6-2-'33  rS....  4'i-/
~ -    = H 
-~; " -K-0 —,   Ailt~e~Nv    
-SPEECH OF HON. G:i~'4:tk GROW,+
OF PENNSY VANIA,/
Ilt tlhe 1ouse of -Representatives, February' 9, 1 ], 0
I 5rg
State limits; all of them,except Georgia and N.
Carolina, without an y cond itions annexed  to
their respective grants, save  those co nt ained
in the  resolution of  Congre ss just referred to.
The   res er          vation in the grants of Georgia and
North  Carolina were  not, however, as to  the
future disposition of the lands; but a condi tion that slavery should not be prohibited
therein by Congress. The territory thus con.
ditionally granted is contained within the
States of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.
With the exception of the grants of North
Carolina and Georgia, (and the reservations
even in those relating only to the form of their
future government,) the public lands claimed
by the colonies at the close of the Revolution,
were ceded to the General Government, to be
.settled and disposed of ",under such regula7aiions as shall hereafter be agreed on by the
United States in Congress assembled."
Since that time the Government has ace
quitrd, by treaty, of France,  the Louisiana
purchase; of Spain the Floridas; of Mexico,
Utah, New Mexico and California; containing
altogether, over twelve  lfindred million acres
of land.   So the General  Government, by
cessions from the original States and pur.
chases from other nations, has acquired, exclusive of water, as computed by the Com.
missioner of the Land Office, fourteen hundred and fifty million acres of public lands;
of which there have been Fold, to September
3, 1859, one hundred and forty-seven million
eighty-eight thousand two hundred and seventy-four acres; and otherwise disposed of
in grants and donations to individuals, corporations, companies and States, as per annexed
table, including grants since 30th June, 1867,
two hundred and forty-one million seven hun.
dred and seventy thousand and fifty-two
acres; leaving of public lands belonging to
the Government undisposed of on the 30th of
September, 1859, one thousand and sixty-one
million one hundred and forty-one thousand,
six hundred and seventy-five acres.
What disposition shall be made of this vast
inheritance is a question of no small magni.
Mr. CHAIRMAN,-At the close of the R e;(, )!i -
tion the  colonies  claimed  dominion, used
upon their respective colonial griefs from the
Crown of Great Britain, over an uninhabited
wilderness of two hundred and twenty million
acres of land, extending to the Mississippi on
the west, and the Canadas on the north.   The
disposition of these lands became a subject of
controversy between the colonies  even before
the confederation, and was  an early obstacle
to the organization of any  government' for
the protection of  their common  interests.
The colonies, whose charter from the Crown
extended over none of the unoccupied lands,
claimed, in the language of the instructions of
Maryland in 1779, to her delegates in Congress:
That a countrvunsettled at the comGnemenement of
tais war, claimed by the British Crown and ceded to it
I)y the treaty at Paris, if wrested from the common enemy
l)y the blood and treasure oj the thirteen States. shotld
bie considered as common prope ty, subject to be parceled out by Coogress into free, converient and independent governments, in such manner and at such times
as the wisdom of that assembly shall hereafterdirect."
The propriety and the justice of ceding
tilese lands to the Confederation,  to be thus
parcelled out into free and independent States,
having become the topic of  discussion everywhere in the coloi ies, Congress,  in order to
allay the  controversy and  remove  the only
remaining obstacle to a final ratification of the
Articles of Confederation, declared by resolution, on the 10Lh October, 1S80:
*' That the unappropriated lands which may be ceded
or relinquished to the United States by any particular
State"  "*   *         shall be disposed of for the
common benefit of the United States; and be settled
and formed into distinct realmbhcan States, which shall
becomae mem)ers of the Federal Uaion, ar-d have t e
same rights of sovereiginty. freedom and independence,
as the otter States, &-. Th(,t thte said lands sitall be
,rant.d oreettled atsgech times, c/nd tndersu?ch rcau~atio. as shall he-eaj ter oe, ageed n bv tlte Uniated
States in Gonte-as abs.m.bled. or nine or more of
In pursuance                              of the  provisions ot this resolution, New  York,  Virginia, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, South Carolina,  North Carolina,
and Georgia, ceded  their  claims, including
title and jurisdiction, to  the waste  lands, as
they were called, outside of their respective
Printed, and for Sale, at the DETROIT TRIBUNE Office: 25 cts. per Dozen; $1 per 100- $ )
per 1,000.
:I.
* ~
. 0.
