M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1856-07-24
9pIhtd.
The Kansas Publication RiII.


The KANSAS BILL which has passed the
Senate Of the United States, and been sent
to tne House of Representatives for concur
Iredce Is eminently wise and Just, inasmuch
as it reFeals so much of the legislation of
the Territorial Legislature as sought to i'm.
pair the right Of bona fde residents on the
vote for Delegates to form Constitution, or
to apply unjust tests in the performance of
civil duties. II also guards against repe-
tition Of such legislation, by declaring that
"a shall not hereafter be exercised. The
bill also prevents the incursion of Border
Ruffians at the moment Of any election, by
requiring q residence Of three months pre-
paratory to any vote, end a complete regis
try Of legal voters, The bill goes step
further than this, and step further than
usual, by restricting the right to vote 10 the
citizens Of the United States. 1t has been
the policy ofthe new States in the West to
encourage emigration, on the part of foreign
ers, by allowing them 10 vote after six months
or years residnnce, whether citizens or not;
and the power has long been exercised un-
der organic provisions Of their State Consti-
tutions. This arrangement has been high
y beneficial to the growth OF new States,
and has had the effect to thin the ranks Of
this SPECIES of population on the seaboard,
where It would be burtful, and to turn the
new emigrant into useful cultivator of the
soil. Had the bill in question conformed TO
this policy, a few foreigners might have
been induced, before their night Of citizen
ship had become complete, to aid in subdu-
ing the wilderness--for such Kansas is and
will long continue to be--to the uses of
man. But the change which the bill makes
in this respect in the policy which has pre-
vailed in the West is doubtless recommen-
ded by the certainty that in no other form
could il obtain The votes OF the American
party in either branch Of the Legislature
Under the circumstances, it was therefore
wise and judicious. As the bill stands, all
questions concerning the admission OF Kan
sas as State, preliminary and other, are to
be decided in the Territory, by citizens of
the United States who are actual residents
Of the locality, known as such by registry,
and allowed to vote without any unjust or
improper restrictions. This is carrying out
The true principle Of the original bill, the
operation Of which was ilnpeded BY the in.
cursions of residents OF Missouri. No man
in his calm senses can fail to approve of
the present bill; or doubt, if it become
law, that the preliminary steps in the terri
tory, by which Kansas will be prepared for
admission, are to be regulated with entire
fairness to all sections Of the country. We
have never had any doubt, and have not
now, that Kansas will be admitted, as a free
State and such will be the conviction of all
those who look at the state of the facts in
dispassionate manner. The State OF Mis-
souri,, which lies between Kansas and mar
ket for its productions, contains forty one
millions Of acres of land, about one-third Of
which remains unsold. To much of this
large residue, the Graduation Act, passed in
1852, applies. That Act provides that land
which has been in market for thirty years
or thereabouts, may be sold at a shilling an
acre and the residue at prices between that
and dollar, according to the length Of time
1t has been subject to entry. The inhabi-
tants ofMssouri eIjoy the monopoly of the
public lands, because it is q slave-holding
State--a condition unfavorable TO emigration
| from the Free States. In Iowa, ,--allhough SO
recently admitted as a State, and having a
harsher climate, land sells at higher prices
than in Missouri. Noinhabitant OF Missou-
ri, in his senses, would give up the immense
monopoly in cheap lands which he enjoys,
and remove his slaves into Kansas, which is
yet unsurveyed, with the certainty that he
can obtain in Kansas, under the pIeemption
act, only q single quarter section of land,
and that at dollar and quarter an acre,
and with the possibility, when the survey is
made, that other settlers may be found on the
same quarter section, who will be entitled
to the portion OF it on which they are loca-
ted. A stakeholder in Missouri is safe in
the tenure by which he holds his negroes,
and which he would not be in Kansas.
There is therefore, no probi bility that Kan
sas will become slave State. Indeed, it
would be utterly impossible 10 the present
new condition Of the State, to sustain slaves
in large bodies, except at frightful expense.
Able-boded white men leave the territory
daily because they find there no easy means
ofsupport. The only class of persons who
at present find il easy to remain residents of
the Territoty are those who keep always in
advance of the movements of civilized men,
killing bears, panthers and Indians, and re-
lying ON their skill in obtaining good loca-
tons, to pay for their daring aud sacrifices.
Such men always keep few hundred miles
ahead Of the great body of settlers, and pre-
pare the way for the latter.
They are hardy, enterprisng, unscrupulous
and brave, and generally obtain the best To-
cations, which they sell at small advance.
Much Of the difficulty experienced in Kansas,
arose from the fact that the vocation of these
men was disturbed by the action Of Massachu.
sets, in sending out emigran.s under spe.
cial Act OF her Legislature, or that they might
secure the locations TO which the Bofdefers
thought themselves entitled by virtue OF theil
adventurous snffefings and sacrifices. The
Border Rufians," for their own interests
determined to give these contestants for towr
sites and good locations, a brush, and in toe
many instances, as the result has proved ,adcp
lei. the same mode OF warfare to which the,
had been accustomed in contending with bear,
pantheIs and Indians. They subsist in great
part on the products Of the chase and ar,
equal to the Indian in powers Of endurance
aud his superior IN mostoIh respects. -
The settlers in Kansas. sent outby Emigrani
Societies, had no means Of support, ant
many OF them quickly returned to civilizes
regions. A Commissary General, with sub
sistence 10 last for year,would be necessary
with each squad Of inexperienced settlers
Who with this advantage would scarcely b
| temnied In rernain In Kansas nfter the e,,n