The Congressional Globe, Volume 14: Twenty-Eighth Congress, Second Session Page: 69
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CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
mittee 0f the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr.
Gate Johnson in the chair.
PUBLIC LANDS.
The CHAIRMAN stated the question pending
when the committee last rose, to be on the "bill to
reduce and graduate the price of public lands in favor
of settlers and cultivators."
Mr. C, J. INGERSOLL moved the postpone-
ment of that bill.
- Mr. ROBERT SMITH claimed the floor.
Mr. C. J. INGERSOLL insisted that he had pos-
session of the floor.
The CHAIRMAN informed the gentleman from
Pennsylvania that the gentleman from Illinois was
entitled to the floor from the day on which the
House was last in committee on this bill.
Mr: ROBERT SMITH then spoke as follows:
I owe some apology to the committee for thrusting
myself forward thus early in this debate, and par-
ticularly for immediately following the talented and
eloquent gentleman from Maryland [Mr.-CicsiN]
who last addressed the committee. And my excuse
must be the deep interest which my constituents
feel in this measure, and- from the further fact, that
1 am a practical farmer, and may, perhaps, on that
account, take more interest in meting out justice to
the great agricultural community, than the honora-
ble gentlemen who oppose this bill. And again,
sir, I believe that a little practical experimental
knowledge in this matter is worth more than all
the fine-spun themies in the world. As there are
many gentlemen anxious to speak on this question,
I shall not trespass, very long on the patience of the
the committee.
' -Mr. Chairman, the proper and judicious dis-
position of the public lands, or management of them,
involves principles of more vital importance to the
people of the whole western country, than any other
question which has yet come before Congress. In
the discussion and action by this committee upon
the bill now under consideration, which has for its
object the graduation and reduction of the price of
the public lands to the settlers and cultivators, I beg
gentlemen to lay aside all local and sectional interest
or feeling, and come up to the question as brethren
Of one great family, whose only object is so to act
as Will best promote the interests of the whole fam-
ily. I come from the West, and from one of the
States most deeply interested in the disposition of
these lands; and know and feel that much is due to
the pioneer settlers of the State which I have the
honor, in part, to represent and to the early settlers
of the whole West—men to whose courage, energy,
and toil, we are indebted for transforming a waste
wilderness into a productive country. I believe that
this government ought to bestow these lands upon
those who,- by their valor and labor, have given
them their present value.
' Sir, I sincerely believe that justice and equity de-
mand that they should be thus bestowed, at least so
soon as the government shall have received from
-the sales the original cost of the lands, with the ex-
pense of survey and sales of the same. _ I will not
tunc advocate any bill or proposition which cannot
be demonstrated to be for the interest of the whole
Union. We of the West must depend mainly
upon our mineral and agricultural resources. And,
'Mr. Chairman, I would ask, in what does the
wealth of our community consist? Is it in the mil-
lions of acres of wild, unimproved lands? No, sir;
it is in the labor laid out upon those lands, rendering
them productive—the improvements put upon them
—the mineral dug from the bowels of the earth by
the enterprising miner, and the annual crops pro-
duced bV the labor of the honest cultivator of the
soil,—these, sir, these are the sources of our wealth;
and when this government will adopt the true policy
in the disposition of the public lands, every freeman
will have it in his power to become a freeholder. If
the government, by giving away the public lands
which have been in market over ten years, could
"thereby insure the making of a good farm upon
each quarter or half section of these lands now re-
maining unsold, it would be a profitable and judi-
cious disposition of them.
