Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-01-24
THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

The motion of Mr.. Grow, of Pennsylvania,
on the 10th, to provide, that, hereafter, none of
the public lands shall be sold to any but actual
settlers, till they shall have been surveyed and
open for settlement ten years, is very lmpor-
tant one, and one, which, if adopted, will have
most beneficial influence on the States and
Territories where the lands lie, and on the gen.
eral business of the country. 1t will almost
put stop to that wild spirit of speculation
which has been SO disastrous, at different times,
in its influence, and, under the effects of which,
business and public spirit, at the West, are now
almost PROSTATE
Under the present system, as soon as lands are
surveyed, and are open for sale and settlement,
spectators at once seize upon and enter all the
most valuable portions, and hold them out of
the market In the meantime, actual settlers
are compelled to take the second rate lands, or
pay exorbitant prices to the spectators. The
lands thus taken up are held till settlers have
made such improvements as necessarily en-
nance the value of all property in the neighbour
hood, and then the spectators, without having
contributed any thing toward the improvement,
are enabled to realize large advance on the
amount of their investment, and that advance
is wrung from the honest but comparatively
F>sor settler.
The State of Illinois has suffered immensely
from this system. With domain, fertile and
productive, beyond that of almost any other re-
gion of the same extent in the known world,
she is suffering under pecuniary embarrass-
ment and distress, to a degree which has
had no parallel, probably, in any other
State, and this has happened simply because
the mania of land speculation has been car
ried to a greater extent, there, than in
any other State. Two years ago, it was
estimated that more than three quarters
of the whole State was in the hands of
spectators, and less than one fourth was
held by actual settlers for the purpose of cult
walton. These lands which cost the specula-
tors one dollar and a quarter per acre, were
held at from five to ten, fifteen, twenty, and
twenty-five dollars, and, in very favorable To-
cations, at fifty, and even one hundred dollars
per acre. This, therefore, fixed the general
value of such property, both for sale and for
taxation. The farmers, having to pay interest
and taxes on this increased valuation, could
not compete, on equal terms, with those of
Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and other States
and Territories, where lands could still be had
at the government price of one dollar and
quarter an acre, and where improved land had
not been enhanced in price by speculation
The consequence was, that the sale of new
lands received severe check Most Of the
Eastern emigration passed onward to other
States, and that which remained, in the main
bought improved lands, and those who sold
removed farther West SO that the emigration
from the State became SO nearly equal to that
to it, that it is doubtful, with the exception of
the cities and large towns, where men located
for business purposes, whether for the last two
or three years, the State has retained the nat
ural increase of its population.
The proposition of Mr.. Grow, if carried out,
will change all this. 1t will give to the people
Ito those who wish to settle on new lands
the chance of making their own selections at
sSOfcLtltutiiO prlCSss II VIII supp lIllS SYSTEM
of inordinate speculation, saving to the settler
the enormous tax, which has been levied on him
heretofore, by the specializing middle-man, be-
tween him and the government. Some such
plan as this is the only means by which stability
and permanent prosperity can be secured to the
great and productive West, and by which the
East can be secured in the enjoyment of its
fair share of that rich domain, which is the
common heritage of the whole people The
subject should, therefore, be looked after. The
constituents should watch their representatives
and bring whatever of influence they can to
bear upon them, in opposition to that vast lobby
influence and corruption, which the spectators
know so well how to exert on such an occa-
sion.