The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-03-30
From the Neio York Commercial advertiser.
Grants OF Public Lands.

There is much practical wisdom in the following
temperate article from the Detroit Daily Adrsrtiser
Whatever difference of opinion may be entertained
respecting the abstract question OF thus disposing
of public lands. all experience shows that a mat
ter OF policy II lie advantageous in the way pointed
out by our contemporary. Grants Of lands for
these great works Of internal improvements are
much more to be commended than those which con-
fer only personal benefit:
LAND Foa RALRoADs.-Severalb bills have been
introduced, and are now pending in Congress in
different stages Of legislation, tor the purpose Of
granting lands to aid the completion Of important
lines Of railroads.. The principle upon which these
grants are made has attracted far and wide the at
tentIon OF the press and has elected therefrom
general approval. Looking back to the history Of
the past thirty years II is obvious that the great
| wilderness Gas it then was) of the West has been
Indebted Tor its'speedy growth, and the perma lent
development OF its agricultural resources to means
OF communication with udewater and markets
supplied by lines Of internal improvement The
fret cardinal step taken in the completion Of
the Erie canal, and has since been followed up from
time To time as growth and advancement required,
by other canals, and by railroads which, though
distant and having no apparent connection with IT,
are nevertheless tributary to 1t.
Such has been the setti,d policy. not only of
tional. but also OF State legislation that when the
settler has struck his into the standing forest
he has felt that he then closed implied contract
with Government TO be furnished with access TO
es easy, ready, and speedy as natural OBJ
stacles would permit, Tor all which he might raise
| upon the land which ne cleared The only ques.
ton entering into his calculations has been on g
OF tim. This faith in the policy of Government
has s,fucd ais lands -through ii Government has
reaped the benefit Of the sales of millions of acres
| at i,s own price, which. without such understand
ing, would this day be dead weight upon it's
| hands.
! In the absence of this understanding. purchases
| Of lands for the purposes of actual settlement
! would have been mainly confined to the proximity
| of tie lakes and navigsble water-courses, afford
| ing access to market, while reDoter tracts would
| have been left TO stand as nature made them. I'm
der the confidence which has been felt. on the con
rary, boundlcss tracts Of land, lying far away
| from water or other practicable means Of commu-
nicution with market, have been bought, settled
and improved, and the value and sacable charac-
| ter of all around them enhanced. The settler of
moderate means has look ed mainly to the capacity
OF the son Tor cultivation, under the belief that
soon, Mt least, as it should be cultivated, means
would not DO wanting TO convey it's sur plus to
market
| The scheme Of the settlement of a vast continent
s not tritiing one, and the means by which it ma
be successfully and promptly accomplished, call
forth comprehensive and broad views Of the obliga-
tons and duties Of legislation. The policy which
| might properly govern man who bad but sin
gle hundred acres OF land 20 sell, would die
tateto him TO give away fifty acres Of It TO enhance
the value Of the remainder But experience, which
cares neither for theories or paradoxes. is daily
proving the wisdom Of such policy in land sales
upon great scale. As n question OF mere dollars
and cents, then, any investment, either Of land
money, having tendency to invite actual settlers
and TO retain them, IL we'll bestowed and prudent,
80 long as there remain unsold lands in the vicinity
where the expenditures are demanded
| Grants of public lands for the purpose Of push.
ing on thoroughfarc lines OF Improvement arc
called for, and capable of being successfully
defended upon two principles First, by the inn
piled faith extended by the past action OF Govern
ment, under which the settler has already per.
formed his part of the compact. Second by the
| obvious pecuniary interest Of Government. They
who oppose these grants. either from partisan mo-
tivcs, or because they may be prccommitted
against them, do 40 in tbe face of the proQrcss OF
the western country, toward. a speedy and tho
rough settlement Of ts wild lands, and in defiance
OF the plainest dictates OF the interests of a field
| second TO none in the world in point of national
political, and moral growth and Importance.