Wabash express., 1860-03-28

enjoyment of his inalienable rights OF ''life
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
And is itfor Government that claims t.
dispense equal aud exact justice to al
classes of men, and that has laid down cor
rect principles in its great chart Of human
rights, to violate those principles, and its
solemn declarations in its leg islative enact
ments2
The struggle between capital and labor is
an unequal one at best. 1t is a struggle
between the bones and sinews Of men and
dollars 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 it's legislation, to
elevate and enrich idleness on the wall and
the woe of industry
For if the iule be correct as applied to Gov
ernments as well as individuals, that what
ever person permits another to do, having
the right and means to prevent it, he does
himself, then indeed is the Government re-
sponsible for all the evils that may result
from speculation and land monopoly in your
public domain. For it is not denied that
Congress has the power to make any regu-
lations for the disposal Of these lands, not
injurious to the general welfare. Now,
when a new tract is surveyed, and you open
your land Office and expose it to sale. the
man with the most money is the largest
purchaser. The most desirable and availa-
bic locations are seized upon by the capital
lists Of the country, who seek that kind Of
investment Your settler who chances Ino
to have presumption right, or to be there
at the time of sale, when he comes to seek
home for himself and his family, must pay
the speculator three or four hundred per
cent. on his investment, or encounter the
trials and hardships of still more remote
border life. And thus, under the operation
of laws that you call equal and Just, you
take from the settler three or four dollars
per acre, and put it in the pockee of the
speculator-thus, by the operation Of your
law, abstracting SO much ofhis hard
earnings for the benefit of capital: for
not an hours labor has been applied to
the land since it was sold by the Govern
ment, nor is it more valuable to the settler
Has not the laborer right to complain Of
legislation that compels him to endure
greater tolls and hardships, or contribute
portion of his earnings for the benefit ofthe
capitalist4 But not upon the capitalist or
the speculator is it proper that the blame
should fall. Man mnst seek a livelihood,
and do business under the laws of the coun-
try; and whatever rights he may acquire
under the laws, Though they may be wrong,
yet the well-being of society requires that
they be respected and faithfully observed.
fla person engage in business legalized
and regulated by the laws, and uses no
fraud or deception in its pursuit, and evils
result to the community, let them apply the
the remedy to the proper source; that is, to
the law-making power. The laws and the
law-makeIs are responsible for whatever
evils necessarily grow out of their enact
ments.
In order to secure to labo: its earnings, SO
far as is possible, by Legislative action, and
to strengthen the e.ements of national great.
ness and power. why should not the legisla-
tion of the country be so changed as to pre-
vent for the future the evils of land
monopoly. by setting apart the vast and un-
occupied territories of the Union, and con-
seerating then forever in free homes for free
mens
Mr.. MAYNARD. May Ibe allowed 10 ask
my friend from Pennsylvania a question:
Mr.--GRow. Certainly.
Mr.. MAYxARu. It's this: whether he is
in favor, or otherwise, of allowing the old
soldier or his assignee to locate his land war
rant on the public dOmainf
Mr.. GRow. L would provide in our land
policy for securing homesteads to actual set
tiers; and whatever bounties the Govern
ment should grant to the old soldiers, /
would have made in money and not in
land warrants, which are bought in most
cases by the Spectator as an easier and
cheaper mode ofscquiring the public lands
So they only facilitate land monopoly
The men who go forth at the call of their
country to uphold its standard and vindi-
cate its honor, are deserving, it is true, o.
a more substatial reward than tears to tho
head and thanks to the living; but there
are soldiers of peace as we'll as Of war, anc
though no waving plume beckons them or
to glory or to death, their dying scene is O
acrimson one. They fall leading the val
of civilization along untrodden paths, and
are buried in the dust of its advancing col.
umns. No monument marks the scene o
deadly strife; no stone their resting place
the winds sighing through the branches o
the forest alone sigh their requiem. Ye
they are the meritorious men Of the Repub
lie. The achievements of your Pionee
army, from the day they first drove bacl
the Indian tribes from the Atlantic sea
, board to the present hour. have been tn
achievements Of science and civilization owe
Z the elements, the wilderness, and the saw
: age.
Ifrewards or bsunties are to be granite
3 for true heroism in the progress of the rsc'
: none is more deserving than the pioneer VIII
5 expels the savage and the wild beast, an
, opens in the wilderness home for seient
and pathway for civilization.
"peace hath her victories
Noless renowned than war"
4 The paths OF glory no longer lead ov'
smoking towns and crimsoned fields, b.
a along the lanes and by-ways of HUNS
~ misery and woe, where the bones and siI
!. ews Of men are struggling with the ell
ments, with the unrelenting obstacles
a false civilization. The noblsst schiev
:, ment in this worlds pilgrimage is to raj
|. !, the fallen from their degradation ;.sooll
the broken hearted, dry the tears of VIC
!, and alleviate the suHerings of the unfc
: tunate iu their pathway to the tomb.
- Ifyou would lead the erring back fro
the paths Of vice and crime to virtue aud