C-., i-, b
6 - 2 - 33
14-D
/7
'i 
Speech of Honi. G, A: Grow.
tude?  Three times  within seven years, a
homestead bill has passed this House, and
been defeated by the Democratic mjority in
tbh Senate.  On the vote on the homestead
bill in the T,')aise in the last Congress, out of
one hulidred and thirty Democrats, but thirtyone voted for it; and in the Senate on the
test vote between taking up the homestead
bill, after it had passed the House, and only
required the vote of the Senate to make it a
law so far as Congress was concerned, or to
take up the bill for the purchaseof Cuba  but
one democrat voted for the homestead, and
only six at any time; while every Republican in the Senate, and every one io the House
with a single exception, was for the homestead.   Of all'the Representatives  of  the
slave States, but three in the House, voted
for it, and but two, at any time in the Senate.
So the Democratic party as a party. arrayed
itself in opposition to this beneficent policy.The Republican party, on the         other ha nd, is
c     ommitted to this measure by its vo        tes in
Congress, by its resolves in State Conventions,
and by its' devotion to the great central idea
of its existence-the rights and interests of
free labo.
Early in this session I.introduced a bill,
which now awaits the action of the /louse,
providing that any person who is twenty-one
years, or more, old, or who is*the head of a
family, may enter one hundred and sixtv
acres of any land subject to pre-emption, or
upon which he may have a pre-emption claim,
and, by cultivating the same for five years,
shall be entitled to a patent from the government, on the payment of the usual fees of the
land office, and ten dollars to cover the cost
of surveying and ma/mging.
The land policy, as now conducted, perinits
the President, in his discretion, to expose to
public sale, by proclamation, any or all of
the public laa&s,after the same are surveyed.
Every person settled on the lands so advertised for sale, must, before the day fixed in
the proclamation of the President, pay for
his lands, or they are liable to be sold to any
bidder w ho offers one doJlar and twenty-five
cents, or more, per acre. During the davs of
sale fixed by the President, any one can. purchase, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per
acre, as many acres of land, not'before preempted, as be desires, selecting his own location. The lands that remain unsold at the
expiration o; the days of sale fixed by the
President. are subject to pr'vate entry; that
is, any person can enter at the land office any
or all of the lands that are at that time unsold, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per
acre. if the same have not been offered for
sale more than ten years; if for a longer period, then at a less price, according to the
length of timae they may have been in the market.. Thus, under the existing policy, there
is no restraint on land monopoly. The
Rothschilds, the Barings, or any other of the
world's milionaires,  may become   the owners
of untold acres of our publi c  domain, to be
resold to the settler, or to be he ld a s  an i nvestment for future speculation.
Conaress, as the t rust ee o f the  M hole  people, is vested  by the  condition of the  grants
from the St ates  and by      the Constitution itself,
with the  sole discretionary   power of  disposi ng
of these lands. But, in the  exercise o f a sound
discretion, it becomes i t s  d uty t o dispose of
them in the way that will best  promote the
greatn es s and glory  of th e  Republic.   And
how can t hat be   accomplished  so  well as   by
a  policy that will secure them   i n limited  quantities to the actual cultivator, at the least possible cost, and thus  prevent  the evils o f a system  of la       nd  mon opoly-one  of   the direst
deadliest curses that ever paralyzed the energies of  a nation  or palsied  the  arm  of industry.  Itneeds no lengthy dissertation to portray  i ts    evils.  Its history in the Old Wo rld is
writ ten in  sighs a n d  tears. Underh  its influence  you behold there  the  proude st a nd  most
splendid aristocracies side by side with the
most abject and debased people; vast manors
hemmed  in by hedges as      a        sp orting ground
for the    nobility, while men are dying b e side
the  inclosure for the want of land to  till. Un -
der ies  blighting influen ce  you behold  industry
i   f    an pte e  in  rahs, and patience in despair.   Such are
some of the  fruits of land  monopoly  i n the
Old World; and shall we permit  its  s eeds to
vegetate in the  virgin soil of   the  Ne w h  Our
pres ent system is subject to  like evils, n ot so
great in magnitude perhaps,    but simila r in
kind.
O0 the    thre e  hundred and eighty-eight million eight  hundred an d  fifty -eisht thousand
three hundred and  twenty-five acre s o f land
disposed of by the Gover nment to September
30, 1859, one hundred and  forty-seven million
eigshty-eight thousand two hundred and seventy-three acres were sold for cash, and two
hundred and forty-one million seven hundred
and  seventy t housand and fifty-two acres were
donated in  grant s to individuals, corporations,
and States.
