wide and a cash bonus of $16,000 for every mile of railroad built on level ground, $26,000 for every mile of railroad built in hilly country and $46,000 for every mile of railroad built in mountain country. It is said that this company even moved the rocky mountain range fifty miles farther west to get the latter bonus. Then the railroads received land grants for roads they never built. About 115,000,000 acres passed into the hands of the promoters for railroads that never advanced beyond the prospectus stage. This process is called obtaining money under false pretense, and the guilty party, provided the amount is small enough, is usually sent to the penitentiary.
How Shall the Railroads be Acquired?
Knowing all this, how much should the American people pay to the railroad owners for property acquired in the above manner? It is safe to say that the railroads of the United States never have cost their original owners one single cent. How much, then, should we pay for them? There never yet was a Yankee who would pay for something he could get for nothing, and by the time the American people have learned in what manner the railroads were built, they will give to their owners all that is coming to them, and some of these gentlemen, so-called widows and orphans, innocent investors, etc., may thank their Lord if they escape the penitentiary besides.
But, should we decide not to restore to the people what justly belongs to them, without paying an indemnity to the present owners, we may buy them. In this manner the German government acquired the privately owned rail-
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