HOW TO GET A FAKM, 



greatest number of acres for the smallest amount of 

 money. It is as much the governing principle of 

 the rich as of the poor. Common sense, sharpened 

 by long habit, teaches it to the former, but necessity 

 teaches it to the latter. But it happens that the 

 poor of this country cannot allege poverty as a bar 

 to the acquisition of as much land as one man 

 ought to possess. The vast public domain of the 

 Union has been thrown open for them to enter in 

 upon it as a gift. No such munificence has been 

 displayed by any other government, either ancient 

 or modern. When the Norman overran and con 

 quered England, the land was partitioned off among 

 those who assisted in the subjugation ; but the mere 

 poor man received no share because of his poverty. 

 In our own day, the boundless fields of Australia 

 and New Zealand are sold, not given away. This 

 government alone has enunciated the principle that 

 the poor man who desires to acquire land is entitled 

 to it without price. It seeks no money compensa 

 tion, but looks for remuneration to the growth and 

 prosperity of the nation consequent on the settle 

 ment and cultivation of its vast unoccupied domain. 

 The stranger from a foreign country, though he 

 neither fought for it nor has been taxed for it, comes 

 in an equal sharer with the native-born citizen. 



Such lands would therefore seem to be cheaper 

 than all others, and hence the most to be sought 

 after. Price has no bearing upon them they are 

 to be given away. The causes of this unexampled 

 liberality, the men in whose comprehensive states 

 manship it originated, the opposition they encoun- 



