Railroad grant

“ To reimburse the public treasury for the loss resulting from these grants, the price of lands situated within the land-grant belts was advanced to $2.50 per acre, practically compelling the purchasers of the even-numbered sections of land, instead of the Government, to make the donation to the railroads, it being supposed that the benefits resulting to those regions from the immediate construction of railroads would correspondingly enhance the value of the alternate sections of land reserved by the Government. Designing men soon saw the advantages which the situation offered. ”

“ Where a grant of lands is made by congress to a state for the purpose of building a railroad, it has been customary for the state to accept such grant as authority for the conveyance of the lands to a designated railway company ”

“ The railroad company accepted the grant subject to the possibility that Congress might, in its discretion and prior to the definite location of its line, sell, reserve, or dispose of enumerated sections for other purposes than those originally contemplated. ”

“ It is true that, under the original act of 1862, the grant was limited to the odd-numbered sections 'on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof, and within the limits of ten miles on each side of said road,' but it does not follow that, if the road makes a curve or right angle, the grant ceases in any way to be operative at that point. The railroad is entitled to its grant of 10 alternate sections to each mile of road, and is entitled to have it selected within the limits of 20 miles on each side ”

“ What a railroad is to be indemnified for may be fixed as of the moment of the grant, but what it may elect when its right to indemnity is determined depends on the state of the lands selected at the moment of choice. Of course, the railroad is limited in choosing by the terms of the indemnity grant, but the so-called grant is rather to be described as a power. Ordinarily no color of title is gained until the power is exercised. ”

“ May 31, 1870, Congress again authorized the company to issue bonds to aid in the construction and equipment of its road, to be secured by mortgage on all of its property, railroad, land grant, and franchise to be a corporation. It further authorized the location and construction of the main railroad via the valley of the Columbia River to Puget Sound and of a branch from the main line across the Cascade Mountains to Puget Sound, and made a grant of land in connection with the construction authorized between Portland and Puget Sound, on the same terms as the original grant. ”

“ But as pointed out in Public Aids to Transportation, supra, p. 42, 'The land-grant railroads are parties to these agreements for the reason that, in many instances, a non-aided portion of a land-grant railroad competes with a reduced-rate portion of another land-grant railroad.'↑ These consisted of 147 shipments of livestock by the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation from midwestern points to southeastern points ”

“ It is evident Congress thought there might be remnants of the grant, not used in aid of the construction of the road, either because other resources of the company might prove sufficient, or because it might be found impossible to dispose of them in time to furnish such aid, and those remnants it undertook to open to settlement and pre-emption. This appears to us to have been what was intended, and all that was intended. The construction gives full effect alike to the paramount and the subordinate purposes of the act. Each has its own field of operation. ”

“ Here, as in the 1929 Act, which applied to the claims of only one railroad, we think Congress intended to bar any future claims by all accepting railroads which arose out of any or all of the land-grant acts, in ofar as those claims arose from originally granted, indemnity or lieu lands. All the Acts here involved, the Acts of 1866, 1874, 1904 and 1940, relate to a continuous stream of inter-related transactions and controversies, all basically stemming from one thing-the land grants. ”

“ We are prepared to fight, and the enemy is not. Now is the time for action, while he is yet unprepared. Let the fife sound 'Gray Jackets over the Border,' and let a hundred thousand men, with such arms as they can snatch, get over the border as quickly as they can. Let a division enter every Northern border State, destroy railroad connection to prevent concentration of the enemy, and the desperate strait of these States, the body of Lincoln's country, will compel him to a peace—or compel his successor, should Virginia not suffer him to escape from his doomed capital. ”

“ I am extended now like a peninsula into an enemy's country, with a large army depending for their daily bread upon keeping open a line of railroad running one hundred and ninety miles through an enemy's country, or, at least, through territory occupied by a people terribly embittered and hostile to us. With all this I suffer the mortification of seeing myself attacked right and left by people at home professing patriotism and love of country, who never heard the whistle of a hostile bullet. ”

“ Sheridan in this memorable raid passed entirely around Lee′s army: encountered his cavalry in four engagements, and defeated them in all; recaptured four hundred Union prisoners and killed and captured many of the enemy; destroyed and used many supplies and munitions of war; destroyed miles of railroad and telegraph, and freed us from annoyance by the cavalry of the enemy for more than two weeks. ”

“ From Harrisburg to Philadelphia there was a railroad, the first I had ever seen, except the one on which I had just crossed the summit of the Alleghany Mountains, and over which canal boats were transported. In travelling by the road from Harrisburg, I thought the perfection of rapid transit had been reached. We travelled at least eighteen miles an hour, when at full speed, and made the whole distance averaging probably as much as twelve miles an hour. ”

“ One of the most anxious periods of my experience during the rebellion was the last few weeks before Petersburg. I felt that the situation of the Confederate army was such that they would try to make an escape at the earliest practicable moment, and I was afraid, every morning, that I would awake from my sleep to hear that Lee had gone, and that nothing was left but a picket line. He had his railroad by the way of Danville south, and I was afraid that he was running off his men and all stores and ordnance except such as it would be necessary to carry with him for his immediate defence. ”

