The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-04-20

The Homestead bill which passed the
House is now under consideration in the
Senate. 1t has created warm and earnest
debate in that body, and able speeches have
been made both in support of and in oppo-
sitlon to the measure. 1t is principally
opposed upon the constitutional ground that
the government was not created for eleemo-
synary purposes. This argument, we think,
has been fully controverted by the friends of
the bill. Mr.. PUGH, of Ohio, favors the
bill, but would confne its benefits to the
heads of families. Mr.. FITCH, of Indiana,
moved an amendment, that the lands grant
ed shall be located in alternate quarter sec.
lions, and that the quarter sections remaining
to the United States shall not be sold for less
than double the minimum price, or $3.50
per acre. This was negatived by vote of
II to %. Mr.. BROWN, of Mississippi, pro-
posed an amendment, embodying the follow
ing propositions
First, The pre-emptor shall not sell, ALLEVIATE
or dispose of his or her right for consideration;
and if he or she voluntarily abandons one pre-
emption, and claims another, no right shall be
acquired by such claim, until the claimant shall
first have testified under oath, before the reg
lister of the land office, when the claim is pre-
ferred, that he or she has voluntarily abandon
ed the his or her original pre.emption, and that
no consideration, reward or payment of any
kind has been received or is expected, directly
or indirectly, as an inducement for such aban-
donment; and any person who shall testify
falsely in such case, shall be deemed guilty of
perjury.
Second, Any person claiming and holding the
right of presumption to lands under this act
may be required by the state within which the
same lies to pay taxes thereon, in the same
manner and to the same extent as if he or she
owned the land in fee simple; and in case such
lands are sold for taxes, the purchaser shall
acquire the right of presumption only.
Third, Absence Of the pre-emptor and his
family for six consecutive months shall be
deemed an abandonment; and the land shall,
in such case revert to the United States, and
be subject to the same disposition as other
public lands.
Mr.. GREENE, Of No., opposes the meas
ure as an agrarian and unconstitutional
proposition. He offers in lieu of the bill,
the following:
That the provisions of all the existing pre-.
emption laws be, and the same are hereby ex.
tended for the time of payment to the space of
two years; and that if, at or before the termin.
alton of the two years. the pre-emptor shall
elect to pay for any legal subdivision of such
quarter section, the balance not thus paid for
shall be subject to private entry according to
existing laws.
On the 5th, in the Senate, pending the
discussion of the bill, Mr.. BROWN, of Miss,
made an able speech. At heart, he believed
the principle of the bill to be right, and if
he was only giving the vote of ALBERT G.
BROWN he would vote for it, but he felt
bound to cast his vote in accordance with
the wish of bis State and against the bill
We quote the following from his speech, and
also Mr.. WIGFALL's explanation of his re-
mark that poverty is crime" Mr..
BROWN said:
Sir, I care not what other men feel, what
they think, or what they say. l tell you,
and tell the country, what the bone and
sinew of the country already know, that
your presumption system has been rather
curse to the squatter than benefit. He
has been decoyed by your policy upon the
public lands; he has expended his labor in
rearing little hut in the forest, telling
few trees, making a little Improvement
struggling against the misfortunes and diff.
cuIties which surround him, only to find,
after having bestowed year of honest toll,
that he had attracted the eye of cupidity
Some man with more money than he, and
ten times, l dare say, less genuine patriotism,
has come and taken bis home and sent him
again into the forest. Sir, 1 am not ashamed
to stand up in this presence and say that
every instinct Of my heart revolts at that.
am not ashamed to stand in this presence
and say that, by every power vested in me
as Senator, / would protect these sons of
honest toll. l did not listen to my friend
from Texas (Mr. WigfalD yesterday with
much pleasure when he said poverty was
crime. No, sir, poverty is no crime. Pow
erty may lead to crime, but in itself it is a
virtue. There are more men on the poor
list in this country who are honest and pa
triotic, than there are on the list of mil.
liOnaires.
Mr.. WIGFALL said
I stated yesterday, as distinctly as knew
how, that labor was capital. 1t is long
time since read books on political econo-
my, and do not remember definitions
but / take that to be capital which will
bring money; and that any man has capital
who has that which will always command
money; and that bone and muscle and brains
are capital, and that any man who has
brains, or bone and muscle, is capitalist to
the extent that he is supplied by nature;
and if be chooses not to use his brains, or
his bone and muscle, he is guilty of crime;
and it is an outrage upon those men who do
work, upon those who do pay the taxes, that
the results of their energy, their enterprise,
and their industry, that the money that is
made by the sweat of their faces should be
appropriated to support pauperism, which
is another word for vagabondism, and that
another word for crime; and l would not
consent myself to pay one dime to support
such man, nor would vote that the gov.
eminent should; and 1 therefore denounced
pauperism as crime. There is no such
thing as poverty. If man is crippled, if
be is sick, that is an exception; there are
exceptions to general rules. 1t is useless to
bring in exceptions. say that brains and
bone and muscle are capital, and the man
who has them and does not use them is gull
tv of q crime and If oupht NOT tn he ems