The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-13
Making the grand aggregate of =

Making the grand aggregate of 1883, l76
acres OF land subject TO the operation Of this bill.
What proportion Of this vast amount or refused
land will, in all human probability, be entered
within the next twelve months, il this bill passes
into law' Will it be one half one-third, or one
6ilh of the whole amounlI No one can tell with
certainty. All that may be said upon this point
must be speculative only.
Suppose there should be entered of the first class
Ons-sighh, Of the second class lh, Of the third
class fourth, and of the fourth class one third:
what then will be the amount of revenue, derived
by the government, Immediately, from the sale Of
this refused land IL will be SS,S36,7l9. Suppose
onehalf that sum be realized, you will then receive
into your treasury S4,il6, 1853. This would be
vast sum Of money to receive into your treasury
from the sale of refused land in one year | re-
peat, this is an experiment. no man can tell what
sum Of money will be brought into your treasury
under the operation Of this bill But the present
exigency of the public service requires the expert
ment should be tested. That the sum realized by
the government Will be great, is unquestonabIe;
and that the immediate advantages are important,
is equally clear II is for this reason that in our
present exigency, ! demand the passage of the
bill as revenue measure. VIZ. ~
We passed bill the other day modifying the
tariff bill Of 1642 as revenue measure. Let us
pass this bill also Let them 90 to the country
together, as two great measures Of reform and rev.
enue-benefcia alike to the government and to
the people. Succeeding years will prove the wis
dom of the policy, not only by enabling the gov
ernment without resortng to loans, TO pass tri-
umphandy through the existing war with Mexico,
but by rapidly augmenting the power and wealth OF
the nation.
Sir, what are the prospective advantages, in ref
erence to revenue, derivable to the government
from the passage of the bill We all know that
the main reliance of this government for support
is custom-house revenue. If the bill should pass,
IN MT of he LAM in
short time, will pass into individual hands, and
become private property, and a very large pro-
portion thereof reduced to cultivation. This must
inevitably greatly augment our agricultural pro-
auctions, the surplus Of which will be exported to
foreign countries, exchanged for articles Of value,
and brought home in goods paying tax or duty
to the government If, then, the government
should give away the public land without price, up
the simple condition of settlement and cultivation,
in few years she would be more than thrice remu-
nerated by an increase Of revenue from customs.
Land in a state Of nature produces nothing-it is
dead capital-and interest upon the Investment,
whatever may be, is sunk annually to the owner.
II, then, land has been in market, unsold, and pro-
ducng nothing for fifteen or twenty years, the gov
eminent has lost on interest more than the original
cost of the land. Can it be judicous or wise longer
to continue this policyi II cannot be. Let the bill
pass: let the domain 60 into the hands ofindiyduals
let it become private property let it be cultivated
and then that which, in state Of nature, produced
no revenue, becomes productive source of revenue
improving and increasing so long agriculture adj
vances, or commerce hourishes . ~.
Some Of our friends believe that the interest of
the country consists in Withholding from sale the
public domain, although its settlement and cultiva-
zion may be prohibited, until it will bring 10 market
al a5 per acre. How mistaken the policy. The
interest Of the government in the public lands is
wholly revenue interest; and If by settlement and
cultivation more revenue would be raised, how
shorl-sighted and blind the policy which prevents
that result. :" ~
But, sir, pass to another and more important adj
vantage than any founded upon revenue, To be der-
we'd by the government from the passage Of this
bill. allude to that class of population, who
are to be increased and protected by IL. II is not
my intention to dtsparagc, in the slightest degree,
any Of the employments or branches Of industry
in our country; they are all necessary to the COM
fort of civilized society, and constitute as whole
the glory and power of a nation. We could not
live comfortably without the necessary articles
produced by the mechanical industry of the coun
try; and we sometimes owe the preservation Of
our dearest rights TO those bursts Of forensic elo
quence which awaken a sense Of justice, and
arouse the love Of liberty in the bosom of our
peers; innocence Is protected by it against the
unjust penalties Of the law; liberty is restored to
the accused; and character redeemed from the pre-
conceived prejudice Of censorous world. All Of
the professions and employments of the country,
from the highest to the humbest, are useful and
proper. would disparage none. But, sir, there is
one which stands out in bold relief above all the
rest it is the foundation upon which the superstruc.
ture Of society is erectedi without it the whole po
litical fabric would be instantly dissolved, order
changed into chaos and life itself expire amid the
horrors Of famine; mean the agricuturist. II is
him. il that class Of society who to be increas
ed and benefited by the passage Of this bill. The
farming interest of this country rarely appeals to
government to protect it, For years they have seen
themselves onorousy taxed not for revenue but for
the benefit Of other branches Of industry. They
have borne il without further resistance than quiet
remonstrance against the injustice and oppression OF
the system. But they do now appeal to the gov
ernment to afford them that protection which the
constitution warrants and the law may authorize
What is that protectionl The humble privilege Of
buying home al It's intrinsic value; that is all
What is the spectacle here presented We see the
entire representation Of the manufacturing interest
90 long protected atthe expense Of agriculture, vot.
ing in body against them. Why IS this, gentle
menl What excuse can you offer what reason can
you give, "0h the esss being altered it alters the
| case. We are not unwilling 70 force the farmer to
pay double for every article he consumes, in order
10 protect the manufacturer. But IL IL quite rdieu-
lous 10 talk Of protecting the farmer he is the foun-
dation Of society," the creator Of wealth; we all live