CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



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llic 

 has 



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adoption of ft now policy a policy which 



as never hitherto been pursued since thu for- 

 ti< m of the Government. Ever since there 

 been public schools in any State of the 

 I' nii in, those public schools have relied wholly 

 ami entirely on State support and State appro- 

 priations. Never before has a direct attempt 

 been made to go to the Treasury of the I'niti-d 

 - and take out money and parcel it among 

 the several States for educational purpos 

 h:ivi>, sir, in past years of my life, had some little 

 o'liiicction with public education, and I have 

 been a firm believer that that kind of interest 

 which is needed for a happy, full, and success- 

 ful development of the common-school system 

 must be close at home. 



" It is utterly impossible to rely upon the 

 general Government to foster and keep alive 

 that kind of spirit that is needed for a success- 

 ful free-school development ; and most certain- 

 ly I do not think we should go to the Treasury 

 this year and I say this to the chairman of 

 the Committee on Ways and Means (Mr. 

 Dawes) to a Treasury wellnigh depleted, 

 and take out of it the sum of $2,000,000 ami 

 scatter it through the Union, even for so good 

 a purpose as free education. 



11 N ow, my great objection to this bill lies in 

 this: what are these public lands of ours 

 which we propose practically to tax in order 

 that we may get money, and get ' net proceeds,' 

 wherewith to pay out and create this fund? 

 We must recollect that we will get no ' net pro- 

 ceeds ' unless we tax these lands. We have 

 had a great deal said here about these lands 

 belonging to the people. If these lands are to 

 be taxed in order that we may get a fund that 

 shall be worthy of the name, who are to be 

 taxed ? 



" We have two policies : the homestead and 

 the preemption policy. Where do we get the 

 most of the proceeds of our public lands? 

 We get them under the operation of the pre- 

 emption law. Both Houses of Congress, how- 

 ever, at the last session, voted to repeal the 

 preemption laws, and henceforth and forever 

 open up the entire public domain to the home- 

 stead principle. The homestead principle has 

 been adopted by both of the great national 

 parties of the country ; it is the popular senti- 

 ment of the country to-day. Nor is it pro- 

 posed insidiously to keep on the statute-book a 

 preemption law that shall give us 'net pro- 

 ceeds.' Without that law we shall have only 

 the income that shall arise from the sale of the 

 mineral and pine lands, and very few of these 

 now remain. Therefore I say that, as legisla- 

 tors here, we ought to remember that these 

 public lands are, as it wore, our outlying op- 

 portunities for national development. What 

 are we going to do with the poor man coming 

 over from Europe to settle in this country ? 

 Whither shall we direct him ? We wish to direct 

 him to the great prairies the public lands of 

 the West. Shall we tell these men that these 

 lands are open to bo entered under the home- 

 VOL. xiv. 12 A 



stcnd law ? Yes. We should let that word go 

 to Europe in advance, and let tin- p. ..p!.- th,- r - 

 nndci -taiid that this is our policy, hut pass 

 this bill, and its friends will inevitably, natural- 

 ly, and logically, oppose the repeal of the pre- 

 emption laws. 



"Then you must inform every person in 

 the East, in the older States, who desires a 

 homo in the West, every incoming settler upon 

 our public domain, that ho must pay $1.25 or 

 $2.50 an acre. Will it pay thus to burden the 

 public lands? I say not. We will be taxing 

 those who are the poorest and yet the best 

 people in the country ; we will be taxing the 

 men who wish a home, the poor* men who 

 come into the country; for, unless wo sell 

 them these lands, we will get no ' net proi 



" The Committee on the Public Lands has 

 already before it a bill to repeal the preemp- 

 tion law. It ought to be repealed. The gen- 

 tleman from Massachusetts (Mr. G. F. Hoar) 

 talked about speculators. Sir, where does the 

 speculator in public lands get the chance to 

 defraud and carry on his business? It is un- 

 der that identical preemption law. Abolish 

 that, and every man may have a free home. 

 Give us the homestead- law alone. The pre- 

 emption is where the fraud comes in; it is 

 where the fearful swearing takes place ; it is 

 where the speculator thrives and flourishes." 



Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, said : "I wish to call 

 the attention of the House particularly to this 

 fact, that we are endeavoring by this bill to 

 move further in the direction which was ren- 

 dered necessary by the war, but which has 

 ceased to be necessary with the declaration of 

 peace. Sir, in this Congress we have fought 

 many battles in which, under the so-called 

 war-power of the Union, we have assumed 

 powers of a very dangerous character, but also 

 of a very necessary character at the time. 

 During the continuance of the war we gath- 

 ered great powers into this body, and, to secure 

 the fruits of the war, we amended the Consti- 

 tution so as to get still further powers for a 

 condition of peace. I ask gentlemen now 

 whether, when the Constitution has been 

 amended as thoroughly as any gentleman de- 

 sires, and when we are in a condition of peace 

 and restored Union, there is a man upon this 

 floor who desires in any respect to further 

 centralize the Government at this time? I ask 

 what clause of the Constitution can bring us 

 into connection with the school districts of 

 the different States of this Union? I wNh 

 some member of the committee would point 

 me to a clause of the Constitution, or to any 

 amendment of the Constitution, that brings 

 the Congress of the United States into con- 

 tact with subdivisions of States of this Union, 

 known as school districts, and with teachers' 

 wages therein ? I know of none. I know of 

 no power in that instrument by which we can 

 touch the school districts of this Union in the 

 manner of regulation ; and yet this bill pro- 

 vides for the payment of the salaries of the 



