Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1860-03-15
Speech ofG. A. Grow.



guards the hearthstone and the fresde.-
Wherever Freedom has unfurled her banner,
the men who have rallied around to sustain
and uphold it have come from the workshop
and the field, where Injured to heat aud to
cold, and TO all the inclemencies OF the seasons,
they have acquired the hardihood necessary to
endure the trials and priyations of the camp.
An independent yeomanry, scattered over our
vast domain, is the best and surest guarantee
70: the perpetuity of our liberties for their
arms are the citadel of nations power, their
hearts the bulwarks of liberty Let the pub
lie domain, then, be set apart as the patrimo-
ny of labor, 10y preventing its absorption into
large estates by capital, aud its consequent
cultivation by tenants and slaves" instead
ofindependent freeholders
The proposition to change our land policy,
so as to accomplish so desirable 4 result, bS
securing to the pioneer a home on the public
domain at the bare cost of survey and transfer,
is often rejected by those who have given but
little thought to the subject as leyeling and
agrarian. When was there even an effort
made since the world began, to wrest from
power its illgotten gains, or to restore TO man
his inaiienable rights but it has been met with
the shout OF leveling ard agrariau That is
the alarm cry of the devotee Of the past, with
which he ever strives to prevent all reforms or
innovations upon established usages Behind
snch bulwark old abuses intrench themselves,
aud attempt to maintain their position by hurl
ing against every assailant terms of odium and
reproach, made so By the coloring of the ad-
heFents of prerOgative and power. Uutil with
in very recent period the chroniclerS of the
onn how hnor f. rho -
of power and, being the allies of the State,
have CLOSED over its cotemporaneouS deSpo-
tism and wrongs, while they have written down
the true defenders of the rights of the people
and the champions Of honorable labor as the
outlaws of history.
Because the Roman Gfacchi proposed to
elevate the Roman citizen by dignifying his
labor aud restoring him to the rights of which
he had been unjustly deprived by the oligarchy
who CONTROL the State, their name was made
synonymous with infamy ; as arch diSturbers
Of all that was gocd in society, till Niebuhr
tore off the vail of two Thousand years of ob.
loquy, and Vindicated to future times their
memories as true defenders of the rights of
the people, and advocates of.the best interests
and glory of their country. Such has been
the fate Of the worlds reformers. Is it not
time that we learned wisdom from the chrUn-
icleS Of the past and ceased blind reverence
for customs or institutions, because of their
gray age? Why should not the American
statesman adapt the legislation of the country
to the Development of material resources, the
promotion ofsits Industrial interests, aud there
dignity its labor, and make strong the prime
elements of national power?
Let this vast domain, then, be set apart
and coASecrated forever as a patrimony to the
sons of toll close your land Office forever
against the speculator, and thereby prevent
the capital of the country from seeking that
kind of investment, Of absorbing the hard
earnings Of labor, without rendering an equiv
aIent. While the laborer is thus crushed by
this system established by the Government,
which abstracts so large an amount from his
earnings for the benefit Of the speclator in
addition to all the other disadvantages that
ever beSet the unequal struggle,between the
bones and snews ofmen and dollars and cents,
what wonder is it that misery and want so
often sit at his freside, and penury and Sor-
row surround his deathbed
While the pioneer spirit goes forth into the
wilderness, snatching new areas from the wild
beasts and bequeathing them legacy to civ
ilized man, let not the Government dampcn
his ardor and palsy his arm by legislation that
places him in the power of soulless capital and
grasping speculation for upon his wild battle
field these are the only foes that his own stern
heart and right arm cannot yanqush.