Show HILL HITS tho the lax practice with begard regard to railroad land grants by tho the GOY gov er ern ament ment by a telling speech in the united states senate br bv western asad press to the washington may 7 7 hill addressed the senate in relation to a bill to declare declara tho the forfeiture of lands granted the new orleans baton rouge vicksburg railroad company lie ile said it was a fam fatal obi b to the pretensions of tho the new orleans pacific railway that it had bad not yet vet completed it its imo and so far as known 0 brwn did di d not propose to corns corn its line to tho the eastern terminus of tf the tile texas daei pacific fie It hallway ailway chic hie h wa was fixed by the art act of march lurch 31 this attempted transfer wa he fie first vate couttie J i lie kind kaid the tile legality f lich 10 edyed t be favorable pm im loll oatlie i the general the pini n of attorney vencial brewr brewer triai in its avor favor was wa not bin burling flog 4 in the tile 1 uteri interi r abid u n it 4 only BO so t tin nn ill pr er nr shield 1031 oi ability fur his ilis own owl aam by aking ret ref ti 0 behind bet ii ind tho tile opinion of an attorney general central no law or pr actie compelled tie cie Secie tary of the lie interior to accept the opinion of ha the attorney general aind in fart had no right to accept them unless satisfied with tho the correctness of the reasons upon aich i they verc ere bated they were no more bound to accept them than clients are to accept the lawyers whose advice they sought bought and paid for there was nothing judicial in the functions of giving opinions which the attorney general possessed and nothing judi cial in the tile manner in which the th e function was exercised he ile generally heard only ono one side and always acted upon a case isado up for him to act upon in tins this case the claim of tile new orleans pacific company was supported by elaborate blieu brieu and a tid arguments from astute e experienced and highly paid railroad law e dillon green swayne and ilie pierrepont rs Apont while tho the other aide side which was that of the government and country whose lands were the prize in controversy was wads represented ty by nobody dal the lie attorney generals mind liht might be conducted to an opposite co conclusion lusion if ho he had got at the fac facts ts from versions df of them given ven from both sides and if ho lie had bid tard heard counsel employed by the government to look up mp and present all precedents cases principles and authorities adverse to the pretensions of tha the now naw V orleans pacific rail railway ay the at actor tor ney general was in the eanid same unfortunate predicament in which the committees of tha th senate and houe houfe find themselves in hearing railroad and other cases where great and wealthy corporations were interested inte rested on one side and when the opposing interest was only that odthe of the public I 1 hill had he said had some expert i ence of that and there wera were older senators who had a good deal more hill continued as follows with no disposition to reproach our predecessors in in those these halls balls and making all allowance for their overestimates over estimates of the real cost of railroads and the tinder casimates of the rapidity with which railroads become directly remunerative munera tive I 1 must express tile feel ing 13 which is is now universal that grants granta of land in the aid of the construction st of railroads have lave been frightfully excessive the rho methods i in which these grants have been ad ads ministered by executive officials have also carried liberality to tho the verge of downright looseness and waste reversing the true rule that grants to private corporations be con strictly and with careful attention to limitations and conditions too many of them seem to have 1 railed every point in favor of roads and to have struggled to find how bow large an interpretation the granting grantin acts would admit of it is not in that spirit pir it dial that the rights of pre and 1 persona person seeking to acquire nire i titles title 1 und under er homestead provisions bave i been dealt with ith but they have b been 11 n quiren io 10 bring elvas within wi thill nt only nil kill substantial bub conditjr na ris but all rigo rigorous rons formalities prescribed art in ill the lawa laws under which 1 the made their daunt 1 I do not meau mean to say the interior 1 DIMI went mentis is anore RI ire rig rigid d than oui cial cia duty alty compels it tu to bo b e in in deal 1 ings with individuals le and its require ments from pre employs and home t ivaa and others of a strict and proof a moat wot completo and technical compliance with all renditions conditions of the acla acts of congress be 1 fore patents are issued loss lus it la is true that individual c ases are hung up for months until anything lack lacking which hi ingenuity can hold to be bo a necca necessary aty link in the chain of evidence is supplied but in thomase tho case of great railroad corporations de do millions and tens of millions ut everything seems to be lined in their favor no inq t on is mada into the regularity of actions in the most vital particulars and when two constructions are pos eible Ible theone the one giving the widest scope to the grants seems to be invariably I 1 preferred mcd in this casa caia the continued legal cx ox istance of the new orleans vicksburg R R co notwithstanding the tile repeal of its charter years ago by the legislature of louisiana on the mere ground of judgment ment obtained without argument and ana rend rendered cred without reasons in a subordinate united states court and lind which however obtained was and is binding to nobody but the parties to it it is to ba be regretted that more of that car care e and caution which have lave been exercised in giving givin patents for or quarter sections of la land 4 had not been shown in in giving living patents pate to railroads for areas exceeding some soine powerful european monarchies it may be useless to regret the tho past but it is clearly time to call a halt in loose gra grants rits and equally loose construes as eions of grants of the public domain to corporations whichard chare private in heir their ownership control and rind profit however useful the enterprise in which they are engaged may bo be to the country tiie tito bill was referred to the com corn cittee on public lands linds |