The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1866-06-23
THE NEW HOMESTEAD LAW
A German Journal OH the Oath Re-
quired from Settlers.
From the Anzeiger des Westens.l

From the Anzeiger des Westens.l
According to the views of the radi
cal majority in the house, an applicant
for a homestead under the new law has
to take the oath that he did not partici
pate in the late rebellion. BY this oatl
the whole mass of the white people Of
the south are excluded from all the ben
efts of the law. 1t is not easy to com
prehend the advantages of such {
measure, nor to discover how they
square with the policy of the radical
party in regard to other questions. The
purpose of any homestead bill is the
advancement of the culture of public
lands, and of the speedy settlement OF
great uncultivated territories, and in
consequence the increase OF national
wealth. Rather than to create difllcul
ties and impediments, it evidently
should be the policy Of the govern
ment to facilitate the settlement of pub
lie lands as much as possible, especial
ly in the southern states, where rs yet
there is only very sparse population
The oath, as embodied in that bill
will be q new impcdiment to the revi
val of prosperity in the southern
states, and therefore not only punish
mcnt Of the former rebels, but Of all the
inhabitants of those states and of the
whole country in general. Besides the
rich and influential men in the soutl
will not be hurt by that bill, because
they will never apply to it; whilst only
the poor are to be the sufferers, whom
that oath deprives of the opportunity
to become frceholders, Only the
"poor whites in the south will suffer
the very people whose miserable situa'
ton is the text of so many stirring ar,
ticles; who have pecn piticd as the
victims of the pest ofslavery who have
been promised so happy II, future SC
soon as slavery should be abolished
and who now, at the very first oppor.
tunity, are to be put far behind the ne
gro.
The public lands are accessible to
the blacks, according to the new bill
they are closed to the poor whites
who, knowing no better, allowed them
selves to be used by the ruling classes
of the south in their war against the
Union. Instead of favoring by al
imaginable means the establishment o
class of small white property hold
ers, to tie the poor whites Of the south
crn states to the interests of the union
and to make them independent of thu
former ruling classes, this element, b,
II blind fury is cstrmged from thu
union, and the already existing hatret
between the poor whites and the nc
grOes given new life.
Such policy is inconceivablc. !
such laws are not dictated by malice
and british sense of revenge, thcl
they are the offspring of the blind fury
Of fanaticsm, that may posslbl,
achieve a great deal more mischief
The radicals must admit that the poo
whites of the south are to be allowed
to live, and that even the whole mas
of the southern people arc to be pardon
ed, because there cannot be made a pen
itentiary of a whole country; and at
mittrg further, that it is better tC
make small propcrty-holders ont o
them, than to force them to work or
the plantations of the rich, why in the
name of reason shall they not he III
lowed to settle on the uncultlvatco
public lands!