New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-01-20
The Public Land Question.

the subject but every such article evInces
more or less ignorance of what is asked by
Land Reformers aud why they ask H. We
therefore re-stste their positions, aud shall
erdeavor to make them Ineligible.
|. Land Reformers do not complain Of
tie present minimum price of Public Lands
as TOO high On the contrary, if they are
to he sold evermore 10 whoever shall see
ftto locate and pay for them, we would iAr
sooner see the price enhanced than reduced
We apprehend that 4 reduction of the Gov
erument's selling price to three or foar
shi.incs per acre would in the long run ag-
elavate the evils which now exist, BY fAclli-
taung the absorption Of all the most deSIra-
bic wild lands BY spectators.
What We do ask. and hold that Con-
gress should lose no time in enactIng, Is
simp, that cur Public Land System be 50
modified tia; erery person NEEDING Land
NAT take possession II any GuGrfer-sectIon
not previously located, and hat NONE orHsa
Han a person needing land shall be qlolcsd
H. acc.ire II at al. Whether the settler
shall be required 10 pas for his land or have
it allotted to rim without prce, Is quite
secondary aud subordinate consideration.
We should be very wiIiiog, as beginning.
to have quarter-secilon set apart to each
settler thereon. allowing him (or herr forty
acres thereof IN perpetual occupancy with
out price or charge, to be extended to eighty
acres to each married couple, or in case Of
marriage to any one not a claimant IN Ike
manner IN hex own right-so As to give u
each family ghty acres without cost leay-
ing the balance of the quarter.section 70 De
bought by that family at any time within
ten years at ten shillings per acre, with
legal interest added from the date Of loca-
ton. If said family should hot see fit to bay
it within the ten years, it would be proof
presumptive that the eighty acres already
given is as much as they need or will in
prove.
3. NoPu5ic Lend 10 je sold 10 a Specu'l-
tor. This is the essential matter all else
is but subsidiary Let every person apply
inc to locate land be required solemnly 70
affirm that he requires this land for his own
use and improyement-that he fully plr-
poses to live on it-and that he IS the owner
of no other land which, when added to tha,
he now applies for, would make his entire
estate exceed one hundred and sixty acres.
Let dis affirmation be duly recorded; and,
in case ii be ever proved false, let the proper
officer be required 10 prosecute the cupriE
for perjury and for the presen, value Of the
property obtained by il. Only cutuP Land
Speculation BY the roots and secure t.
every man needing Land a night T. enter
and improve a small portion OF the Public
Domain without charge. and We are quite
resigned to see the Public Lands continue
source of Revenue TO the Government.
1. And YET we believe there is more
excellent way We acquiesce in this, be-
cause We admit the plsusibIlity and force Of
the demand that the Public Lands shall pay
their own way-that is not just to tax
Maine farmer ten or twenty dollars in order
to extinguish Indian titles, pay for surveys,
&c 90 as to give az Irish or German imm.-
grant farm for nothing. Freely admitting
the force of this argument, We arc ready'to
make way for it, though we are confident
the Government would permanently increase
its Revenue by giving a modicum of wild
land to every one who requires it, and look
ing to Duties on Imports alone for Revenue.
Every new clearing in the West. every new
wheat or ceTn-iield cut out of the PralTies,
is new source Of Federal income. Every
breaking up team is feeder to the Custom
house. So far from discouraging or i'm
peding the creation of new farms by exact
ire considerable payment for the raw
material out of which farm Is made it
should be the policy Of wise Government
10 encourage the settlement Of new farms
by every means in It's power. The greedy
youth who cut open the goose that laid the
golden eggs, differed nothing in principle
from the government which keeps poor
family in abject need by refusing it the lands
from which it might extract comfortable
subsistence, and in Sc doing contribute 10
tie Customs Revenue. The fact that a
nan wishing unappropriated wild land is
unable to pay ior i. affords the very best
reason for letting him have it,
But Land Speculation is blight and
seourge whereof the desolating influences
are rot half understood. We talk Of the
piice of Public Lands being only ten shil-