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an undue proportion, to the construction of roads Westerly, whose traffic shall compensate for the trade which the Central Illinois railroad, and its connections with the Mississippi must withdraw from her.

The natural changes of trade consequent on the opening of new channels of communication by private or by state efforts, must be met, when they act disadvantageously, by compensating efforts to connect with, and attract previously unavailable sources of business. When the Government accelerates those changes by its aid in one state, and leaves them to private effort in another, it interferes with the relative wealth and position of the two states so situated. The one is enabled now, and by extraneous assistance, to connect her vast resources easily and speedily with the markets of the world, and with the more important produce markets of the West and South: the other is left straining to procure means, and expending an excess of money, (which would under the same measure of assistance, have been applied to the developement of her native wealth,) in the prosecution of communications, which will place her in an equally commanding station, and maintain intact her relative political and social position.

The discouraging effect of such favouritism on the neglected state is about equal to its happy effect on the other. We do not argue against the land assistance to Illinois, but should always have warmly advocated it. We but contend for similar aid to the state of Missouri, and the other Western states, which shall place them on a footing in that respect with their fortunate neighbour, and enable them also to render practically valuable the enormous resources which now lie useless upon the surface of the prairies, or in the veins and strata of the geological formations of this region.

Setting aside, for the present, considerations that may be deemed local merely, in regard to the application of the public lands to purposes of internal improvement, we propose to take a brief view of the question in its most general aspect.

The right of Congress to apply any portion of the public lands, in aid of leading canals or railroads, is questioned by some, and the principle involved in any such right has neither been definitely admitted nor denied, but to this moment remains so far undetermined as to make every new grant an act of special favor of Congress, obtained through a concurrence of accidental and favorable cir

cumstances, and under a kind of protest from a certain fraction of the national legislature.

Now it is admitted by all, that it is the interest of the Government to have the lands occupied as speedily as possible; and yet it is denied in the same breath, that the steps necessary to be taken to secure the occupation of these lands within a reasonable time, are competent to be taken by the government. It is admitted and contended on all hands, that the land should, if possible, be disposed of only to actual occupiers, men who would settle upon it, and improve it; and yet it is denied by some, that the only steps which would render that occupation (in the case of all lands away from the rivers,) desirable to that class of men, viz., ease of access to a market, should be facilitated and endorsed by Congress.

What are those steps but the opening up of the interior lands by means of great leading lines of communication, enabling those resident on them, to send their produce with profit to the local markets. As the lands are situated now, they fall by the very inaction of Congress into the hands of the speculators. The farmer or the miner, who seeks a field for constitutional activity of disposition, or for the application of a healthy industry, has no inducement to settle on these back lands, however rich they may be. He cannot find a market on the spot, and there are no mechanical facilities of transportation within his reach to neutralise the distance of his position from the market cities of his section of country. This is the case with all the lands of the Western states away from the rivers, except on the few belts where canals or railroads are being established. If by accident, such a man settles in such a position, he lives along in the hope of something being done for his section of country, until his early activity of disposition is unsettled by the absence of compensation for his labors. He fills up his leisure time by hunting, loses his regular habits, and discouraged and dissapointed, ends by doing the little that he has to do to sustain his family, in a slovenly and imperfect manner. The result is, that these back lands are entered very slowly; that the speculator with some capital to back him, acquires and holds large parts of them, in the faith that the gradual progress of population, which time will assure, or some lucky chance, will ultimately enable him to dispose of them to advantage. A large extent of public land is held in this way, which but for the absence of competition consequent on its inaccessible position, would never have fallen into

such hands. The men who would have made those lands valuable are not there; the railroads which would have made them accessible are not building for want of that encouragement which in every sense it would be the interest of the government to give; and the men with idle capital called speculators, with a foresight for which they should receive credit, are enabled, by the timidity, the indifference or the inaction of Congress, to obtain for a trifle, large portions of the very rich lands, which while we are framing laws, ostensibly and on paper to secure them to the hard working man, we are taking especial pains to render by their position not worth his purchase.

But it will be said of one instance, in which a grant of land has been made to aid in the construction of a prominent railroad, that that grant has got into the hands of speculators, who will extort a large price for the lands, and secure an unreasonable profit from the operation.

The case referred to is well known to be a peculiar one, and if it should take a shape, which is by no means admitted now, open to censure, it will be more in consequence of the machinery brought into play at Washington to obtain the grant, in consequence of Congressional difficulties having nothing to do with its principle, than by any necessary evils growing out of the application of land in aid of that enterprise.

