Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-06-01
enc PnbIIc lama. for Aelnnl sellIer..

Perhaps the most promising, as well as the
most distinctive feature of the Republican
party, correctly remarks the Missouri Demo-
crat, is its public land policy. Anti-Slavery
opinions had been proclaimed andacted upon,
both by the old Wing and old Democratic
parties. The Wilmot Proviso preceded the
Philadelphia platform, and the Buffalo Free
soil Convention the Pittsburgh Convention
but the land policy Of the Republican party is
all its own; it is its one original Characters
tic, and marks the far higher plane on which
the party stands. No such policy was enuu-
ciated by the old parties, each Of which re-
garded the public lands chiefly as a source of
public revenue They are now considered,
by the Republicans the rightiul patrimony Of
the free labor of the country; and the great
object Of the Republican party is to bring
both in contact by removing every barrier
which keeps them apart. We need not expa-
tiate in this journal on the merits Of the Home
stead bill which passed the House of Repre-
sentatives last winter, and which was defeated
in the Senate, where mere graduation &C
has been substituted for it. The author of
that bill which the Democratic party in the
Senate has defeated-Galusha A. Grow-has
recently procured the passage Of another land
bill Of great meritby the House of Represen-
tatiYes. This proposes to restrain the sale Of
public lands to actual settlers until ten years
after the same shall have been surveyed. The
best results may be expected from this meas
ure, if it becomes a law. In the first place,
- -,
the public domain-a species of enterprise
which has not been more hurtfhl to the prog
ress of settlement on the frontier, than to
business pursuits in the old States; for it has
absorbed large amounts Of capital which
might be much mere proftably employed
Capital invested in wild lands is literally as
unproductive as the gold which has not yet
been extracted from the rocks. The bill Will
also have the effect of extinguishing the voca-
ton of a certain order of land sharks, the
theater of whose operations is the newly or
ganized TerritOries-the operations them
selves being systematic cheating and swim
ding. Thousands haye paid money for claims
which they have not been able TO find any
where but on a map,
Under the operations of the proposed law,
the professional squatter would become bona
fde settler. These squatters merely camp
on a claim long enough to make gooda title
to it, when they sell out to some speculator.-
But if they are prevented from selling out
their quarter sections until ten years after they
have acquired them, their occupation is gone
and so is that of the class which trade in their
necessities. The rowing, halEsavage life of
the professional squatter will cease, and he
will begin to think more of making a farm
and erecting house than Of perfecting his Ii
tle The radical idea of the bill is, that the
land of the nation is not merchandise, and
cannot berightly possessed except on the con-
ditiOn of cultivation or actual occupancy.
The holding Of immense bodies Of wild
lands by individuals, so far from being an ad-
vantage to the Federal Government or the
land States, is a positive disadvantage to both
Emigration shuns it. Such lands yield moth
ing in the shape of agricultural productions
or revenue. In short, they yield as little as
so many sheets of water, and are conse-
quently great drawback on the progress of
a new State, whose chief want always is pop
ulation. In addition to this, their conti-
guilty depreciates the,value OF the surrounding
lands, and thus the General Government is
loser. The very excellence. of this bill Of
Mr. Grows is a strong presumption that twill
be defeated in the Senate, but We hope that
in that case, he will press it even to the ex-
tremity of attaching it to an appropriation
bill. y ~ v 81 '-A