Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-05-28

by any one within the lBlltS OF the state
leas ag each unmoIested in bis present pos
sessions, but prescribing that whoever shall
hereafter inherit or acquire arabic land be-
youd the legal maximum, shall within a
year disi ose of The excess, or have it sold in
bis behalf by the proper officer Of State, no
bid being received from any bat laadless
mao, or one whose entire possessions, in-
Guiding that be bids for, viii not exceed the
legal maximum, would do more 10 secure
the prevalence Of equality. industry, intelIi-
( gence aud prosperity, than any act ever yet
framed. Il would give a neg impulse TO
/ agricultural improvement, by impelling ae-
4 tive, energetic. and thrifty men To improve
/ the farms they have. instead Of applying
/ their faculties and means 10 the buying out
Of their neighbors. Few as yet realize that
( he who owns hundred fair acres in thick
I " settled community may double his estate
more naturally, eheapIy and bare6ciently,
by doubling the depth of the soil, than by
adding on another hundred acres. The
former method involves no double fencing,
nor double taxes-both which are implied
by lha after. la fact, the soil not only
might be but would be rendered far more
productive than it now Is and give far more
employment to labor, if it were not for this
fatal facility Of territorial expansion, which
now eugrosses the energeries aud means Of
successful cultivators. Public works Of
general utility would be far more raIilly
aad extensively constructed. if 1t we're not
fo- the pride Of neighbarhood acquisition
the coveted distinction Of owning most land
Of any man in the country. As a general
rule, no farm will pay three per cent. on It's
market value to any other than u resident
cultiyator; yet many a sharp dealer viii add
farm to farm rather than lend his money on
a six per cent, mortgage. to help his young
and struggling neighbor keep the one farm
frcm which he derives lis subsistence, to
which his hopes are anchored.
No man thinks of investing in railroad,
unless merely to help it, without fair pros
pect Of realizing at least six per cent; yet
the passion of territorial aggrandizement
hats at 20 such limit. The Jaws which en-
courage and protect this passion have much
to answer for-tbe dearth Of employment,
the depression Of wages, the dependence Of
labor, and the constrained idleness Of hund-
reds Of thousands No thousand acres own
ed by one man do or viii, in the nature of
things. employ and reward nearly so much
labor as those same acres would if owned
and cultivated by ten, twenty or thirty men.
IF enc man were landlord OF the earth. half
it, population would Inevitably be paupers:
II every man owned so much Of the soil as
he cu}ti7a-es OF would cultivate, there would
soon be no paupcrs at all. Ant9us, in
classic fable, beaten to the earth, Is revived
by her touch. and rensWs the contest with
all its pristine Tigor Thus it would and
should be with every one who fails in trade,
in Manufacture, or in any ofthe professions.
Our popular education should have taught
him in boyhcod the principles and the
methods Of rural industry, our laws should
secure him at ali times easy access to q mod
icum Of the soil Then failure" ia some
commercial or industrial enterprise wou,d
cease 10 be Synonymous with ruin then
10 man, defeated in single effort, would
account himself. or he regarded by others.
as paralizel and PROSTATE for life It shall
yet be realized that, in the Infinite bounty
Of Providence. there IS hope for all who
have sacrificed that integrity and thorough
" regained IT, That he wLois once bank
rupt should theuceforth be useless and bur
dens5me, is oae Of the most wasteful of our
social blundcrs, and demands prompt cor
rect;on. No man, with two strong arms
and an honest head on his shoulders, should
be accounted minus quantity because he
has proved unfortunate 10 some single vo-
cation. There are still hundreds of posi-
billies remaining; aud if there were none
but this, grain would grow aud fruit ripcn
under his care as well as another's. Friends
may vanish and fortune frown, but our kind
mother Nature smiles benignantly on al
her children to the last
/ discern in our wholesale aims. giving,
our misnamed charity, the most striking
confession Of the vices and defects Of our
social ecouony Charity was once a syno-
nyn Of love bat who imagines that there
Is any love IN our current alms-eiven to
strangers? We relieve their wants, not be- (
cause we love but because We loathe
them, and would fajn be speedily nd
Of Their hateful presence. In awisely
ordered social state, there would be no
giving. save from relative to relative, or
from friend to friend The destitute, Grip
pied, diseased OF idiotic, would be support
ed al the public expense, as matter not Of 1
favor but of simple justice but, no Doroaming, /
whining beggar would be tolerated, any
more than a professed thief Every days /
subsistence By begging floats the receiver
farther and father from the rational hope
of ever again being a useful aud respected /
member Of society-every day drives him !
farther towards desperation, outlaw and
crime. The beggar encounters contempt, I
reviling and scorn and these foster in his 4
heart bitterness, cxecration and revenge. /
His children grow up thieves as well as va /
grants; they ioathe the idea Of working for a /
livelihood. aud dread factory worse than
a prison Aud worst of all, the proffers of
are poured into bottomless
abyss If ten times as much we're given in
charity to vagrants as now is, there would /
be less distress, but ten times as many beg
gars. 1t should be the first care of a wise
State to make all needful public provision
for the relief and su>tenance Of the luckless
and destitute. aud then inexorably repress
all vagrant beggary-ail appeals TO the sym
pathies Of strangers. II We cannot at once
abolish all idleness, all horse leech applica
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