be Government had received from the
sales of the public lands, as appears from the
report of the  Commissioner  of    t he  Land   Office, to June  30, 1853, one  hundred and fortytwo million two hundred and eighty-th,:ee
thousand four hundred and seventy-eight dollars, to which add thirty-eight million three
hundred and thirty-six thousand one hundred
and sixty dollars and ninety cents received
since that time, would make the gross amount
received from the lands to September 30, 1859,
one hundred and eighty million six hundred
and nineteen thousand six hundred and thirty-eight dollars and ninety cents;* while the
entire cost, including purchase money, exrtinguishing of Indian title, surveying, and mlanaging, has been, for the same period, ninety
2 -
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the  pilgrim age of this life, and since th e hour
of the  primal ocurse, "In the sweat  Qf thy
face shalt th ou eat bre ad," man has been    forced to  the cultivation of  the soil to  obtain
subsistence for  h imse lf an d the  mean s of promoting the welfare of theoe race, why  should
gove rnments Wrest from him th  e r ight to apply his  labor to  such unoccupied portion    of
the earth's surface as  may       be necessary for
hi s    support unti l he has  contr ibuted to the revenues  of the-State, any more than  to permit
him  to breathe  th e air, enjoy the sunli,ht, or
quaff from the  rills and ri vers of the earth r
It would be just    as    r ightful, were it po s sible
to  be done, to surve y th e atm osphere off into
quarter sections, and t ransfer i t by p ar chment
titles; divide the sun into qua ntum of ray s,
and dole it out to  groping mort als at a price;
or arch over the  waters of the  e a r th   in to vast
reservoirs, and sell it to dyin g men.  In the
languaee oe remarks heretofore made o  n th is
subject,   why ha s th is claim of    man  to msonopolize an y  of the gi fts of  God  to man been
confined, by legal codes, to the soi l a lone i  Is
there  anvotheher reason th an  that it   is a right
which:, having its olrigin in feudal times-under a system that reaarded man but as An
appenda;e of the soil that he tilled, a nd whose
life, liberty, and  happiness  were but means of
increasing  the pleasures,  pampering the passions and appetites of hs f   h  liege lord-a nd,
hav ing once f ou nd a  place in  the books,  it has
bee n r etained  by the reverence which man is
wornt o      to  pay to  the pas t a nd to ti me-honored
precedents? The human min   d is so con stituted thati t   is prone     to regard as right what
has come down to us approved by long usage,
and ha l lowed  by gray age.  It i s a claim that
had its origin wit h  the kindred idea that   r oyal
blood flows only in the veins of an exclusive
f ew, whose soul s    a re more ethereal, because
born amid the glitter of courts,  and  cradled
amid the pomp of lords and courtiers; and,
the refore, they  are to be installed a s rulers.
and laweivers  of the  race.  Momt of th e e vils
tha t  afflict soc iety h ave ha d    thei r origin in violence and wrong enacted into law by the experience of the past, and retained by the prejudices of the present.
Is it not time you swept from your statutebook its still lingering relics of feudalism
bloted out the principles eDgrafted upon it
by the narrow-minded policy of other times,
and adapted the legislation of the country to
the spirit of the age, and to the t~ue ideas of
man's rights and relations to his government'
For if a man has a right on earth, he has a
right to land enough to rear a habitation on.
If he has a right to live, he has a right to the
free use of whatever nature his provided for
his sustenance-air to breathe, water to drink
and land enough to cultivate for his subsistence; for these are the necessary and indispensable means for the enjoyment of his inalienable rights of " life, liberty, and the pur
one million nine hundred  and  ninety-four
thousand and thirteen dollars, leaving a net
revenue to the Government, over and abovt
all cost, of eighty-eight million six hundred
and twenty-five thousand six hundred  and
twenty-five dollars and ninety cents; with one
hundred and thirty-six million nine hundred
and seventy thousand nine hundred and fortyone acres sarveyed but unsold,  of which
eighty million acres are subject to private
entry.
IOf the one hurndred and forty-seven million
eighty-eight thousand two hundred and seventy-three acres sold by the  Government, not
more than one half of it, probably, was bought
at Government rates by the actual cultivator;
the other half, I assume, cost the cultivator,
on an average, at least four dollars per acre
over the Government price. So he would
pay, on sevent —tlhree million five hundred
and forty-four thousand one  hundred  and
thirty-six acres, being one-half the quantity
sold by the Government, two hundred and
ninety-four million one hundred and seventysix thousand five hundred and forty-four'dollars.  On the two hundred and forty-one million seven hundred and seventy thousand and
fifty-two acres donated to individuals, comnpanies, and: States,  including  over  seventy
million  acres  for  school  purposes,  and
over fifty million acres for railroads and internal improvements, I asstime that the cultivator must pay on an average for these lands
at least five dollars per acre, making the sum
of twelve hundred and eight -nii'ion eight
hundred and fifty thousand two hundred and
sixty dollars. The actual cultivator, then,
will have to pay to the government and to the
speculator for these lands, if the foregoing estimate of prices be correct, at least sixteen
hundred and eighty-three million six hundred
and forty-six thousand four hundred and fortytwo dollars and ninety cents, Aof which eighty-eight million six hundred and twenty-five
thousand six hundred and twenty - five
dollars and ninety cents has been paid, in net
revenue, into the Treasury of the United
States; the balance to be absorbed by the
speculator.
