The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-12-22
An Extended Prescription Right or the
Homestead Rill3


The Louisville Democrat renews sugges-
ton advanced during the discussion of the
Homestead bill last session, which is entitled
at least to a candid examination. 1t IS, that
instead of an absolute gilt Of land to settlers,
there shall be an indefinite extension of the ex-
listing right of presumption, securing to the set
tier OF his heirs an unmolested occupancy in
the mean time, and the privilege of acquiring
the title in fee simple at any period by paying
the Government price. "This," the Democrat
remarks, "would accomplish all the benevolent
purposes of the Homestead BILL"
"N gives home to the homeless. with land to
cultivate, with the exclusive right to purchase it
whenever he feels able, when it will become his
to dispose of as he pleases. In this way the
Government will get the value Of the land, and
that, too, from those it's benevolent policy has
abled to pay for it. This is giving to the pioneer
all the aid and comfort he needs, and it would cost
the Government nothing.
'It is obvious the occupant of the land on these
terms would have the strongest motivcs to make
the land his own, and with the opportunity Afford
cd by this policy he would coon be able to do it..
His Improvements, and the increased value of the
land, would enable him to pay the Government
price in few years, and he would not neg ect the
opportunity to make it his own to dispose of at his
discretion; and we presume no one will insist that
he should not pay the price, 81 rs per acre. after
he ia able and after he has become SO, too, by the
beneficent policy of the Government itself.
at might be objected that this policy would
check the sale of the public lands; but restrict it
to those only provided for in the Homestead bill,
and it can have 70 such effect. Those who
purchase the land they wish to occupy, will do 30
at once; for they have no motive to postpone
it any great length of time
"There will be another advantage. No State
laws deprive the man of his land until he feels
himself able to own it.
''So,ne legal questions might arise to what
constituted occupancy, and on other points;
and some legislation might be required to provide
for questions that might come up in time respect
ing the rights of settlers Of this class; but we ap
prehend no great difficulty in adjusting them "
Admitting that many cogent arguments have
been nd vanced in favor of the measure now be-
fore Congress, we are yet unable to believe that
it will accomplish 1.-THE of the benefits attrib-
uted to it by its more sanguine friends. The
adoption of the principle on which it rests may
be expedient as piece of national policy; it may
contribute to the more rapid settlement of the
public domain, and operate beneicently to-
ward thousands of deserving families; but that
it will remove the great obstruction to settle
ment, or withdraw from the cities any large
proportion of the unemployed and destitute,
is position which seems to us at variance
9th all known facts and probabilities. Those
familiar with life in the West are aware
that the cost of Government land is a com
paratively small difficulty in. the path OF
the industrious settler. There is not a district
in that whole region which does not presen,
instances of hardy men who by their own en-,
ergy have acquired farms within the space OF
three or four years; and these instances ndi-
cate the rule, not the exception. Men of this
class are the true architects of western great
ness, and they need not the Homestead bill. The
| right ofpre emption enables them to "squat;''
and what time is not consumed in Improving
the land SO occupied, is proftably devoted to
cultivating neighbours crops on the ''share''
system. Flooding, selfdenying labor now
enables such men to acquire farms, and it is not
certain that their number would receive a
very large addition if the doctrine of Gland
for the landless" were to prevail. Crowds
| would flock from the cities, doubtless, but only
for the most part to experience modification,
difficulty, and perhaps misery. Their bright
visions of rural felicity would evaporate in less
than week from the commencement of their
prairie life; they would discover that the mere
possession of land is of no avail without the i'm
plements and habits Of agricultural industry;
and long ere their first crop ripened they
would resort to the villages or towns, or return
to the East to curse the folly which first tempt
ed them to leave it. Your declaimers about
] the abstract right Of man to the soil--your pc