Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-04-12


ume of inspiration: The Heaven, even the
Heavens are the Lords; but the earth hath
he given to the children of men," Psalms
lie. Is. - ~ s.
Not to governments nor to the man who
has been most successful in accommodating
the almighty dollar but to each and every
individual, both small and great, regardless
of birth, station or color If one man can
acquire an absolute title to section of land
more than he can occupy and cultivate and
thereby prevents his fellow man from cult
waiting or receiving benefit thercfrom, then
he can acquire an absolute control over a
county, State, or even a continent, and drive
of his fellow men or compel them to starve
and perish, for want of the opportunity to
acquire the means by which to support them
selves.
Butyou answer, humanity would not allow
him to do anything so cruel If humanity
would compel him to relinquish his right to
portion of his acquired domain, the ques-
ton then arises, to how much must he relin-
quish his right? Humanity would answer
to all except what he himself can cultivate
and occupy, so that his fellow man may have
the opportunity and the means of supplying
the wants of himself and family.
Governments have just as good right to
sell the light of the sun, or the breeze of the
prairie, as they have to sell the soil, and the
only reason why they do not do it is, because
they cannot.
In the rude and ignorant state of ancient
society, the earth, the air and the sunshine
were all held as articles of commerce, but
when the mind Of man began to emerge from
the murky shades of ignorance and super
stition, and his rights become better under
stood and appreciated, the air and the sun
shine were proclaimed the free gifts of nature
to man, while the soil is still held as the last
relic of barbarous age. The light Of the
sun, the atmosphere, and the soil are all alike
the gifts Of nature to each individual of the
human family. Ifnot to oh individual, to
whom? To the rich and the wealthy? Of
course not, for their wants are not half so
great as that of the poor; and not to the
poor, for that is contrary to the present laws
and customs of civilized society. Then upon
whom are the gifts of nature bestowed?-
Reason, common sense, and the dictates of
humanity answer, to each and every indi-
Vidual of the whole human family.
The present land system of the United
States Is an advance upon the old federal
system of antiquity, and yet it is objection
able in almost every feature of it, 1t creates
landed aristocracy which is disposed to ask
and even compel their poor neighbers to
submit to humiliations which they would not
one moment endure
Setting aside entirely the golden rule to
"do unto others as We would that they should
do unto you," it fosters spirit of avarice,
making men go all lengths, and all hazards
in order to swell the number of broad acres
to which they can lay claim. Virtue and
philanthropy are driven from the heads and the
hearts of men, and the scene is to often made
to represent grand scufile after the almighty
dollar, and when some forty per cent. old
miser gets it into his clutches, and essays to
drop it into that long deep pocket of his, me
thinks can hear it exclaim in the language
Of the poet:
Farewell dear world. Tn, going home
There can be no objection to individuals
accommodating wealth so they do it honestly.
But when governments or individuals, under
sanction OF law and pr tended right, can take
from man his inalienable right to the soil; it
follows as natural consequence that they
can and will demand portion or even all of
his time, without rendering him an equiva-
lent. The one great political error paving
the way for innumerable social evils. Thus
to-day where the greater portion of the land
is monopolized by the few, the laborer is
robbed of his earnings and degraded to the
condition ola chattle.
shall now proceed tn answer a few of the
objections raised against the free homestead
system.
1t is claimed by some that the privilege of
purchasing and hol ding great tracts of land
keeps up the spirit of enterprise, and infuses
into individuals energy, industry, and perse-
verance. Now, if there was no other avoca-
ton that would call forth the energy and
enterprise of men but that of stealing from
nature and robbing their fellow man of the
rights guarant Ell to him by high heaven,
then you might interpose your objection with
some force. But the cultivation of the mind,
and the enlargement of the mental faculties,
and not that of the purse, are objects suffic-
lent in magnitude to al fori', the energy
and enterprise Of every individual and well
wisher Of humanity. And besides this, the
facts show that the owners Of extensive tracts
of land, and the poor who own none, are not
the enterprising and industrious portions of
community. Industry, cnt prise, and in
telligence are to be found with that class who
have homesteads in extent as much as they