The taxes alone derived from the lands when well
improved, would, in ten years, amount to more than
the present value of the lands. In a country like
ours—boasting as we do of our liberal institutions,
our enlightened policy, our high regard for the pop-
ular rights of man—shall we show, by our course m
the disposition of the public lands—from which the
farmer, by toil and sweat, earns not only his own
' brRisJ, but p,\no and sustain* the whole coiw
try—that the sole governing principle with us is
dollars and cents? Shall we keep the lands at such
prices as will prevent thousands of our honest, hard-
laboring men from becoming the owners of lands,
and thus force them to become literally "hewers of
wood and drawers of water" for their more wealthy
and fortunate neighbors? * I do not, Mr. Chairman,
adopt the motto "take care of the rich, and let them
take care of the poor." In my opinion, it is the
bounden duty of the government to pass such laws
as will best secure and promote the interests of the
laboring classes; for, sir, it cannot be denied that all
wealth is the product of labor, and whenever that
great interest, and more particularly the agricultural
interest, suffers you will find all other branches of
business deranged and depressed; for all depend,
more or less, for their success upon the prosperity
of the agricultural interest.
- The bill now under consideration may not be per-
fect in all its provisions, and may require many
modifications; still all must admit that there is a
wide difference in the value of our lands; and com-
mon sense would at once suggest that those who
make the first selections will take the most valuable
lands. There may, perhaps, be some few excep-
tions to this rule; but the general principle is so
plain and obvious that those who select first secure
the most valuable lands, that I had not supposed
any gentleman would attempt to controvert the po-
sition; and whatever may have been the fact in re-
lation to the lands in the State of Ohio in this re-
spect, I- can inform the honorable gentleman from
that State, [Mr. Vinton,] who spoke against this
bill, that in Illinois, where the land has been in
market five years, the most valuable lands have all
been purchased. Many of our best lands were set-
tled and improved before they were offered for sale,
or even surveyed; and such has also been the case
in the Territories of Iowa and Wisconsin. The
graduating scale in this bill, so far as Illinois is con-
cerned, is,' perhaps, as just and equitable as any
general principle that could be adopted or agreed
upon. AH who are acquainted with the value of
lands know that some—even third rate—land, lying
near a good market, would command a higher price
than first rate land more remote from market;
whilst, at the same time, these lands would be
deader at five cents per acre, than the first rate lands,
in the same vicinity were at two dollars per acre.
There are various reasoas why lands of e'qual rich-
ness of soil, and lying in the same vicinity, are not
all alike valuable. In Illinois, sir, we have exten-
sive prairies; and although the land may be unsur-
passed in beauty and richness of soil, still it may be
so far from timber that its value is greatly diminish-
ed. Those, who purchase first, always select those
lands where the timber and prairie join; and those
who come after them have to go further into the
prairie and purchase that at government price, and
then buy timber land of first purchasers at five and
ten dollars per acre. There are millions of acres of
lands in Illinois that would be dearer as a gift than
the same quantity, sold within five years from the
time it came into market, was at one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre, or even twice that price.
This measure seems to be regarded by some gentle-
men as purely for the interests of the West.
This is not so, Mr. Chairman; the benefits
of this bill are conferred Upon all who wish
to purchase lands for immediate settlement and cul-
tivation, it matters not from what State, country, or
nation they may come; all, all who wish to culti-
vate the soil are hospitably received, and are equally
entitled to its provisions. Do not gentlemen from
the old States feel some sympathy for those of their
brethren who, by misfortune, or owing to the high
prices at which lands are held in the old States, are
unable to become the owners of land in those States?
And will they not aid us in carrying this bill through,
for the benefit of this worthy class of their constitur
ents, and others equally deserving, who may partici-
pate in the blessing it will confer? If this bill shall
pass, it will enable thousands to become the owners
of the lands they cultivate, It will give them a real
interest in the country; it will elevate them in a
moral point of view. They will become more in-
dustrious and better citizens, by feeling that they
are upon an equality in every respect with the rich-
est man in our land. They would be freeholders.
