 
 that tho.'se who ship by it are subject to much 
 higher charges for transportation and insurance 
 than the citizens of the neighboring States. The 
 consequence is, that the farmers who live in the 
 interior of northern Missouri, are almost as effect- 
 ually shut out from all commerce with other sec- 
 tions of the country as though tliey laid at the 
 North pole. The Hannibal and St. .To.seph rail- 
 road i.s to penetrate the very centre of that entire 
 section, and will bring it as near market as some 
 portions of the Atlantic States. Our farmers, 
 stimulated by fair jirices for their produce, will 
 open large farms, and our products will be multi- 
 plied many fold. To the southern and eastern 
 States we will sell stock, provisions, and our 
 other staples. From them we will receive in return 
 sugar, cotton, salt, rice, and fabrics. As our 
 means increase our consumption will increase also. 
 We will consume not only articles of domestic 
 but of foreign manufacture, and thus, while we 
 
 shall add to the home trade, we shall also increase 
 the foreign commerce of the country, and swell 
 the resources of the Government. 
 
 If a proposition were submitted to connect New 
 York or Boston with the extreme settlements of 
 Missouri, all would admit the importance of the 
 enterprise. Some would be willing, no doubt, to 
 construct the road at the expense of the nation. 
 No such charge upon the Treasury is, however, 
 required in ortler to consummate a railroad commu- 
 nication between the Missouri and the Atlantic 
 seaboard. A railroad is nearly finished from New 
 York city to Cincinnati. Indiana is extending 
 this road to her western boundary. Illinois is 
 extending it through her territory to the Missis- 
 sippi river; and all that is necessary to complete 
 the entire chain of railroad from Boston to Saint 
 Joseph — indeed from Portland, Maine, to Saint 
 Joseph — is to construct a railroad through the 
 northern part of Missouri. 
 
 The people of Missouri have, by an act of their 
 Legislature, appropriated $1,500,000 to the Han- 
 nibal and Saint Joseph railroad. Counties and 
 individuals have taken a large amount of stock in 
 the work. And now we ask Congress to do for 
 us what they have so frequently done for other 
 States. We ask you to give us alternate sections 
 of the public lands, through which our road will 
 pass, for six miles on each side of the road, to aid 
 us in our enterprise This is not a proposition to 
 take money out of the Treasury. If it was I 
 would not advocate it. The effect of the proposi- 
 tion will be, in my opinion, to increase the revenues 
 of the Government. And why .' Because the 
 alternate sections reserved by the United States 
 are not to be sold for less than two dollars and a 
 half per acre. Now they are liable to entry at 
 one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. So that 
 you will receive as much, at least, from the public 
 lands if this grant be made, as you will receive 
 if it fail. Do gentlemen fear that the value of the 
 public domain will not be enhanced by our road.' 
 let me beg them to look at our condition, at our 
 soil, as fertile as any in the world; at our situation, 
 possessing none but the most expensive and tardy 
 means of reaching a market, and then to reflect on 
 the effect which similar roads have had elsewhere. 
 No such work has ever been made even through the 
 most densely settled sections, which has not great- 
 ly enhanced the real estate in its neighborhood. 
 How much greater enhancement of lands must 
 follow the construction of a railroad through such 
 a section as northern Missouri. It is now oc.upied 
 by some three hundred thousand people; it is capable 
 of sustaining a population of several millions. 
 The making a railwaj^ through it will pour immi- 
 grants into it until every foot of land .shall be occu- 
 pied and improved. Its citizens now need mills, 
 schools, churches, and many of the comforts of 
 I life. A railroad will secure to them all these ad- 
 vantages at one and the same time. In view of 
 1 these facts, it is a most stubborn skepticism which 
 j doubts that the construction of the Hannibal and 
 Saint Joseph railroad will appreciate the lands 
 near it twofold or more. That appreciation will 
 not be confined to the lands within six miles of 
 the road. It will extend to lands even fifteen and 
 twenty miles from it. Public lands that are not 
 worth fifty cents an acre will readily bring the 
 I minimum price. Lands that soldiers will not lo- 
 I cate with their warrants will be eagerly .sought for 
 
