The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-03-08

er educational income should be care
fully husbanded, till fund shall ac-
cumulate amply sufficient to give to ev.
cry child in the State liberal common
school education.
Second only to the common school in
importance, are the University and Nor.
NAL Schools. For these, also, the Con-
stitution suggests that you provide at an
early day.
Of the Public Charitable Institutions
named in the Constitution, a General
State Hospital calls most urgently fol-
consideration. In new country many
must necessarily suffer from sickness and
poverty, and in the present unsettled
con dition of the People, it is eminsntly
proper that the State should provide for
their relief.
The subject of finances and taxation
is one of primary importance in every
State, and particularly in new one
Onerous taxes and large indebtedness
should be guarded against as far as pos
Isible, and economy, without niggardly
parsimony, should be the rule of action.
For the present state of the finances,
you are referred to the report of the Ex-
ecutiye Committee.
Exposed as eur citizens are to the
scalping- knife of the savage on the west,
and to the revolver and hatchet of the
assassin on the east, thorough and
early organization of the Militia is ur-
gently called for. By the Constitution
this duty devolves upon the General
Assembly. Measures should at once be
taken to encourage the organization of
volunteer companies, and to procure
the arms to which the. State is entitled.
The disposition of the Public Lands
is matter for serious consideration.
Under existing laws they belong to the
General Government, and are used as a
source OF revenue. The policy of such
a use is at lest questionable. The
amount received into the Treasury from
the sale of pulic lands is inconsiderable,
amounting in the aggregate to about
SO, ,000, 900 annually.
This sum, distributed among the
States where the lands are situated,
would aid essentially the cause of educa-
ton, or the establishment of charitable
institutions, but is entirely unnecessary
in the already overiowing Treasury of
the General Government. Even as a
matter of revenue, the Treasury gains
nothing by selling the public domain to
the people, for the principal revenue is
derived from the products of the soil,
and these will be increased as the num-
ber of d-holders increases, and in pro-
portion to the capital invested in its cul-
tivation. The S1,95 per acre laid out
on the land will produce far more rev.
enue to the Government in few years,
than if deposited in the Treasury. The
true policy for any government is to give
to every citizen who will cultivate it, a
farm without price, and secure it to him
for permanent homestead. Especially
should the citizen who deprives himself
of the blessings of home and civilization
for time, to reclaim the wilderness chat
it may be added to the Commonwealth,
be allowed his land gratis.
But if the land must be sold and the
proceeds applied to defray expenses of
government, the State should be the re-
cipient and not the General Government.
Every new State mustincur extraordinary
expenses in setting its government in mo.
tion. 1t has its public edifces, State
house, Asylums, Penitentiary, Univer-
sites, School houses, Railroads, &C., to
construct, and limited means at COM
mand. Should Congress in its wisdom,
donate, as we have reason to believe it
viii, all the public lands of Kansas to the
State, it will then be the duty of the
Assembly to dispose of them. In such
an event, by donating l60 acres as a
homestead to each resident of five years,
and allowing no one person to purchase
of the State more than l60 acres addi-
tional, the State would become rapidly
settled, and at the same time secure a
fund for educational and other purposes
equal to its necessities.
The indiscriminate sale of intoxica-
ting drinks in State like Kansas, where
are numerous Indian tribes, is product
i've of much mischief. Some tribes
within our borders are still unciyilized,
and indulge their appetites without re-
straint, while many of the other tribes
are equally unfortunate. 1t is duty ne
owe to the Indian that we not only culti-
vate the most friendly intercourse, but
that We protect him from injury; and
this subject should not be overlooked by
the General Assembly.
The use of intoxicating drinks as q
beverage impairs the health, morals,
good order and prosperity of any COM
munity, aud the traffic in them is an un-
mitigated evil, and it is for the Legisla-
ture in its wisdom to adopt such meas
ures IS shall best secure the public well
fare.
1t will be remembered that skeleton
of government still exists In our midst,
under. the Territorial form, and although
this was but the foreshadowing of a new
and better covenant, collision with it
should be carefully guarded against. A
Territorial government is transient in its
nature. only Waitinp the action of the