Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1840-01-31

h.
know Mr.. Calhoun and some others are i,,r g,,-
! ing the LandS to the neU StateS. Let South Car
DINA do SO II she please as Tor Pennsvlvania.
she will never consent to it, And mark what
say: IL Jlf Congress should adjourn v..h0ut
setting apart enough of The lands To paytke sta.e
debtS, those members ulso 50 fdr neglect their du-
ty TO the States, aclH aaUer be re-etected by the
propie. The public mind is awake to this in
terestlng question, and will have a definite ac
ton upon 1t. To equallze the benefits of tho
law on all the States, it is intended to give the
States not in debt a share equal TO the States
that are involved in debt
One of the best men in the United States
said on one occasion, that at the time The public
lands were ceded to the United States for tin
benefit of all the States, they were not worth 30
millions of dollars nay, not even that amount
! Our population, cultivation and emigration from
the old States have given them an enhanced
value. TO these may be added the new value
which the great steam powers of Evans and
Fulton have given to the lands on the western
waters. But there is still stronger argument
why the States should have at least 20J, ,OO0,-
900 Of the public lands distributed among them.
refer to the great and expensive Improvements
OF the respective States. Of what value would
the great body of western lands be now, if it
were not for the immense State Improvements
of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio The
lands IN the west would not be worth tithe of
what they now are, if it were not for the great
State expenditures. Why then, ask, should
not portion of those lands, made valuable by
the money of the States, be set apart to pay the
State debts. 1t is too plain proposition to be
resisted. Congress will do it and ifthis Con-
gresS should not pass the law, new represen-
tatlon fresh from the ranks of the people will
do 1t. The people "know where the land hes,"
and have resolved to have a share of it.
But let US consider it in a national point Of
view. The general government could not, to-
morrow, In the event of war on our Canadian
frontier, reach that region with anything like
reasonable expedition, If it were not for the
State Improvements, executed at immense cost,
by the States. In peace, the general govern
ment uses the State Improvements for her mall
and In war the President will have to transport
the arms OF the nation upon the State canals
and roads. The enemy might Overrun some of
our most exposed points if the State improve
ments did not exist. The great debt of the late
war, was nearly all the result of the heavy ex-
penses OF transportation. | think, therefore, as
matter of sheer justice, that the United States
should pass a law to relieve the States. The.
old Congress assumed the debts of the thirteen
States, when they had no ualuable lands to pay
them. Congress recently assumed the debt OF
me DTstI1CT OF Cninn,bio. Indeed, tiIe late dis
tributiOG act was an apportioning of the moneys
resulting from the sale of the public lands
And all that is required now is, that portion
equal to the State debts should be set apart as
sinking fund The lands need not be sold
on the instant. They will be reserved for a
convenient season. By this arrangement the
old States will start fair, unencumbered and
free from an onerous burthen of taxation; and
the gentlemen who have this subject in their
hands for adjustment, will find, if they do no.
accede to this proposition, that they viii be
swept from the stations they now occupy,
confess should want no better lever to upset
them in oppressed and encountered Pennsylva-
MIA, than vote against the payment of her debt
out of the public lands, that in part belong TO
her, and which her costly Improvements have In
creased IN value equal to the amount OF
of her debt. For | repeat it, if the State inn
provoments of Pennsylvania and New York
were not in existence, the great Western do
main would be, Comparatively, but of little ualre
This then can be readily understood 1t re-
quires no deep thinking or aborious investigl-
tion to understand it. The dullest man in the.
commonwealth can comprehend. To all who
go against it, we say beware, for you will mosi
certainly be called to strict account at the
great meeting of the people at the polls.
1t is a himsy device to try, as some have
done, to draw line of distinction between tbs
United States Government and the States. The
same people compose both forms Of govern
ments The people Of the States know, thas
the IT, S. mail and the u. s. arms must be
transported on the roads and lands paid for out
of the pockets of the people of the States and
as the government OF the United States use
them in their greatest need they ought to paw
for them, particularly when the public lands
held by the United States belong to the States,
are sufficient to effect it, and yet leave one
thousand millions OF dollars for posteriIy. The
State works are intended for posterity, and 4
part of the cost should be paid out of the land
fund, or, as some call 1t, posterity fund,
Again If the United States GoyernmeI.
had constructed the present improved line os
mail travel and military transportation through
out the Union, the States would be free from