Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-01

III 4 =
egard. There is no peculiar force, therefore, in
bis argument, and we must look to the main point
fSinquiry. Will the measure "encourags agri-
aA1er &
Writer'S on political economy agree that it is al
Vays better for the general welfare" to retain the
Industry Of country within its own original sphere,
aud employ it in the full cultivation of all its waste
lnds, than to encourage it to spread over distant
7, gon its inefficient operations. Universal expe-
rience has settled this to be an axiom or principle
in agricultural thrift. Good husbandry viii obtain
greater product from fifty acres than can be drawn
from one hundred acres Of land Of equal quality by
poor tillage. Farm labor, too, requires something
more than mere Drawn and muscle. There must
be capital to procure implements, stock, seed, and
subsistence until the crop is housed Without these
the hands can do little. Give man one hundred
and sixty of the best soil, without these nds-
pensable auxiliares and he may scratch little Of
it with hoe, and exc out a wretehed FIVE years Of
poverty and priyation; but he will gladly then sell
il to speculator, and seek some other mode Of
living
There are but two classes of circumstances that
can, we think, make it polite for Government to
tempt, by bounties, the migration Of labor. One
is where country is advanced in all its industrial
pursuits to repletion In that condition it may be
pfP per to provide some outlets for the superabun-
dant hands and capital, and to encourage removal
The other is when large cities are overrun with an
idle and dissolute population. The peace, order,
and safety Of the virtuous part Of the community
require that such disturbers should in some way be
withdrawn
These two particulars were the prominent pleas
Of julius Caesar when urging the Patricians to yield
the enactment of his Agrarian law. Rome at the
time contained it is said, several millions of nhabi-
tants-as heterogeneous multitude as Paul de-
scribes the population Of Jerusalem on the day Of
Penticost No doubt there were assembled there
many desperate men Of every country and every
cline. To get rid of such mass Of abomination
presented strong argument to the Senators, and
they would have assented to the measure on this
ground if other considerations of political safety had
not prevented. In our day we attach no force to
such suggestion. The loafers Of our large towns
must be reformed and fitted for useful and quiet
lives by legal discipline. They cannot be 5ri5ed to
be honest and orderly Nor can they be suddenly
transformed into independent cultivators by SIM
ply giving them each tract of land.
But the first state Of things we have supposed
claims full and fair examination. If the facts
were to present the category indicated, then the
measure proposed would have strong support. Let
us look at it in its bearing upon the Government
directly, and upon the general welfare" of the
People at large.
If the national revenue were derived from direct
taxes or levies upon land and all the industrial pu
suits were overstocked by redundant population,
then it might be good policy to invite by liberal en-
couragement laborers to spread over the new coun-
try and improve it by cultivation; thus adding to
the general wealth, and to the ability of the people
to contribute supplies to the public treasury. This
is not our case at present. The time may come
when we shall not be able to obtain the foreign
goods we consume by an exchange or sale Of our
agricultural products Our revenue from customs
then will cease and we must resort to direct taxes
So far, however, we do not see that the National
Treasury has any direct interest in the question,
other than that already stated the certain effect Of
the success of proposition to give away the public
lands will be to extinguish at the revenue which
the Government now derives from the sales of the
national domain.