Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1860-04-12
PLYMOUTH, INDIANA THURSDAY, APRIL r. 1860

by hedges, as a sporting ground for the nobility,
while men are dying beside the enclosure for the
want of land to till Under Its biight;ng influence,
you behold industry in rags, and patience in de-
spa;r. Such are some Of the fruits of land monop-
oly in the Old World; and shall we permit its
seeds to vegetate in the virgin soil of the New :
Our present system is subject to like evils, not so
| great in magnitude perhaps, but similar in kind.
OF the three hundred and cighty-eight million
eight hundred aid fifty-eight thousand three hun
dred and twenty Ave {3S6s s66s ,325) acres of ladd
disposed of by the Government, to September 30,
1889, one hundred and forty-seven million eighty
eight thousand two hundred and seventy three
| (l470SS,273) acres were sold for cash. and two
hundred and forty -one million seven hundred and
seventy thousand and fifty two (24l ,770O52) acres
acres were donated in grants to individuals, cor
/ porations, and States.
The Government had received from the sales
of the public lands, as appears from the report of
the Commissioner of the Land Office, to June go,
1853, one hundred and forty-two million two hun
drcd and eighty-thrce thousand four hundred and
scventy-eght dollars, (Sl42, ,263 ,47s,) to which
add thirty eight million three hundred and thlr-
ty-sx thousand one hundred and sixty dollars
and ninety cents 1888 1885, 6090) received since
that time, would make the gross amount re-
ceived from the lands to September 80, 1859, one
hundred and eighty million six hundred and nine
teen thousand six hundred and thirty eight dollars
and ninety cents; (slS0, 63S, ,90) while the en-
tire cost including purchase money, exinsuishing
Of Indian title, surveying and managing, has been,
for the same period, ninety-onc million nine hun
dred and ninety four thousand and thirteen dollars,
1881 ,994,0l3,) leaving net revenue to the Gov
ernmcnt, over and above all cost, Of Lightweight
million six hundred and twenty-five thousand six
hundred and twenty-five dollars and ninety cents;
1888 Cos Cos 90) with one hundred and thirty six
million nine hundred and seventy thousand nine
hundred and forty one (l36,970,94l) acres sur
vcycd but unsod of which eighty million $50 .000,.
O00) acres are subject to private entry.
/ Of the one hundred and forty seven million
eighty eight thousand two hundred anil seventy
three (l4I ,0oS ,213) acres sold by the Government
not than one-half of il, probably, was bought
at Government rates by the actual cultvator; the
other half, assume cost the cutivator, ON an av-
eragc, at least four dollars per the Gov
ernmcnt price. So hc would paw, on seventy three
million FIVE hundred and forty-!our thousand one
hundred end thirty-six "a, ,544 1867 acres, being
one-haf the quantity sold by the Government,
two hundred and ninety-four million one hundred
and seventy six thousand FIVE hundred and forty
four dollars, (S29i. lI6,5 SAY On the two hundred
and forty lone million seven hundred and seventy
thousand and fifty two (24l 0,0a2) acres donated
to individuals, companies and States including
over seventy million for school purposes. and
over fifty million acres for railroads and internal
/ improvements, l assume that the cutivator must
pay on an average for these lands at least five dol
/ lars per acre. making the sum Of twelve hundred
and eight million eight hundred and fifty thousand
two hundred and sixty dollars. ($l ,20s, $50 ,260)
The actual cultivator, then, will have to pay 20 the
Government and to the speculator for these lands,
il the foregoing estimate of prices be correct. al
least sixteen hundred and eighty three million six
hundred and forty-sx thousand four hundred and
forty-two dollars and ninety cents, Isl ,6e3 .646,
442.90,) Of which eirhty-eigh million six hundred
and twenty five thousand six hundred and twenty
five dollars and ninety cents Sse, SOS 625-90) has
been paid in net revenue, into the Treasury of the
United States, the balance to be absorbed by the
speculator-
The Government. by its existing land policy
has thus caused to be abstraced 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 amoun,
has becn distracted from the Of toll without
! rendering any equivalent. save permit from the
State to occupy wilderness, to which not day OF
hour of mans labor had been applied to change il
from the condition in which the God Of nature made
: it. Why should Governments seize upon any oil
the bountcs Of God to man, and make them
source of rcvenue7 While the earth was created
for the whole human family, and was made it.
abiding place through the pilgrimage of this life
and since the hour of the primal curse, "In the
been forced to the cultivation of the soil to obiaiI
subsistence for himself and the means Of promo
ting the welfare Of the race, why should Govern
mcnts wrest from him the right to apply his labo
to such unoccupied portion of the earths surface
may be necessary for his support until he has con
tributed to the revenues of the State. any Hor,
than to permit him to breathe the air, enjoy tn
sunlight, quaff from the rills and rivers of tn
earth7 1t would be Just as rghtful, were it posi-
bic to be done, to survey the atmosphere off int
quarter sections, and transfer it by parchment titles
divide the sun into quantum of rays, and dole j
out to groping mortals alta price; or arch over III
waterc of the earth into vast reservoirs, and sci
is to dying men.
In the language of remarks heretofore made Of
this subject, why has this claim of man to monop
olzc any Of the gifts of God to man been confined
By legal codes, TO the soil alonef is there an
other reason than that il is right which, having il
! origin in feudal times-under system that regard
/, ed man but as appendage Of the soil that b
titled, and whose life. liberty and happiness.
but means of increasing the pleasures, pamperin
the passions and appctites of his liege lord-and
having once found place in the books, it has bee
: retained by the reverence which man is wont t
! pay to the past, and to time-honored precedents
, The human mind is constituted that it is prom
, to regard as right what has come down TO us ap
proved by long usage. and l,allowcd 10y gray age
IL IS claim that had its origin with the kindrc
idea that royal blood flows only in the veins of
excSdsve few. whose souls are more ethereal. DC
cause born amid the glitter of courts and cradle
amid the pofnp of lords and courticrs, and, there
fore, they to be installed as rulers, and awgy
of the Most Of the evils that afflict 90
ciety have had their origin i'm violence and wron
! enacted into law By the experience Of the past
; and retained by the prejudiccs of the present.
: Is it not now time you swept from your statut
book its still lingering relics of feudasm? blotte
out the principles engrafted upon it by the narrow
minded policy of other times, and adapted the ,ea
isation of the country to the spirit of the ago. an,
to the true idea Of mans rights and relations to hi
Government ~ - .i
, Forif man has right on Garth. he has rgh
to land enough to rear a habitation on If Inc ha
: right to live, he has right to the free use @
whatever nature has provided for his sustenance-
air to breathe, water to drink, and land enough +
1 cultivate for his subsistence for these are tn
9 necessary and indispensable means for the eDjov
ment OF his inalienable rights of "le liberty, an
Y the pursuit of happiness" And isit for a Gov
|, ernment that claims to dispense equal and exac
justice to all classes of men, and that has lai
down correct principles in its great chart of huma
rights to violate those principles and its solemn
: declaration in its legislative enactments?
The struggle between capital and laboris an un
J equal one at best. 1t is a struggle between tn
, bones and sinews of men and dollars and cents
And in thai struggle, is it for the Government Il
stretch forth its TO aid the strong against th
weak! Shall it continue by its legislation. to elc
vate and enrich idleness the wall and the woe
industry
| For if the rule be correct as applied to Govern
ments as well as individuals, that whatever pcr