Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-07-25

stagnant pool of water covering 100 acres Of it
one VIII offer any price for it-no one being willing
to settle SO near nuisance of that character. The
owner says to his neighbor, if you will construct
ievee I'VE miles long on the bank of the river so as
to protect my land from the influx of water, and dig
ditch six miles long as eectually to drain that
pond and abate the nuisance, and thereby make my
land habitable and saleable, viii make You deed
to 100 acres of the 900 acre tract The levee is
made the ditch is dug. the pond drained, the nui-
sauce abated, and the owner makes the deed ac-
cording to agreement; the question is did he gre
the contractor the 100 of land or did the con-
tractor bug it Did he not pay for it by his toll
and is not the original owner benefited by having
the other 300 acres made habitabe and saleable of
which he could not sell before at any price
The proposition is too clear to require argument.
Gen. H. said, that his competitor insisted that he
was committed upon the question of poaOsr by his
vote for the bill that granted bounty lands to sol
diers Of the Mexican war Gen. II. denied that
these lands donated or given away as gratuay
and insisted that the bill shows upon its face that
the lands were intended as payment to the soldier
for services rendered to the Government for which
he had not been fully and adequately compensated
He asked his competitor if he would contend that
the gallant volunteer who abandoned all the com
forts and endearments of home, and with his KNAPP
sack on his back and his musket on his shoulder,
marched to the bloody fields of Mexico, and there
endured all the privations and hardships of camp
life, and encountered all the dangers Of climate and
perils of the battle field, fully paid for his SER
vices with the contemplate itance of 81 per month?
Gen. Fl. said that he was not fully paid, that in
justice and common honesty the Governm, mt owed
him more, and that he had voted to grant him land
as an approximation to something like a fair pay
ment for the actual services rendered. The bill
shows upon its face that it was intended as pay
ment. 1t makes the quantity of land that each
volunteer gets depend upon the length Of time he
served. For four months service he gets 40 acres;
for six months 80 acres, and for eight months l6O
acres. Upon that plain principle of common JUS
tice that he who longest is entitled to most
pay, the man who served eight months was consid-
cred entitled to pay than he who served on
ly four
But, said Mr.. H., if there is a soldier here who
has ever received land warrant, let me ask him if
he did not feel that it honestly and justly due
him from the Government for the services he had
performed? Did he not feel that he had earned it,
or did he feel that he received it the mendicant
or beggar receives the pittance from the hand of
charity? 1 am willing to stand or fall by his an
swer. No man can doubt but he felt that it was
honestly due him. Hence, said Gen. H., my com
petitOr is utterly mistaken in supposing that am
committed upon this question of pocer.
But, said Gen. H., let us look to the policy of
abandoning the present land system for the adop-
ton Of the one proposed Under the present sys-
TEN the public lands are held by the General Gov
ernment and are controlled by enc legislative hand
the land system being the same all over the Union
and giving the benefit of the most accurate surveys
and the most perfect titles. They are brought into
market just fast necessary for the purpose of
settlement and cultivation, and at graduating
prices, ranging from 12 cents per acre up to 81 %
per acre; thus placing the Homestead within the
reach of any industrious in the Union and when
he sees proper to become the owner of the Home
stead he pays into the Treasury the price at which
the land is held and the fund is used frat in de-
fraying expenses of administering the lands, and
if there is any balance left, it is used in defrayng
the general expenditures of the Government, and
thereby relieves every in the Union from taxa
ton to that extent. So it will be seen that under
this system the lands administered for the equal
benefit of all the people; being held subject to the
purchase Of all and at prices low that is within
the reach of every man who wishes to become the |
owner of a! homestead; and when sales are made |
the fund is used for the equal benefit of all
But, said Gen. H., suppose you undertake to d. |
vide the lands Instead of one land-hoder you have
thirty-One; instead of one land system you have |
thirty -one-an acting in competition and to some /
extent in conflict with each other. 1t will impose
loo, the necessity of making one State the of
millions of acres of land within the corporate lin
its of a sister State-one being the owner of the
SOIL while the other will have exclusive jurisdiction
over it. No man can fail to see numerous difficult
les growing out of such a system, dangerous, if
lot fatal to the peace of the country.
How long would Louisiana and Massachusetts get
llOng tremendously together if Massachusetts
owned thirty forty millions of acres of land in
louisiana? Massachusetts might determine that
Ter lands should not be inhabited by any other than
me of her own abOlitiOnists, and would Louisiana
consent to be aboitionzed in this way?
In addition to this, you would commence the
york of division by taxing the people to the extent
# $780, 900, it would cost the Federal Gov
rnment about that amount to survey and make
tiles to the States of the various lots of land to
which they would be entitled under this SYSTEM and
he old States would be under the necessity of es-
ablishing and keeping up land offices and all the
machinery necessary to the administration of the
ands, at distance of from three to five hundred
niles from them until the lands were solo, and they
an not be sold until demanded by the population,
nd this may be quarter half century in the
nture, unless the lands should be forced upon the
larket; and if forced sales were made, they would
o into the hands of the speculator and at ruinous
acrifce in price.
But, continued Gen. H., the proposition to divide
he lands themselves is too absurd to be seriously
ntertained. So we will enquire to what extent the
eople will be benefited by a distribution of the
roceeds of sales. The sales have averaged, from
le beginning Of the Government to this time, about
NO and half millions of dollars per annum. 1t
as cost the Government about one million q year
administer the lands, which leaves net pro-
eeds Of one and half millions for distribution;
nd according to Mr.. Bells bill you distribute &C
ording to population Now, divide one and half (
llions of dollars between thirty millions of PEG
lie, and it gives to each individual only about five
snts per year, and when you have received this
vedend you are pecuniarily injured by it, for all