committee concurred in the opinion that the Southern Pacific Railroad Company had neither legal nor equitable claim to any part of the grant, and that under the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States action on the part of Congress is necessary to restore this land to the public domain. No legal rights can be divested or lost by the proposed action, and whatever legal rights exist can only be ascertained after forfeiture. We ought, perhaps, to apologize for the length of this report; but the interests are so vast, the value of the property so great, the claim of the railroad company insisted upon with so much zeal and apparent candor and earnestness, and, moreover, this being the pioneer case in the list of proposed forfeitures of lapsed land grants to railroads before this Congress, we have thought it not inexpedient to thoroughly canvass the questions presented, although subjecting ourselves to the charge of prolixity. A BILL to declare a forfeiture of lands granted to the Texas Pacific Railroad Company, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all lands granted to the Texas Pacific Railroad Company under the act of Congress entitled "An act to incorporate the Texas Pacific Railroad Company and to aid in the construction of its road, and for other purposes, approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, be, and they are hereby, declared forfeited, and that the whole of said lands be restored to the public domain and made subject to sale and settlement under existing laws of the United States. SEC. 2. That in any and all cases, as to any lands embraced within the terms of the act named in section one of this act, whenever the Department of the Interior, or its officers, or the local land officers, have treated said lands as open to selection, purchase, or homestead entry, and have allowed purchases, selections, and entries of any of said lands under the general laws of the United States, the acts of the Department of the Interior, and its officers, and the local land officers, in permitting such entries, selections, and purchases, in making such sales and in issuing patents, certificates, and lists thereon, are hereby ratified and validated; and the rights and titles of parties or persons holding patents or claiming right or title under certificates or lists of lands issued or certified by the Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, or certificates issued by the officers of the local land offices, or who have made homestead enteries or pre-emption settlements or claims of any kind upon any of said lands, under the general laws of the United States, in any way affected adversely by said grant, are hereby confirmed and made valid to the same extent as though said grant had never been made; and all of said lands embraced within the provisions of said acts shall be restored to the public domain, subject to the saving of rights as provided in this section, as though said grant had never been made. H. R. 181. To declare forfeited certain lands granted to aid in the construction of a railroad in Oregon and to enforce the same by judicial proceedings. Passed House June 4, 1884. In the Senate received June 9, 1884, and referred to the committee on public lands March 7, with amendment. No vote taken. H. R. 180. To declare forfeited certain lands in the State of Michigan to and in the construction of a railroad, and to enforce the same by judicial proceedings. In the House March 5, 1884, reported from the committee and referred to the House calendar. No vote taken. H. R. 5682. To repeal section 22 of the act to incorporate the Texas Pacific R. R. Co., approved March 3, 1871; and to declare a forfeiture of the land grant therein made, and for other purposes. In the House, June 26, defeated. H. R. 6408. To forfeit lands granted to the State of Michigan to aid in the construction of a railroad from Marquette to Ontonagon in said State. No vote taken. H. R. 6416. To provide for the adjustment of land grants made by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads within the State of Kansas. No vote taken. H. R. 6534. To declare forfeited certain lands granted to aid in the construction of the Northern Pacific R. R. and for other purposes. No vote taken. H. R. 7162. To forfeit the unearned lands granted to the Atlantic & Pacific R. R. Co. and to restore the same to the public domain. Passed House June 9, 1884. In the Senate, July 3, amended and passed Senate. No conference between the two houses had. H. R. 7238. To restore lands held in indemnity limits for railroad and wagon road companies and for other purposes. No vote taken. H. R. 7299. Forfeiting a part of certain lands granted to the State of Iowa to aid in the construction of railroads in that State and for other purposes. Passed House June 20. In the Senate, June 21, received and referred to the Committee on Public Lands. No report made. H. R. 7495. To declare forfeited certain lands granted to aid in the construction of a railroad from Portland in Oregon to the Central Pacifie R. R. Co. in Cal. vote taken. Foreign Land Owners. No The following table shows the amount of acres held in vast estates by foreign, absentee, landlords : The Holland Land Company, New Mexico. An English syndicate, No. 3, in Texas.. Sir Edward Reid and a syndicate, in Florida.. English syndicate, in Mississippi... Marquis of Tweedale... Phillips, Marshal & Co., London. German syndicate... Anglo-American syndicate, Mr. Rogers, president, London. Bryan H. Evans, of London, in Mississippi.. Duke of Sutherland.... British Land Company, in Kansas. William Whalley, M.P., Peterboro, England. Missouri Land Company, Edinburgh, Scotland. Robert Tennant, of London.. Dundee Land Company, Scotland. Lord Dunmore. 4,500,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,800,000 1,750,000 1,300,000 I, 100,000 750,000 700,000 425,000 320,000 310,000 300,000 230,000 247,000 120,000 100,000 60,000 60,000 50,000 50,000 Albert Peel, M.P., Leicestershire, England. 10,000 M. Ellerhauser, of Halifax, Novia Scotia, in West Virginia. 