Year: 1872

South you, unwittingly perhaps, struck d
death blow at her system of large estates
1t may struggle on for few years, but
the restitution of slavery alone can pre-
vent the disintegration of the large plant
ations of the South and the substitution
of system of small proprietorships,
under whose rule the South will rise to a
prosperity and grandeur which no debas-
ing slave system can ever hope to reach.


But there is darker side yet to be
stated. While you were making this
glorious change for the better in one sec
ton Of your country, you were in another
building up and fostering series OF
princely estates SO magnificent in their
proportions, that the vast domain of Il
teudal lord world scarcely make a garden
for one of these newly created land mon
archs 4! And with the system must come
its inevitable follower, or rather twin
sister, slavery. For one cannot exist
without the other. Must come, did |
say2 We of the great West already see
her horrible face rs she wriggles her
filthy body from the coast of Asia across
the Pacific to pollute with her poisonous
breath the fragrant air in the beautiful
valleys of the western slope; and the
name of this new slavery is "Chinese
coolyism."


Another point by retaining the public
lands for the actual settler, you insure its
present occupation and rapid improve
ment. The small proprietor, with pride
that can only come from personal con-
tact with the soil which is his, and hi,
only, labors and struggles to cultivate
and beautity it with an energy, n perse
verance, and an affection which would
shame the cold, passionless, and sordit
feelings of the mere specuator. The smal
farmer loves his little tract, for it is asso.
ciated in his mind with his daily bread
the happiness Of his little ones, and all
the comfort OF his coming old age. In Il
word, it is to be his home in life, and he
hopes that when his race shall have been
run, and his little family shall know him
no more forever, that some shady nook in
the dear old homestead, torn from the
wilderness by his own strong arm, may
half conceal, half reveal the humble slab
that shall relate to the passer-by the sim
pie history of his lowly life.


Pass this law, and with the beniGccnt
homestead law on your statute books you
offer to the American poor the hope, the
certainty of escaping from the very jaws
Of poverty, and of springing at one bound
into comparative competency and plenty.
The far West is a garden whose rich soil
invites the plowshare with promise OF
never-failing golden harvests. Her mag
nlcent rivers invite the commerce of the
world. Her gigantic mountains. covered
with choice timber, and her immense coal
beds point her out as the paradise of man
ufactories and her inexhaustibe mineral
fields proclaim her the richest portion of
the globe. Give the people to know that
the wealthest capitalist can do no more
toward acquiring an interest in her virgin
soil than the poorest man who walks your
cities streets, and you will find that pow
erty will disappear from the land as by Il
miracle, for the humblest, lowliest, and
most poverty stricken citizen can settle
on piece Of land, and by this bonifcent
policy, find home which will not only
raise him to the dignity which property
always gives TO man, but will produce all
the necessaries and many of the luxures
which his former life denied him. Nor
should it be forgotten that poverty is the
most prolific of all the sources of crime.
Is it, then, no argument in favor Of the
the system ! propose that it assists in
some degree at least in suppressing the
temptation Of wrong doing? 1t seem,
to me that this is one Of the chief objects
Of all legislation, and though it may ap.
pear to the superficial or casual observer
that this argument is far fetched and So
phistical, yet the logic Of cause and effect
will convince any candid and thinking
mind OF the truth of this assertion.


1t will widen the field of industry and
enhance the wages of labor. As tie ia
Dor marts become crowded and the sup
ply begins to exceed the demand, the
surplus, instead Of struggling for scanty
subsistence by competition in an over
crowded market, will see the rich prizes
held out by benifcent Government, and
will scatter out upon the broad public
domain, and build up another labor mar
ket, which shall in turn give work at re-
munerative wages TO thousands from the
crowded cities of the older settlements
Nor is this all; by thus bettering the con.
dition Of the poor, you enable them t.
send their children 10 the schools, and
they are prepared for the duties and high
privileges of American citizenship. You
thus suppress ignorance and raise tap to
the Republic an intelligent people, who
will prove an impenetrable bulwark 20
American freedom


Mr.. Speaker, while listening TO the de.
bate the other day upon the bill TO pro-
mote education, it occurred to me that
the gentlemen who so ably and eloquently
advocated that statesmanlike and patriotic
project, and whose telling argument;
upon the advantages Of education in d
national point of view cannot be contro
verted-it occurred TO me say, that they
did not probe that important question u
the bottom. 1t deserves and has evel
received the glowing eulogies Of the ora
tor the cnlm nnnrnYal OF the hisInrinn