The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-02-10

600 acres Of the public lands Tor each hep
resentative and Senator 10 which It Isentitled
on the floor Of Congress, grants TO thee ak
New England statcs, for their forty.two Rep
resentatives and Senators, the enormous az
gregate Of $50 900 acres while Minnesota,
with an area one-fonrth greater, receives for
her representation in both houses, only 3d.
600 acres, or less than one tenth OF the
amount granted TO New England. This
disparity, gross as il is, grows more mon
strous when you contrast their tiIIsble areas.
II IL officially known that Minnesota con
tains smaller proportion Of worthless lands
than IL comprised within any contiguous
area Of equal extent in the Union. II Is
certainly safe TO say that not more than one.
twentieth Of the entire surface Of Minnesota
In unfit for cultivation. On the other hand,
the census returns tor 1850 showed that
nine-twenticths Of the whole area CON.
prised the farming lands Of New England,
improved and unimproved.
But, not 10 carry on comparison with
ak States at once, let me take one, and the
only one Of the New England cluster having
equal representation in Congress with Min
nesota. And il following tho example Of
the epicurc who, having on his plate only
lark, wished TO imagine himself eating q
capon) ! look At my object through mag
nifyipg glass, you will not consirue il as an
intended affroat to I" Rhode Island and
the Providence Plantations" but only as
precautionary proceeding, growing out Of
an intense desire TO imagine myself treating
Of State. This donble-barrclled pop gun
Of = commonwealth exercises jurisdiction
over l,3O6 square miles, or, AZ the census Of
1850 has il, $1,000 acres OF land. OF this
aggregate, 553,938 acres comprise its farm
my lands, improved and unimproycd. OF
wheat, the leading grain staple Of the United
States and of the world, the same census
gives Rhode Island the credit VI oontribu.
ting forty. nine bushels towards the general
sustsnance Of mankind being, perhaps. =
grain and fraction apiece to it's entire pop
ulation, and considerably less than pound
apiece to its 3, 3s5 farmers This littls, in
6nitesimal bit Of u community. calling itself
q STATE, and recognized IN such, comes in
under this Agricultural College bill for No
equal amount with Minnesota, which il
morc than sixty times its sine in area, which
has more than hundred times its capacity
for agricultural production, and which now
far exceeds the Lilliput in point Of popula-
ton. One could bear, il not with good
temper, at least without complaint, any pro
Jet which placed our State upon reasona-
able footing but TO sink a. in All sgricul-
tural point OF view down to the level Of
Rhode Island (oi which one might say,
without u fragrant stretch Of exaggeration,
that, it a boy should pick it up bodily, put it
in bag, carry il TO Minnesota, and drop it
carelcssly upon one Of our larger counties,
1t would puzzle any surveyor to find II
again without the aid Of bis glass, and then
only 10y lis speck-likc blotch Of sterility,) is
not only carrying the joke so far that il
losos oil iis point, hut II even ceases TO be
especially absurd.
II the proposed donation ended with its dis
tributiOn. or il such disiribation were 10 be
made in the value OF those lands, or il, being
made in the lands themselves, it would not
interfere with our affairs. and with the sys
TEN under which We have heretofore pres
pcred il would not become matter Of such
vital Importance to Minnesota. For the
mere fact OF lew millions Of acres Of land
being owned by the States separately instead
of remaining in the hands OF the general
government il subject 10 the same laws, and
regulated by the same policy, would not, of
course, be the occasion for any alarm. But.
the gr,a, secret of our success hitherto, has
been the purchase and occupancy OF the pub
lie domain within our borders by actual ~t.
tiers those who have contributed instantly
and ccns,an,ly to the development, and wealth
Of the State. and oil whose interests lie in
the direction OF the States welfare, With
the passage, however, OF this bill into law,
and the receip, by New Eng and OF $4,000
acres Of scrip, New York Of 700 900. Penn
ylvsnia Of 80 900 acres. Ohio OF i6o, 900
acres and the other States, which have no
public lands within their borders, oi their
due proportions and our whole policy woali
10 changed not by the voluntary &C, Of
our own people, but by the actual, though
legal compassion OF those States holding the
least sympathy with US, aud whose prrju
dices, il not their interests. would LEAD them
to Cripple aud rc,arl rather than 10 AID and