New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-12-13

THAT the lRbOrers themsel who are to perform
this little Job may become the landhoders In the
States through which il would pass, and pay for
the land by work on the road during the leisure
hours they can spare from their farms but know
too much about farm work-by man cultvating
his own land, the produce of which must be put
in the same distant market with the produce of
slave labor on the monopolizcd land around him,
cultivated BY slave labor, II do not mean excu
sively black slave labor and OF course sold ut the
same price, know too much about this condition
Of things to believe it possible that the laborers
on W-hitney'a Railroad could become the land
holders OF his principalltlcs. can easier con
ceive how capitalists, great or small, would tore.
stall the lands, and pay for them with the profits
on the labor OF the and!ess on the road, in spite
Of the checks which " this present Congress -
might be willing to impose and Mr.. Whitney
fully concede to Mr.. Whitney all the credit
Mr. u claims for his ten years perseverance, In
that particular he is q man after my own heart. =
And | have good AZ opinionot Mr. Whitney's
"eood intentions as to believe that had he heard
of the idea Of Land Reform, when he first con-
ceived his project, be would have made it conform
to that idea that is. he would have insisted on
the entire freedom of the public lands outside Of
his little strip, at least, preliminary to the
commencement OF the work for III no other way
c0uid the railroad be constructed in accordance
with the right Of the landless to place on the
earth.
Mr. Whitney may be as free from ali faint Of
land speculation as Mr.. d. supposes but if so,
why does he not ask Congress to appoint him su-
perintendent OF the work at salary of ----
with positive guards against the possibility of his
or any other individuals, ever becoming possessed
of more land on the route than would be
sufficient for comfortable homestead All !!
Isec; SIS evident says Mr.. D. that with the
present Congress any faint of Land Reform
would destroy the bill | think, quite limo
Gently / protest that this should be reason sutf,
Gent if true, to any Land Reformer. why "the
present Congress should not pass the bllI but,
though have not quite so bad an opinion as that
Of the present Congress, to make assurance sure,
! would FIRST demand the freedom OF the Public
Lands, rcserving, II necessary, according TO MT.
Benton S calculation, mile wide for the Railroad
and this it seems to me, would be a great step
toward the construction OF the road Tor local use,
where the ground must be bOuedt at the present
enormous monopoly prices surely, this road, OF
world. wide utility, can be made with the ground
free, Oh some equitable plan. l have my own no
ton as to such plan, and it is not by lending
the credit of the government, which in my view
has not much credit to lend at present, and ought
never to have any, nor By joint stock company
to be tax eaters Oh the people forever. Will
only say now, that according to my notion, and
according to that good old commandment, " do
unto others &c, those who sre to be benefited
by the ROAD SDOulU pay lOI Iut lIldhIuS VI IL, dS
eouitably as that result could be provided tor by
the wisdom Of the age, which, Of course, is
al oil times to be found, in the most compact
and concentrated form, in the halls OF Congress-
As things appear to me, it seems now OF far more
consequence to the landless people, and tn the
landholders Of this nion who may become land
less and to their children, who otherwise VIII be
sure in great part to be andIess, that the Govern
ment should cease to exercise its assumed power
of traiiCking in the SOIL and assume its rlghttul
power of apport;oning it equitably among the
iandess people, than that they should spend one
moment of their precious time as oyerseers OF the
roads, further than to lay them out and thus save
the people the time and expense of cultivating
and building upon them. Let Congress 0l(0r the
people to fulfill Gods command to go forth and
multiply" on both sides of the road site, and
should not wonder if they were to say to thelrie
low.ctizens, after they had built their homesteads,
Now we are willing to pay tax for making this
road. proportioned to our proximity and the ad-
yantages we can derive from it, the rest OF you
having for YOUR advantages from the road on the
same principle" Nor, should Congress doubt
their willingness to make such a proposition,
would object to such form OF taxation ms con
diton OF free settlement
According to Mr. Whitney plan. as stated by
Mr. Dana be must build ten miles OF road, with
his own means, before he can sell an acre OF land;
and then he is to be allowed to sell five miles by
sixty and so on for eight hundred miles, through
the good land, each alternate live by sixty miles
being reserved to build the road through the land
incapable OF cultivation which lies beyond Ten
miles of road, according to the cost ofralroads III
Massachusetts, at $4,000 mile, would cost
500, eco Admitting that Mr. Whitney can hon
esty have come, or can honestly come into the
possession of S700000, equivalent to the proceeds,
say, of 600 days labor, why should the Gov
eminent of the greatest Republic on earth so far
tax Mr. Whitncys patriotism as to exact such an
+laI for ,a DuIliC good | IMAGINE n
satisfactory reply. Either, he must run risk
which he ought not to run, or he must anticipate
prospective advantages which he ought not to re-
ceive. 1t would be sort OF gambling unworthy
OF a great nation, and of bad tendency on the
public morals
Mr.. Whitney is to sell the land in tracts
of 40 to loo acres, and of course, as there
must be no "taint Of Land Reform in the
Scheme to ensure its passage by "the present
Congress-" Baron Rothschid, Queen Victoria,
or any other individual may buy up, directly or
Indirectly as many OF the tracts as he or she may
take a fancy to. 1t would not be bad specula-
ton, fancy, to buy even one forty tract, on
the site OF some New Cincinnati or "New-York
on the Pacific, SO far Us one may form an opinion
by The operations OF the land spectators, even in
the absence Of railroads. in the new cities of Cal
ilornia. II Land Reform were to have any con.
necton with the plan the city aud village sites on
the route should be designated, and the lots in
these should be much smaller than forty acres
According to Land Reform notions, it would be
at east honest for Government to sanction the
plumber OF goods and chattels, as to enable one
set Of men to iorestall the peoples farm, village,
or city homesteads, and thus exact millions worth
Of the peoples produce, for which they had given
no equivalent.
But the road is to be built without costing
dollar, through lands now worthless, and after it
is done the government is to receive ten cents an
acre for the whole tract into the bargain There
it is to stretch through prairie and wilderness, in
spite Of rivers and mountains, like the fairyring
on May morning in the days OF Merrie Eng
land, as It were by magic! The world is to
have tree road, and the Government is to have
ten cents ar acre for the sixty by three thousand
mile tract tor citing it appear! After all, how,