Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1871 — The Kankakee Valley Draining Company. [ARTICLE]

The Kankakee Valley Draining Company.

1 Icing deeply interested in the prosperity of the northern part of your county I desire to say a few words through your columns on the late actum of this company.— After a long interval, which delay had induced the hope that this company had abandoned its iniquitous scheme of seizing the lands of the Kankakee Valley and its tributaries, this company comes forth in its true colors and more than verifies the predictions that have been made regarding it by the people. Every man wbo lias land m reach of this grasping corporation should know at once his danger. — Every man, woman and child who have homes in this devoted section should know that the sword that shall drive them from their firesides is uow in the hands of a merciless corporation without soul or .conscience amEwhose only watchword is “Give u\ your money or your lands!” It practically says to the poor man “You aro unable to pay our assessments on your lands, therefore, go, we want them,” and for aught that can now bo discerned Ibis cruel mandate’must be obeyed. I am treating of no imaginary evil. I took my pen to treat of facts that have com^ under my own eye. I have just received the assessment of this company upon lands 1 am interested in in Jasp6r county and 1 wish to place some of its features before the people of your county. The first thing I see on tho list is tlie southeast quarter of section Ift, township 32, range 6, which lies 8 miles from the river and four miles from tho ditch line. Everyth) in this tract is assessed $340.00, making $1,360.00 on 160 acres of raw marsh land, more than the laud is worth. In section 27, same distance from the river and ditch Hue, the assessment is $300.00 per 40, making $4,800.00 on tho section.— Tho bottom land on tho Kankakee river is assessed much higher. — i Lot 5, section 6, township 32, range 5, 6C| acres is assessed at $700.00, about $14.00 per acre. Host of the 40 acre tracts are assessed at from $300.00 to $700.00. On 2,080 acres the assessment is Nineteen Thousand , Two Hundred and Thirty Hollars!! And this company if the ISw is sustained by tho Supreme court of Indiana, has tho right to collect this enormous tax or sell the laud uuder their mortgage lein given them by the law.] Who can or will pay such a tax as this to be expended by an unscrupulous corporation .upon an untried and visionary scheme? This is a fair sample of what the company will do in every county on the lino of its work unless the people rise as one man and oppose them with all their power. Companies should be at once formed to resist by appeal and by every legal means this outrageous tyranny and rascality. The people cannot and will not submit to it. The time has come when something must be done. Wc can no longer rest satisfied with idle talk about this matter. The enemy is in the field and taking his positions. Let us organize, appeal to tho courts and to the Supreme court and use all means iu our *power to resist this enemy of our country. Long years have passed since the settlement of other parts of the State and the Kankakee, Valley lias until quite recently been overlooked and has remained in the background, but witlun five years past it has been louud to be tho best dairy and beef country in the West and has been improving rapidly, filling up with men of energy and capital. AH this will bo instantly checked and the assessments of this company will rest like a heavy incubus oa this valley.— Heavy taxation and an unlimited complication of titles .incumbering tho land with mortgage liens will drive many from their homes now here, and emigration from other States will avoid the Kankakee Valley as if it ivere another Arabian desert I feel the deepest solicitude for this section of the country and fed? that a dark hour in ijs liistoryiiaß arrived unless the people nrouso themsolves at ouco to Tigoroui action.

G EORGE PHELPS.