this purpose, and the income of the Government 
 from the public lands will be greatly augmented. 
 This is not fancy. During the last Congres.s mil- 
 lions of acres of public lands were given to soldiers. 
 It was confidently predicted here and elsewhere that 
 for many years we would, in consequence of the 
 military grants, receive no money from the public 
 lands; and yet we find that our revenues from that 
 source have greatly increased within the last year, 
 and are still rapidly increasing. Why is this.' 
 Solely because numerous railroads are projected ] 
 in the new States through the public domain. ] 
 Some of these roads are now constructing. They 
 have so largely appreciated the public lands that 
 millions of acres are now bought which until re- ; 
 cently were a drug in the market. This fact, and i 
 this alone, explains why it is that the receipts 
 from the public lands have increased, notwith- | 
 standing the bounty act of the last Congress ■ 
 and the immense emigration which has recently 
 gone from the- Western States to Oregon and Cal- , 
 ifornia. :i 
 
 There is another piece of history in connection | 
 with this matter, to which I must refer gentlemen 
 of the committee. The only acts granting lands 
 to new States, besides the Illinois grant of 1850, 
 in which the price of the alternate sections reserved 
 by Government was doubled, are those relating to 
 certain lands in Ohio. The amount of those re- 
 served sections is 259,423.96 acres, of which, up 
 to the 30th of September last, nearly one half had 
 been sold for two dollars and fifty cents per acre. 
 No returns have been received as yet from the ' 
 lands reserved by the grant of the last Congress to 
 the State of Illinois. But the case of the Ohio 
 grant .shows that the douiihng of the price of the 
 alternate sections reserved to the United States in 
 internal improvement grants is not a nullity. It 
 is a reality which secures the Government from all 
 loss. 
 
 I trust it will be borne in mind, that under the 
 acts granting land to soldiers, warrants can be [ 
 located only on land subject to private entry. 
 Now, all the lands in northern Missouri are sub- 
 ject to private entry, and have been for sixteen 
 years and more. Whatever, therefore, adds to the 
 value of these lands is for the benefit of soldiers » 
 having land warrants, whether in Maine, Virginia, j 
 or Texas. So that the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
 railroad grant is not only recommended by its i 
 intrinsic merits, but by the tendency it will have i 
 to benefit a large and most meritorious class of our 
 citizens who are scattered all over the Union. 
 
 What is theextenlof thegrantlask.' I am able 
 to answer this question from official documeiits. 
 The whole amount of public lands witliin six miles 
 of each side of the proposed route of the Hannibal 
 and St. Joseph railroad was, on the Uih day of 
 April, 1847, 640,302 acres. A portion of these 
 lands has passed into private hands since that 
 time. All of them have been subject to private 
 entry for many years— most of them sixteen years 
 and upwards — so that they have been culled over 
 and over again, and rejected as worth less than 
 one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The 
 most that Missouri can receive by the grant I ask 
 is 320,181 acres of refuse land. She would not 
 probably receive more than 250,000 acres if the 
 grant should pass to-day. And in return for that, 
 she not only engages to construct a railroad whi^h 
 will enhance your public domain two or three times 
 
