Washington sentinel., 1854-03-11

n,
were parent having thirty-one children, divide
your estate between the youngest twelve, and cut
OH those who had helped you to accumulate your
fortune: Would you give all your property TO the
twelve youngest children, and deprive the rest of
your family of any part of that which you
quired by their cooperation and then desire TO be
considered just man Justice is the parent of
peace; and what is just and equal between fami-
lies and neighbors, is Just between States and
nations. If you would, therefore, keep peace and
harmony in this great country, have no class
legislation; know no difference between the poor
and the rich let your laws be just and equal
4 Gentlemen argue that by granting alternate
sections of the public land to railroad companies,
that the whole country is to become enriched
| object to the doctrine advocated upon this floor
that Congress owns or that the government is the
proprietor of the public domain. The government
is not the proprietor, but the agent, the common
agent of the sovereign States, and such only
exercise certain delegated powers which have been
given to it, and which enumerated in the
Constitution. Further than that it cannot go.
! This government is not great centralizaton of
power, as some seem to imagine. Its powers are
| limited by the act of its creation Leaving out
the consttutionality of this question, look at its
| injustice. What would be said of guardian
| who had entrusted to his care the Joint property
| of thirty-one wards who should distribute the
whole estate between the twelve youngest and
leave the other nineteen pennyless on the world,
and then say that he had made the whole family
rich, Sir, you would award such guardian
place in unatc asylum.
Gentlemen representing States in which the
public lands do not ie especially the old thirteen
in my judgment, do their States and people great
| injustice not to oppose these grants, and other
kindred measures which are intended to be car
ried by a log-rolling system.
There are now before the two Houses of Con-
gress, if ] am correct, over 100 railroad bills,
which, if favorably considered, will deprive the
| roy mfr rhap drpd mi of'
the public domain. If you begin this system,
when and where is it to end? If you proceed to
, give land to some companies and some States,
, you may proceed TO give the balance to other
companies and other States, which will be soon
| knocking at your door, asking for land; and
thus in very short time, you will have disposed
of the whole public domain of the country. The
original land system of this country is good. 1t
has worked well and my doctrine is, let well
enough alone. In some few things, we had better
incline to the ancient ways of the republic. Sir,
the public lands are the wealth of this nation. l
have always been opposed to the distribution Of
the proceeds of the sale of the public lands.
Beng democrat, stand with the democratic
party. understand that doctrine to be, to hold
on to the public lands-neither dividing it between
the States nor the proceeds of the sale thereof
That was the original democratic creed, and
why is it not good doctrine to-day am sure
the ancient doctrine of the distribution of the
proceeds of the sale of the public lands was better
than the pending propositions; because there
more Justice and equality in the plan. If, sir,
we proceed to give away the public domain, we
deprive the treasury of the money which would
|, naturally flow into it from the proceeds Of the
sale thereof.
But il has been said that these lands do not
} yield any money to the national treasury. Let
: US look into that matter and sec how the account
stands. The President, in his late message, as
sures us that there has been deposited in the
national treasury nett profits of nearly fifty-four
millions of dollars. This sum has been used to
support your army and navy, and to aid in carry
ing the machinery of the government, and
that much less has therefore been required to be
raised, by levying duties ON imports.
My doctrine has been, and the demand Of my
constituents has been, free trade. We want to
keep the public lands to be sold as the people de-
mand them for settlement. We want the pro-
ceeds thereof to 60 into the public treasury, and
thus do away the necessity for protective tariff
and bring our tariff to low revenue standard. The
great body of the American people want free
| trade. They want the world for market to sell
the products Of their soil their manufactures, and
| the products Of their mines They want the
| world to buy in, well as to sell in. Free and
| unrestricted commerce, near as can be accom-
! plished, is much to be desired Keep your pub
lie lands; let them be sold as the wants Of the
people require, whether they be foreigners
natives.
In the disposition of those lands, (at least that
! part of them which is to be donated,) we should
! first take care of own household, those who
have taken care Of US, and by their prowess and
gallantry made what are-those patriotic
men who served in the second war of inde-
pendence-the war of 1912; those who made
good what their fathers said, that this is 6 the
land of the free and the home of the brave!'
Some of them have never received an acre of
land for their services. There instances
where men volunteered or were drafted, marched
to the rendezvous, entered into service, and actu-
| ll,-c iay yyhn
cluded from the benefits Of the celebrated bounty
land law of 2Sth September, 1850. Pay your
debt Of honor to the old soldier; pay it with the
public land, SO far as you can lqudate any por
ton of it. He who forsakes the civil pursuits of
life and prepares for campaign, makes sacrifices
which none can appreciate who have not tried it.
Shall it be written in the future page Of this coun-
try's history that the soldiers who served in the
war of 1872, when the country was weak and
feeble, and when we were contending with great
and powerful nation who mistress of the seas
whose powerful armies, together with her
J savage allies, almost encircled US by land-shal
, such men wait forty years and then receive only
!. forty acres of land for one months service
Your present bounty land law gives the soldier
who served in the Mexican war, one hundred and
sixty acres of land, even if he served but one
, !, month or less, provided he was honorably dis
. charged. This you give promptly and justly.
, When your country has grown great and power
, fu in all the elements and munitions of war to
6 nght weak ana hali-clvlllZed nation, YOU give
bounties of one hundred and sixty acres, and pay
promptly. Sir, suppose this government should
settle with these old soldies by allowing them in
terest on the forty acres which many ofthem get,
for forty years do You not see that it would
amount to quantity of land equal to all they ask
Proposition after proposition have been before
the different committees, and before this House,
for the relief of those old soldiers, and have found
but few friends. have been silent member of
this house, yet constant observer, and find the
great idea now is, that all the railroad bills and
the Homestead bantling are included under one
general arrangement, by which, if you will agree
to tickle me, will agree to tickle you. l much
fear that some of the great railroad interests in this
country have the legislatures Of some Of the SOW
ereIgn States almost in their breechss' pockets.
hope such is not the case in this House, and that
no extraneous outside influences of this character