New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-11-02

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We have said the ancient land grabbers
lave been, ana DE nov, the curse Of
Louisiana, and we maintain that such is
the fact. Some time ago we published q
statement, made upon reliable authority,
showing that the whole landed -property
in England was owned BY about thirty
thousand persons Of population that
embraces thirty millions. This condition
Of things in England is producing great
distress among the toiling millions, and is
the result Of q general system Of legisla-
ton that favors the concentration Of
property into the hands Of the few. The
work has been going on for centuries. and
is thought to have arrived at a condition
decidedly detrimental to the public in
terest The few are actually favored with
more wealth than they know what to do
with, while the many are bordering on
to starvation. Time and the genius of
English government and laws have
brought about deplorable condition in
England that nothing but revolution can
remedy; for the property holders possess
also, in virtue of their estates, the political
power Of the country-they elect the
lawmakers.
The genius of our government and in
stitutions is opposed to sacrificing the
many upon the altar of the few. The
great principle Of our government is ''the
greatest good Of the greatest number"
Yet circumstances have conspired at times
to interfere with this sound maxim.
The system of granting immense tracts
of land in Louisiana to individuals was
inaugurated under French and Spanish
rule, and is opposed to the American idea
of how the public lands should be dis
posed Of. These lands were donated to the
fsvorites of the crown, without any quid
pro quo from the parties receiving them,
either to the government donating them
or the country in which they are located
They were not given to secure public i'm
provements, nor with q stipulation that
they were to be cultivated by the parties
receiving them, but with the sole idea Of
building up q landed aristocracy-the
curse of any country. This condition Of
things has revolutionized France repeat
edly, and bids fair to be the cause at no
distant day Of bloody revolution in
England. And the germ of it here,
planted by governments antagonistic in
principle to our own, has been and is now
the curse of Louisiana, because it inter.
feres with its rapid growth and prosperity.
Our State is possessed of broad and rich
domain, bat unfortunately it is not open
for settlement on the same advan-
tageous terms that lands in other
States and Territories of the Union
are. The rapid growth of the Western
States has been owing to the cheapness of
their lands in the commencement of their
settlement. These lands were owned by
the government and offered at rates that
induced immigrants to go and settle upon
Them; and if portion of them were pur-
chased by spectators, they were not
held at exorbitant prices. Immigrants
could obtain them at their market value |
1t small advance, perhaps, on the gov
price. And this policy has been
The means of building up large and -four
shing States and cities in portions of our
country that less than fifty years ago were
} vast wilderness. Though Louisiana is
not one Of the original thirteen States Of
he Union, it is one Of the Oldest of the
Omitted States; and if it had enjoyed the
anne advantages in starting as a State
hat Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and other
Western States did, it would be now in
J far more advanced condition. The land
yrants of the French and Spanish gov
established condition of So
'iety here that over half century of
American rule has failed to overcome.
FAST States and cities have grown up in a
hort time in other sections Of the same
country, while Louisiana and New Or
cans have made but comparatively slow
'rogress, and the chief cause is, that they
re not yet thoroughly Americanized.
hey are still cursed with the spirit of
be old land-grabbers. Let our people
ise superior to those old notions that
ave chained them to the car of the past,
nd moved by new impulses and new
leas. they may yet remove the obstacles
hat impede the growth of Louisiana.
A FAILURE.