 as much as this grant will amount to, but to carry 
 your troops and munitions of war over the road 
 free of all charge forever, and to transport your 
 mails at such prices as you shall prescribe. 
 ■ When Missouri came into the Union, the Fed- 
 eral Government required her to promise not to 
 tax the public lands within her limits " for the 
 term of five years from and after the day of sale." 
 In consideration of this promise, the United States 
 agreed to pay to the State of Missouri five per 
 cent, of the net proceeds of the sale of lands lying 
 within her limits, of v.-hich three fifths was to be 
 applied to purposes of internal improvements by 
 her Legislature; and " the other two fifths in de- 
 fraying, under the direction of Congress, the ex- 
 penses to be incurred in the making of a road or 
 roads, canal or canals, leading to the said State." 
 In order to discharge a public debt, the United 
 States have granted so me. 30 ,000 ,000 or 40,000,000 
 acres of land to those who have been in our mili- 
 tary service in a time of war. A large amount of 
 those lands has been located in Missouri, and 
 more will be located there still. Those lands not 
 being disposed of by this Government for money, 
 the State of Missouri receives nothing for exempt- 
 ing them from taxation. The strict letter of the 
 compact does not, perhaps, entitle her to anything. 
 But surely a fair and liberal spirit on the part 
 of the United States will give Missouri some 
 equivalent for not taxing the lands within her 
 limits w4iich have been and will be located by mili- 
 tary warrants. Missouri supposed that she was 
 ' to receive a valuable consideration for her agree- 
 ment not to tax tlie public lands " for the term of 
 1 five years from and after the day of sale." The 
 United States so understood it. Now, suppose all 
 ! the public domain in Missouri should be absorbed 
 j by land warrants, what would she receive for not 
 taxing the lands of this Government.' Nothing, 
 I absolutely nothing. And would that be a fair and 
 ' bona fide execution of her compact with the Uni- 
 I ted States on the part of the latter.' On the con- 
 trary, would not the United States be obnoxious 
 to the charge of " palteruig in a double sense.-" of 
 keeping "the word of promise to our ear and 
 breaking it to our hope.'" 
 'I Missouri does not ask that the land given to sol- 
 diers should be treated absolutely as land sold for 
 cash. All she asks is, that inasmuch as the policy 
 of granting bounty land is for the benefit of citizens 
 of every State, each State shall bear its proportion 
 of whatever expense and burden that policy costs. 
 Missouri is willing to give up a part of her three 
 per cent., but she'does not think she should be re- 
 quired to relinquish all. And it appears tome 
 that this Government cannot discharge the equita- 
 ble demands of Missouri on better terms to the 
 nation than by inakins: the grant I am urgmg. 
 
 When Missouri makes a road through the land 
 of her citizens, the landed proprietors benefited by 
 the work are compelled to pay their share towai-ds 
 its construction, in the form of taxes. As the 
 value of their land is increased, their taxes are 
 increased also. Now, this Government is a great 
 landed proprietor, and owns large domains in the 
 State of Missouri. Is it right, is it just, is it fair, 
 under the.se circumstances, that while private indi- 
 viduals are compelled to pay for improvements 
 which add to the value of their estates, the Federal 
 Government should receive precisely the same 
 benefits and not contribute one dollar? Let gen- 
 
6 
 
 tiemen from the old States revolve this matter in 
 their minds, and I am sure they will dismiss some 
 of the opposition which they manifest towards 
 donations of kinds to the new States. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that all the new 
 States receive five per cent, of the net proceeds of 
 the sales of the public lands within their limits, 
 for the purposes of internal improvements, except 
 Missouri, Illinois, Jndiana, and Ohio. They re- 
 ceive but three per cent, for that object, the other 
 two per cent, being retained in the Treasury for 
 constructing, under the direction of Congress, a 
 road or roads, a canal or canals, leading towards 
 the limits of the enumerated States. It should 
 also be rememltered, that this portion of the public 
 lands is not given to the new States as a gratuity. 
 It is given in return for the non-taxation of the 
 public domain for a term of " five years from and 
 after the day of sale." This arrangement has 
 never been a favorite with the new" States. It 
 originated with Congress, and was forced upon 
 the Western States as a condition to their admis- 
 sion into the Union. From the statement just 
 made, it will be perceived that Missouri, Illinois, 
 Indiana, and Ohio, stand on precisely the same 
 grounds, so fir as their compacts with the United 
 States are concerned. But how different, how 
 widely difterent, is the treatment wliicli Congress 
 has meted out to them. In Ohio §2,812,034 21 
 have been expended on the Cumberland road. In 
 Indiana $,1,128,289 50, and in Illinois ^,749^445 30 
 have been spent on the same work. In Missouri 
 not one single cent has been expended by this 
 Government on any like enterprise. Besides this, 
 Ohio has received upwards of eleven hundred 
 thousand acres of public land for the purpose of 
 internal improvements. Indiana has received up- 
 wards of fourteen hundred thousand acres, and 
 Illinois has received upwards of three millions of 
 acres for ca)ials and railroads. Missouri has 
 received nothing. Why this difference in the 
 policy of Congress towards these four States.' Is 
 not Missouri faithful in the discharge of her duties 
 to the Union.' Is she not upright in her engage- 
 ments with her sisters.' Is she not worthy'of 
 membership in this Confederacy.' I have never 
 heard any such charges made against Missouri, 
 and I trust that the neglect of Congress has been 
 unintentional. There is certainly no equity in 
 treating Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois with marked 
 kindness, while you turn away from Missouri as 
 from a step-child. 
 
