434 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The claim of the individual upon society or the state is satis- 

 fied when no unnecessary obstacle prevents the exercise of the 

 powers with which he is blessed for his own greatest good and 

 the good of his fellow men. A possession of land is not differ- 

 ent in principle from any other possession. And we are to 

 acquire and use property subject to one and the same rule, to 

 wit, so as not to injure that which is another's. And this rule, 

 I think, is the perfection of human reason. In ail countries, 

 governments have assumed to own lands. In some cases those 

 lands have been granted to court favorites, in others, as com- 

 pensation for distinguished public services, and in other cases 

 still they have been sold to citizens without any discrimination. 

 The right of a government to own such land as. is necessary 

 for public purposes, cannot be questioned; but beyond this, it 

 can only properly hold it in trust for the whole people, to be 

 sold to those who may wish to purchase and cultivate. And 

 indeed if lands are to be held by non-cultivators they may as 

 well be held by individuals as by the whole people. Therefore, 

 while the policy of a government should be favorable to actual 

 settlers and always regard their interests, it seems impossible 

 to exclude speculators altogether. 



Nor can it be admitted that those who desire land shall re- 

 ceive it of the government without price. The government, or 

 in other words, the whole people, cannot acquire land without 

 cost, either by purchase or conquest, more than individuals. 

 Whatever that cost is, it has been paid, and upon what princi- 

 ple of morals or politics shall those who have bought lands 

 with their own labor be required to give farms to those who 

 have none ? Those who have purchased of the government or 

 of individuals, would be hardly treated if lands were conveyed 

 to others as a gratuity. But on the other hand, the state may 

 not hold lands for mere revenue or for purposes of speculation 

 and gain. Our laws furnish a sufficient remedy for the evil of 

 speculative purchases. If capitalists acquire large tracts, they 

 must be broken up by the force of events under the guide of the 

 general laws of distribution. And it will be remembered that 

 the Roman law limiting a man's possessions in land was seldom 

 enforced. Tlie life of one man does not admit of great accu- 

 mulation, and if the state did not create factitious personages 



