Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-09-01
PUBLIC LANDS AND THE DEMOCRATIC
RECORD.

declaration reaffirming ''the policy of ap-
propriating the public lands of the United
States to be homesteads for American citi-
zens and settlers not aliens" etc He
thinks that the party is scarcely in a posi-
ton to thus declare in the face of its pro-
motion Of the scheme of giving land houn-
ties to secure the construction Of railroads,
and asserts his pride in the fact that not
one acre of land was ever thus devoted by
Congress under Democratic control. The
Republican party has nothing to be
ashamed of in this respect. Every acre it
has given has twice and thrice over been
lpaid for in benefits to the Government in
estimable and innumerable; every acre
thus devoted was factor in developing
the territory of the nation with unexam-
pied rapidity every acre given in aid
of the construction of the pioneer transcon-
tinental railroads was an additional bond
linking the Pacific coast and the great
cluster of States beyond the Rocky Mount
aims. Such donations were death-blows to
an unholy rebellion prosecuted from the
heart of the Democratic party.
1t i'll becomes any sincere friend Of the
Democratic party to refer to the home
stead laws, that have given more than
half million of the people agricultural
homes, and have been chief factors in the
settlement and development of the States
and Territories of the West, adding vast
wealth to the nation, peopling the plains
and hills with sturdy and industrious
class, and laying the foundations for rich
and populous States. No measure respect
ing the public lands has been ladened with
such blessings to the poor man as the
homestead laws, against which the Demo-
cratic wing of Congress always and uni
| formly cast its solid strength and its every
vote. The homestead law became effective
January, 1862 and since then under it
93,O00,000 acres of land have been occu-
pied under it-an area larger than all New
England, New York and Ohio. In 1859
the idea of free homesteadS took definite
form in the House, and egery negatiUe gote
uGS Democratic. In 1S60-61 it re-appeared
in well-digested bill, and again every cote
against 1t wGs Democratic and erery Repub-
tican Representative yoted for it. The bill
finally passed both houses, and James
Buchanan, Democratic President, on the
last day of his term vetoed it. It was one
of the acts Of the Democracy that helped
bury the party beneath the Indignation of
freemen for twenty-three years. In 1860
the bill to give waste lands in aid of agri-
cultural colleges had been brought for
ward, and true to its animosity to free soil
and broad education, the Democracy,
through its President, killed it with
veto. Not until Abraham Lincoln, the
first of Republican Presidents was be-
slowed upon the nation in the hour of its
greatest need, did any homestead bill be-
come law.
1t is ill-timed for Democratic advocate
to raise the question of homestead laws
and railroad grants. The disposition of
the lands in aid of the transcontinental
roads and of homestead settlements en-
hanced doubly the value of all remain
ing Government lands and made market
for them not before possible. 1t conferred
blessings upon half million and more of
people who otherwise would, in all probabil-
lty, have never become possessed of
home. 1t laid the foundation of the Union
broader and deeper. II made accessible
vast region Heretofore ventured into only
at great peril. 1t provided military and
posts roads of utmost Importance; it brought
into close communication widely separated
regions of the country, and put the most
distant producer at the very doors of all
the markets of the continent. 1t rendered
easy that exchange of products which lies !
at the base of true commerce. 1t dotted |
the great plains with villae es, towns and
cities, and converted deserts into gardens |
1t made these granted lands more than re-
pay the Government their value, by un-
precedented development of the waste
places of the continent. 1t advanced the
future of the nation, by half century,
upon the path of progress and upbuilding.
1t was wise action, true craftsmanship and
patriotic prescience.
The distinguished Democrat who writes
in the Forum may dwell at such length as
contents him, upon the progress of the
Democracy in restoring unearned land
grants to the public domain-which with
out the Republican Senate it could not
have done-but ii can in no wise atone for,
or obliterate the political crime and moral
blunder of the party, in uniformly and
bitterly opposing the dedication of the
public lands as homes for the people