 It is, however, objected, that the grants of land 
 to the new States for the purposes of internal im- 
 provement are injurious to the old States. In what 
 way.' I inquire. It has been shown that those 
 grants do not diminish the revenues of the country, 
 but largely increase them. They diffuse the com- 
 forts and conveniences of life into many a habha- 
 tion and family that are now cheerless. They 
 spread education and intelligence. They build up 
 school-houses and churches, and they bring into 
 communion and friendly intercourse disiant parts 
 of the Republic. Surely there is nothing in all 
 this of wliich any member of the Union ought to 
 complain. 
 
 But if the policy of granting land to the new 
 States for railroad purposes is to stop, let justice 
 be done to both sections of the Union. Hereto- 
 fore those grants have been confined almost exclu- 
 sively to the free States. Let Missouri , Arkansas, 
 
 [ Mississippi, and other Southern States be placed 
 
 upon an equal footing with Ohio, Indiana, and 
 
 I Illinoi.s, before you ref'use all grants. To stop be- 
 
 I fore this is done would give color, at least, to the 
 
 charge sometimes made, that the majority of this 
 
 House cannot and will not do justice to the South- 
 
 I ern part of the Uiiion. 
 
 I The old States should not overlook the fact that 
 j they have received all the unappropriated lands 
 j which were within their limits at the date of the 
 I Revolution. Massachusetts and Maine, even at 
 i this moment, possess a large domain that is undis- 
 posed of. Now all of those lands were acquired 
 by the common blood and treasure of the nation. 
 The lands of Maine and Virginia and Georgia, 
 which were unappropriated at the time of our 
 Revolution, were as much the common acquisition 
 of the whole Union, as the public lands in any of 
 the Western States. But the old States, I reher- 
 ate, received every foot of unappropriated land 
 within their limits. " And yet when a new State asks 
 for a small part of the public land within its limits, 
 in discharge of high and important services, ren- 
 dered by it in the construction of railroads through 
 the Government domain, we hear the cry. Injustice 
 to the old States. Place the new States on the 
 same footing with the old States, and you would 
 give them all the waste lands within their limits. 
 This we do not ask. We are not so rapacious as 
 the Atlantic States were when they occupied our 
 position. All that we ask is a small appropria- 
 tion, whicji, while it increases the receipts of the 
 Treasury, will afford some remuneration for our 
 services to the nation at large. 
 