The government, by its existing land policy
has thus caused to be abstracted from  thi
earnings of its hardy pioneers almost seventeen hundred million dollars fcr the mere privilege of enjoying one of God's bounties to
man   This large amount has been abstracted
from the sons of toil without rendering  any
equivalent, save a permit from the State to
occupy a wilderness, to which not a day or
hour of man's labor had been applied to
change it from the condition in which the God
of nature made it. Why should Governments
seize upon any of the bounties of God to man,
and make them a source of revenue? While
the earth was created for the whole human family, and was made its abiding place through
peec ib oj' limit.
3 
Speech of Hon. G. A. Grow.
suit of happiness. "  And is it for a Governernment that claims to dispense equal and exact justice to all classes of men, and that has
laid down correct principles in its great chart
of human rights, to violate those principles,
and itssolemn declarations in its legislative
enactments-                                      t
The struggle between capital and labor is
an unequal one at best.  It is a struggle between the bones and sinews of man and dollars
and cents.  And in that struggle, is it for the
Government to stretch forth its arm to aid the
strong against the weak?  Shall it continue,
by its legislation, to elevate and enrich idleness on the wail and the woe of industry I      i
For if the rule be correct as applied to governments as well as individuals, that whatever
a person permits another to do, having the
right and means to prevent it, he does himself, then indeed is the Government responsible for all the evils that mas result from speculation and land monopoly in your public domain.  For it is not denied that Congress has
the power to make any regulations for the disposal of these lands, rot injurious to the general welfare.  Now, when a new tract is surveyed, and you open your land office and expose ittothe sale,the man with the most money
is the largest purchaser.   The most desirable
and available locations are seized upon by the
capitalists of the country, who seek that kind
of investment.  Your settler who chances not
to have a pre-emptin right; or to be there
at the time of sale, when he comes to seek  a
lhome for himself and his family must pay the
speculator three or four handred per cent. on
his investment,  or encounter  the trials and
hardships of a still more remote border life.And thus, under the operation  or laws that
you call equal and just, you take from the setUer        thr ee or f our dollars per ac re,  and put it
in                          t the pocket of  the speculator-thus, by the
operation of your  l    aw, obstracting so muich of
his hard earnings for the benefit of capital;
f      onsbor not an honr's labor h as been applied to  the
land since it was sold by the Government, nor
is it more valuable to the settler. Has not the
laborer a right to complain of legislation that
compels him to endure greater toils and hardships, or contribute a portion of his earnings
for the benefit of the capitalist X But not upon the capitalist or the speculator is it proper
that the blame should fall. Man must seek a
livelihood, and do business under the laws of
the country;. and whatever rights he may
acquire under the laws, though they may be
wrong, yet the well-being of society requires
that they be respected and faithfully observed.
If a person engage  in a business legalized
and regulated by the laws, and uses no fraud
or deception in its pursuit, and evils result to
the community, let them apply the remedv to
the proper source;* that is, to the law-makglng
power. The laws and the law-makers are respo~sible for whatever evils necessarily grow
out ef their enactments.
TIn  order to secure to labor its earnings, so
f ar   as is possible, by  legislative action, and to
streng then the elements of  national gr eat ness
and power, why should not the  l egislation  e f
the country be so changed as to prevent for
the  fut ure     the evil s  of l and monopoly, by setting apart the vast  and unoccupied territories of
the Uni on, and consecrat ing them  foreve r in
free ho m es   for free me  n         t
' Mr. MAYNARD.   May I b e allowed to    as k
my friend  from Pennsylvania a question    I
Mr. GROW. Certainly.
Mr. MAYNARD.. It is this: whether  h   e is
in favor, or otherwise, of allowin g the o ld sol dier or his assignee to locate his land warrant
on the public domain
Mr. GROW. I always answer questions
that are p   ert inent  to   the  point under discus sion, not otherwise. I am not arguing any question about land warrants, but about the
proper disposition to be made of the public
lands. I do not see the applicability of the
gentleman's question; and must t here fore pass
it by,  as I do  not wi sh t o be diver te d from  my
argument.
Mr. MAYNARD. The gentleman is mis taken about the object of my question.
