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

| ldES per acre. udhlHg lne' SUN vi IWelPe Hull
dred and eight million eight hundred aud fifty
thousand two hundred aud sixty dollars The
actual cultivator, then, will have to pay tc
the Government and to the specuator fol
these lands, if the foregoing estimate of prices
be correct, at least sixteen hundred and eighty
three million six hundred and forty-six thous
and tour hundred and forty,two dollars and
ninety cents, of which lightweight million six
hundred and twenty-five thousand six hundred
and twenty-five dollars and ninety cents has
been paid, In net revenue, into the Treasury
of the United States the balance to be alb
sorbed by the speculator. .,.
The Government by its existing land pol.
ICY has thus caused to be distracted from
the earnings of its hardy pioneers almost
seventeen hundred million dollars for the mere
privilege of enjoying one of Gods bounties to
man. This large amolnt has been distracted
from the sons of toll without rendering any
equivalent, save a permit from the State to
occupy wilderness, to (which not a day or
hour of MANS labor has been applied to change
it from the condition in which the God of ma
ture made it. Why should Governments seize
upon any of the bounties of God to man, and
make them source of revenue While the
earth was created for the whole human family,
and was made its abiding place through the
pilgrimage Of this life, and since the hour of
the primal curse In Che sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread" man has been forced to
the cultivation of the soil to obtain substance
for himself and the means of promoting the
welfare of the race, why should Governments
west from him the right to apply his labor to
such unoccupied portion Of the earthS surface
a. may be necessary for bis support until he
has contributed to the revenues of the State,
any more than to permit him to breathe the
air, enjoy the sunlight, or quaff from the rillS
and rivers Of the earth? 1t would be Just as
rightfuI, were it possible to lie done, to survey
the atmosphere off into quar ter sections, and
transfer it by parchment titles divide the
sun into quaatUm Of rays, and dole it ont to
crop ng moriaIS at price or arch over the
waters of the earth into vast reservoirs, and
sell it to dying men. In the language Of re-
marks heretofore made on this subjecA why
has this claim Of man to monopolize any of
the gifts of God to man been confined by le-
gal codes, to the soil alone Is there any
other reason that that it is a right which,
having its origin in feudal timcs-under sys-
TEN that regarded man bat as an appendare
Of the soil that he titled, and whose life, lib
erty. aud happiucse were but means of in
creaSng the pleasures, pampering the passions
and appetites of bis liege Iord-and, having
once fonnd place in the books, it has been
retained by the reverence which man is wont
to pay to the past and to time honored pre-
ccdeutS? The human mind is so constituted
that it is prone to regard as right what has
come down to US approved by long usage, and
and haowed by gray age. 1t is claim that
had it's origin with the kindred idea that royal
blood flows only in the veias Of an exclusive
few, whose souls are aore ethereal, because
born amid the glitter of courts, and Graded
Gfaid the pomp of lords and coH?%iers : and,
therefore, they are to DC installed as rulers
aud awgivers of the race. Most of the evils
that afflct society have had their origin in
violence and Eroug enacted into law by the
experience IF the past, aud retained by the
preIadce of the present.
Is it not time you swept from your statute
book its still lingering relics of feudaIism
blottcd out the principles ingrafted upon it by
the narrow-njnded pelicy of other times and
adapted the legislation of the country to the
Sprit of the age, and the tree ideas OF mans
rights and relations to his gOFernment?
For if q man has right on earth, he has
a right to land enough 10 rear a habitation
on If be has a right to live. he has a right
to the free use Of whatever nature had pro-
vid for his suStenance- to breathe, wa
ter to drink and land enough to cultivate for
his subsistence i; for these are the necessary
and indispensable means for the cRj0yRcnt of
his inaIienable rights of /" life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" And is it for Gov
ernment that claims to dispense equal and eX-
act justice to all classes of men, and that has
laid down correct principles Id its great chart
of human rights, to violate those principles,
and its S aemn declaration ia its legislative
enactments
The struggle between capital and labor is
an unequal one at best. 1t is struggle be-
tween the bones and sinews of men and dol
lars and cents. And in that struggle, is it
for the Government to stretch forth its arm
to aid the strong against the weak Shall it
continue, by its legislation, to elevate and en-
rich idlenesS on the wall and the woe of in
dustry ....
For if the rule be correct as applied to Gov
ernments as we'll as individuals, that what
ever person permits another to do, having
the right and means to prevent it, he does him.
SELF then indeed is the Government response
for all the evils that may result from specula
ton end land monopoly in your public domain.
For il is not denied that Congress has the
power to make any regulations for the dis
posal of these lands, not injurious TO the gene
raj welfare. Nox, when a new tract is sur
veyed, and you open your land Office and ex
pose it to sale, the map with most money is
the largest purchaser The most desirable and
available Locations are seized upon by the cap
italists of the country, who seek that kind of
investment Your settler who chances not to
have prcemptiou right, or to be there at the
time of sale, when he comes to seek a home for
himself and bis family, must pay the Speculation