New-York tribune., 1878-03-02
THE UNCULTIVATED WEST
LETTER FROM ELIHU BURRITT.

TAnIISH FROM THE EAST.
TO the EdGfOF OF Thc Tribune
SIR: Nature has also political economy founded
On revealed aud eternal laws which neither mon
archics nor republics can violate with impuniiy.
"What God has joined together let no man pu
asunder" rs an injunction OF wider sweep than th'
intimate relationships of human society. The law
that joins together man and woman IN conJug2l ii'
rests on the same basis OF necessity the law tha
joins together labor and land In the first days o
the creation these were so intimately united IN tA
motive OF its very existence, that the ouly rcaso
then revealed for making man was that he shout :
subdUc and till the earth, which was formed al"
fitted for this express purpose. The Two eai4iot U'
ruf asuuder by any human policy without incuy
ring the consequences of violated aW III loss and
suffering. Nor can they be kept &Gundcr, or thci
union be prevented, without the penalty that fol
lows a sin of omission. Whoever travels over The
wild or thnly ly-pccped regions of the earth VIII
what comes of keeping asunder labor and land.
And on Other continent can thus dePlOrah,c con
sequence be more sirAingly seen than the public
domain of this country.
There is 10 other country in the world where SO
much labor and much land kept asundcr as il
the United States. And millions upon millions o
our people are deeply feeling the penalty of this vio
lation of the law of God and nature. Until ON
Government does works meet for repentance OF the
infraction of this law, no political or financial re-
form can lift the nation out Of the bog Of IFS pres
ent condition. 1t is in valu for Us 20 expect this
condition will emerge to tie hard footing and happy
sunlight of permanent prosperity unless the Govern
nnent puts its shoulder to the wheel in a strong.
bold measure unless it ceases TO hold asunder what
God and nature have joined together, or the bcs
labor aud the best land ever given to a nation.
Hunger has sharp teeth, and will not only "eai
through stone walls but something harder sJill. i
has more than once eaten through the procuStcGn
adamant of political economy which science had
claimed should never yield 20 the sudden ahnoT-
nal necessities Of humanity. The basest things OF
the world upset this hcaTtloSs CODE and broke its
Mede-and- Persian hasps The potato did il. That
honoly aid rusty vegetable Withdrew its supply
Of food for a single season, and nation OF
100000 was reduced to distress. The
regulation type of political economy that
leaves all such emergencies to be met by the spon-
taneous law of demand and supply was powereSs
and UNDECIDED in face of the terrible necessity The
English Government voted $40, 000 for tie
lief OF famiuc-strckcn Ireland But how was this
relief to be administered Through work-houses
and poor-houSes No but as wages for labor. il
spite of the reveTed decalogue Of political economy
the State Lad 10 furnish labor Tor the starVin-
thousands and pay them every night for their work
See what has happened in this appalling Indian
famine. which will cost the Government $390,0O0-
600 besides an amount OF individual contributions
unparalleled in the history of the world How are
these millions Of Government money dispensed 10
the sufferers I As wages for employment provided
by the State. The claims Of labor to sustenance by
the sweat of its brow had to b. recognized and sat-
isfed by the State in spite OF al the theories oi
political economy that would leave labor to take
care OF itself under all possible conditions.
If the rights, interests and claims of labor onght
TO be sacred IN the eyes OF any human Government.
that should be the Government of this country. We
shall not be exposed to a potato famine, cotton
famine or an Indian rice famine. Bat it seems
sin against nature even that we should have this
labor famine upon hundreds of thousands OF able
bodied men on tie verge Of starvation, with half
continent unpeopled and ncultyated-bconging
to the Nation We may depend upon it that the
teeth of hunger in this country arc as sharp as in
Ireland or India They will through the walls
OF that political economy which ouT National Gov
ernment and State Governments have made SO i'm
precnable to labor and so yielding 10 capital Up
TO the present both these legislative powers have
talked and acted if they yielding to danger
ous sheresy to loan labor dollar provide for il en-
ployment for the public good. Where 1t has
asked bread or chance to earn it, they have given
it a stone. But TO incorporated capital 1t has said:
"Seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened to you" And II has sought and Knocked.
and the Treasury of the Nation and It's vast landed
estate have been opened wide TO satisfy It's unscru-
pu!ous greed. One hundred and twenty millions of
the choicest acres of our public domain have been
given to the Pacific railways, and millions upon
millions of dollars in the form of guaranteed bonds.
which they are unable unwilling to pay, either
principal or interest How remarkable that q Coy
ernmcnt that pretends to any honest perception Of
justice should have two such opposite codes Of econ
olny, one for capital the other for labor.
The condition deplore will become perma-
nent or periodical unless our Government returns
TO first principles or to the policy which colo
NAL Legislatures adopted in the carly settlement Of
the country They did not leave labor and land to
drift together by accident. When the four-tOwn
Colony of Connecticut granted townships space
of wild land TO a company of fifty or sixty proprie-
tors it was with the express condition that every
one Of them should build house upon his allot-
nent of prescribed size, and occupy ii himself, or
supply it with a bona fde tenant within four years
or forfeit lis holding. What God and nature had
Joined together the colony determined should not
DC kept asunder by speculative capital. Had our
National Government adopted this principle and
policy in regard to ITS vast grants of the public
domain TO railway companies, we should never have
witnessed these goTgcs of unemployed labor at al
the manufacturing cities of the country. II is im
possible TO mobilize these myTads OF impoverished
men waiting for employment by offering them n
homestead of wild land beyond the Mississippi. Il
is Offering them stoue when they ask for bread. 1t
is invitinga wounded man bound to tree 20 for
his lite. Bat a opportunity and motive may now
be urged upon Government tomake virtue Of
necessity and rcctily this mistake. These Pacific
Railways are owing it vast sums OF money and still
asking for more land and guaranteed bonds. They
will never pay up these arreArages without some
,1. t.tt