Mr. HENDRICKS. The Senator says he did not say that. I thought he did say it. I thought that was the idea. I will ask the Sea ator if the State of Illinois was a very new State when that magnificent grant was made for the construction of her system of railroads, a t to a very large extent of lands that could not be sold by the Government because they were in the midst of prairie, inaccessible to the farmer unless a highway was O ned, and that was a grant of 6 miles on each side, and a rant nor to the company, but to the State. as the State of Iowa a very new State in 1856 when the grant was made to her? The grant was not made to the railway companies of the State, but the rant was made to the State. Was the State of Wisconsin an entirely new State in 1856 or 1857 when the at was made to her for her great lines of rafiiibad? The grant was made to the State and not to the comnice. The question for Senators to consi er is, is it a safe policy now to grant the public lands to the companies and not to the States? If we grant the lands to the States we have the honor the assurance, and the interest of the State and of the people of the State that the roads shall be built; but if we make these grants to the railroad companies we dancethem in a position where they may be m e the subject of speculation. Even as it is, when the State has made the grant to the companies, it has become the subject of speculation in some instances a thing that we ought to avoid. Now, sir, as a friend of this system, as one who always votes these grants very liberally to the States, I want to know of the Senate if it is now safe to depart from the policy heretofore adopted, and to grant the lands directly to the railroad companies? In other words, this Government shall grant her lands not to the States to be controlled by the States, but to corporations over which congress can have no control. I admit that it is a very wise provision of this bill and of other bills that have passed and that are pending, that the lands shall be granted to the compa nies only as the roads are completed; butprac tically that is the provision which is found in all the grants, that the grant is not absolute to the grantee until the road is built, and that has been so from 1840 to the present time. Now, sir, I undertake to repeat what I said before, that this is a departure from the gene eral policy. The general policy has been to make the grants to the States and let the companics get their rights from the States and not from the General Government; but if it is the pleasure of the Senate to change this policy, I have no particular objection to it. I desire California to be encouraged in her enterprises. I feel as much interest in that, I think, as any Senator except those who immediately represent her people. Of course I cannot claim to feel the same degree of interest as ifI lived in California, but I desire to see these railroads constructed, and I think the Government ought to aid in their construction; but the question is, shall we depart from a fixed policy of the Government?