Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-09-13

and without it the development Of the
country TO its present high state would
have been impossible. It has made posi-
BILE the settling up OF the country with the
homes for which we would have the soil re-
served from the grasp of the alien who has
an ambition to be landlord. That the
large holdings by aliens or others will
bring great amount Of property to the
assessment rolls of the country is undenia-
bic, nor the resultant contribution to the
wealth of the nation we admit but we
deny the Globes dogmatic assertion that
"we can stand great amount OF this kind
of business The limit is not nearly so
remote as our contemporary supposes.
Taxation and swollen assessment rolls are
not the chief ends and aims of government.
We prefer the smaller rolls and the In
creased poll lists; smaller holdings and
more homes fewer aliens and more citi-
zens fewer landlords and more freemen.
When the Globe and its followers tell ns
that there is no danger to the country from
the incoming OF alien capitalists upon our
lands, and that they will possess no inAu-
ence upon the politics and society of the
country, they repeat the stale arguments
that were advanced IN favor of the exten
sion of slavery. The alien landlord is the
master of his tenant as much so as if he
owned him, if he desires to be. "D Does
any one really think that the fe'o
aliens holding land in the United States are
likely to prove dangerous to our interests ?"
asks the Globe, and we reply-the few !?
no, but the few invite the many, and from
these there are dangers to be apprehended.
No conhagration burts into flame at once /;
all things have their beginnings, and all be-
ginnings are small. Want of fxity in the
occupation of the soil is always defect in
national character, and alien land owner
ship promotes that evil. Our own should
be taught the value that resides in land
holding independence, and the historic
truth that national decay is always pre-
ceded by loss of personal interest in the
soil. One of the most distinguished politi-
cal economists of the age has said of that
which the Globe makes food for sneers
SIT is admitted on all hands, and has been
authenticated in one country after another
in the most distinct language, that the re-
lations of citizens to one another in respect
of land is one of the most prominent de.
partments OF political science" But in
the estimation of the Globe it is bug
bear" question that "makes noise
wholly disproportionate to its Importance.
The Globe in short, believes, and says,
that "those who fear danger from land
monopolization by aliens are 'mush-
Drained reformers, working at long range"
Yet in the next breath it confesses the
whole case by the remark that long before
the monopolization of land in Amer
lea can do US any serious in
Jury, "the estates in question will
be broken up under the operation of our
laws" We incline to concurrence in that
belief, but the difference between the Globe
and the " mush- Drained reformers is this,
that the latter prefer to prevent than to
break up prefer present small reform,
if the Globe pleases, to later great revo-
luton, for the mush- Drained do not for
get, as does the wise journal of st. Louis,
that in the life of every nation there comes
q time when the whole of the desirable
soil of the country is appropriated, and the
question of its ownership, as related to the
demands of the population and the civiliza-
ton of the people, becomes the one only
and overshadowing question. Also, that
while population may be indefinitely
created and reproduced, the soil cannot be;
the one has limit, the other has none.