Mr. GROW. I would provide in our land
policy for securing homesteads to actual set tlers; and whatever bounties the Government
should grant to the old soldiers, I would have,
made in money and not in land warrants,
which are bought in most cases by the specu lator as an easier and cheaper mode of ae quiring the public lands. So they only facil itate land monopoly. The men who go forth
at the call of their country to uphold its stand ard and vindicate its honor, are deserving,
it is true, of a more substantial reward than
tears to the dead and thanks to the living;
but there are soldiers of peace as well as of
war, and though no waving plume beckons
them on to glory orto death, their dying scene
is oft a crimson one. They fall leading the
van of civilization along untrodden paths, and
are buried in the dust of its advancing
columns. No monument marks the scene of
deadly strife; no stone their resting place; the,
winds sighing through the branches -of the
forest alone sing their requiem. Yet they are
the meritorious mefn of the Republic. The
achievements of your pioneer army, from the
day they first drove back the Indian ti i.bes from
the Atlantic sea-board to the present hour,
have been the tchievements of science and
civilization over the elements, the wilderness
and the savage.
If rewards or bounties are to be granted
for true heroism in the progress of the race.
none is more deserving than the pioneer who
expels the savage and the wild beast, and
opens in the wilderness a home for science
and a pathway for civilization.
4
0
',.Peace hatb. her victories.
N. )es, re,ioned thau war. ,
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Speech of Hon. G. A. Grow.
This advice, by one of the country's noblest
patriots, though  unheeded  at  the  time, is
among the richest legacies he has bequeathed
to his country.
Why should the Government hold the public domain  longer as a source of revenue,
when it has already more th an   paid all costs
and expenses  incurre d i n its   acquisition and
management I      Eve n  if the  Government had
a right, base d i n the nature  of things  thus to~
hold these lands, it would  be adverse to a
sound  national policy to do so; for  the    r eal
wealth  of a count ry       consist s n ot in   the sums
of money paid into its treasury,   but in  its
f lock s  herds, and  cultivated fields- Nor  does
its real strength consist in Beets and armies,
but in the bones and sinews of an independent
yeomanry and the comfort of its laboring
classes.   Its real glory  consists not in the
splendid palace, loftyspire, or towering dome
but in the intelligence, comfort and happiness
of the fireside of Its citizens.
" What constltiltes State?
Not hieh-raised battlements or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities pround. with spires and turrets crowned;
Not bays and broad-armd ports,
Where, laughing at the storrx rich navies ride;
Not starred and spangled courts,
Where Ilw-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No: men, high-minded men.
The paths of glory no longer lead over
smoking towns and crimsoned fields, but
along the lanes and by-ways of human misery
and woe, where the bones and sinews of men
are struggling with the elements, with the
unrelenting obstacles of nature, and the not
less unmerciful obstacles of a false civilization.  The noblest achievement in this world's
pilgrimage is to raise the fallen from their
degradation; soothe the broken-hearted, dry
the tears of woe, and alleviate the sufferinas
of the unfortunate in their pathway to the
tomb.
Go say to the raging sea, be still;
Bid the wild, lawless winds obey thy will;
Preach to the storm. and reason with despair;
But tell not misery'8 son that life is fair."
If you w     ould l    ead  the e rring back from  the
pa        th      s of vice and cri me to virtue and to honor,
give      him  a h    ome-g ive   him  a hear ths                 to     ne,
ar e  i  frmnd  he will  surround it with household gods.
If you would make men wis er   and bett            er,                    re  li ev       e your almshouses, close  the doors  of
your penitentiaries, and break                                    in pieces your
gallows, purify the influences of                  the domestic
fireside, for that is        the school in              which human
character is formed, and there its destiny is
shap ed there the         soul receiv  es            it      s first im press, and man         his f      irst lesson,  and      they go
with        him for weal or woe  through life.  For
p      urifying   the se        ntiments,   elevating  the
thoughts,  and  d eveloping        the    nobl est impulses
o      f man's  n atur e, the influences of a rural fire sid     e  a    nd a  n  agricultural life are  the              noblest
and  the best.  I the btI   t   obscur               ity of the cottage,
far removed f rom  t he                   s       eductive  influences of
rank                   and affluence,    are nourished    the virtues
that c     ount eract t  he de cay  o   f  human                    institu tions,           the courage  that d efend s  the national
independenc            e, and  the indu strv   t hat suppor          t s
all class           es           of the State.
It was said by'Lord Chatiam, in his appeal
to t he House of Commons,          in 1775,         to with    -
drawn the British troops from  Boston, that
"I trade,  in      deed            inincreases the glory and wealth
ofa            cou ntry; but  its tr ue sreng th and stamina are to be      looked for  in the cultivators of
the  land.  In                  the simplicity of              their lives is
found the simpleness of virtue, the integrity
and courage of freedom. These trne, genuine
sons of the  soil    are invincible."
The hi       st ory   of American pr      owess  has recorded these words as prophetic. Man, in
defense o      f  h is he arthston e and  fireside is
invincible against a world of mercenaries.
Let us adopt the policy cherished by Jackson, and indicated in his annual message
to Congress in 1832. in which he says:
"It cannot be doubted that the opeedy settlement, of
these lands constitutes the true interest of the Republic.
