New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-03-03

I
| subject, merely with reference to the revenue
that might be derived from the sale of the lands
would be to commit the fault of that least erected
spirit that fell from Heaven. whose
Looks and thoughts
We're always downward bent admirng more
The riches If Heavens pavement trodden gold,
Than aught divine, or holy, else enjoyed"
All will admit-a do admit-that the domsin
should be so administered as to favor the increase
Of population the augmentation of wealth, the
cultivation of virtue, and the diffusion Of happt
ness
do not say that land in this or ia any other
country ought TO be or ever could be divided, and
enjoy ed equally. | assert no such absurdty. But
do say, with some confidence, that great inc
quality oflanded estates here or elsewhere, tends
to check population, enterprise, and wealth, and
to binder and defeat the highest interests OF socle-
~. Every State in this Union recognizes this
principle and guards against undue aggregation
o estates by restraints upon accumulation, by in-
hibitiOns Of entails and by dividing inheritances.
partition of this vast public domain is newt
able. 1t has been going on ever since the lands
were acquired 1t is going on now. And it will
go on hereafter with increasing rapidisy. That
partition affords us an opportunity to apply the
same benefcent and invigorating policy in new
and benign FORM without disturbing any existing
estates, or interfering with any vested interests
and without disturbing any established laws or
customs.
ton of land which one possessor can advantage
ousy cultivate. Yet there are practically d.
mansions within which lands are held for that
purpose and when these are exceeded, the sur
plus lie held for purposes OF commerce or specua'
ton Commerce in the public lands although by
no means immoral, nevertheless ought to be re-
gsrded with jealousy. 1t dlverts capital from &C.
tive or productive industry, and prolongs the Pc
riod before the land purchased can be made fruit
full. Mortgages judgments and accidents OF In
sovency and OF death, render the title uncertain
and confused, and thus exclude the lands from
market Every one has seen in new countries
extensive tracts Of land upon which the specula
tor had laid his hand, and thus rendered them
useless TO himself, useless to the community, and
useless or nearly so TO the State. The want OF
some security against inconvenience so preju-
dicial to the States may now be supplied without
producing any embarrassment to individuals or to
the Government.
sEcoSDLY The same policy seems to commend
the principle of insisting on permanent occupation
and cultivation as conditions OF grant of any por
ton of the Public Domain. 1t ought to be kept
open and available to those who seek it for cul-
tivation. 1t ought therefore to be kept free from
absent owners, who, while they would exclude
settlers would leave it entirely unproductve, and
who would pay to the State either nothing, or at
most a tax that would poorly compensate for
stamping sterility upon the soil.
The same principle that dictated the abandon
ment of the credit system in 1920 seems to pre-
scribe now a limitation of the sales to actual set
tiers. Nor would the revenue derived from sales
be affected by such measure. The price oil the
land il fixed and uniform. II more lands are sold
at one time under the present system than would
be sold with such limitation, rest must follow,
until the excess of lands sold above the actual
supply Of the market shall be taken OF at Proht
or loss from the hand of the Spectator. The com.
mercial revulson of 1887, aggravated by wild and
reckless specuatiops in the domain, gave us ln'
structions on this subject which ought not to be
neglected.
The Senator from Michigan Mr.. Felch,) who
has discussed our landed policy with very great
ability, dwells upon the difficulty OF prescribing
the evidence Of occupancy and cultivation But
this difficulty would soon be removed If the sys'
tenn should be changed. A title might be with
held until improvements should be made sutii-
cient to prevent voluntary forfeiture.
THIRDLY. The question of making the grants
of Public Lands gratuitously is one Of more diti-
Guilty. By gratuitous grants mean those which
would be practically so, and that the lands thus
disposed of should be charged with the costs OF
the grant
The demand of one dollar and twenty-five cents
per acre, or of two hundred dollars on farm OF
one hundred and sixty acres, although 1t Is not
unjust, and although it may be necessary, Is new
ertheess in its practical operation, tax upon the
privilege Of cultivating the domain But the first
cultivation of its SOIL That cultivation 10 the sole
fountain of the capital or wealth which supplies
every channel of industry. The more It is taxed,
the less freely il will flow. 1t is true indeed that,
Notwithstanding this tax, labor seeks the soil
within the new States and Territories, and that
society advances there with rapidity unpare
leled.
But it is equally true that the tax prevents the
immigration of very large MAS OF persons VINO
are destitute of employment In the Eastern
...lt Ia rofar a OF l.
tivators in Europe. We are competitors with the
European States in agriculture and In manutac'
lures They have the advantage of cheaper labor
and greater capital We ought therefore to invite
here the labor necessary to augment our produc-
tions, and the industry and skill required TO pre-
pare them for internal and foreign commerce.
Can it be doubtful for q moment that It Is our
policy to bring the manufacturers to our own
shores and to invite the farmer to supply his
wants from our own unProductiye lands?
Commercial supremacy demands just such an
agricultural basis as the fertile and extensive re.
eions of the United States, when Inhabited, VIII
supply. Political supremacy follows commercial
ascendency. 1t was byreason OF the want OF Iust
such an agricultural basis that Venice, Portugal
and Holland successively lost commerce and EN-
pire IL was for the purpose OF securngJuss sucn
a basis that France England and Spain seized
so eagerly and held 80 tensciously the large por'
lions of this country which they respectively &C.
cupied IL was for the purpose OF supplying the
loss of this basis, that England has within the last
seventy years extended her conquests over
large portion OF India .-,
" e now possess this basis and all that weneed
is 20 develop its capabilities as fully and as rap
iolv as possible Nor ought we to overlook an.
other great political interest Mutual Jeal4usles
dels, ed Ion time the establishmeptoft the Union
ofthese States and have ever since threatened its
dissolution Ii is apparent that the ultimate Sc.
cority for its continuance is found in the power OF
the States established, and hereafter to be estab'
hshed, on the public domain. Those new and Wig
orous communities continually impart new life to
the entire Commonwealth, while the absolute I'M
no1,srce of free access 10 the Ocean will secure
fbeir LOYALTY. even if the fidelity Of the Atlantic
States shall fail. 60
Such as these sir may have been some OF the
considerations that induced Andrew Jackson so
- A.. I..I.-o liz nririnn That the time WAS