Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-05-27

were 10 throw three milliea OF lana warrants INTO
ths market at one time would they bring anythingi
Then the eject of that proposition would be to Dc
but little coed t. those to whom the warrants we're
issued, and hy throwing them into the market, 1t
would cut OF the revenue from public lands entire
" for no one would enter land for cash as long as
warrants could be bought. That proposition then,
Is to aid and feed speculation do not say that IS
the motive or intention, but it is the tendency and
effect Of the Senator's proposition, to throw large
portion Of the public lands into the hands Of sPecu
lators, and 10 cut them Of from the Treasury as q
source Of revenue?
But what does this bill propose VIII it dimin-
ism the receipts into the Treasury from the public
lands This bill provides that the entries under it
shall be confined to the alternate sections, and hat
the person Ehs obtains the benefit Of the bill must
be an actual settler and cultvatOr. Ia proportion
as you settle and cultivate any portion Of the pub
lie lands, do y0u not enhance the value OF the re-
naming sections, and bring them into The market
much sooner and obtain better price for them
than you would without this bill What is the
principle upon which you have proceeded IN all the
/ railroad grants you have made They have been
defended upon the ground that by granting alter
nate sections for railroads. you thereby brought the
/ remaining lands into the Market and enabled the
Government TO realize It's means at much earlier
/ period making the remainder Of the public lands
more valuable than they were before This bill
proceeds upon the same idea You have granted an
immense amount Of lands % railroads on this prin
/ oiple and now why not do something for the peo-
ple2
Isay that instead Of wasting the public lands,
instead Of reducing the receipts into tho Treasury,
this bill would increase them In the first place, 1t
will enhance the value Of the reserved qusrter sec
lions This may he illustrated by an example. In
l848 We had nine million quarter sections IN 1898
we have about seven millions. Let rs suppose that
our population is twenty-eight millions, and thst
under the operation of this bill one million beads Of
/ families who are nov producing but very little, and
| who have no land to cultivate, and very scanty
/ means Of subsistence, shall each have quarter
section Of land, what will the effect be! At pres
ent these persons pay little or nothing Tor the sup
port of the FEDERAL Government, under the opera
ton Of our tariff system, for the reason that they
have not got much to buy with. How much does
the land WELD TO The Government while 1t is lying in
l state Of nature, unculvated? Nothing al all
At the rate We have been selling the public lands,
about three million dollars worth year. estimating
them at 81 % an acre. it will take fraction less
than seven hundred years to dispose of Che public
domain.
want TO take case that will demonstrate as
clearly as the simplest in arithmetic that this
is revenue measure. Let us take million fami-
! lies who can now hardly procure the neeessaries Of
l life, and place them each on quarter section Of
and-hoW long will it be before their condition Will
be improved SO as to make them able to contribute
something to the support Of the Government Now,
here is soil propuciug nothing here are hands pro-
duciDg but little. Transfer the man from the POM
where he is producing nothing, Sbring him IN con-
tact with a hundred and sixty acres Of productive
| soil, and how long will it be before that man
/ changes his condition? As soon he gets upon
| the land, he commences to make his improvements
he clears cut his field and the work Of production
/ is commenced. In a short time he has crop, he
has stock and other things that result from bringing
bis physical labor in contact with the soil. He has
/ the products Of his labor and his soil, and he is
! enabled TO exchange them for articles Of consump
/ ton HI is enabled to buy more than ne was be-
| fore and thus he contributes more to the support
Of his Government, while, at the same time, he be-
| comes better man. and more reliable man for all
governmental purposes because he is interested in
! the country in which he lives.
To illusratethe matter further let US take family
! of seven persons in number who now have no home,
no abiding place that they can call their own, and
transfer them to tract of one hundred and sixty
acres Of land which they are possess and cultivate
Is there Senator here who does not believe, that,
| by changing their position from the place to the
other they would produce at least dollar more than
! thew did before 1 will begin at point scarcely
/ visibe-a single dollar. Is there a man here or
anywhere else who does not know the fact TO be- that
Won increase q mans ability 10 buy when he pro-
| duces more by bringing his labor in contact with
the soil The result of that contact is productions
| he produces something that he can convert and
exchange for the necessities Of his family Suppose
! the increase was only dollar head for million
of families each family consisting Of seven persons.
