:1.t 11 d i ' 'I
I, I;
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
116
your public domain into market; and why? Because you would get no bidders for it. If warrants were to be got at ten cents an acre, could you sell public lands at $1.25 an acre? Not at alt Under that system the land would pass into the hands of speculators, and you would derive no revenue from it. On the other hand, your revenue is not impaired if you give the domain to those who are not able to purchase it, but who will occupy it, and prevent its falling into the hands of speculators. I cannot vote for a measure that is calculated to prejudice the revenue directly without benefiting individuals. You will confer no benefit on the head of a family who is independent, by giving him a land warrant. Sir, that is the agrarian system that was established by Rome when provinces were conquered. A portion of a conquered province distributed to the head of every family in Rome. That was agrarianism in Rome. It was not to the occupants it was given, and hence it built up specu- lators in the city of Rome, and produced such an inequality of wealth, such a love of splendor and affluence, that it demoral- ized and denationalized Rome, and prepared it for a master; and it got the best that it could have possibly selected from Rome when it got Caesar, because he was better than Pompey; and Rome -was prepared for a master, and she was obliged to have one. But, Sir, we need no Caesars or Pompeys here. Distribute the people upon the frontier; render them agriculturists; attach them to the soil; and then, when liberty might even perish in the. center, upon your outskirts you will have men attached to the soil, who derive their living from it, surrounded and sus- tained by their families who have been reared upon it. ·You may appeal to them to rally to the center; and, by outward influence, crush tyranny. It is there, Sir, that you will find lib- erty. Give to the needy who will become industrious. None others will go to your frontier to occupy your vacant territory. Give not to those who have superabundance, and would not turn a hand to fell a tree, or to dig the soil of the virgin earth of our forests. :No, sir, I will not vote for the amendment. icongressional Globe, 1857-1858, Part 3, pp. 2305, 2306. On May 19, 1858, the Senate as a Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the Senate Bill No. 25, "to grnnt to any person who is head of a family, and a citizen of the United States, a homestead of 160 acres of land out of the public domain, upon condition of occupancy and cultivation of the same for the period herein specified." Debate on the bill began on May 24th, and Thomas L. Clingman, of North Carolina, offered the following amendment: "That any person who is head of a family and a- citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to have issued to him, or her, by the Commissioner of Public
,, ' I I I 'I I
, •. I
',
- •
Powered by FlippingBook