The weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1869-18??, 1870-10-19
The Public Lands and the Republican


The measures and policy Of Che Republi-
can party with reference to securing Ithe
public domain for actual settlement, must
necessarily form one ofthe subjects which
the people will discuss on the eve of new
appeal for their confidence and support
They will ask how tar the party has been
faithful to labor interest IN the disposition
of the public lands, and they will study the
indications of the future in regard to them
The subject is one of great Importance, of
course, irrespective of any merely party tri- /.
umph, for it is intimately connected with
national development, with finance, with
labor and with trade. But if the Republ-
can record is such that the party can claim
to have acted usefully, and in the interest of
the laboring man, it has right to the CON
sideration which the fact demands. sdT
- One of the first acts of the Republican
Congress, after some necessary steps to re-
sist a rebellion for which the Democratic
party was largely responsible, was the pass
age of the homestead law Under that
measure the public domain was offered to
the laboring man as practically free gift
the payment of $40 and actual settlement
being the only conditions towards the pos.
session of 100 acres of land At the same
time the only policy by which this great op-
portunitv for labor, could be realized was
not neglected. Land grants have been
CONCEDED to aid in the construction of lines
of communication, by which vast terri
tories. little else than an untraveled
wilderness, were opened up for the advance
of civilization and the. creation of wealth.
Thousands of new homes have been erected
~, l,afora ~
The possession of the tinent, with all its
wealth of soil, of climate, and of mineral
production, has by means of these assisted
lines been given to, the people. And when
these modes of cheap and easy transit were
established, or provisions for their establish
ment made, Republican leaders entered upon
the second stage of the process by which
the industry and enterprise of the laboring
man might be still further secured. The
work of opening the vast interior had been
assisted, and further developments of rail
road and canal enterprises might now be
left to individual States and Territories.
The time had arrived for -such-a resolution
as Congress passed in its last session, that
the public lands of the United States should
be held for the exclusive purpose of secur-
ing homesteads to actual settlers, under the
Homestead-and Presumption laws, subject
to reasonable appropriations for educational
purposes. fi. .s......- -..............
Here, then, is what the Republican party
has done and proposes to do for the work
ingmen of this country. 1t enacted laws by
which the public domain was declared the
property of citizens who were DESTROYS of
securing homes for themselves, and imposed
connitions for the acquisition OF such that
were of merely nominal character. 1t en-
couraged the enterprises by whose means
the vast regions waiting for settlement could
be rendered accessible And when these
latter had been constructed or sufficiently
advanced, further grants were suspended,
and the immense remaining domains reserv-
ed for the use and benefit of the people at
large.-N. Times. -