/ By transferring million of families from their pres
ent dependent condition to the enjoyment and Gull
tivation of the public domain, surprising it would
only increase their ability buy foreign imports to
| the extent Of dollar each, you would create de-
mand for seven millions worth Ofimpors. Our rates
of duties, under the tariff act Of 1885, are about
thirty per cent, aud thus, at the almost invisible
/ beginning Of a single dollar head, you, in this
way, increase the pecuniary and financial means Of
| the Government to the extent Of S2;l00,00O.
This would be the result, supposing that there
would only be an addition Of one dollar pei head
to the ability Of each family by being taken from
condition of poverty and placed upon one hundred
and sixty acres Of land. This is the result, sUppos
ing them to have seven dollars more with which to
buy articles of consumption, than they had when
they had no home, soil to cultivate, no stimulant,
no inducement to labor II you suppose the effect
would be TO increase their ability s.. per heBd you
would increase their consumption to the amount Of
$4,000 600, which, at thirty per cent duty, would
Weld "a 200 600. If you supposed it increased the
ability of a family four dollars per head, the total
amount would be SIS, 600, 900, which would yield
revenue Of S. 400 900. 1 think that this would be
far below the truth, and if you gave a family one
hundred and sixty acres Of land to cultivate, the
effect would be to increase the ability Of that family
50 as to buy ty-six dollars worth more than they
brought before-seven dollars head. That would be
a small increase to family who had home, com
pared with the condition of that family when 1t had
amount they buy to $50 000 600, which, at duty Of
thirty per cent would yield the sum Of 800 OOO
show you, then, that, by taking one million iami
lies, consisting Of seven persons, each, and putting
them each upon quarter section Of land, making
the soil productive, if you thereby only added to
their capacity TO buy goods to the amount Of fifty
six dollars per family, you would derive revenue
of nearly seventeen million dollars. When you have
done this how much of the public lands would you
have disposed of Only one million quarter sections
and you would have nearly six million quarter Sec
lions left By dsposing Of one siEth Of your public
domain in this way, upon this little miniature est
mate, you bring into the Golfers Of the Federal
Government by this bill SIG, 100000.
Does this look like diminishing the revenue ? Does
it not rather show that this bill is revenue
sure l think il is most clearly revenue measure.
Not only is this the case in money point Of view,
so far as the imports concerned but by settling
the alternate sections with actual cultivatOrs, you
make the remaining sections more valuable to the
Government and yeu bring them sooner into market
la continuation Of this idea, will read portion Of
the argument which made upon this subject when
first introduced the bill into the other House. 1
read from the report of my speech that occasion:
s'AIr said, it will be remembered by the House
that he had already shown, that by giving indi-
vdual quarter section Of the lard, the Government
would receive back in the shape Of revenue, in
every seven years. more than the Government price
OF the land: and upon this principle, the Government
dollars every subsequent term Of seven years. The
whole number Of acres of public land belonging to
the United States at this time, OF up to tbs Both Of
September, lS4S, is one billion four hundred and
forty two million two hundred and sixteen thousand
one hundred and sixty eight acres This amount,
estimated at s. % per acre, will make 81, oO2, no.
600. To dispose of s., 600 worth per annum,
which is more than an average sum, would require
seven hundred years, fraction less, TO dispose of
the entire domain 1t will now be perceived st
theimmense advantage the Government would derive
by giving the land the eutvator instead of keep
ing il hand this length Of time. We find by this
process the Government would derive from each
quarter section in six hundred years, Throwing of
the large excess of nearly hundred years. ST.,
OOO-seven going into six hundred eighty Eve times,
This then, shows Onthe one hand what the Govern
ment would gain by giving the land away.
Now let us see what it will lose by retaining the
land on hand this length of time Time operates
upon value as distance does upon magnitude. A
ball of very large sze when close to the eye, is
ia its fullest extent but when removed to a certain
distance, dwindles to the human vision, or disap-