 No other expenditure of public money has re- 
 sulted in so much and so general good as that 
 which has had for its object the settlement of the 
 West. Separate the new States from the old ones; 
 strike off the Valley of the Mississippi, even in 
 imagination, from the Atlantic seaboard, and you 
 will possibly form some small conception of the 
 benefits which the settlement and improvement of 
 the public lands have had upon our national 
 wealth, greatness, and prosperity. The fortifi- 
 cation of your coast, your Navy, your Army, are 
 all useful; but no statesman will pretend that any 
 one or all of these combined has contributed one 
 tenth as much to our reputation abroad, or our 
 security at home, as the settlement of the great 
 West. Now, while the settlement of the West 
 has been of greater advantage to the whole coun- 
 try than almost anything else which has trans- 
 pired in our history, it has repaid by millions all 
 the expenses it has occasioned to the Government. 
 Your public domain has cost you $74,757,879 58. 
 Up to this time it has yielded you $135,337,093 17— 
 jusj: $60,381 ,213 79 more than it cost you. If the 
 Navy, l>esides protecti)ig our commerce, had yield- 
 ed to the Treasury double the money it has cost, 
 how irresistible would be an application for an 
 appropriation to that branch of the service ! But 
 the settlement of the public domain has operated 
 in that manner. It has increased the general 
 welfare, it has augmented the resources and nnd- 
 tiplied the power of the country, and it has at the 
 same time repaid to the Government two dollars 
 for every one it has cost. 
 
 Will not gentlemen be instructed by the history 
 of the past.' Experience has taught us that every 
 foot of land brought under cultivation in a new 
 State adds to the wealth and prosperity of all. 
 
" The current of emigration, from one part of the 
 ' Union to the otlier — from the old to the new 
 ' States — rolls back a golden tide of trade and l)usi- 
 ' ness. The old States now supply nearly all the. 
 ' wants of the farmers of the Valley of the West, 
 ' and hence its prosperity wonderfully promotes 
 ' the welfiire of the older States of the Union. The 
 ' jioor emigrant from tlie old States, who estab- 
 ' lishes a farm in the West, soon contributes more 
 'to the wealth and commerce of the State he left 
 ' than if he had remained there ni dependent pov- 
 ' erty. The prosperity of the new States reacts, 
 ' through the channel of trade and business, m 
 ' favor of the old States, and hence the wonderful 
 'growth of the whole country." This is a fair 
 statement of the fact. Every man of observation 
 knows it to be true, and still you hesitate to be lib- 
 eral to the new States — no, sir, not liberal, but just. 
 Mr. Chairman, Congress should either graduate 
 the price of the public lands, or aid in enhancing 
 the value of those which have been for a longtime 
 in market. All the public lands near our navi- 
 gable rivers are readily sold and settled. So it is 
 with the best lands in the interior. But the public 
 lands of the poorer class remain unoccupied for years 
 after they have been subject to private entry, di- 
 viding neighborhoods, keeping settlements sparse, 
 and rendering it impossible, very frequently, for 
 
 our people to enjoy even the blessings of common 
 schools. In order to remedy this evil, the new 
 States have been applying to Congress for more 
 than a quarter of a century to graduate the price 
 of the public domain. This has been steadily re- 
 fused. Now, in order to settle our waste lands, 
 we ask you to aid in increasing its value, by grants 
 to railroads, which will enaljle Government to sell 
 the public domain at its present minimum in all 
 cases, and at double the minimum in many in- 
 stances. 
 
 I hope gentlemen will not oppose this policy 
 because the new States are to be its immediate 
 beneficiaries. What would bethoughtif the West 
 should vote against a proposition to fortify an im- 
 portant seaport because the money necessary to 
 that purpose would be expended on the coast? 
 Why, everybody would say, such a motive is 
 unworthy an American citizen. Will you, then, 
 apply a rule to the new States, which, if sought 
 to be applied to the old States, would be repudiated 
 as disgraceful in its conception and purposes.' 
 Rather inquire whether the propositions relative 
 to grants of land to the West, are for the benefit 
 of the nation and within your constitutional pow- 
 er. And being satisfied in the affirmative on both 
 propositions, do not withhold your support be- 
 cause the donation is to a new State. 
 
LiBRAtn OF CONGRESS 1 
 
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