Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1860-03-22

ing and managing. has been, for the
same period, s91, 1894, ,013. leaving a
net revenue to the Government, over
and above all cost, of SsS. .625. .625. 90
with l36, ,970,94 acres surveyed but
unsold. of which $4,000, 900 acres are
subject to private entry.
OF the 147 ,OSS,273 acres sold by
the Government, not more than one
half of it. probably, was bought at
Government rates by the actual culti-
vator; the other half, / assume, cost
the cultivator, on an average, at least
S4 per acre over the Government
price. So he would pay. on 73, 3,544.-
1876 acres, being one-half the quantity
sold by the Government, S294,176,-
044. On the 24l, ,770,052 acres dona-
ted to individuals, companies. and
States. including over 10000, 900
acres for school purposes, and over
30, 600, 900, acres for railroad and in
ternal improvements, l assume that
the cultivator must pay on an average
for these lands at least 50 per acre,
making the sum of S1,20S, $50, ,260.
The actual cultivator, then, will have
to pay to the Government and to the
speculator for these lands, if the FORE
going estimate Of prices be correct, at
least S1.6S3, GAG, ,442 80, of which
SSS, ,625, ,625 90, has been paid, in net
revenue. into the Treasury of the
United States-the balance to be alb
sorbcd by the speculator.
The Government, by it's existing
land policy, has thus caused to be abb
stractcd from the earnings ofits hardy
pioneers almost S1,700, 100000 for
the mere privilege of enjoying one OF
Gods bounties to man. This large
amount has been abstracted from the
sons of toll without rendering any
equivalent save a permit from the
State to occupy wilderness, to which
not day or hour of mans labor had
been applied to change it from the
condition in which the God of Nature
made it. WHY should Governments
seize upon any of the bounties of Gcd
to man, and make them a source OF
revenue 4? While the earth was crea.
ted for the whole human family, and
was made its abiding place through
the pilgrimage of this life. and since
the hour of tho primal curse, I'm the
sweat Of thy face shalt thou eat bread, ,
man has been forced to the cultivation
Of the soil to obtain subsistence fol
himself, and the means Of promoting
the welfare Of the race, why should
governments wrest from him the righ
TO apply his labor to such unoccupieC
portion of the earth's surface as may
be necessary for his support until h
has contributed to the revenues of tn
State. any more than to permit him t.
breathe the air, enjoy the sunlight. o
: quaif from the rills and rivers of tn,
$ earth ? 1t would be just as rishtful
5 were it possible to be done, to surve.
> the atmosphere oifintoquarter sections
e and transfer it by parchment titles
: divide the sun into quantum of rays
and dole it out to cropping mortals a
c a price or arch over the waters of til
: earth into vast reservoirs, and sell
5 to dying men. In the language of re
u marks heretofore made on this subject
! why has this claim of man to monoI
: olize any of the gifts OF God to ma
5 been confined. by legal codes, to tn
y soil alone ? Is there any other reaso
IS than that which, having its origin j
v feudal times-under a system that r,
IS garded man as an appendage of Il
n soil that he titled, and whose life, iii
/ erty. and happiness were but means
d increasing the pleasures, pamperin
If the passions and appetites of his liee
l. lord-and, having once found a pla,
l. in the books, it has been retained |
N the reverence which man is wont
y pay to the past and to time-honort
IS precedents I? The human mind is
n constituted that it is prone to regal
,e as right what has come down to
ID approved by long usage, and hallow'
" by gray age. 1t is claim that h,
ID its origin with the kindred idea tn
" royal blood flows only in the veins
ne an exclusive few, whose souls a
lie more ethereal. because born amid I
to glitter of courts, and cradled amid t
&C pomp of lords and courtiers: an
a. therefore. they are to be installed
of rulers and law givers of the race.
he Most Of the evils that affiict socie
It's have had their origin in violence a
of wrong enacted into law by the exp
b. ience Of the past, and reminded by
6 prejudices of the present.
Is it not time you swept from ,
nd statutc-book its still-lingering rel
to of feudalism? blosted out the prin
-