, 1859-01-29
PRESS AND TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20, 1858.
The Public Lands and the Homestead
f$i{l.

1 nc IuDlAc Lands and the aome3teAQ
Bill.
We cannot allow the action taken by Con.
grcss, in reference 10 our Public Land system
and the rights Of actual settlers thereon, to
pass without again expressing what we be-
1icvc to be the unanimous voice Of the West
on that most important subject. The bill
giving actual settlers on the public domain
ten years to make their selections and nay for
their farms. has been defeated by d straisht
Democratic vote, anu the pioneers Of the new
Suites aud Territories are left as before, to
be p'underrd alternately hy tpecu1ators und
Government. Beside this gross wrong, the
'nw Territories are, by the sanc action, con
signed to a slow, unhealthy growth, scat.
tered aud inconGruous population, and con-
dltion ol undeyclo pmcut and unthrift which
must work iacalculallc Injury upon the tll-
turc Statcs.
Let US explain how this is done. The first
settlers OIL the public domain are required by
their necessities TO select farming lands aud
nothing else. They can occupy only one hun
dred and sixty acres, all Of Which must lie in
one body. They are not permitted to select
eighty acres Of rich prairie, forty of woodland
aud foriy more ul coal, Stuue, mineral, Or
water power, unlcss all these happen 10 te
grouped together on one quarter section. NJ
lncrlcally they are unable te cluim more tlan
sinall fraction Of the lands embraced in any
given survey, and pecuni%rily tley are una.
bic 10 pay even for what they have unlcrta.
ken to cultivate While they are making Sc
lcctlous, Spectators or their skilliul agents
are picking out all tile choice farming or
wooded tracts not actually occupied. Ill the
eligible town sites. I'LL the water powers, ail
The stone uuarrles, all 1lc coal and
mineral land! md all the intermediate sec.
tions or fractions between different settle.
1uru:s which are likely to advance rapidly in
value with the improvements put upon tile
ground by tic industrious prc-cmptor. THUS
thu great bulk vi the wealth Of the new Eur
ycy. Including I'LL the secondary sources IF
prospcrity-:1i except the antcliluvian re.
sorts Of co:n growing and cattle herdiny-
arc locked up in the possession Of capitalists,
:. thousand miles distant, who have no inte.
rest i'll the Territory, except to tell out ulti-
Ma1cly at large profit. When lle proclaim
atioa Issues from Washington declaring the
lands ready 1or sale, thr speculator knows
precisely What Tracts are not occupied aud
wlu' sections are valuable. He knows, too,
whether any occupant Of 4 valuable tract has
failed in some trit'ing particular to comply
with The pre-emption laws. lie knows who
Of the pre.cmptors IL able aud who is not. to
pay the moa = demanded by the Land Office
lie uscs all this knowledge On the hundred
percent principle, measuring his profits by
tile limit Or tue law and The needs Of his Gus
TONER'S The capital at the command Of an
experienced operator at the first laul-sale in
ii new district, amounts often to millions,
hardly a dollar Of which fails to double,
treble or qua']ruple. OF course every cent
made hy the distant specu]a!or is abstrac;.d
from the capital. the motive power, Of tue
Territory.
Nor is il merely in tlc sudden withdrawal
Of valuable laid, from the rcarh Of The pro-
ducer, that the present system works fatally
to the prosperity Of the community. Popu
lation is d;!ius.d over large areas, making i;
difficult to combine the forcc and capital for
building schta'!s AID suppor ing religious
institutions; while social privileges are Of
course ont Of tbn question. Thus the law sets
:. premium ou !scattl"niS'n, which il not slow
III l,roc!a1ning its supremacy over all our
new Territories. This is no tauciful picture
Hardly IL resident nf Of twenty years in iii
nois, Wisconsin: Iowa, or Minnesota, but will
confirm ull and moTe than this, With bitter
experiences of the evils Of our public land
system.
4 Homestead Bill is now pending in C5n.
gress. granting to each settler on the public
domain one hundred and sixty acres Of land
Oil the condition Of Ills occupying and .in,-
proving it. Doubtless It is destined 10 SHARE
the la'c Of all other measures for the benefit
ol lllc la'mrIns white 1aan, at the Land. oi
the pro'slarcry Democracy. "Mud:ills" have
notllng in common with 1hs high station ii
I'll" neEro-brccdcr and the doughface. Tl. civ.
i!lzatiou of the bounllcss West is something
by all means to 1e discouraged and prevented,
while the energies or the American pcople
are hcitlg directed i,1to the channels Of Cuf,a
stealing aiid slarc'tlaling. We call upou the
settlers ot the ncw States aud Tcrritotis
which have Invariably embraced Democracy
during tue earlier years of their existence. ia
look ut thvsc things by the light Of the 1acty
presented il tllc late ynto ou the Actuo1 SIT,
tiers bill, anil thr coming votc Oh the lIomc-
stead bill.