San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-02-21
AGAINST LAND MONOPOLY.

Written for the LIGHT
The legislature of Kansas, which
under the control of the alliance, ma
passed q law requiring nonresident
owning lands In that state, 10 Sol
them within ten years, under th'
penalty of forfeiting them. This Ia"
is, on it's face, q violation OF the con-
stitution of the federal constitution,
as we'll as a gross attack upon the
rights of property. Nearly century
AGO several of the states imposed a
much higher tax upon the lands OF
nonresident land owners. but the
courts unhesitatingly declared II I'M
constitutional, and if L recollect
aripbt. the supreme court of the
| United States gave the finishing
blow to this sort of legislation.
This Kansas law Is in plain viola
ton OF Section 2, Art. ", as we'll as
amendments V. and XIV. of the con-
stitution of the United States, and is
therefore void alb milton. The consti-
tuition forbids the forfeiture of prop
erty except for treason, and limits the
duration of such forfeiture to she life
of the person convicted of treason,
and this Kansas law violates this
clause in the most fragrant manner,
as IL Furnishes persons who ale not
guilty of the semblsnce of a crime.
The federal constitution also declares,
in still another clause, that mo per-
son shall be deprived of life, liberty
or property, without due process of
law" yet this Kansas law pro.
poses to take away property
without shadow of justice
ground, either in law or equity. 1t is
q high handed confiscation of proper
ty, instigated by set of Missionaries,
who ought now to be wearing straight
waistcoats in a lunatic asylum, in
instead of fabricationg laws in this
enlightened age.
Even was this law constitutional,
it would still be indefensible on
reason and common sense, and be
mischievous in the highest degree.
It's sole effect would be to prevent
non-residents from investing money
in lands in Kansas, even by loaning
1t upon mortgages, as they might be
forced to buy the mortgaged lands in
order to secure their deot. The lands
Of nonresident owners pay their pro
portionate share of the state and
county taxes, in which they are
situated, even If the owners
resides In Texas, or Ohio. 1 am
no advocate of any policy, VIII CHI
withdraws land from actual settle
ment and tillage, in order to obtain
higher prices for it at some remote
period In the future.
am, from principal and conviction,
opposed to allowing corporations to
own larger bodies of land than are
needed for buildings, mills, factories,
&C., and believe laws should be pass.
ed to prevent such things. But no
law can strip person of his vested
rights. A nation is moral and sem
tient being and as such ought not to
stoop to injustice and oppression. Ibe-
lieve 1t would be competent for leg
islature to pass law, that from
and after its passage, no person
shall own more than 1000 acres of
tillable land in any one county In the
state, restricting its operation to flu
ture purchases. Such q law would
prevent the concentration of land in
the hands of q few rich individuals
and give homes to thousands ofindus-
trious men Unused to toll. In Belgium
the average size of the farms is eight
acres, it has a denser population to
the square mile than any nation of
Europe. In England, by means of the
law of entail, $4,000 persons own all
the land, not embraced in the towns
and cities, and large proportion of
1t, is given up to parks and pleasure
grounds-withdrawn from cultivation
and set apart for mere ornament.
Let US take warning from the mis-
takes of the old nations of Europe
and commence, in time, to prevent the
concentration of immense tracts of
land in the hands of few indi-
viduaIs. What caused the anti-rent
troubles in New York some forty-five
years ago? Several wealthy men of
the Knickerbocker stock, owned
almost entire counties, which they
refused to sell, and insisted upon
renting. Their ancestors had pro-
cured from Holland, grants of i'm
mense tracts of land in the interior OF
New York, while still in the posses
sion of the Indians.
In the name of common sense, let
the American people shun the blum
ders of the European nations, and
guard against all monopolies of land.
BALMORAL.
The "COrsair"
Rice's "Corsair" company, of which