TAXATION OF RAILROAD LANDS. I again call attention to the necessity for some legislation to compel the railroad companies having earned the land granted to them to take a patent therefor, so that the States or Territories in which such lands lie may have the benefits derived from taxing the lands within their boundaries. On this subject I repeat what I said in my last annual report: By section 21 of the act of July 2, 1864 (13 Stat., 356), amendatory of the Pacific Railroad act of July 1, 1862 (12 Stat., 489), it is provided— "That before any land granted by this act shall be conveyed to any company or party entitled thereto under this act there shall first be paid into the Treasury of the United States the cost of surveying, selecting, and conveying the same, by the said company or party in interest, as the titles shall be required by said company, which amount shall, without any further appropriation, stand to the credit of the proper account, to be used by the Commissioner of the General Land Office for the prosecution of the survey of the public lands along the line of said road, and so from year to year until the whole shall be completed, as provided under the provisions of this act." * * By act of July 31, 1876 (21 Stat., 121), substantially the same provision was extended to all railroad companies receiving grants of land, "unless exempted by law from the payment of such cost." By the failure of the companies to pay such costs and apply for patents a large amount of lands granted to and held by railroad companies under the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Court, as enunciated in Kansas Pacific Railway Company v. Prescott (16 Wall., 603), and Railway Company v. McShane (22 Wall., 444), are substantially relieved from State taxation, and contribute nothing to the fair support of the burden and revenue of the local governments, and at the same time deny to the General Government the due compensation provided by law for the surveys already extended over a portion of the lands, and the benefit of the enlarged appropriations intended to secure further surveys along the line of the roads. Experience has shown that, instead of aiding the Government and facilitating the survey and sale of the public lands along the routes, and the consequent settlement of the country, the provision has operated to retard such laudable results, and also has served to enable the companies to obtain such valuable parcels of land as they may find speedy profit in selling, thus imposing the full burden of taxation upon their grantees and other settlers who purchase lands in the same neighborhood, while refusing to take the patents for the larger body of less valuable lands upon which such burden would fall in the hands of the companies themselves. It is earnestly to be desired that some means of adjustment of these grants, as a whole, be provided, or some method devised which shall, under cover of legislative authority, not only remedy the evil suggested, but enable this Department to reach a finality as to the titles to be conveyed to these corporations at the earliest practicable moment, and thus relieve an anxious and excited public feeling, already sufficiently aroused upon the various difficult and complicated questions connected with the administration of this momentous and important branch of public affairs. To this end I most urgently recommend that the prompt and serious attention of Congress be invited to the foregoing suggestions, and that the several companies be compelled to take patents for the lands earned, and to pay for the surveys made in accordance with the provisions of the statutes heretofore cited. I append a table of the number of acres of land, and the number for which patents have issued, showing the number of acres for which no patents have issued, also the amount due the Government on such sur Statement of the estimated number of acres of land granted to railroad companies by the acts of July 1, 1862 (12 Stat., 489), and July 2, 1864 (13 Stat., 356); the number of acres on which the cost of surveying has been paid to November 11, 1884; the estimated cost of the survey of the remainder of the grants; and the number of acres patented to the companies named up to June 30, 1884. *Area of grant claimed by the company; question of correct area pending in this office. † But little land in addition to the amount already patented available for the grant. With the exception of the two companies last named, the basis of the above estimates is stated in Commissioner's report of February 5, 1884, on questions submitted to the Department by Hon. G. W. Cassidy, chairman Committee on Pacific Railroads, House of Representatives. The above statement includes all grants earned by construction of the road within the time fixed by law, where payment of cost of surveying lands is required, except those for the Saint Joseph and Denver City Railroad Company-practically adjusted and costs paid-and the branch line of the Southern Pacific Railroad-costs paid so far as lands have been selected. The companies in laches as to construction, which are required to pay such costs, are: Northern Pacific, Atlantic and Pacific, Southern Pacific main line, Texas and Pacific, New Orleans Pacific, California and Oregon (now consolidated with Central Pacific), Oregon and California, and Oregon Central. LAPSED GRANTS. In my report for 1882, as well as in that of 1883, I called attention to the necessity for some legislation in reference to lapsed land grants. The Department is not at liberty to declare a grant forfeited because the road is not completed within the time fixed in the grant. The Supreme Court of the United States declared in the case of Schulenberg v. Harriman (21 Wallace, p. 44) that a failure to complete the road within the time fixed in the grant did not forfeit the grant. Under this decision the Department cannot treat the land so granted to the railroad companies, or to the States for the benefit of such corporations, as public lands; and to all intents and purposes, so far as the public is concerned, the grants are private property, notwithstanding that the companies in some instances have not even attempted to comply with the conditions of the grant. I again repeat what I said on this subject in my last annual report: It is difficult to make the people understand that the executive department of the Government cannot declare a grant forfeited when the corporation for whose benefit it was made has failed to comply with the conditions thereof. Petitions are presented to the Executive demanding the forfeiture of grants for non-compliance with the conditions thereof. Individual claimants declare themselves outraged because the Commissioner of the Gencral Land Office refuses to allow filings on the odd sections of lands within the unforfeited railroad grants. The Government is derided as the Government of the rich and opposed to the poor, because the executive department of the Government does not do what the courts have repeatedly declared could be done only by the legislative branch of the Government; that is, declare a forfeiture