Has the country been more rapidly settled and improved by reason of this special legislation? The leading idea advanced in favor of grants to railroad companies has been their necessity in developing the new states and territories. We are pointed to the new states of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Nevada, and the territories of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, and referred to the fact that these states have a population of 2,874,000, and 9,000 miles of railroad; and from this exhibit an argument is deduced in favor of these grants. The theory is that the population has followed the roads. Is this theory correct? In 1850 Iowa had a population of 676,913, and in 1870 a population of 1,191,729. In 1860 there were 655 miles of railroad, about three-fourths of which had received grants of land. In 1870 the number of miles of railroad had increased to 2,668. Of this increase not more than one-third was aided by land grants, private enterprise having constructed at least two-thirds of it; and the same kind of enterprise is still at work, and since 1870 has increased the number of miles to 3,250. The land grants were nearly all made to Iowa in 1856, yet the energetic and rapid building of roads was not shown until after the close of the war, nor until the people had advanced beyond the roads, and their necessities demanded them. Kansas in 1860 had a population of 107,209; In 1870 it had increased to 364,400. Prior to 1864 it had no railroads. In 1870 it had 1,501 miles, all of which, save forty miles, was built in four years. Nearly all of the Kansas roads were aided by grants, and some of them by subsidy bonds. In 1870 there was one mile of railroad in Kansas for every 242 inhabitants. To construct these roads in Kansas, counties, cities, and towns have taxed themselves by vote to the amount of $4,400,000, or about $9.00 to each inhabitant. This debt must be charged to the railroad account, and a similarly voted indebtedness in Iowa to the amount of about $6,000,000. The valuation of property in Iowa in 1860 was $205,166,000, and in 1870 $302,515,000. Thus while the population of the state had nearly doubled, and the lines of railroad had more than quadrupled, the valuation had increased less than fifty per cent, and at least one-half of this increase was in the value of railroads. Deducting from the increased valuation of property in Kansas the value of railroads there, and about the same state of facts appears. The figures in these two states will show, that so far from the donations of land and money adding to their wealth the reverse is true. And this position is supported by the exhibit of other states. In Pennsylvania the population has increased since 1860, 600,000. The mileage of railroads has nearly doubled in this time, and the valuation of property has increased from $719,253,000 to $1,318,236,000. In that state, where no government aid has been voted to railroads, the wealth