New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-05-24
The Land Question.

It;s COMMONLY asserted that the advocates and
,gi,stors OF some radical change in popular ideas
and established usages with regard TO Landboldng
are Fourierites' Socialists, Jacobins, Agrarians,
Infdels, and so forth-ambitious demagogues who
would turn the world upside down IN order TO
bring their own unseemly proportions atop or
thriftless loafers, who are eager TO vote them
selves each some industrious mans farm because
they are not likely 10 get one In any other way
IL is 10 vain that the precepts Of Moses the denun
Citations of Isaiah, or even the admissions Of Black
stone, are cited by the advocates OF Land Reform !;
the cham pions OF the Past refuse TO hear, and Of
course cannot be convinced Yet not even blind
obstinacy will long avail them since the new light
bursts in even from the most cherished and trusted
citades of conservatism. Thus The Ne~-Eag-
Ian6er--one ofour abest and most influential Re
eious periodicals of the Orthodox faith-in its Janu
AIRY No. p. IL, treating Of the condition of Modern
Greece thus touches the great fundamental ques
ton
IN some what more than five millions Of of which
nearly two.thrds uncultvated according to the
official accounts published in le42 OF the cultivated
lands about twOthrds and Of the uncultiyated about
ten,hirteen,hs belong 10 the Government Ii will be
rnsnest from this account that the government s the
grea, landed proprietor safe OF Things ocessoned
chiefly, believe by the expulsion oil lurkish propI
etors from the country II poad seem 10 hare been ne
poyt of true risdon duide out The land TO all Of he
nation pAo pod undertake 10 eutipate Il; and 1t might
be regarded equitable also that the poor people VINO
had grooming under the Turks and mad conquered
back their soil. should be compensated for their
suferngs and services"
This extract is from an article by T. d. w
which of course means L. d. WooLsEY, President
OF Yale Colege-so that we poor shrtless Agrarl-
ans are in fair way to get into good company
five only have patience. Just consider the bearing
of this extract and the striking parallel which it
suggests to the state Of things existing in this coun
try A few years ago. the lands Of Greece were
mainly owned by Turks, as those of Ireland now
are by Englishmen or absentees who are but nom
inally IRISH and as ours mainly were by the British
and other European Governments. a bloody
revolution has driven the Turks out OF Greece,
dered her independent, and made the greater por
ton of her soil National Property. What ought tC
be done with land so acquired and held Sell II
ito the highest bidder" is the answer practically
given by our Government let the man who has
100000 buy 5000 acres Of it, and hold it useless
and inhabited until he can sell it for FIVE, ten fifty
'or five bundled dollars per acre but don't let the
destitute man nave hu dIlC vi " " nat iSht y
land has man without money But no,
SAYS President Woosey, along with those stigma
tized as Infdes, Fourierites, Agrarians and rags
mullins generally it is rather 81 tie part Of tri'
scisdona 10 bride ont the land 10 all Of the Natio
icho ,could undertake to euit'rdfe it, Never wa
truer word spoken by the President of College
very rarely has vital truth been spoken soseasoi
ably by any President whatever. Shall it not b
needed aud pondered by the class whom The New
Highlander especially addresses
Let us suppose the Government Of Greece wer
about to act decisveIy on the question of disPosin
properly of the Public Lands OF that Kingdom, an
one Of her Statesmen should say 81 propose tbs
we survey the whole into forty acre allotment'
and sell each by auction to the highest bidde
allowing one man to buy the whole if he sees
and has money enough, so as to make himse
the landlord of twothirds Of Greece, the Poop
his perpetual vassals = Nay" interposes an
ther, +" i think it wiser to survey proposed, al
frat let each poor landless man take forty acre
without price, for an inalienable home, and tht
sell what remains in limited quantities for sctu
settlement, nope in vast tracts for speculation
Who can seriously doubt which of these two wou
be the juster and better plan for Greece Al
why not also for America