Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1855-07-03

THE t1O1z zSrL5AD BILL"
lIsssRs. EDfroas: You may remember that IN
your paper OF The It'll Ct September last, epiied
10 arlicie, quoted by you from some unknown
eoteInporaTysr The bu1hen Of which was that the
Roman Emp ire had been Destroyed by the aeFaIi-
an and corn laws. You endorsed The article as /
cerrscl history. aud then applied j. 10 what yoa
Termed the abominahle Homestead bill:' con-
ircvered he historical accuracy ii your un-
know porary," quoted rs endorsed by Mr..
Calhoun, he history 81 the agrarian laws, and :
eit ed OF Inc iasiice of the principle OF
fhe homestead I'LL and my rsadiness 10 give The
AS there was" fosferiy to'raat article, have now
terrcd 10 II eF way ~ rccapitl alton aEd il
lfuctonsto leH feinaEks ae hlch tdesire through +
y0lir to sysbtait e Tie nullic ua The prlci-
pie II ihe ho14esieasL sii l..-s
> II hen sneak OF The princir|1 of that bill I
,eak ot9It as a=lisfinct ptinciPle 4nd pciicy Tor
siisaositou ~ fte pubic lands. by dtrfssot aud
M and s. ssi' 10 NJ schemes Tor lie /
4 IT. tIt;on Of those ians.s ~ sdis.
.Illy cred pubic lants, or lore propcrly wild
za vacant LANDS, shepid-be siTen--no. nef given, I
i ~ 5 the cteSaai Jaws oiaatufe and justice. snch ]
la1s the5zS aieaay --shoald be eif'oFtieesa 70
1h1ss who hafr M iar.s aaa VIC viii iile ana
z essfFaie thefn. X his tttrfse Is pnrsatd. the
4 81 nled ~ haniIotion iov al men. viii be
9 49, 80 ~ szte. e re'. iaree eoqnslt ier aili
- fc,-ss1, ,aSfc .. nj lafsaes u
aeyances eahblias thsn1i u ertos upon I4insh-
shins afodief. elid tie nas ~ akind viii be
come. 10 iheta The III egers OF goed and me draw
Itshouls heTer BE for gotten tct vhaieTersmay
1s tns gsEty stny count lie real and
rug ysicns tllat me Interests OF any
peoFe and lle md q AT the lolndatio ions 4
PaItiess ara EaRft1, and L5db1rf Ihe failure 10
tsliuss ion lew beel, and
lssstil fatal OF labor. II has enabled
eapital, might Be tie party in The ascen-
dam, Io c0ntrol the Legislation OF lat party
and. 70 81 sliae adyantages a. tie 1pense OF
itai. have fhns been carried and through
4 sunde the Paztg 'saae; This had mol been the
ything SO pal pa bly, NM pst as aSgte of
lic and vacant lanes instead of and par
5sttEto pIihem, never could have bad The sHnction
of law. Fit must be tnahiEeai thatsif the lands
inv here is eomrnen property are put 10
sale that, the portion of the common owners only
s. who have money can cotnpete for and that The
Il PORTION Without money apd far the larger pcr
most ons-n nsr stand By helpessly, aud
see their lands pass into THE hands fsy apis
the pi,itu eeas Of 3, are
slhena ppiedao5he benefit pf all, and in he most
UNEQUAL proportions, as iii be hereafter deInon-
stratedss The Indian takes a few blankets and
klels for his land and The white man gets III
the blankets and trinkiets are soon gone, but The
land is there Yeti" How mtEa much better on
is the lRboring white Sxhenis interest Ia the
land = sold and the proceeds spent for
With these remarks, let us now drop all refne-
tent of and turusto plain Instance
and example of tairdispo siiinn of ccmmon lands
thatpughl TO render all othersargument unneces-
sary, for Il Is so plain that, he ssh runs may
read. reterto ediUisles and ttonaseht of
Jews hi lead swrested them from The
Fl sE1eat1Rn inlIa6 tan IS
Thess lands were. conquered ~ the. whole Jew
ish people, and otco9fse, were common properly.
