The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-07-08
THE LAND QUESTION.
BY r. T. PETERS VI.
CONCLUDED.

=" - SuNu iooIo we may safely as
sumo that by the end of the present CEN
fury, the cities and smaller to WINS will en-
brace full hfty per cent Of our entire NOM
lotion, to say nothing of mechanics. teach
ers' professional men and other non.aur.
culturists scattered through the rural ais
trlcte, or residing in the smallest class Of
villages. Yet our homestead and pre-
enpu n laws assume that we need only
provide land for the agriculturist. and
50 propose to parcel out our entire publ;c
domain to those who in he pursue Of their
avocatlon as tillers Of the soil, can conve.
nIently 60 and take it. Is not this a plain
violation of the principle that all have an
equal right to the natural bounties which
the earth offers?
know 1t is assumed that the nop-aori-
cultural classes need so little land for tbe;,
pursuits as to obviate the necessity of ma
King any special provision for their behalf
but We learn by experience that the
little lot which the mechanics need for
home in the city may cost Just as mnch as
a snug little farm in the country. Con-
>lderlng the fact that half our people are 70
1--we In cities and towns, it becomes, there.
fore, question Of no small moment how
they are to be provided with homes.
CHANGING over the western states all o.
which have been carried out of the public
domain within the present century and
most Of them within very recent times, we
lind seventeen cities having over 20, 600 in
habltants each. The largest is 81. Louis
with $40 864, and the smallest st. Paul,
with 20,O31. Their aggregate population
is l,495,93i. Yet besides these there are
many more such thriving places, as Du-
buque, Keokuk, Alton, Lawrence, Leaven.
worth, Omaha, Denver, Sacramento and
| other minor towns too numerous to mention.
in many of which lots already command ex.
travagant prices in anticipat on of their flu
ture growth and greatness. And as these
have gIown up within the memory of PEG.
pie who have not yet reached middle life,
SO will others, the names of which have not
yet been even thought of or their sites
trodden by white mans foot, grow up in
various parts Of the extended region now
known as the public domain. Twenty or
thirty years hence there will be large and
nourishlng cities on the upper waters OF
the Missouri, in the mining regions Of the
Rocky Mountains, aud upon the rivers,
bays and the estuaries oc the Pacific coast.
According to the lowest calculation our
population will have doubled By the end Of
the century and more than half Of the to-
tai increase will be collected in cities and
towns. How many Of these will be new
places which will have grown up during
the intervening thirty years on what is now
public land or railroad land, We cannot
judge, but We can hardly doubt that their
! aggregate population Will amount to sew
eral millions. Thus many a homestead
track given away by the government for
farm viii rise to value Of thousands Or
even tens of thousands of dollars an acre
tor city building lots We can form little
OF no Idea as to ichere these lucky prizes
will be drawn in the general distrI button
but that they 'ciH be drawn is as certain as
the tact that our population is increasing at
a geOmetrlcal ration that will double its
number in tbr years. The result " Ii
Oe that the recipients Of the prizes or the
spectators who are shrewd enough to get
them out Of their hands, will make great
fortunes through the ''unearned increase 10
the value Of land, while the masses Of the
inhabitants OF the new cities will be just as
they are now IN such places as Cincinnati,
Chicago and -. Louis, the victims Of cxOr-
bitant rents and the usual overcoming,
their condition growing worse and worse a.
the cities themselves grow older aud more
compact.
The ultimate effect of thus cutting Oh
one half of The people from all share in the
soil, and its resources would be TO create
population somewhat similar in one respect
TO that which exists in France to-day.
The gradual subdivision of homesteads
would produce rural population of small
proprletOrs eminently conservative and sci
isb, while the working people OF the cities
ike the OuUrierS of France, finding them
selves despoIled Of their natural rights and
reduced to the position OF mere wages
slaves would grow sullen, dIscontented,
revolutionary. No surer way could be taken
70 divide society into antagonistc sections
aud thus 10 plant the seeds Of social disin-
degradation and decay. have only point
ed out the most obvious Of the ways il
which the policy expressed in our home
stead law would intlict an injustice upon
The non-agricultural part Of our people,
but this is sufficient to show that it is radi-
cal.y defective. We need a system which
recognizes the complex structure Of civil
zed society and intelligently protests the
interests and rights Of ali the various classes
Of which such society is composed. Shall
be deemed revolutionary if say that this
desderatum is not to be found in any sys-
TEN which permits absolute private proper
ty in land
Ekanah Watson e.t mate for III year
1890 Is 100 255,9sj. lis estimate (mtde in
1919 for each decenuial year from lsZO to
1860 inclusive, correspond vety nearly to tie
n-nres If the census, The census returns for
1917 fall short of lis estimate tor thtt year by
three or four mi.liO4s-t f.ct which "a scarcely
-nrprz'ng IN view Of The tfrmeud a. civil wa
which shook The country during the f Il four
years Of The decade.
Facts in Human Life.
The number Of languages spoken in
the world is 3 1904. The inhabitants Of the
globe profess more than 900 different re-
ligons. The number Of men is about
equal to the number Of women. The aver