Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-01
THE PUBLIC LANDs.-No, Iv.-(AsD coscIusIos.,

The Immediate effect OF the " Homestead bill, II
it is passed, will be to encourage "landess aborers
to become Independent cultiyators." 1t offers
bounty to hired husbandmen and artisans to leave
their former occupations and engage in tllage upon
their own hook-without capital or the means of
subsistence until they can obtain return from the
soil, and perhaps often without the necessary skill
The result it is feared will be generally disastrous
not only regards the comfort and happiness Of the
individuals who may be thus mised, but in the in
furious influence it may have upon the social con-
dition Of the whole country.
There is no redundant population, nor are the in
dustria pursuits overstocked, in any State Of the
Union. In many of them, the capacity of the soil
for production has never yet been fully developed,
for want Of agricultural labor Land alone will not
constitute wealth. A man may have any given
amount Of rst-rate land and yet, without hands to
work it. he will derive from it revenue. He must,
to make it available have sufficient labor, with the
necessary capital to stock it, and to furnish impe
ments, seeds, &c. Every hired husbandman, there
fore, drawn away from his accustomed employment,
causes diminution Of crop; and the owner is less
able to supply himself with things Indispensable to
his comfort. His yield from the ground must be
reduced in quantity and increased in cost. Perhaps
it may be said that the market value Of his short
harvest would be enhanced. This would be the
case if the supply were scant Unfortunately, how
ever all the new cmtivators would be compelled,
though under disadvantageous circumstances, to be
competitors with their former employers and unless
there should be full foreign demand, prices must
sink below living rate To offer inducements, by
gratutous grants therefore, to the working class to
leave the old States, in order to colonize re-
gions, is to deal staggering blow to the national
prosperity.
There is another way, too, in which this measure
may operate unfavorably. If the public domain is
thus disposed of"-as it certainly will be, if this
bill passes--no more revenue can be derived from
that source and if our surplus products cannot find
vent in Europe, at fair exchangeable value, we
must cease to buy because we cannot pay, and our
Government must be sustained by direct taxes. The
pressure of these levies would be increased upon
every Citizen not only because of the reduced profits
of his land his handicraft pursuit. by the loss Of
the requisite labor but also by the proportion he
would have to supply ofthe amount equivalent to the
proceeds of the annual sales of the national domain
which is thus forever expunged from the roll of s-
cal means The effect is to make every taxpayer
contribute of his private estate in order to raise
"landess laborers to the dignity of Independent
cutivators J" and is virtually the same as if Congress
were to pass law requiring the people to furnish
az cash an amount sufficient to buy one hundred and
sixty acres of land for every destitute head Of
family" We doubt the justice and the policy Of
casting away an almost inexhaustble source Of re-
venue, which costs nothing, and thus exposing the
citizens to obnoxious system of taxation, that is
also rendered less efficient by the very measure that
makes it necessary.
The public lands are an available fund, that may
be adequate together with the customs, to meet the
wants of the Government If they are " disposed
Of" in the way contemplated the national treasury
will be deprived of this resource and, the landless
laborers being thus tempted to withdraw from the
old States the people there will have their burdens
increased and their means diminished by the whole
process. In every way it will be injurious to the
general welfare"
The greatness of a nation consists in the numbers
of its well supplied inhabitants, and its other ee-
ments of stength; and also in the suffciency and
certainty of its revenue 1t is at the highest point
of prosperity when its population is full without
dundance; its industrial yocations occupied, but
not overstocked; and when there is wel-adjusted
and uniform proportion between the acquisitions Of
labor and employment, without excessive demand
on either side. On the contrary there is always de-
preston, and often suffering when the proper equi-
hbrium in any Of these particulars is disturbed.
NH
Whenever the number Of people in any regions be-
yond the sustaining capacity Of the soil, there must
be want; and such state Of things indicates the
policy of encouraging migration to some more favor
ed district where the Of subsistence can more
easily be obtained. In those circumstances an
agrariaR law properly framed, so as not to interfere
with the rights of property, might be allowable.
This was alleged to be the condition of the ancient
Roman city and territory. 1t is not the case, how
ever in any part Of our country; and therefore any
measure which invites by bounties the working
classes to quit the old settlements and seek new
homes in parts unknown must be injurious, because
II rses price Of labor inevcry pursuit it lessons
the products Of land and increases their cost
When the population of nation is not redund-
ant, we think any attempt to Withdraw its laborers
and induce them to scatter over new region, is
prejudicial in another aspect. The market, which
is created at home, by mutual exchanges Of commo-
dities or productions, is the best that any country
can have O,r fora;yy p,aroa Jrr;vJloa ;r4o =,