Washington telegraph., 1852-06-23

bors to create and establish the principal fact-a
railroad from st. Louis to New Orleans-and then
the benefits to which we have alluded physical
and socfal must follow as natural and certain
sequences
| We oppose no. argument to the construction of
railroads in an Eastern and Western direction
Such improvements will be highly useful in con-
nection with system extending from north to
south; but it must be obvious to every rejecting
mind that they cannot. in the nature of things
produce either the physical social benefits
which roads leading from north to south are cal
culated to impart.
| Commerce and travel from east to west neither
exchange the products of thesouth for those of the
north, nor bring the inhabitants of different eli
mates into social intercourse.
| And, hence, we conclude that no political com.
| promise can remove existing preiudces. and estab-
llth sympathy between the people of the Northern
and Southern States, upon permanent grounds, so
long as the principal currents of commerce con-
tinue to flow in an Eastern and Western direction.
The sympathy which springs from social inter-
| course and community of interests constitutes
the bond which binds free people together under
one government. This bond is stronger than writ
ten constitutions and legislative enactments Up-
on this depends the Union of the States-the gran
deur of the nation-and whatever may he his sucs
cess as politcaian the legislator who overlooks
or neglects the means of strengthening this bond,
| possesses no just claim to the dignifed title of
statesman
| But how is the money to be obtained to accom-
plish work from which we anticipate so many
| beneftsa We know fall well that this question
must be answered to the satisfaction of prudent
and well Judging men before they will even give
| the project their serious consideration.
It appears from the Report of the Commission
er of the General Land Office, made in 1919, that
the Government of the United States owned at
that time 30 436,942 acres of land in the State c.
Missouri, and 27,464 ,603 in the State of Ar
| kansas amounting to more than two thirds of the
area of the former and to more than four ftths of
the latter. And in no part of these States, per-
haps has less proportion of the pub lic land been
purchased than in the region through which the
proposed route will pass.
The effects produced on the price of real estate
| by the construction of railways is SO well under
stood at the present day. that it would be useless
to enter into argument to prove that the money
value of the public lands would be more than
doubled, for the distance Of ten miles each side
of railway through this region. Then why, we
ask should Congress refuse to give one half of this
land to individuals who would make the road?-
| The principle involved in such grant was rccog-
nized by the act donating lands in aid of the Cen
tral railroad of Illinois, and the Mobile and Ohio
| railroad; and we may safely challenge any member
of the present Congress to offer one sound and
Statesman-ike reason against extending the same
Liberal and Just policy to the States OF Missouri
| and Arkansas Indeed, we hold that the argu-
ments are much stronger in favor ofour road: there
is much larger quantity of public land in Mis-
souri, and Arkansas than in Illinois; and, conse
Quently, as a landholder, the Government would
be greater gamer by the operation; the facilities
of transportation are more limited here than east
of the Mississippi, and it would be act of favor
itsm and gross injustice on the part of the Govern
ment to bestow bounty ON the strong, and deny
similar favors to the weak.
The policy of the Government in respect to the
public lands in the new States. has been that of
heartless and grinding specuator. Owing from
two thirds to four tltths and in some States
greater proportion of the land, free from taxation,
it refuses to sell the poorest tract for less than the
price put on the richest. Thus holding on to its
property, waiting for those who settle In the coun
try to improve its value by clearing the forest,
making roads and establishing schools, under hard
ships and privations calculated to retard the i'm
provement OF their mental and social condition.
! Ifindividuals who pursue such course regard
ed with feelings bordering on hatred by every
community in which they are found. why should
| the Government be excused from censure! The
real estate of the Individual is subject to the pay
| ment Of taxes for the support of government,
! schools and public improvements. and, may even
be taken. Just compensation being allowed for pub
| lie purposes; the Government; as landholdcr is
subject to none of these burthens while it receives
its full proportion of all the benefits accruing from
every improvement made by the people. From
these considerations fully warranted in
| looking to the public lands as source from which
at least portion of the means necessary to con,
| struct railroad from st. Louis to Helena should
| be derived. We would not ask the Government
to make the road. to donate sufficient quantity
of land to deray the entire cost of its construction.
| Nor would we ever ask that it should contribute
its Just proportion according to the amount of land
it holds in the State through which the route lies
We only claim that it should make an appropria-
ton sufficient to authorize individuals to embark
| their capital in the enterprise. We ask no more.
Let it not be objected that there now too many
applications of this nature before Congress: wher
| ever the Government owns land which would be
enhanced in value by the construction of railroad
through or near it, there it ought in Justice, to ap-
propriate an amount equal to the benefit which it
| would derive from the individual labor and capital
| invested in the work. And so long as this prin.
cipe is kept in view and not violated the number
of applications for grants of land in aid of public
Improvements constitutes no rational ground for
objection to the action Of Congress in their behalf
Nor should it be objected that district of coun-
try is too new, or, that its resources are not sui
| GENTLY developed to authorize the commencement
of public works such districts, more than any
other, claim the helping hand OF liberal govern
ment Why wait until the generation who broke
the wilderness and suffered all the privations in
cident to the settlement of new countries shall
have passed away? In a national point of view
no class of American citizens is more meritorious
than the pioneers who open the wilderness, and
prepare the way for civilization to advance. They
are men of stout hearts and strong arms ever faith
full to their country and ready to fight its battles
whenever called on Indeed, in many respects,
the life of fthePioneeris of continual service in
the cause of his coantry and it is but just that the
Government sho;,d look to the amelioration of
his condition, and aid him in making such i'm
provements as will place him upon an equal foot
ing with the citizens of older States, especially
when all this can be done without taking anything
from the public treasury, and without violating
the principles of the constitution.
The work here proposed is one of such vital i'm.
portance to the country, and its claims to the aid