M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1860-04-19

2OO,OOO. II you suppose it increased
the ability of family four dollars per
head, the total amount would be S2S,.
900, 900, which would yield revenue
of 100000. ! think that this wo'd
be far below the truth, and ityou gave
a family one hundred and sixty acres
OF land to cqltiYate, the effect would
be to increase the ability of that iami.
ly so as to buy fifty.six dcllarS' worth
more than they bought before--scven
dollars head. That would be asnall
increase to family who had a home.
compared with the condition Of that
family when it had none. The effect
ofthat would be to run up the amount
they buy TO $780, 100000, which, at a
duty of thirty per cent, would yield
the sum of SIC 100000 '' ~
show you, then, that, by taking
one million families, consisting ofsev-
en- persons each, and putting them
each upon a quarter section of land,
making the soil productive, i! you
thereby only added to their capacity
to buy goods to the amount Of fifty six
dollars per family, you would derive
a reyenpe of nearly seventeen million
| dollars. When You have done this,
how mnc!l Of the public lands would
you have disposed OH Only one mil.
lion quarter Sections, ara You would
have nearly six million quarter sec.
tions left. By disposing of one sixth
Of your public domain in this way,
upon this little miniature estimate,
you bring into tho Golfers of the FEEDER
al Government by this bill $l6,SOO,.
900.
Does this look like diminishing the
rcyenuei Does it not rather show
that this bill is a revenue measure :
! think it is most clearly revenue
measure. Not only is this the case IN
a money point of view, so far as the
Imports are concerned, but by settling
the alternate sections with actual cuI.
TRAITORS, you make the remaining sec.
tions more valuable to the Govern.
ment, and you bring them sooner into
market. In continuation Of this idea,
! will read portion Of the argument
which | made upon this subject when
| first introduced the bill into the 9th.
er House. / read from the report Of
my speech on that occasion:
Mr.. J said, it will be remembered
by the iiousc that he had already
shown that, BY giving an individal a
quarter section of the land, the Soy
ernment would receive back, in the
shape ola revenue, in every seven
years, more than tue Government
price of the land, and, upon this prin.
cipIe, the Government would, in fact,
be realizing two hundred and ten dol.
lars every subsequent term OF seven
years. The whole number of acres of
public land belonging 70 the United
States at this time, OF up to the Goth
Of September 194S, is one billion four
hundred and sixteen thousand one
hundred and xty.eight acres. This
amount, estimated at 81 25 per aero,
will make S1,S02,77O,O00. To dis
pose OF So, 100000 worth per annum
which is more than an average sum
would require seven hundred years, {
fraction less, to dispose Of the entire
domain. 1t will now be perceived a
once tho immense advantage the Gov.
ment would derive by givingthc land
to the cultivator, instead of keeping il
on hand this length oftime. We find
by this process the Government wo'd
from each quarter section in six hun.
dred years, (throwing off the large ex.
cess Of nearly one hundred years,
S14,0Q seven going into six hundred
eighty.fve times. This, then, shows
on the one hand what the government
would gain by giving the land away
Nov let us see what it will lose by
retaining the land op hand this length
oftime Time operates upon value as
distance does npon magnitude. A
ball ofvery large size, when close to tht
eye, is seen in its fullest extent; buI
when removed to certain distance
dwindies to the human vision or dis
appears altogether. So with the lar
gest planets, removed from the eye tC
the position they now occupy in the
heavens, they diminish to mere point
To the business, practical world, g
hundred dollars at the present time is
just worth ahuudred dollars. a hun
dred dollars twelve months hence is
worth just six per cent. less, and so or
every twelve months, until sixteen
years and eight months, when it has
lost an amount equal to the principal;
so it will be perceived that, in every
sixteen years and eight months, the
Government loses an amount equal to
the price asked for each quarter sec.
tiou, which iO 5000, by keeping it on
hand. Sixteen will 20 into sly hun.
dred thirty-seven times, which makes
$7,400 the Government will lose.-
Now, conceive that it would be fair
and rational to the business world to