“ No relief is provided for the railways which earn less than 6%, but when more than 6% is earned by a railway, the excess is to be evenly divided with the Government. The railway is to hold its proportion of such excess in a reserve fund and the one-half which goes to the Government is to be held by it as a general railroad contingent fund to be administered by the Commission in assisting the weak roads by loans. ”

“ We do not think it can be safely asserted that it has been a general policy of the United States government to restrict a grant made to a state, in aid of railroads, to lands within such state, where a part of the line of road extended into one of the territories. ”

“ To encourage a rapid railroad building program, Congress chose to make public grants of a large proportion of the new lands to underwrite and subsidize the participation of private individuals and privately owned companies in the program. ”

“ National, State and county aid was freely extended to new railroad enterprises. Communities taxed themselves heavily for their benefit, and municipalities and individuals vied with each other in donating money, rights of way and station buildings. This was especially true of the West, whose undeveloped resources had most to gain by railroad extension. So large were the public and private donations in several of the Western States that their value was equal to one-fifth of the total cost of all the roads constructed. ”

“ Senate committee on this bill. The report shows why the proposed measure was both an unjust and an impracticable one. It should be apparent to every one that railways never can be operated in this way. The confusion and disorder would be endless; besides, every railroad which is undertaken and constructed as an actual business enterprise is entitled to make fair earnings. ”

“ Railroads are not like stages or steamboats, which, if furnishing no profit at one place, and under one prescribed rate of transportation, can be taken elsewhere and put to use at other places and under other circumstances. The railroad must stay, and, as a permanent investment, its value to its owners may not be destroyed. ”

“ If individuals do not furnish the money, who will? Enlightened self-interest should persuade business men to see to it that investment in railroads is made attractive enough so that money will seek them freely.
“The laborer is worthy of his hire,” and the American people must permit the railroad, which is doing such a great work, to receive compensation sufficient to pay good wages, its share of the taxes, a fair return on the value of the property, a reasonable profit, and something to be used each year for necessary improvements and betterments. ”

“ By 1850 the railroad had proved to the American people, and particularly to those who had money to invest, that it was far faster, cheaper and more adaptable to the country’s transportation needs than either turnpikes or canals. As investment flowed in ever-increasing amounts into railroads, the funds available for extending or even maintaining the old horsedrawn facilities became less and less and finally dried up altogether. ”

“ This duty falls first upon those charged directly with the ownership, administration, and management of the railways, and in these recent years of rising expenses and taxes they have been obliged to skimp at every corner in order to make both ends meet, while at the same time the rate of interest on new capital has gone up, and federal and state commissions have reduced rates. The people are beginning to realize the fact that railroad-owners and managers need help. ”

“ The people, it is true, were eager, for their own convenience, to have the railroads built, but unwilling to part with their hard-wrung taxes, their splendid public domain, and their rights only that a few men, part gamblers and part men of energy and foresight, should divert the entire donation to their own aggrandizement. For this attitude the railroad promoters had an alluring category of arguments ready. ”

“ There is always a tendency to construe statutes in the light in which they appear when the construction is given. It is easy to be wise after we see the results of experience. We may now think it quite possible the lands could all have been sold before July 1, 1877. The unforeseen success of the enterprise and the unprecedented rush of emigration along the line of the railroad have shed new light upon the value of the grants made to the company. ”

“ A striking characteristic of American transportation history, emphasized by the foregoing account of land grants and subsidies, is its essentially speculative character. Railroads were more often constructed in advance of population and settlement than to accommodate traffic already in existence. Speculation, as will appear in another volume, has permeated all of our railroad finance. In the early days the most extravagant visions of development were indulged in on all sides. ”

“ The objection that it would be inconvenient for government to provide locomotives and cars for the performance of its transportation cannot be properly urged. The government can do what it always has done, without experiencing any difficulty, employ the services of the railroad and transportation companies which have provided these accommodations. It might be very convenient for the government to have more rights than it has stipulated for; but we are on a question of construction, and on this question the usus loquendi is a far more valuable aid than the inquiry what might be desirable. ”

“ Our Railroad Bill falls into the same class because it seeks to provide and make certain definite planning by the railroads themselves, with the assistance of the Government, to eliminate the duplication and waste that is now resulting in railroad receiverships and continuing operating deficits. ”

“ Many communities subscribed stock, others voted bonds, others paid for right-of-way by private subscription in order to secure a railroad. The result was often overbuilding, parallel lines, too many roads attempting to occupy the same territory, with the result that branch lines often never paid interest on the cost of construction. ”

“ The all-important initial problem of financing having been at least partly settled, we will go before the Legislature and secure a charter for our road. In these modern days we shall probably have also to make application to some State railroad or public utility commission. It will consider our case with great care, granting hearings so that we may state our plans, and that folk living in the territory which we are about to tap may urge the necessity of our coming, and that rival railroads or other opponents may state their objections. ”

“ Moreover, it is manifest that an attempt to estimate what would be the actual cost of acquiring the right of way if the railroad were not there is to indulge in mere speculation. The railroad has long been established; to it have been linked the activities of agriculture, industry, and trade. Communities have long been dependent upon its service, and their growth and development have been conditioned upon the facilities it has provided. The uses of property in the communities which it serves are to a large degree determined by it. ”