The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-05-31

Tue same CLASS pi Clllzens would Ieel duultlOndl
qualification if the donor Of the gift would add
thereto yearly appropriation of4noney for the pay
ment Of laborers wages, feeding Of stock and other
contingencies, which by an inevitable anti-progres5
law the certain concomitants Of agricultural
pursuits and possessions Indeed the man who
wants farm gratis would be exceedingly likely to
want all other things on the same terms, and il is
not very probable that he would be ''content with
his lot," though never easily acquired.
The cream OF the Joke ID that among the most
prominent OF those who want farms icitholt uork
| ing for them knot Of men who have named
themselves the Industrial Congress, but except in
the matter Of tongue labor do not that they
are entitled to any such pre- eminence above their
iellows--hundreds and thousands of whom toll
| ing severely while the Congress" body is
resting, the talking, somewhere to leeward Of
| the tearoom of the City Hall. The worthy sin
| dustrials' greatly err, however, if they suppose
| that they are "the people of america of New
| York State, or even of New York city. The people
approve not Of their agrarian and utopian schenes
| and were there the slightest danger that the Sen
ate could be guilty OF the folly perpetraed by the
House OF Representatives. in the passage Of the
| Homestead bill, voice would come forth from the
masses that would very emphatically prohibit this
Wrestling of their lands from them for the purpose
| oi gratuitous distribution.
| From the NeIc York Herald.
! Face FARms ron EvERYBopY.-La Last evening a
| Homestead Mass Meeting was held in The Park as
will be seen by our report of the proceedings
| The progressive Democrats and progressive
Wings have taken ep this elcctioneering humbug
in view of the Presidential election each faction
trying TO bid higher than the other for the popular
vote. But they both miscaculate. They will get
very few votes iii return for this humbug. The
| shrewd mass Of the people know full well that
free farm in the far West would be perfectly use
less to the great majority Of them, the condition
" hch would Of course be attached to its posses
sion, in the event Of such an absurd enactment be-
ing passed by Congress. Every would have
to settle upon the farm granted 10 him. But we
should like TO know now many of the lazy loaicrs
who are advocating this measure would accept
farm under such conditions; whether mechanics
in large towns would abandon their occupa.
tions and farmersS Where would they get
the stock aud the farming utensils, and the lar ee
capital necessary 10 clear and cultivate these farms
and render them productive-to FAY nothing OF the
xrcnse of conveying themselyes and their faini.
lies TO such distance? And. supposing them to
be possessed OF the necessary means why the pur-
chase OF farm would be mere nothing com
pared with the outlay to bring il into guilty alton
The value OF the unreclaimed land is the smallest
item OF the expense.
| 1t ia not the price of farm that stands in the
way of people becoming farmers, but the price of
labor and the price OF stock, want of sIll the dis
tance and other considerations. A free farm there
fore, in the wilderness, is of no use To a man with
| out means, and is no induceTent TO with
|
| Of citizens know about farmingf They could not
earn coats 20 their backs by agriculture Iii well
known that from four TO five per cent is the most
that be realized by capital invested in far ming
operations. The thing sounds very fine TO men
who never reflect and never look beneath the sur
face Of any humbug, But il il as purely visionary
as kossuths pitched battles and his uiopian repuS
lie thai is to be in Hungary. II the bill should pass
Tomorrow, 1t would not bring another acre Of
ground into cultivation; or if il did. il would put
or keep as many acres out OF cultivation some
where else
The men who cry out for this sovereign remedy
for every ill, chiefly those who call themselves
"industrials,' most OF them proving their industry
by negeclng 10 mend their pantaloons, while they
are very busy in trying 10 mend constitutions
Whet these gentlemen at large most want, ia the
| passage OF some grand panacea in the shape Of
| law that will render work (of which they enter
| tain holy horror) entirely unnecessary for oil
| time to come. But free farm requires some very
hard work to make any thing out oiit. This there.
FORE is not what they desire. They arc for the
most part socialists aud atheists who do not repard
| tue Obligations Of the Christian religion which
says, eli any man will not work, neither let him
eat" On principle, they hold work in utter DE-.
testation but have no objection TO appropriate the
labor Of others, accumulated in the shnpe of pro.
| perty, Of which they want division. Free farms
would probably satisfy them to n certain extent ST
| they could also get the ground cleared md pourhed
free, the seed sown free. and the crops reaped Tree
leaving them nothing to do but TO enjoy the of,,lia
cum dignitdte of eating the fruits of the earth with
out any sweat ON their brows. But this is not the
| lot Of man here below, whatever il may be in the
| elysium OF the other world.