The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1853-01-29

of one hundred miles would wed the Mis-
sissippi to Lake Superior Already roads
are in contemplation which will unite
Minnesota to the tide waters of the At
lantic and the Gulf, bringing the best
market to the door of the producer, and
giving to our agriculturists. at all sea-
sons Of the year, the choice of an East
ern or Southern market.
A road is also projected from St. Paul
to Green Bay. This will bring US with
in ten hours of Lake Michigan, and as
soon as the road from Toronto to Georgi-
an Bay is completed, within fifty-six
hours of Toronto. In addition to the ar
guments usually urged in favor of grants
Of public lands to railroad and other i'm
provements, two particular reasons apply
in this case, which should induce the
federal government to aid the enterprise.
The road will run through an unsettled
and unsurveyed tract of country, and
will open it 10 settlement. Few other
roads are so situated. It will terminate
in Territory of the United States, and
will so expedite its settlement, as to
shorten the period of its territorial exist
ence, and relieve the federal treasury Of
the burden of its support. Hitherto rail-
roads have been constructed because the
settlement and business of :heir respect
i've localities were supposed to demand
them. The experiment Of building a
road, in order to settle country and
make business, is yet to be tried. Mr..
Whitney proposed such an experiment in
his Pacific scheme; and if we reflect
what the Erie canal and the railroad upon
its banks have done for the settlement of
the Northwest, we have a significant
hint of the efficacy of such means.
The construction of the various improve
ments to which allusion has been made,
must to some extent require assistance
from the general government, and it might
be well for the Legislative Assembly, at
its present session, to memorialize Con-
gress for grants of public land in aid Of
each of these enterprises. Especially
would l commend to your consideration
the expediency of suitably memorializine
Congress for such gift of the public do
main as will insure the construction of sc
much of the projected Louisiana and Min.
nesota Railroad, as lies within our Terrific.
rial limits.
The federal government is the largest
landed proprietor in the world. OF the
area embraced within the limits of the
United States, it has been estimated that
only about one-third is in the possess
ion of private individuals. Merely, then
as revenue measure, the policy is de.
fensible which seeks to grant land to this
landless and pass the public domain rap
idly into the hands of the cultivators.-
For unless direct taxation be resorted to
the chief source of federal revenue mus
be duties on foreign imports. AS impor
tations increase, revenues will increase
Hence system which multiplies the
number Of agricultural producers by put.
ting western land under cultivation. mul
uplies also the number of import consum,
crs, and at the same time increases thei,
ability to purchase for consumption. II
this way the federal treasury derives an,
nually, even at the present time, much
greater revenue from the cultivation o
the new States and Territories, than from
the sales of lands within them.
The whole country, as unit, and ir
all its parts, has the deepest interest il
increasing the amount of this cultivation
and the most effectual way of doing
this would seem TO be by gratuitous grants
of land in limited quantities to actual set
tiers. To the new States and Terrific
ries the extinction Of the federal title tc
the lands lying within them, is only sec
ondary in Importance to the extinction o
the Indian title. And in considering tn,
practical bearings of liberal land sys
TEN upon the old States, which contain
no public lands, / am of opinion tina
equivalents will be found, fully or more
compensating them for any loss they will
sustain by it. What is it that has caus
ed the Atlantic States to vie with eacl
other in extending their public works t.
the West? 1t is to make these work
the channels, and their cities the marts o
western trade. The surplus of the Yves
IS agricultural; and every one know
that the greatest profit or loss is no
made or sustained in the mere production
of this surplus, but in the carrying an,
exchange trades arising from it. Thes
!, profits must always to great extent b
monopolized by the old States and tn
greater our production, the greater tn
profit realized by them. The West
too, is valuable customer of the oil
States; purchaser and consumer of tn
fabrics Of the East, and of the produc
tions of the South. Every axe apple,
to the forest in Minnesota, every plougl
to our prairies, sinking its share in tn
wild grasses in which they abound, in
creases our ability to purchase, and add
to the general wealth of the whole coun
try. In the proportion western popula
tion and production are increased, in lik
progressive and corresponding proportion
are the interests Of the manufacturing
and commercial States advanced.