Year: 1870

fore us asking for grants Of the public
lands to aid in the construction of rail
roads, and others demanding similar
grants for other projects, and take this
opportunity to express my hostility tC
them all, and to enter my protest against
the further disposal of a single acre Oi
the public lands, except for purposes OF
actual settlement and cultivation. II
there are enterprises which should be
aided, or internal Improvements which
should be encouraged and assisted by
Government, / would prefer to render
that assistance in something the value OF
which we appreciate, and not in lands in
whose value this Congress has, in my
opinion, no Just conception.


To those who come here from the en-
bellished farms and elegant homes OF
New England, the cultivated fields OF
Ohio, or the verdant prairies of the West
ern States, now fragrant with blossoms,
the long stretches of unbroken prairie
and tangled wilderness of the far West
may appear to be utterly worthless, and
this idea is supported in some degree by
the fact that the Government offers these
lands for an insignificant sum per acre,
and few men are now attracted thither.
But l beg gentlemen to consider that it
does not BY any means follow that these
lands are valuless because the nation at
this period of her growth does not need
them, or because her citizens are not
eager to accept them at the paltry
price asked by the Government. The
life of man is said to be three-score
years and ten the life of a nation IS
measured by centuries.


The vr-ico v.,o77 1pae r7of in ir1ifa fJOTo
of Esau, sell his birthight for a mess of
pottage, or throw it away because he
cannot in a day realize, consume, or en-
enjoy it all. On the contrary, he econ
omizes, and thus makes provision for an
increasing family. A nation should do
the same Craftsmanship, apprehend,
is simply the application of practical
common sense to national affairs. These
lands Just now have little value in the
market; not because they are Valueless,
not because they are not worth to the
nation far more than the Government
price per acre, but because now, more
and nearer to the centers of
trade and civilization within the organ
lied States, there are more lands than
our population requires for It's mainten-
ancc.



a population of forty millions; thirty
years hence we. will have. a hundred
two Hundred years hence, a
short time IN the life of a nation, and
who can estimate the number?


1t is well that we have not the strength
to develop and seize upon all the wealth
which the land is capable of producing,
for the exravagant spirit of the day
4 ta
queath to our successors poverty and
suffering. The forests and prairies of
this continent have for thousands of
ton. What the Creator was SO long in
preparing for our use we should not be
in hot haste to consume. These will be
throughout all time necessary to the
comfort, happiness and elevation of
man; not the men of this generation
merely, but for those who are to follow
us as we'll The West should be regard
cd as not only the inheritance of our
children, but of the poor of the Old
World who may desire to leave their
fields for others more fer
tile


Banks may fail, houses and merchan-
disc may be swept away, but so long as
the Government holds these vast tracts
of land in its own possession the poor men
of this and other countries will have
place Of refuge from the shafts of adver-
sity, home where industry and thrift
will render them independent and hap
py. Can you put a price on life, health,
independence or comfort Can these
things be measured by gold ? No more
can you estimate the value of the acres
which you are giving by the hundred
millions to soulless corporations, and for
what? For doing a few years earlier
what they would in good time do with
out lands or subsidies. Shall we as leg
islatogs think only of the present? Shall
we give no thought to the unnumbered
millions who throughout coming ages, |
trust, are to fill and occupy the land and
find homes under the flag of this great
Republic Shall the Government re-
tain no asylum, no place OF refuge to
which the poor of coming centuries may
repair and escape from the pinchings of
poverty and the grinding exactions of
accumulated wealth?


Within the organized States we have
still immense tracts of uncultivated land,
prairies unbroken by the plow, forests
untouched by the ak, where homes may
be obtained from the Government or
from private hands at prices within the
reach of the poorest citizen. Would it
not be better to utilize these lands than
to push over and beyond them thousands
of miles westward, at a cost to the Gov
eminent of millions of acres whose value
no man now is prepared to estimate p
Would it not be well for the Govern
ment, I repeat to direct the energies of
our people to the improvement of mil
lions of acres of uncultivated land near
er the seaside and the commercial CEN
tiers, now accessible by lake, river or
rail, before it disPoses of the wilderness
nther away.


The farmer who leaves the acres about
him uncultiyated, and devotes himself
to the improvement of lands remote and
inconvenient, loses time and labor by
the operation, and demonstrates his own
folly, Just as we as a nation demonstrate
ours by encouraging population to leave
the uncultivated lands in the States and
seek homes farther away from the cen
tiers of civilization and of commerce,
where the products of their labor will be
for years subjected to the rapacious ex-
actions of corporations whose power is
neither limited by competition or law.


The settler, under the old policy, pre-


ceded the railroad and the land monop-
olist. Now we send the railroad and the
speculator in advance, and they coop
crate in a work Of robbery. The one
fetches the victim and the other feeces
him, and the Government facilitates and
encourages the outrage by immense sub
sides and land grants.


Gentlemen who favor these land grants
to railroads talk Of the immense advant-
age which the Government will derive
from the settlement of the wild lands
through which these roads pass. l fail
to see how the Government can be bene.
fitted by removing people from the or
ganized States and Territories, so long
as the States afford abundant scope fol