The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1858-07-22
Value Of Western Lands-'rhe Limits Of
Western EssigrasieW.

Mr.. SENIOR, as leading feature in his
system of political economy, represents limi-
tation of supply to be the principal cause OF
value. Later advancements in this science
show that Mr.. SENIOR has mistaken for a
cause what is simply condition OF value.
Rut, following his premises, an attempt has
been made by certain theorists to prove the
wor,hlessness of investments in western
lands, on the ground, that being practically
unlimited in supply, they could have no
more legitimate value than SO much air and
water. II the teeming millions Of our west
crn prairies, if the gigantic cities which wall
our lakes and rivers with the monuments OF
human industry, if the facts of our industrial
development which have carried the az
gressions Of our ndholding civilization lar
west OF the Mississippi, and have created
around innumerable centres OF trade and
population the same conditions of value IN
land which exist in the communities oil the
Atlantic States if the beneiicent emlgra-
ton which has borne the people of all climes
from the tyranny of competition to content
ment and prosperity in our new Western
States--if all these had not demonstrated
the halacy of the theory that our lands must
be valueless because there can be no demand
for them, we should not have been without
the means of showing both the absurdity OF
the conclusion, and the ialsity Of the preml-
ses on which il is founded.
We do not now propose to show how
that demand is created, which carries mil
lions of acres per year down the voracious
nav of the Land Offices. Ii is enough Tor
our purpose that the increase Of population
keeps even pace with the disposal OF the
public lands, that under the polite sys-
TEN of presumption which has obtained OF
late years, the lands which pass from the
Government to private owners are occupied
and titled nearly in the ratio Of productive
appropriation which prevails in the old
States, that experience proves Western
Lands TO be more valuable Us productive
agents than the prevalent Eastern soils, and
that their comparative value is becoming
greater every year in proportion as the ID
ciities of communication with the seaboard
are increased. But the proposition we
shall now examine is the assumption Of
the practical iniinity of supply, az bear
ing upon the question OF demand
Mr.. II. &. CAREY, of Philadelphia, has
written some very.ingenious treatises to show
that the tendency Of population is not in
the direction of the superior soils. but a
gradual and symmetrical outgrowth from
fixed centres Of capital in constantly ex-
panding circles, which absorb the inferior
soils first. His principle, if true, would &C
count for the existence Of an uninterrupted
wilderness from the Alleghanies TO the Mis-
souri,. But as no such wilderness exists
as, on the contrary, what was wilderness
there--ffty years ago-is now filed with
dense and populous communities, it follows
that Mr.. CAREY must be wrong. And the
whole history Of western growth proves that
population flows in the direction Of superior
sols-governed secondarily in its destina-
ton by advantages Of situation--that is to
say, by facility of communication with mar
kets. That this principle governs the dis
tributlon Of population, no one can doubt
who will look for moment at the history
OF western States in relation TO the subject.
Population inevitably prefers the rich loan
Of Illinois or Minnesota, TO the barrens Of
Adirondack, or the sterile claybeds Of Maine,
and spurns twelve hundred miles OF terrific
ry, gaping with unoccupled townships and
thinly peopled counties, 10 build it's homes
on the banks Of the Mississippi. This prin-
ciple, then, imposes limitation upon the
supply of lands nominally in market--of
immense effect in determining the scale Of
values.
The extent OF surface on this continen,
available for agricultural purposes has been
vastly overated 1t has not only limita-
tions Of degree but well defined geographi
cal boundaries. The west, as an arena Of
industrial development which the fervid i'm
aginations OF journalists and orators have
extended TO the shores Of the Paci6c-in
truth pauses half way across Kansas and
Nebraska at the meridian Of the upper
Missouri, on the brink Of vast deser,
which loses itself in the spurs Of the Rocky
Mountains. The arabic land west Of the
Mississippi under this government Is limited
10 the range Of fertile States Immediately
on the banks Of that stream The present
Western frontier il the frontier Of American