Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-12-24
TUESDAY,. DECEMBER 81. 1878.


Some three hundred soldiers of tie late war,
at 4 meeting held in ST. LOuis last Thurday eve
ming, adopted memorial urging the United
States senate 10 pass the house bill which pro
poses 10 give 10 each honoraby discharged
soldier Of whatever rank quarter section of
land. The same meeting also adopted a resolu-
ton requesting Union soldiers throughout the
country to Join in urging the passage of the bill,
aud appointed committees to promote a general
movement in its favor. 1t may seem UNI
gracious. if not ungrateful, 10 oppose or
even eriticise a measure ostensibly de-
signed 10 reward the valor and patriotism
of those who risked ali and endured much for
their country in her greatest need, and, if the
real purpose and effect Of this bill were to bene-
1T tue surviving soldiers Of the war, though
there might be objections on the score of mod
esty and propriety against the proposed bene6-
Charles putting themselves forward as its prom
iueut advocates, there might be also something
70 be said IN It's favor if it were otherwise con-
sistent with the public interests; but as it seems
to us the benefits Offered 10 soldiers y the bill
would prove illusory, and its effect otherwise
would be highly prejudlcial to the general well
fare.
Whether il is wise, in view of the magnitude
of the public debt, the heavy taxation which il
compels and the innumerable demands upon the
treasury, to make any further gratuities to dis
CHARGED soldiers. we viii not now inquire, but il
certainly is not becoming in them 10 demand
such gratuties. No government ever dealt
more justly and generously with its defenders
than ours has done, They have received all and
more Than was promised to them on their en-
li;tmeut, and they share with other cir
liens the advantages Of q strong, united
and prosperous country, whose high place
among the nations OF the world is due
10 their own heroism and sef-devotiUn.
This was the reward which they set before
themselves as the price oil their labors and per
lis; they scorned the name of mucenareS, iu-
sutngly applied to them by the enemies OF
their counry, and would now Indignantly repet
the suggestion that their wounds, privations ard
dangers could be adequately compensated by
money or lands The wages and bounty offered
by the government, which were liberal in cOm-
parson with the pay Of other armies, should be
fully discharged and there has been no DISPOSE
ton anywhere TO withhold them, but aside from
that, the soldiers reward Is the consciousness oil
honorable performance of a patriotic duty and
the gratitude of his counlrymen, not always so
freely rendered a. it should be, but which really
exists and is manifested every day privately OF
publicly. WHAT moiei II may be best for the nation
to bestow is one thing, what it is becoming in
the soldiers to ask is quite another. We believe
that great majority Of the men who upheld
the honor Of our flg through those terrible
years OF war hold these views and that they
are not Adequately represented by the meeting
in St. Louis, 10 which we have referred
II it we're settled that sumo further compensa
ton ought to be offered 10 our surviving soldiers
we should still think the bill which has passed
the house an unwise and improper measure, be-
cause it must surely lall Of It's protested object
of giving the land or It's value 10 the ostenslbIe
benticialles, and would greatly foster an evil
which is strong and mischiegous enough at the
best, in spite of all precautions which have yet
been devised to destroy it II is safe, we sup
pose, 10. say, that ihcle are not less than one
million surviving soldiers oil the late war, each
of whom if the bill should become law, would
be entitled 10 a warrant for one hundred and
sixty acres Of land, to be located on any vacant
lands belonging 10 the government, including
the sections alternating with those granted
TO railroads, which arc held at a minimum
price double that Of government lands
in general. The issue of land warrants
would, therefore, amount to one hundred
and SIXTY million acres, covering terrific.
ry more than thirty times as large as Massaehu-
sets, and considerably larger than the whole
area of Texas, and all these warrants must be
located within a short lime, one year, if we re-
memoer rightly, but the precise length of time
is not material Does anybody suppose that
this vast number Of land warrants thus thrown
at once upon the market, as they must be, for
only very small part OF the recipients can per-
sonally locate their own, would be worth 10
those who receive them the minimum govern
ment price of the lands they represent, or one
half or tenth part Of that? Whoever thinks
so would soon be undeceyed if the bill should
pass.
The history of similar issues on a very much
smaller scale proves tins. Tue government
would paIt with lis land and thus cut off, ior
many years, all its receipts from that source,
recently pledged 10 the encouragement of edu-
cation, and those Tor whom The sacrifice is made
and whose claims alone were thought to be
strong enough 10 justify it, would receive only
a coutemptby small fraction Of the benefit pro-
fessedly secured 10 them, Or OF ihe value relin-
quished osteusiby ior their behoof. The per-
sons who would pioft by the measure are the
land spectators, not a class certainly who need
or deserve any special encouragement from the
government or the people. They have
always been the bane of The west
By monopoIiziug large tracts of land, re.
tardrng settlements probing by the lahors
and enterprise Of oIbds, while themselves
by Their selfish policy making these labors more
difficult and poslpening their reward. To cir
cumvent these Spectators has been the CHIEF
study Of honesl men IN congress when engaged
upon ldud legislatiou; but The measure proposed
IS duectly in their interest," and could not be
better adapted 10 advance their purposes if il
were eontnVed aud lobbied by Them, as it prob
ably has been and is. The extensive
grants OF lands TO railroads have been
severely censured and with some rea-
son. The policy at fist aud within mod.
crate limits was WISE but it was undoubied
ly carried too far. The railroads, however,
so far as they have been built, have
-ie+AN hNiAlu lNl luia BOuUlN5 WHICH,
in tie case Of some of them at LEAST,
was by 10 means inadequate to the benefits
they received. They have opened vast tracts OF
country, before almost inaccessible and pracii.
cally quite worthless, built up cities and towns
in The wilderness, aud promoted agriculture
mining, and other industries by opening mar.
ket for their products. But the land specula.
tors influence is JUST the ryerse; they keep
vacant lands that would otherwise be improved
drive away settlers and reiard tue development
of the country. 70 put into their hands quar-
ter of million square miles of land would be
TO incur all the evils Of extravagant railroad
land grants without obtaining any Of tae com
pensating advantages.
u the bill proposed only TO give 10 every sol.
der who chose to personally occupy end I'M
prove 1t t5e title to quarter section Of land, il
would meet with no opposition, except on the
ground that such provision has already been
made The discharged soldier not only shares
WIN other citizens the privileges Of the general
homestead law, but has some special advantages
unaer It. Il he knows Of tract Of land not
yet aHenacd by the government which he