ky, and
after swindling them of their land, caused the Government to remove them
westward. The frauds were so extensive, and the circumstances so
repellant, that President Andrew Jackson, in 1833, ordered an
investigation. From the records of this investigation,--four hundred and
twenty-five solid pages of official correspondence--more than enough
details can be obtained.[93]

WHERE WAS FRAUD ABSENT?

In Wisconsin the most valuable Government lands, containing rich
deposits of lead and other mineral ore, were being boldly appropriated
by force and fraud. The House Committee on Public Lands reported on
December 18, 1840, that with the connivance of local land agents, these
lands, since 1835, had been sold at private sale before they were even
subject to public entry.[94] "In consequence of which," the Committee
stated, "many tracts of land known to be rich and valuable mineral lands
for many years, and known to be such at the time of the entry, have been
entered by evil-minded persons, who have falsely made, or procured
others to make, the oath required by the land offices. Honest men have
been excluded from the purchase of these lands, while the dishonest and
unscrupulous have been permitted to enter them by means of false oath
and fraud."[95]

These are but the merest glimpses of the widespread frauds in seizing
land, whether agricultural, timber or mineral. What of the mercantile
importers, the same class that the Government so greatly favored in
allowing it long periods in which to pay its customs duties? It was
defrauding the Government on the very importations on which it was
extended long-time credit for customs payments. The few official reports
available clearly indicate this. Great frauds were continuously going on
in the importations of lead.[96] Large quantities of sugar were imported
in the guise of molasses which, it was discovered, after being boiled a
few minutes, would produce an almost equal weight in brown sugar.[97]
Doubtless similar frauds were being committed in other lines of
importations. Between the methods of these divisions of the capitalist
class, and those of Astor, no basic difference can be discerned.

Neither was there any essential difference between Astor's methods and
those of the manufacturing capitalists of the North who remorselessly
robbed Charles Goodyear of the benefits of his discovery of vulcanized
rubber and who drove him, after protracted litigation, into insolvency,
an