New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-05-12
RIjH LAND :

We would counsel no man TO run in debt, aud no
poor man to invest his little all where it will not con-
tribute TO his sustenance or be available in Of
need; yet we cannot help urging every landless man
to become owner of some spot of earth may
be- Land is still amazingly cheap in most parts of
our country and is not destined to remain Imm
grafton is very heavy; We are all sick Of war; aud
our population increases at rate which will double it
every twenty years. The common notion that we
have still enormous area of arabic soil unapprop
ated is mistake. West of Kansas and Nebraska
that is, over 800 miles west of the Missouri
there is little good land. The central table
lands of our continent lie so high as TO be cold and
frosty, and in Summer are parched by persistent
pitiless drouth. Even were not the lack of timber
serious obstacle to settlement, not one acre in fifty
could be rendered productive without irrigation and
artesian wells; and these are very costly. Con-
sdering that the -Four Millions Of Blacks have as
yet scarcely acre, it is not probable that Fifteen
Millions Of our countrymen are owners Of land, or
tho wives and children of those who are Yet these
own more than half the whole soil of the United
States Twenty years hence, we trust the landhold-
ers with their families will be Forty five Millions
Who does not realize that land must then be dearer
the Precious Metals which those years are morally
certain to witness-not less than Two Billions of
Dollars in this country aone-must also tend to en-.
| nance the price Of Land
He who owns land-no matter if but patcli-need
nevemore cringe for empoyment--he can always
find work for himself He need not % strike ;" but if
he does, he need not stand idle, since he can always
find work on his land If every youth at twenty zone
had bit Of land assigned him, the proportion of pau
pers and swinders among our population would
rapidly largely diminish. Morals, independence, in.
dustry thrift, would all be promoted by a general
| diffusion Of ownership in land.
We cannot all live out OF cities, (though it were
better for all that many more did so); but even the
young merchant, lawyer, doctor, mechanic or clerk
who feels constrained TO live on a paved street.
might advantageously own bit of land
though miles away. Travel is rapid and cheap; a
day in the country is health and happiness; and we
nearly all hope to live in the country by -andby.
With an acre or more of good land well fenced, the
habitual podder over pavements may plant in youth
or early prime the trees that are to soacc his old age
may have bis plants, shrubs, vines and fruits growing
though unable as yet to build house-may have al
occasional oretaste Of the calm joys of living his own
master in his own home. No one can realize all the
blessedness which centers in Home until be comes to
have spot that is truly his own.
Thousands live and die tenants and hirelings who
might far better employ and house themselves The
city hireling makes more money than his country
cousin; but strikes and pancs, sickness and rocs,
with the necessity Of giving half be earns for shelter,
generally keep him poor; and an increasing family
drives him to close calculations and shabby
sAlS b keep ag0at, Happy fox him and his. i9y