4 Now suppose for moment. instead of this equal
and fair diCisioE and of these lands
: they had been put up for sale and that too at
is It not manifest that the few Jews who had hoard
ed their silver and gold-ths very silver aud gold
they borrowed of the Egyptians, never intending to
return itwould have become the lordsoftiie soil5
won The Nalor OF IL while the great mass of the
nation, whose-land was 50 sold TO epabIe a few
ql9tis X 10 invest the very capital had
seeindle ont of the Hgyptians, would have be-
come iandtesa and ana reduced 10 the
conditon-qs bad
dcn5 more 10 " IA 7The i6an themselves
4 Nay, nothing like SO iaucn, fogthe most nrime-ous
class must have contributed most to that result
and capitalists not the most numerous classi
Phis course, however, was not pursued; the lands
were Giride@ end GPPsTtioased GHt nat sold. and
eachsman became at Once-at the start-a free
hotter and the owner of !homesiead." Norwas
this matter of county, but OF sheer and even
handed justice
Is there capitalist among US, or on the face of
the earth, who can find fault with this example in
/. the early history of mankind, or find out more
rational, fair and just mode of dsposins of Joint
pie, The case CT three persons, A, B, and c. who are
joint and common owners of a thousand acres of
land. You will then the same principle indi-
vidualiZed. Now, A, besides his interest in the
thousand acres OF land, is rich his pockets are full
of cash. d and have nothing but their hands TO
labor and their equal interests in this thousand a.
cFes OF land. Suppose, uuder this state of things,
A should propose TO q and G to up and sell the
land for what it would bring and divide the pro-
eeeAs could they agree to such proposition :? If
they did, it would resClt in their sharing Just what
the capitalist would please to give them for it
they would ''sell their brthrght for mess of pot
tage." They would agree however, to no such
proposition of their rich partner They would tell
him promptly, that they had no money to buy
thousand acres OIL land aud could not compete with
him, but that they would divide the land and each
man should take his third parti, 5ssss
This IS, in the main, the condition OF our pnblic
! lands. ~ T1Tof Of
revenue for government in its ordinary expenses,
paying of its debts to old soldiers under any
other Pretext, it will be found 10 be device of
capital-a cunning and Preext devce-to shit
from its own shoulders The obligations properly
resting there. and to impose them on the broad,
and brawny, and pennyless shoulders of Labor.
1.-THE public land is sold for revenue purposes 1t
can be easily demonstrated, in the first place that
but small sum will come into the public treasu-
Fy, when the expenses of surveys, commissioners,
officers fees, &c, come off; and, in the second
place, that of that small sum- the proportion CON
,flSn.ea 10 f 5Rf pn6e treasury BY labor will be
church. -
The poorest man in the country has Just as great
an interest and common property IN the public
lands as John jacob EstoF, were be alive to-riior-
row and.in possession of his millions and yet
II WheTe You ind one man rich as Aston you can
'tsseaaily find 5000 men not worth faTlRtng F6Ii
.nelr interest IN these public lands Suppose now
me government requires, for the treasury SO 600
anu you sell g. ssss esns rom the
great capitalist: ;l.ai sg99o viii be
3, contributed by the 9 ,99g persons, Who own as
much of the land as he does7 IN plain English
arithmetic. capital contributes ore d0zley of The
L.sum of $4,000 raised for revenue aud hard
sisled labor contributes S9999I Nor is this ALL
Ibnt The land of labor is sold to make this iniru-
aaus, unjust and disprolortionate eontribriion-
Xesi the land of The very laborers who make the
wealth of this man of millions, and then on the
field OF battle If necessary, rust pour out their
blood TO defend these millions and their owner &
L. the crede Of justice, tie $4,000 SO required by
the goyernment'oug TO be raised from the wealth
protected, in proportion 10 the hanity in Weich il
is held, and the 1899 men, who defend the cOun-
try, viii then contributes IN their blood their fuI:
and fair proportion for lis defence and their ars