of a grant. Complaint is made that grants made more than a quarter of a century ago are still treated as valid subsisting grants and the settler forbidden to go thereon, although nothing has been done toward the building of the road, which must be built before the railroad campany can receive the evidence of the title given to it by the Government so many years before. If the grants are not forfeited when there has not been a full compliance with the conditions of the grant, it seems to be just and proper that some provision should be made by which the settlers, who through ignorance or because they believed such grants had been or would be forfeited have made settlement on such railroad lands, can secure a title either through the railroad company or from the Government. If the executive department of the Government disregards the law and issues a patent to such settler, he takes nothing by the instrument, and is as much at the mercy of the corporation as if he had not received the Government patent. Congress alone can relieve the settler by declaring the grants forfeited. I trust this matter will receive the early attention of Congress. PENSIONS. The report of the Commissioner of Pensions shows that at the close of the fiscal year 1884 there were 322,756 pensioners, classified as follows: Army invalids.... Army widows, minor children, and dependent relatives.. Navy widows, minor children, and dependent relatives.. Widows of those who served in the war of 1812.. 218,956 75, 836 2, 616 1,938 3,898 19,512 There were added to this roll during the year the names of 34,192 new pensioners, and 1,221 previously dropped were restored to the rolls, making in the aggregate 35,413; and 16,315 were dropped for various causes, being a net increase on the roll of 19,098. The average annual value of each pension at the close of the year is $106.75, and the aggregate annual value of all pensions is $34,456,600.35, an increase over like value for the previous year of $2,211,407.92. The amount paid for pensions during the year is $56,908,597.60, exceeding, as will be observed, the annual value of pensions several millions of dollars, which represents the first payments, generally in new claims, and known as arrears of pensions. The amount paid during the year to 31,307 new pensioners was $23,413,815.10, and there remained in the hands of the several pension agents 7,203 cases of this class unpaid, in which there was due $4,949,090.05. The detail of these statements will be found in Table 1 of the Commissioner's report. Since 1861 there have been filed 927,922 claims for pensions; of this number, 545,130 have been allowed. About 82 per cent. of the whole number now pending are awaiting the action of the claimants or their witnesses on unanswered calls from the Pension Office. Since 1861 the total amount disbursed for pensions has been $8,346,834.34. In order to show the increase of business in the Pension Office, the Commissioner furnishes the following table of letters sent and received: NOTE. In the "letters sent" the calls made on the Adjutant-General and SurgeonGeneral, U. S. A., are not included. Two hundred and forty special examiners were employed in the field. Congress at its last session authorized the employment of an additional force of one hundred and fifty. The system of special examination appears to have given great satisfaction to the claimants and the office. The appeals from the Commissioner of Pensions to the Secretary were, during the fiscal year 1883, 746; during the past year, 1,516. The act of January 25, 1879, provided— That all pensions which have been granted under the general laws regulating pensions, or may hereafter be granted, in consequence of death from a cause which originated in the United States service during the continuance of the late war of the rebellion, or in consequence of wounds, injuries, or disease received or contracted in said service during said war of rebellion, shall commence from the date of the death or discharge from said service of the person on whose account the claim has been or shall hereafter be granted, or from the termination of the right of the party having prior title to such pension. In an act entitled "An act making appropriations for the payment of the arrears of pensions granted by act of Congress," approved March 3, 1879, it was provided as follows: All pensions which have been, or which may hereafter be, granted in consequence of death occurring from a cause which originated in the service since the 4th day of March, 1861, or in consequence of wounds or injuries received or disease contracted since that date, shall commence from the death or discharge of the person on whose ac th e claim has been or is hereafter granted, if the disability occurred prior to discharge, and if such disability occurred after the discharge, then from the date of actual disability, or from the termination of the right of party having prior title to such pension: Provided, The application for such pension has been or is hereafter filed with the Commissioner of Pensions prior to the 1st day of July, 1880, otherwise the pension shall commence from the date of filing the application; but the limitation herein prescribed shall not apply to claims by or in behalf of insane persons and children under sixteen years of age. Thus all persons applying for pension prior to July 1, 1880, are entitled to pension from the time of discharge or the death of the person on whose account the claim is made, unless the disability occurred after discharge. In all claims made subsequent to that date the pension must commence from the time of the filing of the application. No good reasons can be given why the claimants who file their claims after July 1, 1880, ought not to receive their pensions from the time of discharge if such disability then existed, or if not then existing, from the time such disability originated. It is but just that all persons who are able to establish the right to receive a pension should be treated alike with reference to time of the commencement thereof. It has been urged in favor of this limitation that the large amount of arrears is an inducement to applicants to apply and secure a pension, and that the large amount to be realized is a temptation to commit fraud on the Government by means of false witnesses. The Government has the means of detecting fraud if attempted, and injustice should not be done to the deserving and needy soldier for fear the Government may in some few instances be imposed upon and compelled to pay a pension to which the soldier is not justly entitled. It is impossible for a soldier to secure a pension for disabilites not existing; it is often, however, a question whether such disability is or is not the result of service in the line of duty. The rules of the Pension Office for the determination of this question are sufficiently strict, and with a proper administration of the affairs of that office very few pensions will be allowed parties not entitled to receive the same. It is to be hoped that the limitations imposed by the act of March 3, 1879, will be repealed. |