New-York tribune., 1878-03-30
HOMES IN THE FAR WEST.
LETTER FROM ELIHu BURRTTT.

To the EditOr Of The Tribune.
SIR: 1t has long been popular impression ana
saying that corporations have no sous.' An I'M
preston as deep and wide seems to exist that our
Republican Government is or ought to be such a
CORPORATION that somehow it is inconsistent with
its Constitution and character to be susceptible OF
common human sympathy with the condition Of
individual men and women reduced to great
poverty and distress by some calamity which they
could not foresee nor avoid And. what should
give serious reflection to thoughtful minds, this
heartless Indifference OF inactivity is often cited as
q proud distinction which elevate our Govern
rnent over European governments, monarcmeal or
Republican. We see what England did in the irlsh
famine; what she is doing to relieve the victims OF
the Indian famine Also what she has been dong
at home for generations space in loanlng money
to individuals for draining the land they till TO
make il more productive. She does more than this;
she has taken up the work herself, and drained
thousands upon thousands of acres with her own
hands for individuals, being reimbursed for the
outlay by small percentage on the rent spread
over many years. But il has become almost
common boast with our politicians ana
leaders of political opinion that 1t would
be inconsistent and undIgnifed i'll our Repu0-
lican Government to entertain any such paternai
sensbiitics or assume any such paternal relations
tons seem SO repugnant to certain politicians that
one might believe they would prefer an absolute
monarchy to a pateFnal republic. Recently pro-
position was introduced In Congress to extend
Government aid in the shape of loans to laboring
men, to help them to make themselves homes on the
public lands. No grants Of money were asked, but
simply small loans to individual workingmen. the
gradual repayment of which should be secured on
their holdings. Immediately some Of the leading
journals Of the country. if such an expression may
be admitted, smelt agraranism in the proposition,
or an effort to turn glorious Republic into
"paternal Government"
Now every country is more or less dominated by
certain catchwords, which are based upon 10 reason
but are accepted as axiOms of WISDOM because they
emanate from some popular authority How much
two savings Of Napoleon have cost England and
other European natons--as, "lf you scratch
Russian you will find Tartar" and "The Power
that possesses ConstanhnOple viii master the
world" OF something to that effect Our American
caichwOrd about q "paternal Government is
equally devoid of all truth and reason. would in-
te the minded reader 70 bring this catch
word under the focus OF truth and reason and see
how completely devoid Of either it appears under
the test. The cases to which 1t is applied show
what il meant by those who use it, Perhaps an ex-
their argument Tho Prodgal Son demanded the
portion of his fathers estate that was TO fall to him
in the end The father yielded to his importantly,
and divided Otto him probably one-hrd of the fam
Iy property Now those who make so much of this
American catchword, to bc consistent would call
this transaction "a mere business arrangement be-
tween the father and They would say that
there was nothing "paternal" in the fathers feel
ing and act. But. if he had given his eldest son
kid TO make supper for his friends, that would
have been paterna because he not only the
eldest SON. but the patient, industrious workingman
of the family, always obedent TO his fathers will,
aud always ready TO bear the heat and burden Of
the day on the farm.
II seems to me that this illustrates the position of
the regulators and calumniators OF governmental
as truthfully any parallel case that
could be chosen. II is only the giving OF kid 20
the eldest that they call and dencunce as pa
ternal For the eldest son is only patient, plod
ding workngman, with sunbunt face and large
rongh hands. They may admit that lie is
the first born son of the republic, but not
entitled to its paternal sympathy OF aid
even in times of distressing emergency. The
Youngest son is Incorporated Capital, a differ
ert being altogether, and well worthy of the Govern
mcnt's cntiro regard and fostering care. When he
comes and demands division of the family estate.
and receives one hundred and twenty millions of its
best acres, and Government scrip to the amount OF
fifty or sixty millions of dollars, there is nothing
patcrnal in that; ID is only business transaction
between father and son, like that in Scripture.
When he comes and demands and receives protec-
ton," or a duty on foreign competition Of 80 or
60 per cent that shall compel the workingmen and
women OF the nation to pay that amount more for
his manufactures than others of the same quality
II 4 a..
ternal in that it's only business arrangement.
hen our Government grants millions Of dollars to
improve the navigation of rivers and the safety and
capacity of harboTs there is nothing paternal In all
that. but a Qnid pro quo matter of business.
But to loan dollar to of the million of aboring
men who has been waiting Tor employment until he
has spent his last cent and pawned his only bed that
would be paternal that would approximate our
glorious Republic in sentiment and act to the eiote
of Europe. There would be no quid pro
qao in such an unprecedented and undignifed trans.
action even if the hard-handed man, when planted
on few acres of the public domain, should pay
faithfully and yearly on his tive-hundred dollar loan
the interest which Pacific Railway capital refuses or
delays TO pay on the fifty millions lent it by the
Government.
This then. is and must be the only real meaning
of ptterRai, "a term used by those who apply it
the gift of n kid to the eldest son. whose sweat and
toll have made the wealth of the family estate. But
it is not kid which our bronze-faced and hard
handed asks for q social feast with his friends.
lie is more moderate in his desires and expecta-
tiOns. He only asks the means to plant himself on q
small homestead on the public domain where he can
earn and pay the qaid for the little aid advanced to
him for this purpose. Why not make and call this
little loan business transaction, as well as the
enormous grants to the railroad companies What
is the qad pro Qao they pretend to make the nation
First. "to develop the resources OF the country"
This is the everlasting text aud type of their argu-