The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-03-16

Of men to stand erect on his own acre,
and say Here Is my own home, ant
here no man dare modest me; this cab
in, humble though it be, is my owl
castle, and the Government itself dar.
% not invade It; this land I viii leave Il
my children after me, and they vii
BIS, a. I am now, free and independ
emit tillers of their own soil" To thi
fact, more than to any other of a ma
ira isTial nature, are we indebted for thai
honest pride, high spirit independen
ency of character, ,seIf-respect, anC
obedience to law that distinguish oul
people,
Butenow, Mr. President, every yea
makes it more and more difficult for q
e3gReor man to get 70 farm every year
hakes IL more hfienlt for n poor me
0at, chanie TO get q te1ementi oeyery yeAl
and 10 more and more eagro,sed, aUt
sbe price ofit enhaneedd ntilh is -;
Of the reach OF the poor.'Htf! OF
-eir, do moi let any man tell Smt
What an ipHenss domain re have;0do
not let him overwhelm me with figure:
sgipofthe thousatd suiEodG millions s; o
aiacres whirh ARR rEjuruuSsHSeyei5e
undisposeI OF. Rsther let Jim aec
DO ever that vast territory clyIbg between
Nebraska anil the State Of California;
- let him see what q desert it IL, letihtn
see nov nothineFfFr t of an interPo
sition 81 Pf6Sidenee itself can make
glait such a coaitryasftha1shik lies &
the. east. Of, it; lstlhim. felasmher that
on every continent in the world there
q is Just such an sFiddesert as that; that
there is Just suefra desert in Asia. just
snch q desert and worse, in Africa,
inst such a desert, not so bad, it Is
eA4rue, in Europe; let him recollect that
.4 L. il apart asnit would 9seenl, I of the
81 ecDnomy OF nature, that. there, shall be
such vast regions nnfit for agricultural
pursuits; regions where there may be
some grazing Of cattle, some nomadic
life, butg ea9dense, settled, and
highly civilized population is never
- found TO exist ff)Id al
i2ATTknswx it Is very easy, "a, Say that
We can achieve whatinoi 6tlfef people
have 1evefl 81 been abie to- achieve. i
az neyersexpeet 10 ike loag enough TO
sffsec that f1attering JUNCTION, Which, we
habitually lay to our souls cast aside.
81 I do not expect to live long enough to
81 see the satlose and seifSsatisfaction
otIofthe American people obiiterated in
the least. / knoB+that every year as
we grow we become more and more
selfcomplacent; but there are barriers
of nature fhattno seiifcomplacency,
thatsnoyselEesteem, that no self confi-
: 1depce can overcome; and SUCH bar.
8 yief IS to be found m ifhef desert that
s6stretches itsaafid waste thrnughout
. the whole length of North America.
Why, sir, I say that tho good lands Of
this country yet belonging to the Gov
eminent are comparatively small i'll
amounts1and eyerf time you give por-
tions of them away to, private. corpo-
rations, and enable them by your; so
Y.doing 70 double the price OF the lands,
vjustin that same degree do you make
il harder and harder for the people of
this country to obtain homes for them
selves and their children It is MANI
. " for that reason that + oppose this
Spolicr8 TGgf i3HfOfT9a
fkaoHereI beg, leave to repeat what II
said to the Senate before when this
bill was up, in the few remarks / them
submitted. At the risk OF repetition.
! beg leave to speak it, for I want,
Senators, to impress it on your minds.
&eu-hase-oDly-tol0 ok-at-the-eeDsus
returns, you hafe only. to look at the9
computation nsade by MIR. Kennedy
in bis preface "a tbelast eeasds fepoft,
or anybody can make tbeeoApufation
for himself to see what WIN BE the
population of the United States in the
year 1900, only thirty years FRONT
now. 1t viii be one hundred and six
millions; and that without taking into
account any Chinese migration at
all. EL~aving that'ont and taking the
increase of population according to-
The test that has been so uniform from
1900 this day, in 1880, only thirtyl.
ulatiou of one hundred and six mill
Aions-4Rless@than sixty years, in the
lifetime, perhaps, ofthe youngest SEN
ator on this floor, IL we have the good
Tsense 20 hold togethe5 We shall have
h4opulafbn 1.-Two hundred millions :
Nunder this ovefnment. Where them
will be your Land for the 1audless?-t''
Where then will be that i~ndependent
agricultural population, the very best
reliance of tbs, COUNTRY for its virtue,
its Observation-Disclosures its in
Atitutiohs, its religion, and its happi-
meas? Where wihsiEbaa LA
Why viii not Senators reflect for q
momenff I Remember very well howl,
when d young man, was astonishedl
by a remark made to me by Geberalt
Cas-, after his return from France, /.
that such q thing as the idea of being !,
abieEte acquire a piece oflead, of be-
coming the owner Of it. in feesimpe, !
{1syerentefed into the imagination of |.
sErsnch peasant who was landless. !
The4hiug struck me With MANAGEMENT, :
when in this country everybody Elk =
.pects to become the owner of real es- :
tate. There is mot the poorest boy !,
that runs barefooted in the street but :
ezpects somegday or other to own his ,
lttle tract ofla1d, or to own his little !,
Homestead ortenement In a town or
city But what Is the-condition of :
country where there ueyer rises into .
the heart Of the poor man the idea :
that he ever can become the owner of :
foot Of the soil that God gave for !,
his sustenance? Sc e
And let US not ny that that il the :
result of institutions different from :.
ours. 1t is the result of an overteem- :
ing population; and~when- bring ;