600,000 Benjamin Newgas, Liverpool. Lord Houghton, in Florida.. Lord Dunraven, in Colorado. English Land Company, in Florida. English Land Company, in Arkansas. Unlawful Fencing of the Public Domain. Space does not permit an account of the manner in which wealthy owners of large cattle ranches, many of them foreigners, have been permitted by the present administration to unlawfully fence in the land belonging to the Government. Among the cases of unauthorized fencing specially reported to the Land Office by agents are those of the Prairie Cattle Company, embracing upwards of 1,000,000 acres; the Arkansas Valley Company, 1,000,000 acres; H. H. Metcalf, 200,000 acres ; John W. Prowers, 200,000 acres; McDaniel & Davis, 75,000 acres ; Routchler & Lamb, 40,000 acres ; J. W. Frank, 40,000 acres ; Garnett & Langford, 30,000 acres; E. C. Tane, 50,000 acres; Lewesey Brothers, 150,000 acres ; Vroomer & McFife, 50,000 acres ; Beatty Brothers, 40,000 acres; Chick, Brown, & Co., 30,000 acres, and Reynolds Cattle Company, 50,000 acres, all in Colorado. Brighton Ranche, 125,000 acres; Coe & Carter, 80,000 acres; J. W. Wilson, 25,000 acres; Kennebec Ranch, 40,000 acres, and J. W. Bosler, 20,000 acres, in Nebraska. William Humphrey, 25,000 acres, and Nelson & Son, 20,000 acres, in Nevada. Whole Counties Appropriated. Entire counties are reported as being fenced in Kansas. In Wyoming more than one hundred large cattle companies are reported as having fencing on the public lands. Some of these companies are reported to be English and others Scotch. It is estimated that between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000 acres of public land are now illegally fenced, and that several millions of acres are fraudulently entered. Relative to the fraudulent entries of land, a land agent in New Mexico informs the General Land Commissioner that of the entries in that Territory ninety per cent. are fraudulent, and another agent in Dakota, writing upon the same subject, says that seventy-five per cent. of the entries are fraudulent in that Territory. The following table shows the number of fraudulent entries that have been investigated during the past year, and approximately the number of illegally fenced acres in the various States and Territories: Besides the cases embraced in the foregoing table there are about five thousand entries on which action has been suspended until an examination can be made by special agents. J. W. McFarland, of Harper, Kan., writes to the Land Office : In the name of God I ask is this a republican form of government, when the poor man, with barely enough to keep soul and body together and pay for his 160 acres of land must pay the taxes of the country and the cattle king go free. If so, I was a big fool to spend three years of my life to defend such a country. In the State of Colorado alone the administration of the law has been so lax that 2,157,000 acres of Government land have been illegally fenced in. This would provide homesteads for 13,481 heads of families, and could maintain easily a population of 75,000 people. The following is the table: Leivesy Brothers, Pueblo and Fremont Counties, R. 66 and 67, T. 20 and 21.. E. C. Tane, Pueblo County, R. 63 and 64, T. 19 and 20. A. D. Carpenter, Pueblo County, R. 62 and 63. Crook & Carlisle, Pueblo County, R. 59 and 60. Rantchler & Lamb, Pueblo County, R. 60 and 62. John W. Prowers, Bent County.. Prairie Cattle Company, Bent and Las Animas Counties Arkansas Valley Cattle Company, Bent and Las Animas Counties Vrooman & McFife, Bent County.. J. W. Swink, Bent County, R. 56 and 57 Hopkins & Bingham, Bent County. Beatty Brothers, Bent County. J. W. Patton, Bent County. ACRES. 150,000 40,000 20,000 50,000 30,000 20,000 20,000 10,000 10,000 75,000 40,000 200,000 100,000 1,000,000 50,000 10,000 30,000 40,000 5,000 5,000 3,000 5,000 3,000 2,000 2,000 10,000 The Democratic party, in convention assembled, pledges itself to the preservation of the public lands for actual settlers. Its record in Congress has been given, and shows a determination to exact the forfeiture of all unearned lands granted to railroads. Upon this vital question, as upon all others, it is, not by profession merely, but by practice, the true anti-monopoly party. 25,000 2,000 15,000 12,000 20,000 10,000 10,000 Protection of Labor. Labor Bills, The action of the House of Representatives of the 48th Congress on questions affecting the material well being of workingmen was highly commendable. One of its first acts was to constitute a Committee on Labor to consider and perfect such measures for action, And this action is in marked contrast with the refusal of the 47th Congress to create such a committee. It is well known that representatives of the leading labor organizations applied to Speaker Keifer for the creation of a Committee on Labor, and, failing in that, for the appointment on the committee, to which what are known as the labor bills would be referred, of members known to be familiar with the wants and in sympathy with the wishes of workingmen. No Committee on Labor was created by the Republican Congress, nor were the members suggested appointed on the committee having the bills in charge. As above stated a committee on labor was created by the present Congress and men appointed on it who were known as friends of the workingmen, among them being Mr. Hopkins of Pa., Mr. Foran of Ohio, a cooper by trade, Mr. Lovering of Mass., formerly an operator in a shoe factory, and Mr. O'Neill of Mo., well known as an eloquent advocater of the rights of workingmen. From this committee were reported, 1, the bill to establish a bureau of labor; 2, the bill to prohibit the importation of foreign labor under contract; 3, the bill to enforce the eight hour law; 4, the joint resolution declaring in favor of the employment of residents and citizens of the U. S. in the Construction of the public works of the governmant; 5, the joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the U. S. prohibiting any State from contracting with any person or corporation to hire or contract out the labor of prisoners; 6, the bill for the abolition of the contract labor system, so far as the prisoners of the U. S. are concerned; and 7, the bill granting leave of absence to the employés of the Government Printing Office. The bill to grant leave of absence to letter carriers, the bill to make effective the act prohibiting the importation of Chinese laborers, the bill to prevent the unlawful occupancy of the public domain, and various bills to forfeit unearned land grants were reported from other Committees of the House. Of these measures the bill to establish a bureau of labor because a law, and is in the words following: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established in the Department of the interior a Bureau of Labor, which shall be under the charge of a Commissioner of Labor, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate. The Commissioner of Labor shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed, and shall receive a salary of three thousand dollars a year. The Commissioner shall collect information upon the subject of labor, its relation to capital, the hours of labor, and the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity. The Secretary of the Interior, upon the recommendation of said Commissioner, shall appoint |