scarcely credible that any candid observer intimately acquainted with the commercial history of American States can seriously contend that, on the whole, this policy has not indefinitely accelerated the settlement, development and general improvement of the several States in which it has been liberally carried out, or that, in the long run, the grantor has not gotten substantially the best of the bargain. To reason from the analogy of English railways is plainly absurd, because in England settlement and civilization preceded railway construction, while over large tracts of the American continent the exact converse has been the case. In the West and South the construction of a railroad has almost invariably, in fact, though subject to great variation in point of degree, been the pioneer of civilization. Its advent in a new district has introduced new ideas and personalities, new individual ambitions and social aspirations, new phases and standards of thought and obligation. It has largely tended to produce order out of chaos, to set up a standard of social law and public opinion in the roystering mining camp, and to inform with energy and enterprise the sleepiest agricultural village. By its operation the taxable property of States has been increased so as to meet progressive educational and humanitarian demands. The resources of municipal corporations have been enlarged so as to enable them to cope with the requirements of public order and decency. It would indeed be difficult to portray the advantages which railroads have conferred upon remote and scarcely civilized districts, without recourse to language bordering on the melodramatic. That is not the purpose of the present notes. It may indeed be said that a subsidy of land offered by the Government to a constructing railroad corporation is undistinguishable in principle from any other forms of taxation. That proposition may be quite true, and may be freely granted to the opponents of the system, for whatever it may be worth. But suppose that a popular government sees nothing immoral in indirect taxation, or in protection of particular industries, or in any other fiscal adjustment, which in its opinion tends to the development and ultimate independence of the whole nation, and with which the verdict of the majority of the people is in accord. Opinions will of course differ as to the correctness of the principle. The irreconcilable free-trader will regard it as a frightful outrage. On the other hand, States pledged to protection will consider it an unmixed benefit. There remains, after all, an open question which the majority considers to have been right in principle and beneficial in result, and which the minority denounces. You cannot cut up a principle by citing its abuses. Neither the majority nor the minority contends that extravagance or jobbery was in any respect justifiable. The signs of the times indicate fair recognition by the people of the United States of the benefits which the Country has derived from the investment of foreign capital, and of the protection to which that capital is entitled. If, under that form of popular government which the American nation has devised for itself, Congressional, Legislative or Municipal rings have been permitted to make an undue profit out of the national resources, that can afford no sufficient reason for ignoring or failing to protect the legitimate interests of the foreign investor. It is probable that, if the latter would assert firmly and temperately the importance of his rights, with due regard to their real merit and general conditions, he would obtain as fair a hearing in America as elsewhere. In 122 WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN GRAZING LANDS. order to do so successfully, it is incumbent on him to appraise with some approach to correctness his real equities and the vitality of the remedies appurtenant thereto. If, for example, he were desirous of protecting his interest in State bonds as against a State showing a disposition to repudiate, he would probably have a better chance to-day than at any time within the last ten or fifteen years. Per contra, if he should propose to induce the Federal Government to pay his Confederate bonds, his prospect of success would be in the last degree visionary. He will possibly conclude that, in the long run, "wisdom is justified of her children," but that they are not always identifiable at first sight. Western and Southwestern Grazing Lands. Advanced reformers have spoken very frankly about the necessity for drastic legislation in connection with property in the Far West and Southwest held mainly for grazing purposes by individuals or corporations representing a large amount of foreign capital. The truth would seem to be that the outcry is addressed not primarily against the legitimate ownership of property, but against an unfair interpretation of the rights and privileges incident to such ownership. The occupiers of large ranches possessing grazing privileges defined by the custom of the Country are of course subject, like every body else, to the obligations of written and unwritten law and custom. If, in the exercise of a grasping spirit, rights are transgressed, the trespasser has placed himself in a false position. If privileges have been abused or rational customs set at nought, the party in fault must reasonably expect to be more or less coerced by such forms of remedy or restraint as the social conditions of the community in which he WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN GRAZING LANDS. 123 resides permit and justify. But the coercion or restraint of a trespasser on legal rights or social institutions is a matter which stands on its own merits. It throws no appreciable light on the security or insecurity of property owned and held in accordance with law. Our observer will probably conclude that law-abiding men who have honestly acquired interests in property in the Far West or Southwest can, if they choose to adopt the proper means, protect their interests there as effectually as elsewhere. Whatever views they may be disposed to take concerning property already in possession, it may be considered as a foregone conclusion that legislation restricting the acquisition of land in large quantities by aliens (whether in an individual or corporate capacity) will assuredly be carried out. A comprehensive bill dealing with this subject is, at the time of writing, before Congress, and is, in substance, practically certain to pass both Houses. It is scarcely necessary to say that restrictions on the future acquisition of land by aliens need excite no apprehension as to the observance of the foreign investor's rights in the property of which he has become the legitimate owner prior to the passage of the bill referred to. CHAPTER XVI. STATE CONTROL. Is there any truth in the forecast that, within a measurable limit of time (say five or ten years), the railroads of this country will be taken over by the Government, and managed in the future as part of one great national system composed of railroads, post-office and telegraphs? If such a result should be accomplished, on what conditions would the transfer be made; and in what manner and to what extent would the interests of the foreign investor be affected thereby? There are not wanting competent judges who hold that the three best known forms of inter-communication above referred to form a natural trio, and are peculiarly susceptible of successful and harmonious combination. Great economies, say the partisans of this school, could be effected if these three branches could be made to play into each others' hands. Fewer buildings would be needed for post-offices and telegraph stations. A smaller staff would suffice for the combined work, and the services of each member would be more adequately utilized. By the opposite school it is contended that the advantages above referred to are out-weighed by the defects inherent in State control. The State, they say, cannot and does not make money go as far or produce as much as an individual, firm or company. When the Government takes to ship-building, it does not turn out as good |