state Convention—small Freeholds. 
343 
all other fees allowed by law in any wise affecting the transfer of 
landed properties. The law should always discriminate in favor 
of the actual settler and against the non-resident in all burdens 
imposed on land already sold, to at least double taxes for local 
purposes, such as schools, &c. 
Neither should the law permit such complications or irregulari¬ 
ties to obtain in settlements in probate courts, that the state should 
deem it necessary in loaning her trust funds, to discriminate unfa¬ 
vorably towards such real estate as has been administered upon. 
It might not be out of place here to express our conviction that 
had congress made it a condition of the gift, that the land grants 
made to railroads to aid in their construction should be sold at 
the same price per acre of government lands lying contiguous, it 
would have been a powerful plea in mitigation of the stupendous 
robbery of the peoples’ patrimony, to build up a Credit Mobilier 
and corrupt monopolies. The only valid plea ever put in for the 
grant of land by congress to aid in the construction of the Pacific 
Railroad was, that at that particular juncture of events it was of vital 
importance to secure rapid communication with the states on the 
Pacific coast, to prevent the spirit of secession from growing into 
actual rebellion, and we are willing to grant to that plea just force 
enough to justify the granting in that particular case. But lay¬ 
ing aside the discussion of the desirableness of correct principles 
being embodied in all laws affecting the disposition of landed 
properties, we turn now to investigate the educational forces in¬ 
volved in the relation of ownership in land and the character 
which is thereby developed. 
In a widely diffused population the means for education can 
hardly be said to exist, and it has always been the case in our 
southern and southwestern states, that educational institutions 
have scarcely existed at all, and the contributions of the benevo¬ 
lent, with generous aid from government, have been indispensa¬ 
ble to keep them alive where existing. The idea of any system 
of common schools existing at all where individuals own whole 
counties or townships, is simply absurd. It is the universal testi¬ 
mony of history and observation, that where large landed prop¬ 
erties prevail, the condition of the bulk of the population is but 
ittle removed from that of beasts of burden. 
