Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-04-19
The eor-The Inalieuable Birth-Right Of
Han.

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The eoil-The Inalisnable Birth-Right Of
Han.
A LScssrs By Dr.. j. Evy. deiiUsred before 10 Cedar
Hausv Horticultural and Literary association,
March -, 1851.
Concluded from last week.
Another objection is that the price Of the
land is needed to support the government
Now that is nothing moro nor less than a
system of taxation which compels the poor
man, who has nothing, to pay for the protcc-
ton Of the property Of the rich who has all !;
and, if there is any justice in system Of that
kind, am unable to sec it.
Another says that he has had to buy his
farm, and let others do and continue to do
as he has done. Now that is equivalent to
saying that since the government has cheated
me wish it to continue to cheat everybody
else; and who is there that will claim that
persevering in wrong will ever make it
right.
All real wealth is obtained from the i'm
QIOvcIucuI SuU CulttVdIiOH VI TIC sui, dtlu
every dollar that is boarded up for the pur.
chase Of land either from individuals or gov
ernments Is misapplication Of SO much Of
the wealth ofthe country. It should be ap-
piled to improve and beautify our homes,
and in so doing we would refine and elevate
the minds of our children, for where home is
made beautiful, attractive and happy, the
family will be refined, intelligent and virtu-
Gus; and, on the contrary, where avarice eats
out all the beauties of home and the comforts
Of the Preside, you will find vice, ignorance
and immortality, as unsightly as the tenement
of its occupants.
Another objection to the free homestead
theory is that it attempts impossibilities to
place all men upon an equality. Now it is
not claimed that all are equal, or can ever be
made equal-in brains, intellect, or physical
force-by any political enactment whatever.
But I do claim that all men have IN equal
right to the sacred gifts of nature,-life, and
whatever is necessary to its maintenance, it
not being the gift of fellow man, he has no
right to quench its light, either directly or
indirectly.
The system Of tenantry, which compels
man to pay for the privilege of occupying
and cultivating the soil, is calculated to d.
minish the actual wealth of the country. 1t
Is q fact of daily observation that tenants do
not take that care of improvements, nor have
that anxiety to enrich and fertilize the soil
that they would if they knew they could hold
it . homestead furnished them by their be-
nefcent Creator. The tenant acquires loose
way Of doing business. If he finds repairs
needed he has no interest in making them,
for he knows not that he will be permitted
to enjoy them, and consequently the fences
become broken down, the buildings diapida-
ted, the crops destroyed either in the field or
in the barn, while the tenant remains in idle
fress, thereby cultivating habits of Incidence
and p1odigality. Thus you have true solu-
ton to the many poor farms and worse farm
ers in our country, for with such schooling
nothing better could be expected. Go to tho
southern states if you want striking Illus
tration of the evils resulting from violation
OF the homestead system. There the soil is
cultivated almost entirely by those who claim
no interest in it, and the consequence is that
whole tracts cf the once fertile soil have be-
come so impoverished that it is now thrown
out to commons as worthless barrens. Sup
pose you that that would have been the case
If every individual had been permitted to &C.
eupy and cultivate his own homestead and
receive the products of his own toll? For
din answer 60 to the New England states,
which were inferior in soil and climate to the
south, and where the land has been occupied
and cultivated by the actual owners of it, and
there you find no barren waste that was ever
tillable, but thrift, industry and intelligence.
The country much richer, and the inhabit-
ants more happy, more enterprising, and
I~kk Al n 4 L.
or those Of any other section or country where
land monopoly extensively prevails, for the
monopoly of the soil by the few has ten
dency to degrade the many. Tenantry has
4 tendency to destroy ones manhood and in
dependence, for where one has the control Of
tho means by which an other subsists, a feel
ing of dependence and submission is instinct
lively created, and thereby he is deprived Of
his native manly dignity. He becomes the
subject of control, and fears to do an act, or
assert an opinion contrary to the wishes of
his landlord. for fear Of mourning his dis
pleasure and tie consequences thereof
[Have any Of you ever been tenants? call to
mind your feelings.] There are two classes
Of individuals who are unhappy as respects
the comforts which riches can secure The
very rich, and the extremely poor It is only
the middle class who enjoy and relish the
comforts of this life. There are very few
rich men who have accumulated their riches
by their own hard labor and industry They
have mostly made their wealth off of their
poor. neighbors, by compelling them to labor
for less than their labor was worth, or else
BY taking advantage Of their necessity or in
experience in business transactions, thereby
creating feeling of animosity and jealousy,
which is always known to exist between
these two classes. The rich are harassed
with cares. and the poor suffer for the neces-
saries of life. The rich are indolent and un-
happy, because they have not that necessity
to- labor which is the only sure passport to
real happiness. The poor, in many cases,
are indolent and miserable because they have
no prospect Of rising in the world to that po-
sition and station which wealth secures to its
possessor. 1t is in these two classes that We
find the greatest amount Of ignorance. The
rich have seldom the energy Of body or mind
to accomplish any great amount Of physical
or mental labor. And the poor have seldom
the means or the opportunity Of acquiring an
education. Therefore, both suffer; the one
from excess, the other from want. The rich
adopt habits OF intemperance and prodigality
in order to kin time and Quiet a troubled