The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-02-04
LAND AND LABOR.

Chairman O'Neill, of the house committee
on labor. President Cleveland said: Il
appreciate the effect upon the merchants
OF the country OF the constantly increas>
ing nse OF labor saving machinery. and
can think of no more practical relief for
our unemployed surplus labor than the
occupation by it of the public lands. |
do not hesitate to say that ain heartily
in favor of any feasible plan for the Gu
couragement-and assistance, if need be
be-of prospective American settlers up
on the public domain by the general gov
eminent He also expressed himself in
bunt, emphatic words against the abs
sorption of large tracts of our soil 10y
foreign capitalists and corporations.
Thus far the presidents deliberate ex-
preston of opinion on this subject has
provoked but little comment. although
being man of slow and studious mental
habits this utterance of his merits unusus
al notice. He weighs his words and is
not speaking for any Oratorical or dema,
gogic effect To begin with, he is fatty,
unnlterably opposed to the land grabbing
schemes of either native or foreign cor
porations, and his attitude counts for q
good deal when we recollect that Land
Commissioner Sparks proposes TO cons
pass the legal forfeiture of more than
100000. 600 acres of uEearthed railroad
lands. besides expelling swindlng cattle
companies from unmeasured leagues
of the public domain. To evicl
these fraudulent squatters is u
good beginning signal victory for the
people, but to plant the actual cultivators
upon the territory thus reclaimed is task
involving many new and formidable con-
ditions. 1t is pretty definitely settled
that we shall not henceforth donate EN-
pires as subsidies TO railroad corporations.
but it is equally true that the prairie has
moved farther and farther away from the
centre of population until now the man
who would take advantage of the home
stead and presumption acts finds that it
costs about as much TO get to his farm us
to secure and stock it. Without cash
capital approximsting $1,000 it is cx
tremely hazardous to undertake agricul-
ture nowaday, and how few of the un>
skilled laborors or average mechanics of
our cities can amass any such sum- Mean
tire the struggle for existence and the
constant flow of emigration show no de-
crease of tension, while new labor saving
machines are invented every day.
To locate an industrious man on an I'M
encountered farm is to make him truly
independent. No matter how commerce
or values fluctuate he will always be able
to feed and shelter himself and his family
II he cannot sell his surplus produce he
can feed it to his live stock But
how to get him there-ahl there's the
rub. Senator Blair has cumbrous
and complex scheme for doing it.
which mixes up agrarian speculation.
socialism and tontine insurance in
curious medley. His project. however,
is not half as clear or acceptable as that
which was devised and formulated many
years ago by Horace Greeley and his CO.
workers. They proposed to organize a
gigantic stock company under govern
ment supervision and with government
aid to purchase huge tracts of public land
wherein cultivators would become en-
cOuraged and assisted TO settle by means
of adequate advances until their profits
should enable them to procure unfettered
titles to their holdings. We are not pre-
pared to say that the people OF the United
States would sanction the loan of public
moneys to carry out any such apparently
sociallstlc enterprise today; nevertheless
1t is II fact that private capital might
lueratively embark in it on large scale
Half the farms of the northwest at pres
sent are blighted by mortgages drawing
from eight to twenty per cent interest
per annum. At a time when United
States three per cent bonds are selling
above par 1t is evident that capital could
be securely invested at five or six pc;
cent in the patriotic and philanthropic
work of assisting thousands OF families
to settle down on agricultural holdings
to be purchased by easy instruments
The details are not difficult, but who will
undertake to be the pioneer in the good
work.
The disagreeable operation of forcing