Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-10-16
THE LAND QUESTION.
Land.Bolding IN the Colonies and
Under the Confederation
and Constitution.
A threatening Present Evii--The Duty OF
ConEress--A Few Facts Tor
Confederation.
BY Prof. Herbert h. Adams. john IloptlHsu d

royersr OF North America was II q erst
word in American history. T. le land
question has always been nrst "a Aren.
can politics. The recent cong coss hss in
deed pat away the subject Of aerarian re-
form, es the present parlla 6Rnt VIII per-
hsps Try TO put away home erule; but cer-
tain factors in poKtlcs are constant.
Agrarian interests and sslf-gv7ernmens
are paramount la TIE J. 4fe OF a ration, and
any public policy Uhic IA ignores the one
OF the other will s ooner or later bring
economic distress or political calamity
England, by her historic policy of en-
failing great laKded est ates aud iucloeing
public land in private parks, has brought
upon herself sOmfi d the economic evils
which ruined the Roman empire ana led
Pling 20 sty 'Latifuudia perdidere
Italian ct prJvinclas, n-great landed
estates have destroyed ITALY and tie pro-
vinces. This country, by Its enormous
land grants to, railroads and by the tolera-
lion Of Outra Eeous lard grabbing under
the presumption, tmber-culture and
desert-hnd acts, Will expose our common
people 70 ultimate agrarian Distress as
surely as Rome do hers when she al
lowed pasrician ranch owners to usurp
the peoples land fer great past res, or as
Great Britain does to-day by mat policy
which permits Mr.. Wiuaus TO convert a
great laad-belt OF Scotland, reaching from
sea 90 sea, into deer-park and to tram
pie upon the rights Of crcftera. Land
monopoly Is the worst OF ali economic
grievances in English and irish politics.
The love Of land has been q root of great
est evil In ancient and modern societies.
II congress thinks to escape its manifest
duty Of agrarian reform by lodging and
delay, It willonly entail greater evils and
greater condemnation.
II IS worth the while for the American
citizen 70 reflect for moment upon the
part which the land question has already
played In orr national economy. II one
may judge from the past, agrarian inter
ests are not likely to diminish in the
future. Few Americans stop to think
that the very colonization Of their country
was and is the attempt Of landless men
from Europe to answer fer themselves
the problem which Statesmen have avoid
ed. To emigrEnts from the old world
the prospect Of cheap land IN Ameri-
ca has been greaier attraction than all
others combined. IL Is greater now than
In the days OF the FIRST settlement OF New
England, when the Rev. Francis Higgln-
son Of Salem wrote home In the Interest
of the Massachusetts land company,
which had sent him out, with expenses
paid; "Great ptty 1t is TO see 80 much
good ground Tor corn and grass as any
under the heavens, 10 lie altogether un-
occupied, when so many honest men and
their families IN Old England, through
the populousneas thereof, do make very
hard shift to 1.-Two one by the other"
COLONIAL LAND HOLDING.
and luldiuu N free and cOus g,tpy, ca
cage, according TO the custom OF the
king'e manor OF East Greenwich, In the
county OF Kent Is the enonomlc founda-
ton OF eur local liberties end se.f-goyern-
ment In America. Independent land ten
ure in farms, townships, parishes coun.
ties and colonies was the original prlncl-
pie OF home-rule, which anally asserted
itself in federal form in these United
States. This was the 1rst or colonial
answer to the land question. The
Whele country was to be as free as
every freeman upon his freehold.
Is there anything more Fundamental in
American history than this simple fact Of
territorial independence, which began
locally In suoh farms as those OF Licking
ton and Concord, and ended nationally
WHEN che "enbattled farmers stood and
fred the shot heard round the world ?p
This original homestead act OF the Amerl-
can people Is thing for congress TO re-
member and extend by good Legislation
rather than 70 thwart In any way by per-
hitting the ro-entrauce OF English land
lordlsm and the subversion OF home.
steads.
LAND UNpER TuE CONFEDERATION.
The second or revolutionary phase OF
the land question began with the first
confederation of the United States I'm
that loose, diplomatic form represented
by the old congress. How TO provide for
the expsnses OF the war for independence,
that was the hrst economic question,
There were no means OF revenue,
no surplus OF silver dollars I'm
the treasury. The only avaIla-
BILE resource OF the country
was Western land, which could be used,
2 as In the French and Indian wars, for
.bounties and payment to the soldiers.
But some statea like Virginia, New York,
Massachusetts, and Connecticut by their
charters aud Indian treaties, had Western
land In abundance, Other states like
Maryland had noae. IL was the old quos-
tlon OF land monopoly versus the com
mon rights OF the people.
Maryland Justly. claimed that the West.
ern lands had been won from the French
and Indians by the blood and treasure OF
III ehS ishSAnu CoAuuichi anu lnhL charter |
claims and treety.htles no longer held
after The land west OF the Alleghanies had
been made "orown land" by the mother
country As early as l777, when the
articles OF confederation were Arst pro. |
posed the Maryland delegates moved
that the land claims of the individual
states should be eeded 20 the .Uulted
States. She was che ouly state that
voted for this necessary ISOLATION OF the
land question. 1t coon became the
greatest question in American politics.
Upon Its national decision hung the fate
OF the war for independence. provision
for the war-debt or payment Of The conti-
mental army, and the very foundation oil
the Union. Maryland steadfasily refused
to join the United States, although her
troops did their part Ia the war, uatil
the principle OF land monopoly had been
renowned for the public good. At last,
IN lISi, this was virtually promised aud
that year the Union was made complete.
The lands west Of the Alleghanies thus
became the public land Of the nation.
Upon this economic cOrnor.slona our /