Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-01-11
TIE PUBLIC LANDS AGAIN-WHERE ARE WE
DRtFTINGY


plates en- alarming change of our whole system Of
legislation upon the subject. We are by no means
SO clear, on the other hand, that we ought not to
give the reader some reasons Why we have so long
neglected to discuss the subject and as We regard
the interest involved it is wonderful that the press
has remained silent, with few exceptions. Per
hsps there is 70 other concern Of the government
so important snd it is doubtful indeed, if in the
whole range of legislative duties there is another
such opening for the admission of radical and dan
gerOus errors-errOrs both Of principle and pre-.
cedent-errors, too, al the more fatal that they
tap the very fountains of justice and impesch the
integrity of that great party upon which the Union
Itself is made to depend.
We can imagine no folly equal to that which
supposes that representative bodyis above temp
tation. With no disposition to reflect upon the
character or motives of single individual in or
out of Congress, or to deny TO any one patriotic
and honorable purpose, we sre still clear in the
conviction that there is little safety in executing
our great Land Trust, except in faithful adhe
renee and submission to the powers granted to
| the Legislature in the Federal Constitution. THE
interest involved, so far as the Treasury is lcOn-
cerned, and the higher interests of the people who
desire the utmost distribution Of estates; the integ-
rity of Congress ITSELF whose usefulness ceases the
moment it becomes the subject of suspicion, re-
| quire and demand that that body shall ever recur
| to the Fedora charl as the guide Of its action
the imperial director of the peoples will. This
| government has just strength enough when ad.
ministered strictly by TIE conditions of the COM
pact of union to secure to it all the attributes OF
great State; and as it departs from that standard
in the slightest degree just 80 far it travels on the
way to anarchy. 1t is a government of integrity,
and when administered upon that basis, thus re-
fecting the popular will and maintaining the egu-
librium of the State and Federal systems, it is the
most beneficial and powerful in the world. 1t is
So because it possesses the vital force of unity in
a greater degree than any other, and ths fact is
sufficient to show that it must be administered
more faithfully than any other.
Now, is it not apparent that serious evils are re.
suling-serious moral questions arsing-from the
manner in which the Legislature is disposng of the
public domain Are there not those who feel deep
Iy impressed that in the multiplied schemes pro.
posing large grants of lands to various incorporated
bodies, the most demoralziDg effects upon the
country are sure to follow? Congress owes it to
itself without advancing another step, fully to con-
slider whether the people desire and demand such
appropriations or not and to discriminate between
such demands and those of spectators, fortune
hunters and traders Great dstrust is egiuning
to be felt all over the coun try of the integrity Of
our land policy. Powerful corporations have
sprung up like magic, into wealth and influence IN
der its sway. Rich men have become richer-the
few have been the actual benefcsries, while the
msny-the stockholders in the original estate
have looked on and wondered how system o f
equality could work out such disproportionste
benft Nor is i any justification IS we have
said, Of the system, aside from the question of
Constitutional power, to point to the rapid pro.
gress of the country under the legislative policy
referred u. Such claim oVerlooks entirely the
rights of the matter and refers everything to mo-
mentary success. A view so partial ard evanes-
cent which makes the present everything, not on
ly ignoring the future, but all the lessons Of ex-
perience and sound economy aud the dictates Of
honesty in the execution of a trust, which gives
the trustee indeed the Discretionary power to per-
vert it. to set aside the rigbtfu beneficiary is at
once so monstrous, 50 mercensry and SO revolving
as to exclude the possibility thst Congress has
been moved by such considerations in the pas. or
is in the present.
It is natural perhaps inevitabIe-thIt the nlW
States should feel a deep interest in the constu,.
ton of railroads within their border; snd especially
that California should seek by every coustau. oah
means, to secure the International r.ilroad, con-
Meeting the two oceans. Suca work, u-dou5ted.
", is one Of the political necessities of tie U1ion.
It s impossible not to see il tie c5niitrn ef cur
possessions on the Pacific; il their importance 10
our commerce now, and their still greater impo;-
lance in the future; in oar totally inadequate naval
and military establishments to meet possible con-
tingences in tie separation of the positive power
Of the Union from toe Pacific territories, By in i'm
mense national intercommerce-tbst al almost i'm
perOus necessity exists for providing means of rapid
| communication between the two oceans. These
are considerations which do not touch our land poll
cy. The construction of railroad across the con-
tinent through the public territories, if necessity
for such a work is thought to exist, must be justi.
fed upon far more comprehensive princples-prn-
ciples which shall look to the maintenance in
every possible contingency, Of the integrity of the
nation. Nor should Congress blink this question,
or attempt to minge it with the land policy: be-
cause, by so doing, the former must lose its dignity
and the latter be grossly demOralized It is far
better, unquesfiOnsby, that all work Of improve
ment should be constructed by individual enter
prise; and it is equally true that capitalists do not
/ like to invest their money ia such works off the
line of settlement. They are instrument Of COM
MERGE, and between our extensive frontier limits,
! West of the Mississippi and those Of the Pacific,
there is a vast unoccspied territory, which af
| ford no revenue to road. The two extremes,
now united only by sea and isthmus passages,
support the work. Communication between them
must be kept up, and the Government Of the
United States is required to contribute largely to
| that end The transportation of its mails, its
naval and military transfers il men and stores are
costly items, which may, with equal prOPriety
and Justice, be pledged to responsible parties
who shall undertake to build a road across the
continat within the limits Of the public territories.
Such an undertaking would be complete in itself;
whereas the present bill before Congress, which
| proposes grants to the amount of one hundred
and fifty millions Of acres and several millions
in money from the treasury, stpulates for the