Were it proper to wave all considerations affecting the general prosperity and wellbeing of the country, what does the government risk or lose as a mere landholder, by making a grant of land in aid of any leading line of communication through the interior of the Western states?

The principle acted upon in the railroad land bills for Alabama, Mississippi and Illinois has been to donate every alternate section for six miles in width on either side, and to double the price of the land on the remaining alternate sections. The cost of the land donated is thus provided for and recovered,* for the remaining land will easily command the increased price. The condition ad

*

A recent examination of the land bills shews us, that the compensation to the Government by doubling the price of the remaining sections, is only strictly true, where there have been no entries made upon the alternate sections reserved by the United States within the six mile belt.-Where there are occupied lands or preemption rights within that belt. and every alternate section does not remain with the Government on which to double the price, the compensation to the land office would be proportionally reduced; but this consideration is conceived to be of very secondary importance under any circumstances.

mits of the government conferring a vast benefit upon a state without pecuniary loss, and with certain benefit in other respects to itself.

And does the Government gain any thing by this timely benefit so easily conferred?

Take the case of the Illinois Central railroad, the Mobile and Ohio railroad, the Missouri railroads, the proposed Arkansas railroad, or the proposed railroad through Iowa. In the case of all these railroads, public lands, which are at present entirely inaccessible for any practical purpose, are made available and profitable, without charge or risk to the Government. A large extent of territory will, as these railroads are made, be industriously settled. Its produce will swell the commerce of the country East, West and South, and its trade and wants add to the revenues of the Government. An active population will settle along these railroads, as a matter of course, for they are not less prolific than rivers of ample water power, in the creation and support of industrial pursuits. The wealth and power of the country is increased, and what was formerly an idle range for the hunter, becomes noisy with the activities of civilized life. Surely, the difference is worth some sacrifice and might excuse some effort, and yet such advantages, following the progress of railroad communications through such territories, as surely as the plant grows from the seed, are begrudged or delayed in subservience to party or sectional jealousies, as if the consequences involved were of the most secondary importance.

It is said by some that the question of such improvements is merely one of time, and that the lands will under any circumstances gradually be filled up, and the improvements be eventually undertaken, and carried through sooner or later by private enterprise. It is freely admitted, that such would eventually be the result. — Time, however, is an element, which in a matter of this nature, may either so much encourage or so much discourage the progress of a State, as to make a residence in it in the course of this generation, either very desirable or very much the reverse. The object of the Government is to encourage and foster the settlement of the public lands now, not to let the matter alone in the face of somany new opportunities for colonisation yearly appearing, when a little effort on its part would render them desirable and available to settlers.

In the new States capital is very much in demand, and does not

exist in sufficient amount to meet the growing wants of the community. To make railroads there under the adverse circumstances of deficient capital, thin population, and a country unoccupied, except along the borders of the navigable streams, is to enter upon. undertakings, compared with which the expensive railroads of the Eastern or Middle States, are in reality difficulties very inferior in degree. If in the Eastern States the routes of communication are very costly, the country is densily populated, and capital is obtainable with but little difficulty. If in the Western States such routes can be opened at about half the expense of Eastern roads, the difficulty of reaching the capital is ten-fold, and the resulting advantages are not all to the community, that undertakes the work, but in large part to the Government, as proprietor of the public lands, which yet declines or delays to assist undertakings, calculated to promote the sale of those lands, and in every other way to add to the convenience and economy of its executive action. To promote the present prosperity of the Western states at some sacrifice might not have been inconsistent with a liberal and enlightened policy: to be able to do so at no sacrifice must encourage in all the hope, that a boon, which can so fairly be granted, will not long be withheld.

The abuses to which the liberal and just policy contended for, may be open, and to which every just measure is open, will not, we trust, be heard of as any reason against the acknowledgement of its clear equity and propriety. What course of policy can be pursued, if its liability to be abused is to become a bar to its adoption?

The Western states of Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas particularly, have work to do during the next ten years, in the shape of railroads, which they cannot complete without embarassment, unless Congress pursues towards them a liberal policy in regard to the public lands. We will particularize the state of Missouri, only as being more familiar with her position. The amount of land at present available for profitable settlement in this State, is by no means as great as is imagined. The mass of the land within reach of water communication is taken up: Before the large balance which remains, can be profitably applied, a large amount of capital in the shape of railroads and plank or macadamised roads, must be expended. The mass of the interior lands does not exist as a source of wealth or profit, until these things are effected. The railroad

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