The wealth and strength of a couintry are its population,
and the best part of the popul ation are the cultivators of
the soil.  Independent farmers are everywhere the
bases of'society and true friends of liberty." * ~
"To put an end forever to all partial and interested
legislation on this subject and to e    t,, evpry American citizenof e'' pPrse the c;)portunt..7 of securing
an f        idcpcr.~:. in freehold, itseems to me, therefore, best
to abandon the idea of raising a future revenue out of
the public lands."
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain
Prevent the long aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain:
These constitute a State."
The prosperity of States  depe nds  not on
the  ma ss  of we alth, but  its  distribution. That
country is greatest and most glorious in which
there is the  gre a t est number  of happy  flresides.  And if you w ou ld make the   fireside
hap py, raise  the f allen from the i r degreda tion, elevate the servile from their groveling
pursuits to  the rights and dignity of men, you
must first place  within eitheir r eah the means.
for supplying their pressing physical wants,
so that religion can exert its influence on the
soul and soothe the weary pilgrim in his pathway to the tomb.
What justice can there be in the legislation
of a country by which the earnings of its labor are abstracted for any purpose without returning an equivalent? But its a question of
revenue, merely, it would be to the advantage of the Gevernment to grant these lands
in homesteads to actual cultivators, if thereby
it was to induce the settlement of the wilderness, instead of selling them to the speculator
without settlement.  The revenue to the Govern.ment from the lands, if considered annual,
is the interest on tha purchase money; which
would be on a quarter section, at one dollar
and twenty-five cents per acre, the interest on
two hundred dollars, equal, at'six per cent.,
to twelve dollars per year.
But as the revenue of the General Governmerni
(with the exception of the sales of the lands
; *
*,a
5
0 
Speech of Hon.'4.  (;A. G,)ro
"From the earllest times of Romne, it had been the
custom of the Roeams, when they subdued any of the
nations in Italy, to deprive them of  a pa t of their
territory.  A portion of these ands was sold, and the
rest given to tie poorer  citizens; on conditions, says
cAppian  ot their p..ving annually a tenth of the corn
acod a  fift h of the fruiats of trees, besides a certain nam.
her o f  great and small cattle,  t   In process of Kme, the
rich, by various means, got possess on of the lanocs ades
tlined for the subsistence of the po(or."    *   *   *   *
"The rich and the mighty contrived to possess them.
selves of thelands of their poor neighbors.  At firstthey
held these acquisitions under borrowed names, after wards openlyin their own.  To cultivate the farces they
emiployed foreign.slaves; so thatltaly was indangerof
ltosi g its inhabitants of free condition, [who had no
encouragement to marry no means to educate children, j
and of being overrun with slaves azd barbarians that
had neither affection for the Republic nor interest in her
preservation.
Tibetrtsi  Gracchus, now a Tribune o. the people,
undertook to remedy these disorders.".  *   *
"Never, says Plqtttrelt,l was proposed a law more
mild and  gentle against iniquity and oppression; yet the
rich made a mighty clamor about the hardship of being
s ript of their houses, their lands, their inheritances, the
burial places of their ancestors.   *    "The
poor, on  the tither hand, complained of the extreme
inligence to which they wer e reduced, and  of their ina ability t bring up their children.  Tthey enumerated the
many battles where they hal foug.t in defence of he
Republic; notwithitaniIng w-hich'they were allowed no
share of the pul'sc }alnd(s; nay, the usurpers, to cultivate
them. chose rath e r to emp loy foreigners and slaves than
citizens of Romoe.'   Grtcc us' view was not to make
poor men rich, but to strengthen the Bepulslic, by an increase of useful members,  upon which  he thought the
safety and welfare of Itftly depended.  The iDsurrtctiol~
indl war of the s aves w   kiiy.  who were not yet qtie:led, furnished  h m with s,)fficient aldument for exoatlating on thie danger of filling ltuly with slaves."   *
" lie asked  t he ri, la whe ther they preferred a slave to
a citizen: a man unqualifiedl to serve in warto a ~oldier:
an alien to a member of the Republic; ard which  thvty
thougpht woudic be more zealou s for its into earest?  Then as
to t he mistrY of the poor:'She very beasts of Italy
riave cnaes ad  dens to shelter them' - but the peoplo,
who expose their lives  for the defence  of Iftaly, are
t h dlowed  not hiig but the light and air; they wander
up and dc,wn with teir vives  anrd c ii lol,l. without
he, ue andi w!thout hl,Lita tion.  Our g, if nils mock the
solliers; wlIen, in bait'e. they exhort thtiem t, fight for
their sepilcler, anl thlir eu,sihot  godls; for, ainongst
all that great nnlq, erof PO0ittt~[8, there is not one  who
has eith,-r a (I,)estic altar. or a seoulc:er of his ancestors.  Thleyfigiet atd alie. solely to maintain  the riches
and luxury of oth,ers; antl are styled the lords of the
universe. while they have not a single foot of ground in
their possession."'
