Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1857-05-08
virginia,s share of the lPablfc Lands.

VirginfasS Share of the Public Lands.
We call the.attention Of cur readers to
a powerful and conclusive argument pub
lished on the first page of to; days paper,
on this subject, from the editorial columns
of the Richmond Examiner. The writer
dissects with a masters hand this .'great
issue of the day. He :lops off this last
limb upon which the falling Sam had
hung. and leaves him nowhere but to
tumble headlong to the ground. The
land scheme now stands out in its naked
deformity, as another plot by which the
South is 80 be made a newer of wood and
drawer ofwater for the North-by which
the poor are to be made poorer and the
rich richer.
The Constitution only authorizes Con-
,gress to raise money enough to support
the General Government. The public
lands, by their sales. constitute fund
Just as proper for the payment of the ex-
penses Of the government as the duties
on impo,ts-nor can any more authority
be found in the Constitution to distribute
the former among the States than the lat
ter. The two funds should he applied to-
,gether to the support OF the Government,
and whenever tue two together prove
more than sufficient for that purpose, it
becomes the duty of Congress under the
Constitution, to reduce the tariff Of duties
down to a revenue standard. In this
way the people would never be required
TO pay more of their money to the Govern.
snent than the Constitution requires them
TO pay. But the Northern manu- 'aclurers
are not satisfied with this. They pretend
chat n fariH IF frOpo fOrt1 to
per annum on foreign imports does not af-
ford sufficient protection to them, and
that Congress shall impose duties on the
salt, the iron. sugar, Cnolasses. coffee, and
the clothing. DC. imported from abroad,
and which every man must 6uy. not for
the support Of the Government alone, as
authorized by the Constitution, but to be
given back to the States which the Com
stitutiOn does not authorize. Nor is the
North satisfied with the protection to their
manufacturers which this imposition af-
fords. After this surplus revenue is rails
ed off of the South which pays nearly the
whole of it, and after the North has re.
ceived the great benefit Of that protection,
they contend for sharing the surplus with
the South ; and that. not by an equal d..
viSion-but according to federal numbers
that Is. they require that fVe Of our la
borers shall only receive in the distIibu-
ton, as much as Mree Of their laborerS re-
celve. In this scheme Of inlquity and op.
preston. our Northern masters are aid =
ed by their Southern allies. |! is bald
and b"refaced plot. by which Sam and
his friends are mad enough to believe the
people of the Southern States can be
hnnU It ItI f07S1FR ,,c
m"n'N, and cheated into n surrender of
the other three JOWrthS. Rut the fatal err
T. r vi that parry has always been, that in
the cOnceited sel!-sufficieLcv Of their lea
derS. the people have never received credit
for one half the good sense they possess.
The people know full well that duty laid
on their sugar, coffee, moiasses, salt, and
all other articles of their consumption,
raises the price Of those articles, not only
by the amount of the duty. but by
the amount also Of a profit on that
duty. Tins the consumer pays out
What does he get back, if SIMS
Sysem of distribution is adopted .
the mere fraction Of that same duty
"hlcNwill be left, after the commissions
and saRries and stealage of the public Of.
hcers' ad the interest Of the money while
1t lays loe in the treasury, and the loss
es by accent, are taken off, and after
the hons sire of the balance shall have
been gwen Ntheir Northern friends
They Will knoN that it is far better to
keep their own I2ney in their own pock-
cts ana manage N their own way, than
to submit to heavy\xatiou in order that
the General GovernEnt nav have tho
privilege of paying BAD to Inn q ni,;fnl
fraction of what had beS> ,n;Hs,," fr I'r
ted. And this is Sans I o'9st i"oo ~
the day He had better A5acH to- his is
ola P!"t'0,w ""U vans rule