Senate Votes to Forfeit Unearned Northern Pacific Lands
As the Senate debates the forfeiture of Northern Pacific Railroad land grants in the Washington Territory, legal experts and legislators clash over whether corporations should be held to the same standards as individuals.
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The bill for forfeiting the unearned lands of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, as passed by the Senate, mainly forfeits those lands coterminous with that part of its main line which extends from Wallula Junction to Portland, and that part of the Cascade branch which shall not be finished at the date of the passage of this bill, and subjects the right-of-way in the Territories to taxation. Senator George maintained that if the railroad failed to perform its duty, the grant was void; to suggest otherwise would be a monstrous doctrine that a corrupt failure by a corporation to build its road remains binding on the people of the United States. Senator Logan argued he was in favor of honesty toward all people—that he would treat a corporation just as he would treat an individual. If he made a contract with an individual and that individual complied with the contract, he would be bound by it; but the Senate must decide if these land grants were a condition precedent or a mere promise. The bill passed the Senate with strong opposition from those favoring the railroad's interests, marking a significant step in the ongoing struggle over the public domain in the Washington Territory.
“This would be a monstrous doctrine—that whenever the railroad company decided for themselves to fail in the performance of their duty, that such corrupt failure was to be binding on the people of the United States.”
The late 19th-century battle over the Northern Pacific's unearned land grants echoes contemporary debates in Seattle regarding land-use policy, concentrated ownership, and the obligation of private developers to serve the public interest. Just as Senator George argued against letting corporate failure override public rights, modern Seattleites continue to wrestle with how to reclaim or regulate land held by large entities when the promised 'public benefits' of development remain unfulfilled.
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