Smith, in  the second volume,  page 291, of
his Gr-eek and Pornan biographical dictionary,
speaking of Tiberius Gracchus, and the reasons for Iris proposed legislation, says:
"Tisbrother Caius related, in some of hiR works, that
Tiberius, * n his iar'h to Sai,s in (B. C ) 117. as he was
passing  thro,Agh Etruria. observed with gief and indignaion the deserted stale of th.iat fertile c untrty; thousands
of foieign slaves in clhains w(ere employed in cultivatbeg
the  land and teodeine   the flocks upon the immense
estates ofthe wealthiy, wlhile the poorer classes of Boman
citizens. who we,e ttnus tirovrn out of eimlToyment, had
scarcely their daily bi-,a(l, or a clod of earth to call their
own.  lle is said t,) h ve been roused through that circumstance to exert himself in endeavoring to reniedy
t his  e vil."
Had the policy advocated by Gracchus, or'
distributing the public lands among the landless citizens of the nation, been adopted, the
Roman fields wsould have been cultivated by
free men instead of slaves, and there would
have been a race of men to stay the ravages
of the barbarian. The eternal city would not
then have fallen an easy prey to the Goth and
Vandal; but the star of  her  empire   might
have  shone  in triumph  long  after the ivy
twined her broken columns.
With homes and firesides to defend, the arms
and hearts of an independent yeomanry are a
surer and more imtpregnable def,rs:e than
is derived almost wholly from duties on im por ted    articles consumed     in th e c oun try;      the
amount collected depends upon    the quantity
consumed.  On an average each individual
consu          mes of impor ted artic le s about  eleven
dollar s worth per year, (see statement of  Re giwter of  the Trea    sury, appe nded,)  and c alling
seven theaverage number of      a family,  then
each family consumes a         nnu ally  s  eventy-five
d             ollars worth  of imported articles, upon which
a duty                       of not less than twenty dollars was
paid.
So          the Government would be                 the gainer of
eight dollars             per        year on      e ach quarter section,
by  giving it away to a settler in preference to
selling it withou      t  settlment.  In addition, a s
you cheapen the necessaries    and comforts of
life,  or increas e men's means to pay for thet                             no
you        incr ease their   consump tion; and     i          n  the
sa       m    e pr oportion  as you increase the       means to
pa       y for imports, you increase the  consumption
of  hom    e  products and manufactures;  so that
the settlement of       the wild ernes s by a                    thriving
populati on is as  mu         ch the interest of  the old
States a s               of the  nvew.  The amount now
received by the Government of the settle r for
the land, would enable him to furnishi himself
with the necessary stock and  imnplements to
commence its cultivation.
For  the purposes of education,  building
railroads, orien,i,g all the avenues of trade,
and of subuing the  wilderness,  the  best
disposition to bT madte of these lands is to
grant theme in limited quanties to the settler,
thus secure? him in his eanirings, by whitchi he
would have the  means to surround himself
with comfort and make his fireside hapopy;
to erect the school-hotuse; the church, and all
the other ornaments of a hiaher civilization,
ard rear his children educated and respected
members of society. This policy will not
only add to the reven-,es of the General Gov.er nment and the taxable property of the new
States, but will increase the productive industry and commerce of the whole country, while
strengtheding all the elements of  rational
greatness.
The first step in the decline of empires is
the neglect of the agricultural interest, ard
with its decay crumbles national power. It
is the great fact stamped on all the ruins that
strew the pathway of civilization. When the
world's unwritten history shall be correctly
deciphered, the record of the rise, progress,
and fall of empires will be but the history of
the rise, developement, and decline of agriculture. Hooke, in describing the condition
of agriculture among the Romans more than
two thousard years ago, the process of
absorption of the lands by the rich, and their
consequent cultivation by slaves, furnishes
the student of history with the secret causes
that undermined the empire and destroyed its
liberties. I read from book six, chapter
seven, of his " History of Rome,'; volume two.
page 522.
6
I I
I I 
Speech,f Hon  G. A. Groui.
battlement, wall, or tower.  While the popu   lation ot a country are the proprietors oe the
land which they till, they have an interest to
surround  their  firesides with comfort and
make their homes happy-the great incentive
to industry, frugality, and sobriety.  It is
such habits alone that give security to a gov   ernment and form the real elements of nation  al greatness and power.
