The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-03-04
Writt-n for the ADvooArK.
THE LAND QUESTION. I.


The alarming concentration Of wealth i
the hands of the few, which il SO marked
feature of the times, naturally enough sue
gests the Importance Of careful and sys
tnmatic inspection OF our economic machin
cry in order that we may be able to deter
mine with certainty and precision througl
what defects of construction or derange
ment of parts it operates in such way a
to take property from the producer and ac
cumnlate i; in vast masses in the hsnds o
a comparatively sHan number of persons
My present object is to call attention tC
one Of these defects, viz: our existing land
policy, than which nothing contribute.
more powerfully to bring about that unjust
distribution Of the products of industry
which SO fOully blOtches the face Of our civ.
ilizatlon.
Hon. Geo. W. Julian of Indiana, in bis
recent admirable speech on the land ques.
tion, has exhibited in startling ght the
extent to which the Government itself bas
fostered the monopoly of the soil in the dis
posal Of the public domain. He has shown
how one man in Kansas, James F. JOY has
been allowed to acquire under an Indian
treaty at the nominal price Of one dollar
an acre, tract fifty miles long by twenty
five in width, containing $4,000 acres, OF
enough land to make 5000 farmers of 100
acres each, which would afford homes for
fully $4,000 people He has shown how
another tract just ten times as large was
disposed of, under cover of another Indian
treaty, to man named Sturgis, for nine
teen cents an acre, payable an instalments,
and railroad bonds at that. He has shown
how railroad swamp and educational grants,
the sale of land in open market, in large
tracts, and even the allowance of bounty
land to soldiers, have combined together to
place an empire of rich land in the hands
OF corporations and private specuators. He
has shown how even the Federal courts
have strained the law in favor of the mo
nopollst as against the actual settler.
Already an area equal to dozen large
States has passed into the hands Of monoD-
olIsts, or will inure to railroad companies
under existing laws and this area en-
braces much Of the finest land in our West
ern States and territories-the richest river
bottoms of Kansas and Nebraska, the ia
nous wheat lands of Minnesota and Daco
tab. If this vast territory were to remain
permanently wilderness, it would make
little difference who might be the legal
owners of it. But if it is to subserye the
purpose for which the Creator obviously de-
signed it-that Of supporting population
the question Of its ownership is one which
directly concerns the welfare of many mil
lions of human beings.
The grants of land to the Pacific Rail-
road alone, according to a statement of the
Commissioner of the General Land Office,
amount to $4,000, 900 acres on the LIST Of
July, 1869. Subsequent grants, especially
the additional grant to the Northern Paci-
tc, win probably swell the amount to very
near l40,0eo,oO9 sCres. But niilioA
acres is 50 easily said, that these figures
convey no adequate idea Of their meaning.
We shall comprehend them better through
the cid of comparison. A glance at the
atlas shows that the area Of France is 2l3,-
24l square miles, which being reduced to
acres, gives us 36,474, ,240. Instead,
then, of saying that the donation to the Pa
cltic Railroad amounts to near lac, 900, -
OOO acres, = we may say that they amount
to an area larger than that CT France Now
the present population of that country is
about equal to our own. 1t appears there
fore that, if peOpled as densely as France,
the territory given to these Pacific Rail
rOads* tcOuld be large enough to QccOmmO-
date the entire population of the United
States. If Peopled as densely as England
and Wales, the same area would accommO-
date over 0,000,0 900 inhabitants. The to-
tai donations to all railroads now amount to
very near 20O,OOO,0O acres,* And the a q
gregate amount of land held BY other classes
Of monOpolists can not be less than another
hundred millions. This gives a total Of
about 300, 900, 600 acres ont Of the public
domain given up to monopoly. That area
is greater by about 100000 acres than
the united areas Of France, hay and the
United Kingdom, 'chich support an az
gregate population of more than %, ,OOO. =
900 persons.
1t is with reference to the well being Of
such population of future occupants that
our land policy should be shaped. ANY pol
icy which loses sight Of this fundamental
object lacks the very first elements of re-
publican craftsmanship. To adopt differ
ent policy il either to countermand Gods
edict, Increase and multiply and replcnish
the earth, ]" or else it is to inhict on those
who should fulfil it the penalty Of a perpet
ual tribute to the land monOpolist. Il il
TO give the latter mortgage upon the life
long earnings Of unborn millions, mot through
one but through successive generations. 1t
is to steal the birtbright of whole genera
tons of men and condemn them in advance
to come into the world under the monstrous
necessity Of bargaining with a privileged
class for the right to share with them the
surface Of the planet, which the Creator
has given as the common possession Of the
human race.
It is to plant with one hand the acorn
whence snail grow The deep rooted oak Of
aristocracy, and with the other to scatter
wide the seeds Of pauperism and debase
ment. It is to deny culture and the de.
lights Of the intellect to the masses in or
der that few may revel in useless luxuries
and unwholesome Incidence. 1t i to stunt
the developments Of mind itself. and cheat
civilization Of its best elemants of Droxross
It is to assasslnate liberty. 1t is to com
NIT crime against humanity at which the
very streams and mountains aud primeva
forests Of this ''New World" might cry ou
in mighty reprObation.
Glance for a moment at the practical op
Grafton Of this policy The earliest pur
chasers from the original monopolists vii
buy upon tolerately reasonable terms
Manv nf them will huv Iorna tra.. -.