Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1842-08-01
WASHINGTON. July 10Th. 1910

Shall The Public Lands be Surrendered
Since wrote my last letter, this question, at
least Tor the present. und so far rs The House of
Representatives is concerned, has been sa,sfacto-
ry answered. The House. by the unprecedented
majority OF thirty five, lInv1 decided to hold fast TO
ihelr principles, and TO surrender them at the beck
Of no one, be he Presden, or be he the accident
of accidents. Honor, say for one TO the noble
spirit OF the Peoples Representatives They have
shown themselves worthy of the hest duys of the
Republic. True lis, the Tarifi bill has only pass
ed the House by The bare majority of four votes.
But tins by no means proves that there was not a
large majority anxious that it should pass and
equally so that II should be suffered to become
law. 1t will be remembered that quite a number
OF estern votes were lost, in quence Of the
House striking out the retalintory duties upon i'm
ports from those countries which levy exorbant
lmposts upon American tobacco. 1t WINS only with
feelings OF true magnaninity that Messrs. Trpett
OF KY, und Cravens of Indiana, SO far Welded
their own personal wishes as to permit il to become
law, notwithstanding their own hopes in regard
to most cherished object were blasted by the
passage Of the bill without this provision Then
again, 1t should be remembered that the entire Lo-
CO Foco delegation in Congress, with but single
exception, voted against the measurse. The To-
rles from Maine, New Hampshire, New York and
Pennsy lvana, all sacrificed the interests of their
consltuehts-all blindly sold themselves TO party
slavery, and TO the bondage of selfish and sec
toHo' S"piuhy' Dut IL WIS wen tnut u was
Their votes were not needed. The bill has pass
ed the House, without their aid. Not one lot of
principle has been sacrificed by the Wings.
shall, then, the land proviso be still adhered to,
should this bill, after its passage, be vetoed by the
President? have already, in a previous letter,
gwen you Two good reasons Why Congress never
should yield this point, even temporarily. | have
ehdeavored TO show that they can only do So, by
sacrifice Of all past professions OF principle-by
what they believe to he an infringement both upon
the letter and the spirit OF the cOnsulion-and|
~ violation of the rights of the States
Lven waving these considerations, il would he
wei tor our friends to bear in mind that, TO many
OF the Western States, the public land question is
OF paramount importance. The " higs from these
States are in favor Of good discrimlnai ing Tariff,
but they are not willing to sacrifice for it the more
immediate and pressing wants of their own con
stIuents Much as we of the North may lament
and regret that il is so, we cannot blame our Yves
tern friends for doing precisely what we should
do if in their ploces-consut the paran,ount in
terests OF constituents and friends before those OF
more dlsent and less immediate associates and
political friends. Much our friends may de.
sire good substantial Tariff, they must not lor-
get that their own immediate Representatives Gun
do nothing for them without the aid of the West,
By uniting with the Loco Focos, they may be a.
o'e 10 strike out OF the Tariff bill the land suspen
sion clause. But what good would they derive
from that? None Whaieper. The Tariff would
be no nearer passage than before BY so doing
ihey would offend and drive from them the whole
body OF Western Wings, with whom the land
question Is paramount interest-bu could they
replace them even on this very question? No.
1t is undenably true they could not The sacri
flee would still be for nothing Such Tariff Bill
as poufd satisfy The tcdnis Of the Country cannot
pass ehhsr House Of Congress, toithoui The land
clause. In either branch would at once be nail
ell 10 the table by the combined votes of Western
members, unwilling TO sacrifice The lands in any
case, or Tor any purpose, and factous and I'M
prhcIpled Tory minority. Such isa plain and
true statement OF the case. Now, what would
our Eastern friends have their Representatives do
III such posture? Drive off and ALLEVIATE their
old ana faithful friends, in the vain hope Of sup
plying their places, temporarily from the ranks of
our bitter and nnrelentiug enemies? Such pro-
ceedure would he the very madness of the moon
We should lose The aid of good and fast friends
without whoDe aid we can get no Tariff worth hav-
ing, and gain nothing to recompense us for the loss
we should be utterly unable TO obtain aid enough,
from The ranks of The enemy, even if we drove off
our lrlends-and the only result would be, certain
loss of oil chance Of Obtaining any Turiff that
would not lie worse Than not having any for the
present Strike out the land clause aud stake
my reputation that, in either House. the bill goes
10 The table, by vote of three to wo-at least, a.
ny larf bill that furnished even The most moder-
ate protection. Ii would he well, therefore, for
our friends TO look into the matter, before they
condemn and complain of their faithful represen-
latlves because they will not do that which on Id
inevitably DESTROY nil homes of Tariff and
which would moreover. he AN net Of sery;Ie sub
mission TO the tyranicaI dictates Of Execu,ive H.
surpaton-a direct yiola,ian of ,hair o,y,, ,.s,
professions of principle, and would be regarded
by .heir Western friends, as little else than an act
OF lrenchery and faiihlcssness.
with any shadow of nronre,v A. s',,,or y,
principle, the rich, Of ,hs States n tho p.,J;c
Lands should not be s,,rrendsreJoau r. v;sI',eJ
now, even with The Understandable rhn, he con.
cession is to be bu, temnorsrv mi ,ns. ,,'a 49,
pedency, The rrh, viii le ~ nj, roinh;t;,u Ca.
forever The ,p,,a aro,nJ =; =, vs. PtI" os'