The weekly Columbian. [volume] (Columbia, Tuolumne Co., Cal.) 1856-1???, 1857-01-10
Property In Lands.

Every man who is worthy to be considered
citizen has right to possess a home. The air
we breathe God gave freely for the lungs of all.
The water which descends from the clouds is
given quite as much to qnench the beggars
thirst as to alay the fever of the millionaire
after debauch The ocean naturally is as free
For the New Zealand canoe as for the Yankee
clipper. There is no proprictorship in the sun
light. The mendicant has as much right as the
king to gaze upon and admire the clouds. With
an imparfial;ty worldwide and perennial.
Heaven gives the verdure of spring and the vi
sual adaptation to enjoy it, alike to the pedes-
titan and the luxIrlant occupant of crimsOned
chariot. Land was given as freely, as impair
TALLY. 1t is only by artiice, by the arbitrary
customs OF society, by force aad fraud that the
few possess the whole. the many have no home.
Yet no one doubts the necessity of laws Sc
curing the ownership and possession of land
Society needs regulations of this nature. 1t
needs not alone, however. laws to secure a
homestead to all who desire to retain reason
able extent of soil of what belongs to them, for
refuge and asylum-but it needs also laws to
restrain the absorption by a few individuals of
what God intended as the Inheritance for the
many. OF the thirtytwO thousand proprietors
persons or cOrporatiOns-own the entire land.
over fifty-one thousand square miles. an area
greater by five thousand square miles than that
vi tue NuOlc Ctdtc Vi NEW 1OIh. IoeNcutN
years ago this land was in the hands of two
hundred thousand proprietors. Gradually the
few are becoming owners of the entire country.
While few land owners possess the whole
kingdom. the other millions are mere tenants at
the will of their imperous landlords Isl pos
sible for nation long to exist free and indie
pendent its people interrupted, when not one
tiye-hundreth part of the population have any
personal interest in the soil The landless are
A. how do ~ oh
there, more is the wonder, or more is their pa
tient virtue.
Man is never go manly as when he stands
upon his own land and feels that he owns it.
There is spirit of kingy independence of dig
nifty and selfrespect excited and sustained by
the knowledge that man is supreme ruler of the
spot on which he dwels. There is no patriotism
so deep and pure and reliable as that of those
who own the land they live upon. But in all
respects as well as in the cultivation of this feel
ing. it is good policy to distribute as much as
possible the soil into the possession of the many
as homestea1s and farms. instead of allowing
few to monopoliZe the whole. The policy of
our government has assisted in this State the ten
dency to this kind of monopoly. Our Town
Legislature should pass an act making ic the
interest of the large land holder to disposl of
portion OF his land. 1t would be but RICH and
just aud good policy to grade taxes upon lands
upon sliding scale system. certain rate being
fixed, say for the first section. and an additional
tax per acre for all sections beyond, increasing
the ratio of taxes as the possession of extent of
lands by the same individual increases. They
who own great number of acres ought to pay
bonus for the privilege. because that very own
ership is a hndrance to its Improvement to the
same degree that might be expected from a
number of owners. 1t is anti-republican and
anti-democratie to allow few to own the whole
surface OF the State, while the many are forced
to live but as tenants at their good pleasure
Every citizen is entitled to homestead. in the
right of nature, if not under the laws of an ar
tificial society.