Commissioner Sparks of the U. S. General Land Office estimated in
1885 that, in addition to the tens of millions of acres the railroad
corporations had secured by fraud under form of law, they had
overdrawn ten million acres, "which vast amount has been treated by
the corporations as their absolute property, but is really public
land of the United States recoverable to the public domain." (House
Executive Docs., First Session, Forty-ninth Congress, 1885-86,
ii:184.) It has never been recovered.]

That Congress, not less than the legislatures, was honeycombed with
corruption is all too evident from the disclosures of many
investigations--disclosures to which we shall have pertinent occasion
to refer later on. Not only did the railroad corporations loot in a
gigantic way under forms of law, but they so craftily drafted the
laws of both Nation and the States that fraud at all times was easy.

DEFRAUDING THE NATION OF TAXES.

Not merely were these huge areas of land obtained by fraud, but after
they were secured, fraud was further used to evade taxation. And by
donations of land is not meant only that for intended railroad use or
which could be sold by the railroads. In some cases, notably that of
the Union Pacific Railroad, authority was given to the railroad by
acts passed in 1862 and 1864 to take all of the material, such as
stone, timber, etc., needed for construction, from the public lands.
So, in addition to the money and lands, much of the essential
material for building the railroads was supplied from the public
resources. No sooner had they obtained their grants, than the
railroad corporations had law after law passed removing this