Hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1843-1845, 1844-04-25
III A w K Ely e.
BurltMgton:
Thursday, April 25, 1874.
MISUNDERSTANDING of
the Loco fOCOS,

MISUNDERSTANDING q
the Loco fOcos.
1t is the every day practice of the Il
CO focos to rail out against the polio
Of distribution, which is to them mos
odious. They denounce it as vast
of the public re venue. and see in it a
that is fruitful of evli, and all that !
destructive Of the prosperity 0. the pee
pie. In this, as in every thing c!'se
Henry Clay is the special object of at
tack and in truth, we believe thei
shafts are levelled more at the man
Than the system. They have foune
out, that he was once opposed to the
distribution of the proceeds of the pub
lie lands. and quote from lis speech Of
Jan. IL, 1882, to prove it. And what
does it prove! Tha, Mr. Clay was op.
posed to levying High Tariff duties, in
order to accumulate revenue, for dis.
tribution. That he was opposed to the
plan of Mr. McLane the Secretary Of
the Treasury, to sell the lands TO the
States, in which they lie. That he
opposed that plan not only because il
was unjust but because it was section
al. That he was for appropria,lng
them to some National purpose,to max,
ing Internal Improvements, and spread.
ing education among all the States.-
Those were the principles he avowed,
and he ayows them still. This dispos-
ed Of, we will examine as briefly as
we can, the conduct Of the locofocos, in
regard 10 this very measure, distribution.
In the frs. place Mahlon Dickerson
of New Jersey, loco foco, brought
forward a plan in 1927 to divide
$4,000, 900, annually among the States,
for four years. That too, when the
public debt was $73, 100000. Vol. 8,
Reg. Deb, page 900. And Gen. Jack
son recommended the distribution Of
the surplus revenue, in two several
lnesssges,-in his message of 1929,
and his message of 1880. In his mes.
sage of 1882 he used this language:
"Among the interests which merit
the consideration Of congress, after the
payment of the public debt, one of the
most important. in my view, is that Of
the public lands. Previous to the form
alton of our present Constitution, it was
recommended by congress that por-
ton of the waste lands owned by the
states should be credited to The United
States, for the purpose Of general har-
mony, and as a fumd to meet the
expenses of the var. The recon-
menda,ion was adopted, and, at differ
en-, periods Of time. the States of Mas
sachusetts, New York, Virginia, North
and South Carolina, and Georgia. grant
ed their vacan. soil for which they had
been asked. IFS the lands may noao
be considered as relieoed from this
pledge. the object for ,ohich they aOere
ceded having been accomplished, 1t is
in the discretion of Congress to dis
pose Of them in such way as best to
conduce to the quiet, harmony and gen.
eral interest of the American PEG.
ple."
Again he said;
cit seems to me to be our true policy
that the public lands shall cease as soon
as possible, to be source of revenue,
and that they be sold to settlers in linn
tied parcels, at price barely sufficient
to reimburse to the United States, the
expense of the present system, and the
cost arising under our Indian com.
pacts.
1t is desirable, however, that in con-
venient time this machinery the Land
Offices be Withdrawn from the States,
and that the right Of soil and future
disposition Of 1t, be surrendered to the
States, respectively, in schich 1t lies" "
Thomas H. Benton, Alexander Buck
ner, Elias X. Kane, and other admins
tralion Senators, subscribed 10 the doc.
trines of that Message, and pronounced
them WISE, PRACTICABLE and STATES
MANLIEE.
George NJ Dallas, Mahion DECKER
son, Villiam Hendricks, Willian1
wilkins, Charles E. Dudley, BenJja-
D,.co-Ios Vo.n,xpI Rpnr1sIpU. .T0b,7