Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-31
BENTON ON PUBLIC LANDS.

BENTON ON PUBLIC LANDS.
The views of the great Democratic
oracle, Thomas H. Benton, with respect
to the proper disposition of public lands,
which are elsewhere reprinted from his
''Thirty Years View - are, as he him
self says of the principles of Edmund
Burke, "applioable to all sovereign
landed possessions, whether of kings or
republics applicable in all countries. -
They apply with greater force, i'll the
light of later verifying experience, to the
land policy of Texas than they did to the
Federal system which Mr. Benton so
persistently and successfully attacked.
That system in his day, to use his own
pungent language, "'made merchandise
of lands to its citizens-exacted the
highest price it could obtain-and
refused to suffer the country to
be settled until it was paid
for. - Almost alone, the "great COM
moner' began the fight for the settlement
of the West, through the medium of
y
opposed by the representatives of Eastern
sections, who desired to use the public
lands to enrich the public purse, by the
force of irresistible argument he drew to
his support that greater oracle of his
party, Andrew Jackson, and together
they achieved victory for the interests
Of development over the interests of sell
ifshness.
In all its essential features, Mr.. Ben
ton 5 review of this contest is discus
sion of the issues with which
the people of Texas have to deal
to-day. The present land policy of Tex
as is, in an aggravated form, the policy
against which Thomas Benton contended.
It seeks to make merchandise of the
public lands-exacting the highest price
It can obtain-and refuses to suffer the
country to be settled until it is paid for. -
It is the conception of men whose theory
was that great landed estate might be
entailed and so managed as to produce
sufficient revenue to defray one-half of the
yearly expenses Of the state. This idea
was clearly expressed by ex-Land Com
missioner Walsh, who occupies more
nearly a parental relation to the present
land system than any other man who
has helped to formulate 1t. In his re-
port to Governor Roberts, dated Septem-
Der l, 1882, discussing the question of
the disposition of the lands, Mr. Walsh
said:
Under the present plan of making absolute sale
Of these lands il is but question of a few years
when the state shall have parted with every acre
possessing an intrinsic value. If, then, we fig
ure up so many millions of acres at so much per
acre, we easily reach the maximum unchange-
able amount of our permanent fund, TO the inter-
Est of which we must look for the available fund
Of the future. But who can figure up for US the
increase Of our scholastic population? And how
ong will the interest of this stationary fund
yield appreciable per capita forthe children of
our growing state? 1t requires but hasty glance
our educational statistics to discover that the
greatly increased sales of these lands in the past
wo years, have added little or nothing
o the amount per head of our scho-
astic population. If, then, this sale for
money VIII AlStu DllL increase OF our
chooI facilities, it behooves US to seek in time
ome othsr method for their management Rails
ng the price does not change the question, but /
imply postpones the.fnaI catastrophe and, in /
he interest of free education. see but one |
curse left ana that Is to lease all pasture, (at
hatltime all western lands werelthus classified |
Editor GAzETTE), timber and mineral lands for
term of years, and sell, IF AT ALL, only to
etual settlers. 1t is not necessary TO burthen |
his report with the figures, but it is easily /
emonstrable that rent can be secured, which
rill nearly, if not quite, equal the interest or
NY sum for which they can now be
old and while thus securing an available fund
or present use, retain the title an eper ia
roasing principal, which, at least for years to
ONE. VIII keep pace with our growing popn,a-
ion Why, then, should not the state
n the interest of schools and of the home-seek-