SPEECH OF HON. JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 113 



rates, a love of useful labor will be promoted, and thus health and 

 usefulness cannot but be advanced among those who otherwise 

 might waste a life in uncultured ignorance or cultivated imbe- 

 cility. 



Not one in fifty of those young men who apply to us to be 

 nominated as candidates for the Military or Naval Schools, can be 

 gratified. All these young men feel conscious of their ability to 

 do something honorable for themselves and their country, and their 

 ambition takes the direction of these schools, mainly because they 

 know not how elsewhere to obtain a fitting education. The num- 

 bers of this class will now be greatly augmented. The ability of 

 parents to educate their children will be curtailed, while the desire 

 to obtain an education, especially a military one, will have been 

 increased. These young men, if this bill should pass, will find a 

 field open to them large enough to satisfy all reasonable ambition. 



There is no appeal that comes so resistlessly to our sympathy — 

 and there are few men here, I dare say, who have not felt it — as 

 that of a bright-eyed boy, without means, but strong in virtues 

 and noble aspirations, seeking the temporary aid that will enable 

 him to achieve a liberal education. Let the corner-stones of these 

 land colleges be laid, and this army of lads, who are so soon to 

 take charge of the institutions of our country, will, with all the 

 enthusiasm of faith and hope, '* thank God and take courage ! " 



The question, " what shall w^ do with the public lands ?" has long 

 been one of the most interesting political problems to be solved. 

 In ordinary times our taxation has been so light that the revenue 

 obtained from this source might have been reimbursed from other 

 sources without much complaint ; but now we have not only to 

 curtail expenses, but to enlarge the circle of every revenue bill. 

 From the seeming vastness of our public lands, magnified by all 

 the wastes, mountains, waters and deserts, it has been thought im^ 

 possible to overestimate their extent or value ; and on the theory 

 that they were inexhaustible, they have always, when sold, been 

 held at an inconsiderable price — scarcely more than the fees for 

 transfer and record of title in older countries — and, when given 

 away, the mile-squares have been bestowed with a lavishness only 

 equaled in the days of feudalism. The legislator, from his dizzy 

 height, has looked over all the broad area, and like one of old has 

 been ready to say to all with unappropriated votes, " all this will I 

 give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me ! " Grants for 



8 