But (said Mr. S.) it is urged against this bill, that
by reducing the price of the public lands you do in-
justice to the present owners of land, by bringing
down the price of their lands. Now, sir, this is
such an argument as we might expect from the
miser against MY reduction is the rats of interest;
but I did not expect to hear such an argu-
ment introduced here. Lands are valuable, main-
ly from their capacity to yield a support
or living to the cultivator; and so far as that is con-
cerned, it matters not to the owner whether the
land is considered worth one dollar or twenty dol-
lars per acre. It is the duty of the government, a*
I believe it is their interest also, as I have before re-
marked, to make every freeman a freedolder. Again,
sir, I consider it due to the new States that this bill,
or one embracing many of its provisions, should,
become a law. Many of the new States are largely
in debt; and while the public lands are held by the
government at present prices, .they will not sell; ana
hence these States are deprived of raising revenue
from these unsaid lands. Ar.d whilst our citizens
are groaning under heavy taxation, millions ot
acres of lands within our borders remain untaxed,
in consequence of a higher price being demanded
for them than they are worth. I, sir, differ in opinion
with many of my friends; I believe that we have the
right to lax all the lands within the borders of our
State; but I do not design at this time to discuss
that question. I, howev#r, dislike to hear gentle-
men, whenever any measure is moved beneficial to
the new States—such as reducing the price, ceding
the lands to the States upon equitable t?rms,
or showing the injustice of not allowing the
new States to tax the lands held by the govern-
ment within their limits—fly to the deeds of cession
and to the acts of admission, and meet us with the
cry, There is no authority in the compact; it is not
warranted by the acts of admission of the new
States into the Union! Sir, said Mr. S., will this
government, Shylock-like, exact the "pound of
flesh,5' because, forsooth, the "bond" calls for it?
He hoped, for the honor of the nation, that
was not to be the rule of action; that if time had
shown that, by the terms of admission of the new
States into the Union, injustice had been done to
them, they should not be forever debarred from jus-
tice. It was not to be expected that, in the early
settlement of the West, and when the present land
system wras adopted, a system could be framed so
perfect as to need no change. While rapid advances
and improvements were being made in literature,
science, and the mechanic arts, were no advances to
be made to render our government and laws more
perfect? Is not the light of experience entitled . to
some consideration? Are we to be told that no im-
provement can bo made in the laws regulating ths
sales of the public lands? He believed we were
half a century behind the times in this matter.
True, the West had improved and settled rapidly?
but it was not because of the judicious land system:
it was owing to the indomitable energy, spirit, and
enterprise of the early settlers of the new States.
They possessed, in an eminent degree, the spirit of
their patriot fathers. And it may be said, with
great propriety, that the West has risen to its pres-
ent prosperous and elevated position, pot by favor-
ed legislation, but in spite of legislation.
The honorable gentleman from Ohio says, "Stick
to the old system; it worked well—the country
prospered undar it, andsettledfrapidly." As well
might we say to the farmer, Stick to your old sys-
tem of thrashing your wheat and oats, &c. with the
flail-, it certainly worked well, and you were pros-
pering and increasing in wealth rapidly; don't suf-
fer yourselves to be led into the use of any of the
new inventions and improvements of the age. Do
not use the patent thrashing machine, even though
it does not cost you one-fifth of the labor to thrash
your grain ! As well might you say to the manu-
facturer, Stick to our old spinning jenny—to your
old-fashioned loom, &c., &c.; and, sir, I might go
through with a long catalogue, showing the perfect
folly of such a course of reasoning.
The honorable gentleman from Maryland [Mr.
Causin] is mistaken when he supposes that this bill
will reduce at once 100,000,000 acres of land to
twenty-five cents per acre. But, sir, be that as it
may, twenty-five cents per acre for lands which
have been offered in the market over twenty years,
to the man who cultivates it, is as much as the gov-
ernment ought to exact, or the purchaser ought to
pay; and if this policy had long since been adopted,
thousands of the honorable gentleman's constituent®,
who are now poor and oppressed, would have been
in the West, and the owners of land, with all the
real necessaries and comforts of life around them;
and millions throughout the Union would, no doubt,
by this measure, have been saved from pauperism
and the lowest depths of degradation, infamy, and
i crime. Tho honorable gentkmtm'i w^umsnt seems
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 14: Twenty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, legislative document, 1845; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2366/m1/85/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.