Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-03-09
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BILL VETOED


ssThe OK knoweth his owner, and the ass his
masters crib.' Stolid and blind the brute
may be; but the welts on his hide, the prov
ender COR absence of provender) in his stom-
ach, are as sensibly present to his conscious
ness as if he we're Solomon or Plato.
President Buchanan has vetoed the bill
granting Public Lands to all the States in aid
of seminaries for instruction in Agriculture,
Mechanics and the Useful Arts. He uses
some fair words in excusng this veto, but they
have nothing to do with his reasons for perpe-
trating it. The simple truth is that he is
tool Of the Slave Power, its creature, Its IN
strument, and the Slave Power is radically
hostile to educated labor, holding that the
mind and the muscle employed in productive
industry ought ever to be distinct and sepa-
rate. An industrial College in a Slave State
would be as great solecism as blacksmith's S
shop in powder house. Hence, John Slidell,
chief engineer of the Cuba stealing project,
declared year ago that this should be vetoed
if it passed, and his puppet in the White House
has obeyed his mandate. Any one might
have apprehended this by simply scanning the
sectional aspects of the vote in Congress, on
the passage of the bill, which are as follows
The bill passed the House, April 22d last,
by 104 Yeas to 100 Nays, divided thus:
Free States-Yeas, 81 Nays, 81.
Slave States-Yeas, :. Is; Nays, 63.
The Senate concurred on the 1th by % yeas
to % nays, divided sectionally follows:
Free States-Yeas, 21; Nays, 4.
Slave States-Yeas, :. 4 Nays, Is.
This simple exhibition suffices. Any we'll
informed politician knows that a bill support
ed by three-fourths of the Members of Con-
gress from the Free States and opposed by a
still larger proportion OF those from the Slave
States, would be vetoed by President elect
ed and pied ged as Mr.. Buchanan was. The
Slave Power, whenever it fails to command,
through the potency of patronage, majority
in Congress, holds the Veto as its last resort,
that no legislation favorable to the interests
of Free Labor, unless it be compelled by the
exigencies of the Government itself, is to be
hoped for while the President is virtually cho-
sen by National Convention of Democratic
office holders and place-hunters in alliance
with the Slavery Propaganda. Glands for the
| landless'' must stand back, while .sniggers for
the niggerless'' take the lead, and National eff
forts or appropriations in behalf of the Educa-
tion of Labor will be secuted so long as Cuba
stealing projects, based on the assumption that
tropical regions can only be cultivated by ig
norant, degraded slaves, shall be commended
from the White House, and their opponents
branded as towards by the President OF the
Republic.
We have said that the objections to Mr..
MorrilPs bill paraded by Mr. Buchanan. were
not his real grounds of hostility thereto He
tells US, for instance, that the passage OF this
bill would nearly deprive the Treasury OF rev.
| enue from Public Lands during the ensuing
year, because the States would Cor might) en-
| ter the market with their Land Scrip and un-
| dersell the Government. Now, the President
| must know that the holders of Military Bounty
| Warrants have been constantly in the market
| for nearly ten years past, selling Land Scrip
| at almost every place where purchaser could
| be found, twenty or thirty per cent. below the
| Government price of lands; and yet money
has flowed into the Treasury from land sales
| yearly. II Mr.. Buchanan's premises be sound,
| there can be no revenue from Lands next year
whether this bill pass fail /; for Land War
| rants are still abundant and more are being
| ground out. We do not believe the receipts
of Money during the next fiscal year for lands
viii approach Five Millions, though this bill
| be killed.
But again the President ought to know
that the States would be in no such hurry to
dispose of their Lands. We believe most il
not all of them would hold on for a higher
price than the Government minimum-would
locate their lands judiciously, sell portions OF
| them-say alternate quarter-sections-to set
tiers, and hold the balance for better prices, as
| school-sections are now mainly held-that each
State would mainly colonize her own lands,
| thus giving fresh, peculiar impulse to West
/ ern settlements and growth. At all events.
they would not make haste to get rid of them
like a sailor with his prize-money, but would
nourish and try to make the most of them
so that not quarter of them would probably
be alenated during the residue of Mr. Bu
/ chanan's term.
All the land appropriated by this bill doe:
not amount to one-sixth of the quantity which
| Congress has donated within the last ten years
| in aid of Railroads and as bounties for Military
! Service; yet the President talks as II tni'
small grant in aid OF, the, National Industry