National disasters are not the growth of a
,lay, but the fruit of long years of injustice
atid wrong.   The seeds planted by false, per;ticious legislation, often require ages to ger  miiinate and ripen into their harvests of ruin
and death.  The most pernicious of all the
baleful seeds of national existence, is a policy
that degrades its labor. Whenever agricul  tural labor becomes dishonorable, it will, of
course, be confined to those who have no in  terest in the soil they  till; and when  the
laborer ceases to have any interest in the land
he cultivates, he  ceases  to have  a stake
in the  advancement  and  good  order  of
society, for he  has  nothing to loose, no  thing  to  defend.  nothing  to  hope  for.
The  associations  of an  independent  free hold are eminently calculated to ennoble and
elevate the possessor.  It is the life spring of
a  manly national  character, of a generous
patriotism; a patriotism that rushes to the de rense of the country and the vindication of its
honor, with the same zeal and alacrity that
it guards the    hearths  ton e          an d  the fireside. Wh     ereve r  F r eedom h   as un furled  her banner,
t        he men who hav e  r allied  around to susta n
and uphold it have come from the workshop
and  t he f ield,        awhere, inured to   heat and to
cold, and to all  the  inclemencies  of the
seasons, they ha ve acquired  the  hardihood
necessary to endure the trials an privations
of the camp. An independent yeomuanry.
scattered ovel our vast domain, is the best
and surest guarantee for the perpetuity of our
liberties for their arms are the citadel of a
nation's power, their hearts the bulwarks of
liberty.  Let the public domain, then, be set
apart as the patrimony of labor, by preventing its absorption into large estates by capital,
and its consequent cultivation by "tenants
andslaves," instead of independent freeholders.
The proposition to ch, nge our land policy,
.,o as to accomplish so desirable a result, by
s,curing to the pioneer a home on the public
main at the bare cost of survey and transer, is often rejected by those who have given but little thought to the subject as leveling
asod agrarian. When was there ever an effort
made, since the world be-an, to wrest from
power its ill-gotten gains, or to restore to
man his inalienable rights, but it has been
met with the shout of levIeling and agrarian?l
That is the alarm cry of the devotee of the
past, with which he ever strives to prevent
all re form s or innovations upon  established
usages.  Be hind such a b ulwa rk o   ld abuses
intrerich themselves, and attempt to main   tain their position  by  hurling against   every
assailant terms of odium and r  eproacb, made
so by the  coloring of the  adherents  of pre -
rogative and  power.   Until within   a very r e   cent period the  chroniclers of the )-a ce  have
bee n,    for  the    most p art, sycophants  oI power;
and, being the allies of the State, have gloss  ed over its contemporaneous  d  espotism a nd
wrongs, wh ile they have  written down  the
true defend ers  of the rights of the people and
the champ i on s  of honora ble labor  a s the   out -
laws of history.
Beca us e   the Ro man   Gracchi pro pose d to
elevate  the  Roman citizen,  t)y  dignifying his
labor  and restoring him to the rights of which
he  had bee n unjustl y deprived-by the   oli  garchy who controlled the State, their name
was m ade   sy anonymous with infamy; as arch
disturbers o f a ll th at w as good in  soci ety, till
Niebuh r tore off the  vail of two thou sand years
of obloquy,   and vindicated  to future times
their memorie s   as true defenders  ofhe rights
of the  people, and  advocates  of the oespt inte  rests and glory of their country. Such has
been  the    fate of the w orld  s reformers.  Is it
not time that we learned wi s  dom  from the
chronicles of the past, and ceased a blind re  verence for customs or institutions, because
oftciiea        e nttheir gey age  Whyshoul otthe Ame rican  statesm anadapt th e   legislation ofthe
country to the development eI its material re so urces,      the  promotion   of its industrial.inte rests, anid thereby dignify its ~abor, and make
strong th e  prime element s  of national power?
Let this vast domain, the n, be se at apart and
consecrated forever as a patrimony to tbe sons
of toil; close your land office forever against
the speculator, and thereby prevent the capi tal of the country from Eeeking that kind of
investmen, of absorbing the lhard,arnings or
labor, without rendering an equivalent. While the laborer is thus crushed by this sys tem established by the, Government, which ab stracts -.o large an amount from his earnings
for the benefit of the speculator, in addition
to all the other disadvantages that ever beset
the unequal struggle between the bones and
sinews of men and dollars And cents, what
wonder is it that misery and want so often sit
at his fireside, and penury and sorrow sur.
round his deathbed.
While the pioneer spirit goes forth into the
wilderness, snatching pew areas from the
wild beasts and bequeathing them a legacy to
civilized man, let not the Government dampen
his ardor and palsy his arm by legislation that
places him in the power of soulless capital
abnd edsl spoution  i for upon his wild
battle field these are $be only foes that his own
stern heart and Tight arm cannot vanquish,
7
k
t
: 11 
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It 
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4