The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-02-13
THE NATIONAL ERA.
THE PUBLIC LANDS.
SPEECH OF HON. GEORGE W. JULIAN,
OF INDIANA,


On the BIZ yepoyt.d from The Committee on Agrieui-
,,ys oyoTiag 10 ereyt had Of a family Home
,,sod Of one bup9yed and Sirty acres ont Of me
,o,byc forqia. pJori3td he OF she occupy and
rplirQ,e The lqal for an uninterrupted period Of
PIE yedrs.
The motion to reconsider the vote by which
the bin was referred 10 the Committee of the
Whole, being under consideration
Mr. JULIAN said
MIR STEAMER The anxiety feel for the sue
cess of the measure now before Us, and its great
importance, as | conceive, 10 the whole country,
have ioduced me to beg the indulgence of the
House in a brief statement of the re sons which
urge me to give it my support. do this the more
willingly, because there has been manifest dis
position here, during the whole Of the session. to
suppress entirely the discussion Of this bill, and
at the same time, by parliamentary expedients,
to avoid any direct action upon it. 1t seems to be
troublesome to gentlemen Many who are OPP
posed to its principles appear to be haunted by
the suspicion that the people are for it, and hence
they will not vote directly against it. They pre-
fer not TO face it in any way. The proceedings on
yesterday prove this The House then refused
to lay the bill on the table but Immediately after
wards its reference to the Committee Of the
Whole, which was substantially equivalent was
carried by large majority There was an OPP
vote, and of accomplishing, by indirection, what
gentlemen did not dare to do by their open and
Independent action. refer to these facts because
wish them to 20 before the people. desire the
country to understand the action Of this body, in
reference to the question under discussion.
Our present land system was established by act
of Congress as far back rs the year 1888 From
that time to the 3Oth Of last September, the Gov
eminent has sold one hundred and two millions
k,,.,I -ol 4 o,,vbk hone a hu
forty acres. Within the same period it has do
mated about fifty millions of acres for the purposes
Of education, for internal improvements for the
benefit of private individuals and companies and
for military services This calculation does not
include the land granted by the Mexican bounty
law of 1917, which has not yet spent It's force,
aud which will exhaust from twelve to fifteen mil
lions of acres The bounty law of 1850 will sub
tract from the public domain the further sum of
probably about fifty millions of acres. Besides all
this there were very large grants of land made at
the last session Of Congress for internal improve
1nents: and there are at this time not less than
sixty bills before US, asking donations Of land,
larger or smaller for various public and private
purposes Should the Government however,
pause at the point we have now reached in the
prosecution of our land policy, there will still re-
main, after deduc,ing the sales and grants have
mentioned. the enormous sum of about fourteen
hundred millions of acres. The management of
this vast fund is devolved by the Constitution
upon Congress, and its just disposition presents
one of the gravest questions ever brought before
the National Legislature. The bill under con-
sderation contemplates a radical change in the
policy pursued by the Government from ts found
alton to the present time. IL abandOns the idea
of holding the public domain as q source of reve-
nue.; it abandons at the same time, the policy Of
frtteriug it away by grants to the States or to
chartered companies fer special and local objects;
and it makes it free in limited portions, to actual
settlers on condition of occupancy and improve
ment. This, in my judgment, is the wisest appro-
priation of the public lands within the power of
Congress to make, whether viewed in the light
of economy, or the brighter light of humanity and
justice.
| advocate the freedom of our public domain in
the first place on the broad ground of natural right
| 20 back to first principles and holding it to be
wrong for Governments to make merchandise of
the earth. | would have this fundamental truth
recognised by Congress in deyisng measures for
the settlement and improvement of our vacant
territory | am no believer in the doctrines of
agrarianism, or socialism, these terms are gen.
crafty understood The friends of land reform
claim no right to interfere with the laws of prop
erty of the several States the vested rights of
their citizens They advocate no leUeilRg policy,
designed 10 strip the rich Of their possessions by
any sudden act of legislation. They simply de-
mtnd, that in laying the foundations of empire in
the yet unpeopled regions of the great w est, Con-
gress shalt give its sanction TO the natural right
of the landess citizen of the country to home
upon its soil The earth was designed by its
Maker for the nourishment and support Of man,
The free and unbought occupancy of il belonged,
originally, to the people, and the cultivation of it
was the legitimate price of its fruits. This is the
doctrine of nature confirmed by the teachings of
the Bible la the first peOplng of the earth it
was as free TO all its inhabitants as the sunlight
and the air and every man has, by nature, as per-
feet n right to reasonable portion of II, upon
which to subsst, as he has to initiate his lungs
with the atmosphere which surrounds it, or TO
drink of the waters which pass over its surface
This right is as inalenabe, as emphaticaly Col
gipeH as the right to liberty or life and Govern
ment, when it deprives him Of it, Independent OF
his own act, is guilty of n wanton usurpltion of
power fragrant abuse of its trust In founding
States and rearing the social fabric these princi
Piles should always have been recognised Every
man, indeed, on entering into a state Of society,
and partking Of its advantages, must necessarily
submit the natural right of which speak las he
must every other to such regulations as may be
established for the general good yet it never
be understood that he has renounced it altogether,
save by his own alienation or forfeiture. II at
taches to him. and inheres in him, in virtue of his
Immunity, and should be sacredly guarded as one
OF those fundamental rights to secure which gov
ernments are instituted among men,
The business of this reasoning must be mani
fest to any one who will give the subject his at
tentiOn. Man, We say, has natural right to
life, What are VIC to understand by this? Sure
ly it will not be contended that il must be con-
strued strictly, a right to breathe, looking
no farther, and keeping out of view the great
purpose of existence. The right to life implies
what the law books call Fright Of wayn TO its
enjoyment 1t carries necessarily with it the
right to the mans of living, including not only
the elements Of light, air, FIRE and water, but l7nd
also. Without this, man could have no hobta-
ton to shelter him from the elements nor raiment
10 cover and protect his body nor food to sustain
life. These means of living are not only neces-
sary, but absolutely indispensable Without them,
life is impossible and yet without land they are
unattsinable, except through the charity Of others
They are at the mercy of the landholder. Does
Government then fulfil its mission when IL en-
c0urages or permits the monopoly of the SOIL and
thus puts millions in its power shorn Of every
right except the right to beg The right to life is
an empty mockery, If man is to be denied place
on the earth on which TO establish home for the
shelter and nurture of his family, and employ his
hands in obtaining the food and clothing neces-
sary to his comfort To say that God has given
him the right to life, and Mt the same time that
Government may rightfully withhold the means
of its enjoyment, except by the permission OF
others, is not simply an absurdity, but libel on
his providence Ii is true, there are multitudes
of landless poor in this country, and in all coun-
tries, utterly without the power to acquire homes
upon the soil who, nevertheless are not altogether
destitute of the essential blessings have named
but they are dependent for them upon the saving
grace of the few who have the monopoly of the
soil They are helpless pensioners upon the cal
culatng bounty of those by whom they have been