The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-06-22

and audacloush
/ Has this prediction been realzed2 Let one of many
years experience in this House. and yet in the councils
the country, answer Three weeks since speaking on
bill that has passed this House Senator THOMPSON OF Ken
\ lucky, said
IT me, since have had the honor TO tn.
national councils whether in this the other house Of Con
the public lands have been banded about etenay
brbe III the shape OF ceon and reroeesson the shape
lect" 'A N' ,''''''' N' : '''' ''S 3 ''"''s p''
OF all the interests Of the country, Mr. Chairman the
land agricultural should be least affected by depend
en upon legislation Upon il rest all other branches OF
national industry and It's value should be controlled by
laws uniform and permanent II is bad enough that the
of the country should be influenced by
purely political but trade partakcs in sort of the
character Of adventure and readily aaps itself to
cunstances. Not with land The tllcr of the soil may
have knowledge Of chemistry, but he knows nothing OF
political chieanery He watches the changes in the natural
not in the political elements and looks the ground
TO Congress for his annual profit the increased value
his land And yet if Congress issue twenty millions Of land
warrants proposed by the bill Of the gentleman from New
York, or throw many of land gratuousy at
greatly reduced prices upon the market year. and
the next the price of every MANS farm will be variable
as your commercial stocks.
Sir If you have the power you have moral right thus
to subject the sad and sober interests Of the hometayng
Woodworking farmers Of the country to the fluctuations OF
your commercial the tidal movements Of your political
| sea. tH.l...N
Again: The substitute not only takes The public iaads out Of
edssaage They have risen up out of the wilderness under
pledge given at the origin Of the government that they
should be received into the Union with equal rights with
the other States and yet they fettered by sys
tenn infictng upon them all the evils Of absenteeism
The lands of the sovereign Of England may be taxed in
the shire in which they lie while those of the general gov
enment within the States are exempted and held years
at prices above their value causing emigration to seek
other localities They in fact upon the surface Of the
new States like the immense corporations of Morman,
which II cost England revolution to get rid Of
BY calculation made (by Mr. SuMNER) in the Senate
the United States in l840 the land States from orbear
to tax the lands of thsgenera government after
lvey have lost S72,oO0,00O How long will the idea of
y paternity of the old the States prevent a
practical conviction in the popular Eind OF their entire
| equality2
Dispose of the publcan within the States the States
i'll which they lie under the terms of this bill and you
get rid of the embarrassing questions which constant
force the States to protest memoraiz against pro-
prietorship within their borders; which, although it
tend to half their limits they neither tax raise
rbutons from for the general good and which forces
to dole out to them the small pttance of per cent upon
their sales.
/ BUr Mr. CnAIRMAs IHAvE OTHER ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF
THIS BILL, GENERAL CHARACTER,
IMPORTANT, WHOSE PRACTICAL FORCE MUST
WHO HAS OBSERVED THE PROGRESS LEGIsLAToN
House.
If the numerous causes which have attended within the
last twenty years. the unexamped development of this
country could be analysed, perhaps to wouM be
crbed much importance that Of railroads North South
East and West In all portions of the country and by all
classes their advantages appreciated. Your Atlantic
cities have dug through mountains to extend them to the
West and stretching them along your rivers and
your richest agricultural regions the humble proprietor
has not hestaed TO contribute and has reaped in
the great. enhanced value OF his land So certain is this
increased value OF real estate along their line that whole
communities and States looking to result have laid
general taxes for their creation In fact it is almost
acknowledged truth of political economy, and taxation
for no other purpose is SO popular
Under these circumstances is there anything eXtrava-
giant in the expectation the part of the States that the
general government should contribute like every other
proprietor within their limits TO the construction of rail-
roads enhancing greatly the value of the public domain
The five per cent upon the sales of the public lands within
the States is given them return and in some sort
acknowledgment of the benefit the ds of the government
derive from the construction of ordinary roads Is there
anything unreasonable in the call of the States upon the
general government to make similar return for the
hanced value Of its andthe result Of local taxation that
the humbest proprietor is made payio justify the ad
OF railroad grants before this House being regarded
spectators upon the public treasury to explain the
repugnance with which members listen TO the
suggestion of such grants
Sir this repugnance springs from the vice in the organi-
zaton of land system of which have spoken II is
neither insensibty 10 the justice of this caim be
lief in the want of constitutional power that this
opposition with many but inability TO decide upon in
teests purely local. and whose expedency must depend
upon circumstances and facts peculiarly liable TO perver
sion.
| THE BILL PROPOSE TRANSFERS THE DECISION OF THESE
GRANTS LEGISLATURES STATES II the rail-
roads seeking them deserve encouragement and the alter
sections reserved viii compensate in value for those
granted il will be best known to the legislatures Of the
States in which the lands lie and through which the roads
pass The States lose nohng deserving railroads receive
encouragement aud in no event will the general govern
meut sacrifice q dollar
Mr. Chairman, this point | may be pardoned for
speaking with Under our present land
system railroads. peculiarly worthy Of grants Of alternate
sections Of land from Congress without opposition nt
! home, and supported by unanimous delegation here,
suffer from the multiplicity of similar but locally contested
demands Members of Congress In their inability 10 ex-
anime cach and the impossbiy Of granting all these de-
mands feel reluctance TO grant any.
i Louisiana has Suffered from this circumstance. The old
and in sort the mother of all the States formed
Of the territory purchased Of France of the Mis-
ssippi river she has received of land for
railroad purposes while the States all sides of her have
had grants Having within her borders the mouth Of the
Mississippi river through which flow all the waters OF the
West and where its delta gradually depressed to almost
level with the Gulf Of Mexico, wdens out to ten times its
width In the States aboverom the nature Of her soil i'm
passabc by ordinary roads and dividing from the Atlantic
and southern States the commerce of Texas and the West
she has application before this House for land for
railroad purposes less In than that already granted
Of the western States endorsed in her demand by
legislative subscription Of onc-h OF the capital of her
railroad companies and memorial in their behalf the
people along their line having literally subscribed and
States Of Mississippi and Texas each side with railroads
brought her borders and asking be connected and
yet sir her delegation cannot urge these claims deserving
Of consideration they are without encounering pre-
udce against railroads and wearyng this House with
facts purely local to be generally known and yet
4 sttutng the merit Of her demand
appeal sir TO the railroad interest in this House what
i has been the experience Of the session
From the great amount OF business before the Commit
Il tee Public Lands, and its necessary consumption of
time has prejudice been created against its action
The first Niroad bill IL proposed objected TO on
grounds purely local. and segraph dispatches read TO
show that il attempted fraud Mr. Chairman,
voted for that bill in spite of the able opposition Of the
gentleman from Virginia Mr. LyrcurH not because Lou
sana also had railroad bills but because thought had