Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1875-09-03

over which, millions -ofithe unoccupied
and starving people Of the States and
Of Europe could travel to lands flow
ing with milk and honey" they meet
with the insane cry Of, mo more sub
sides, keep the public domain for TACT
Iual settlers" And this put into par
ty platforms by vote hunting dema'
gogues, ishowled. from every stump
lbyjmea: who are, as ignorant Of the
subject as they are Of the "rule IN
Shelly's case," and then echoed in the
halls of Congress by great statesmen
who know as little Of the public do
main as the monkey used to the
malaria of tropical swamps knows OF
the pure air of the summit OF Ch'mbo-
razo: men who are so conceited that
they dare not go to look for them
selves for fear that when they go West
the East will tip. Men talk of this
subject as if they imagined land was
scarce out West, and that when used
for building railroads, the owners of
| it annihilated it or carried it of to
some other planet beyond the reach
Of the actual settlers They forgot
how many millions of millions of acres
there are lying idle, and must forever
lie idle unless opened to emigration
by railroad. They forget that when
donated for railroad purposes the land
is still for sale, and ready for the ''act-
ual settler" and that il! he should pay
dollar an acre more for it, that
with railroad he would not
give one acre of the land for
legues of it without a railroad. Then
he is not compelled 10 buy the railroad
land at all, for the thousands or alter
nate sections still belonging to the
government will be for sale, which
with the road To market. are AS value
less as the desert of Sahara Aud
again, if any actual settler desires
| it, he can select still. as now, from
, the untold millions Of lands unaffected
bv railroads or railroad grants. Men
either expect the actual settler is
going To locate on the plains hundreds
and thousands ot miles from market.
or that ii is better that the lands lie
forever fallow in iLc. ls,ili nwai,ng
the advent OF an imaginary actual
settler" than tn use par; of it To Sc
cure market for all, and make ii pos
slblc, for the actual settler" to occupy
it, Why should not the government
treat It's lands and its actual settlers.
as father would treat his lands and
his children? 4 sensible man, if Inc
owned thousand acres of land, five
hundred miles from market, would not
hold it idle, for his sons. but would act
the wiser dart, and give onc.half of i,
to get q road y market hear the other
half, even if Tho donated half would
be utterly annihilatcd; but all the
more so when he knows that the por
ton he gave away will be for sale, and
that his sons will have not only the
rich inheritance, made valuable by1
their fathers wisdom, but also the OPP
portunity to purchase, for fair cornpcn-
sation, adjoining land, once worthless,
but now as valuable as their own.
Without railroads thousands Of square
miles Of ricl, lands in all the Territor-
les, that will be for ages unimproved
and unproductive, bringing no pur-
chase money or taxes into the govern
ment treasury, while the supposed act
ual settler is loaiing in the slums and
|grog shops Of Eastern cities, engaged
in the avocation Of voting periodically
for the statesmen whose wisdom shuts
him out of natures great garden oil