New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-02
TIKI HOMESTEAD BILL.


For the third time, the House of Represents.
tiyes has passed bill Authorizing any lsndless cit
zen to appropriate ard occupy any quarter section
of the Public Lands which is open to private entry
st tho ninimum price of Sli per acre. without
payment tterefor TO the Treasury AID without fear
Of being ousted BY spectator or creditor No
topic vac ever more thoroughly debated, aud on
none has the judgment of intelligent, rejecting
citizens beer more nearly unsli nous than in favor
Of this beuefceut Land Reform. The bill thus
favored is moderate and cautious one, divestiDg
no msE of what be Ioa possesses nor destroying
the market value even Of the lands now held on
speculation, but so modifying the influence Of mo-
uopoly as to render AZ wild lsnds more accessible
and atlsnsble thsn hitherto. The thrifty fore
har0ed citizen would doubtless continue to prefer
and purchase l,ncs already somewhat improved
and convenient to mills, stores, schools, &c, while
the rugged and ncedy laborer, with the bankrupt
snd desperate in fortune, would push beyond hun
Into the wilderness and fasten upoa a quarter
section that is pTofered without! money and with
out price, and from which 10 gripping creditor
could thrust bis suffering family. We believe the
passage Of this bill would edd tens Of thousands
immediatey, AID hundreds of Thousands u'tim ,tey.
to the number Of our producers OF wealth, sub
tracing from tie number Of our paupers and the
furnishing crowd vsinly struggling for employ
ment in the great cities. There is not mer-
chsIt a manufacturer, an owner Of city prop.
erty, who would rot ultimately share in the signal
aud enduring benefits which the passage of the
HOmestead bill would secure to the Free Lsboring
Class Of our whole country Thousands who will
never see the National domain would fad their
fortunes bIiehteled by the grsdusl drawing of Of
the surplus population Of the seaboard to Gil up the
waste places of the Great West and cause the will
4erncss to blossom as the rose.
The Homestead bill passed the House by the EN-
pbatic vote of 100 to 76-about TIE heaviest ma
iortJ ever given for any great AID good measure in
that body 1t is to be beaten-ior the third time,
we belitye-iu the Sensts; snd, even if it should
pass that trying ordeal, the President is understood
10 hold himself in readiness to veto or pocket it
at all events, to strange it. Wbyi
The motion to take up this bill in the Senate on
Mocdsy was made By Mr. Pugh of Ohio-s De no.
crat who, not without some qu,lms, but still efec-
lively supported even the Lecompton Constitution.
It was beaten by a vote Of % 70 %. How beaten
For taking up the BIZ, there were just tloo votes
from the Slave States-those of Messrs. Bell aud
Johrson Of Tennessee. From the Democratic
party, there were just nine votes for the mo-
tion-tto,e of Messrs. Broderick, Douglas and
Stuart Of Michigan (who all opposed the Lecomp-
ton fraud, and of whom only Stuart has been
heartily forgiven for tia! bOlt, and Messrs. Twin
Of Cal, johnson of Tenn, Jones Of Iowa, Pdgh Of
Ohio and Rice and Shields Of Minnesota. Gen.
Shields is known as not friendly t. the Lscompton
scheme, and his fie ity to democracy" in its
present phase, is not implicitly relied on
On the other aide, twenty three of the twenty.
niEe votes against takiog up the bill come from the
Slave States al but one Of them Gen. Hoaston's)
those Of protested Democrats From the Free
States, Fix votes were cast sganst taking up the
bill-those of Messrs Allen Off. l., Bgler of Pa,
Bright and Fitch Of Ind. and Thomson aud Wright
Of n. j. (The Oresoniaus we're conveniently ab-
sert.) The Indisna (bogus) Senators alone might
have voted so as TO take up and probably to pass the
BILL Why they did not, We Think the People Of
Indiana will Geek to know. No single vote ag.in,t
taking up the bill was cast BY any Senator from
Free State wlo is rot in the fullest Communion
with tie National Democracy.
If there be any one not yet convinced that Coz
Seward was correct in affirming an "irrepressible
"confict in this country between the Free Is
Dor and Slave Labor systems their genius, in
siincts, purposes aud policy re'Pe;tiSely-we beg
him 10 study closely the history of tee struggle for
Land Reform. That struggle, be assured, is not
ended it is just fairly begun. Were Indiana rep
resented by her legally chosen Senators the Home
stead bill would have passed Congress ere this
passed to be stopped By a Veto. The year 1860,
we confidently trust, VIII remove that obstacle.
So, batting no jot Of heart or hope We pres, on.
ward in faith that the day is at hand when no man
viii be precluded from occupying aud improving
patch Of The National wilderness by the fact that
be hss no money wherewith to buy ia fact
which Only dsmon.tIates more ciearlJ his need and