prescribed by this act, provided the same can be done without deviating from the general direction of the whole line to the Pacific coast."

It will be seen that one of the rival lines is given a premium of lands and bonds to intersect with the Union Pacific near the east end thereof; it becomes, for a consideration, a part of this great monopoly, and abandons all idea of competition.

Section ten provides for a union or consolidation of the Union Pacific, the Central Pacific, the Leavenworth, Pawnee, & Western, and the Hannibal & St. Joseph companies; and section thirteen provides: "That the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad company, of Missouri, may extend its road from St. Joseph, via Atchison, to connect and unite with the road through Kansas, upon filing its assent to the provisions of this act, upon the same terms and conditions in all respects, for one hundred miles in length next to the Missouri river, as are provided in this act for the construction of the railroad and telegraph line first mentioned, and may for this purpose use any railroad charter which has been or may be granted by the legislature of Kansas." The section also provides for connecting this road with the main line. This company promised to be a rival, but when congress is appealed to, $1,600,000 in subsidy bonds, and two thousand sections of land are given it as its share of the spoils, provided it will accept this trifle as an inducement to combine its interest with this great corporation. This disposes of all rivals south of Omaha. True the people have paid dearly for it. They, through their servants in congress, have enriched a lot of unscrupulous men, banded together for the purpose of plundering the public, and given to these corporations the power to oppress the people for all time to come; but as it affords a safe means of transporting the mails, &c., for a consideration which the people must pay as the services are rendered, the public should not complain. Congress thought the matter so important as to require the gift of vast sums of the public moneys, and princely donations out of the public domain, and as our legislators acted for the people, and the companies have built their roads, the public must submit.

But there was danger that the roads crossing Iowa and Min

nesota might compete with the Union Pacific.

Sioux City

West of that

was an objective point on the Missouri river. city, across the then territory of Nebraska, a road could be constructed at comparatively small cost. This line might become a rival, and it also must be absorbed. To effect this object, the following provision was made a part of the fourteenth section of this act: "And whenever there shall be a line of railroad completed through Minnesota or Iowa to Sioux City, then the said Pacific railroad company is hereby authorized and required to construct a railroad and telegraph line from said Sioux City, upon the most direct and practicable route, to a point on, and so as to connect with, the branch railroad and telegraph line in this section herein before mentioned, or with the said Union Pacific railroad, said point of junction to be fixed by the president of the United States, not farther west than the one-hundredth meridian of longitude aforesaid, and on the same terms and conditions as provided in this act for the construction of the Union Pacific railroad, as aforesaid, to complete the same at the rate of one hundred miles per year." The amendment made to this part of the act in 1864, to which we shall refer in another chapter, materially changes its provisions; and as we examine these provisions, we will discover that all the unjust donations made of the public lands and moneys are exceeded in this amendment.

Now, if the reader will take a map on which the railroads are marked, he will discover that from Leavenworth to Sioux City all the railroads running west are concentrated into one line, after leaving the one-hundredth degree of longitude-the Burlington & Missouri railroad company being made by the act of 1864 a part of the same great monopoly. By the exclusive franchises and imperial wealth conferred upon it by congress, this great corporation is given control, absolute control of the business interests of the great west. This grand system of railroads looks well on the map, and lends color to the plea that the wants of the public and of the government justified this large outlay of money and lands; but an inspection of the act chartering the companies, consolidating them, and by law giving them unlimited control of the interests of the public, will convince the impartial reader that the interests of the com

panies, rather than the needs of the government, or the welfare of the people, controlled the action of congress.

Grants of lands and exclusive privileges have been made to other corporations, as also to states, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads; but our aim being to combat the policy itself, as involving gross injustice and oppression, and to show its effects upon the public, we have selected the Union Pacific and its branches as the best illustration of the action of congress in making these grants, and the companies owning this road and its branches as a fair sample of the class of professed benefactors of the people.

CHAPTER III.

THE MONOPOLISTS HELP THEMSELVES."

HE Pacific companies are such a deep mine of iniquity, we must sink our shaft somewhat deeper if we would

T

see the true quality of the corruption. In order to fully comprehend the injustice done to the people, it will be necessary to examine the further legislation of congress in their favor.

A perusal of the act from which we have quoted will convince the reader that these companies received all that was necessary for the successful completion and operation of their road, and its numerous branches, and to enable them to extort from the government and the people all that the most grasping and avaricious could desire. But, like Oliver Twist, they still asked "for more," and they got it; not in more lands and money, but in being relieved, by act of congress, from the restrictions and duties imposed upon them by their charter.

The act of congress chartering the Union Pacific railroad, and its numerous branches, was amended by the act of July 2, 1864, in many particulars, to some of which we have already referred. The fourth section amends the third section of the original charter by increasing the number of sections of land granted per mile to said road, from ten to twenty, and allowing the selection of the lands to be made within twenty miles of the line of the road, instead of ten, as provided in the original charter; and also provides that the secretary of the interior shall withdraw from sale and pre-emption all the land within twenty-five miles of the line of the road, until the company has selected its twenty sections. The original charter limited the withdrawal to fifteen miles. The amendment also qualified the term "mineral lands," contained in the original act, so as to except from the lands reserved by the government

all coal and iron lands; thus enabling the company to select coal and iron lands to the full amount of twenty sections per mile, giving to said railroad company, or companies, a monopoly of the coal trade in a country where coal is, and will continue to be, the greatest desideratum; and the same section gives the company the right to use, in fact grants to the company, all the timber found on each side of the road within ten miles thereof. The company can, under its charter, take all the timber from the land it does not select, and then take its twenty sections in coal lands, when they can be found. This it has done, and in addition, bought of the government other large tracts of coal land; not in the name of the company, perhaps, but in the name of the individual stockholders. By this means, all who settle along the line, in the vicinity of this Union Pacific road, are placed in the power of this great corporation, and must pay it for fuel and transportation whatever sum may be demanded, because the charter does not restrict the company in the matter of charges for transportation.

Section seventeen of the original charter provided that twenty-five per centum of the subsidy bonds should be retained by the government until the entire line of the road was completed. Section seven, of the act of July 2, 1864, repealed this provision.

Other amendments are made for the benefit of the corporation, as to time and manner of payment; but as it is not our intention to examine all of its provisions in detail, we pass to the tenth section.

By the original charter, the subsidy bonds issued to the company were to be and remain first mortgage bonds upon the road and property of the company, the company paying six per cent interest (payable semi-annually) on said bonds, and the principal in thirty years. The tenth section of the amendment reads as follows:

"That section five of said act be so modified and amended that the Union Pacific railroad company, the Central Pacific railroad company, and any other companies authorized to participate in the construction of said road, may, on the completion of each section of said road, as provided in this act, and the act to which this act is an amendment, issue their first