Believing that the preemption policy—­so deliberately adopted, so long practiced, so carefully guarded with a view to the disposal of the public lands in a manner that would promote the population and prosperity of the country—­should not be perverted to the purposes contemplated by this bill, I would be constrained to withhold my sanction even if this company were, as natural persons, entitled to the privileges of ordinary preemptors; for if a corporation, as the name and the absence of any designation of individuals would denote, the measure before me is liable to another fatal objection.

Why should incorporated companies have the privileges of individual preemptors?  What principle of justice requires such a policy?  What motive of public welfare can fail to condemn it?  Lands held by corporations were regarded by ancient laws as held in mortmain, or by “dead hand,” and from the time of Magna Charta corporations required the royal license to hold land, because such holding was regarded as in derogation of public policy and common right.  Preemption is itself a special privilege, only authorized by its supposed public benefit in promoting the settlement and cultivation of vacant territory and in rewarding the enterprise of the persons upon whom the privilege is bestowed.  “Preemption rights,” as declared by the Supreme Court of the United States, “are founded in an enlightened public policy, rendered necessary by the enterprise of our citizens.  The adventurous pioneer, who is found in advance of our settlements, encounters many hardships, and not unfrequently dangers from savage incursions.  He is generally poor, and it is fit that his enterprise should be rewarded by the privilege of purchasing the spot selected by him, not to exceed 160 acres.”

It may be said that this company, before they obtain a patent, must prove that within two years they “have erected and have in operation in one or more places on the said lands iron works with a capacity for manufacturing at least 1,500 tons of iron per annum.”  On the other hand, they are to have possession for two years of more than 12,000 acres of the choice land of the Territory, of which nearly 2,000 acres are to contain iron ore and coal and over 10,000 acres to be of timber land selected by themselves.  They will thus have the first and exclusive choice.  In fact, they are the only parties who at this time would have any privilege whatever in the way of obtaining titles in that Territory.  Inasmuch as Montana has not yet been organized into a land district, the general preemption laws for the benefit of individual settlers have not yet been extended to that country, nor has a single acre of public land in the Territory yet been surveyed.  With such exclusive and extraordinary privileges, how many companies would be willing to undertake furnaces that would produce 5 tons per day in much less time than two years?