Terra firma

“ In the wide regions we are about to traverse we feel at every step the colossal character of the enterprise. Every instant their aspect changes; Nature never repeats herself; their products vary with the latitude, the climate, and the soil. To pass in review all the trees and plants and flowers which flourish there, all the animals and peoples which dwell among them, would be nothing less than to embrace in a vast encyclopædia the description and history of two organic kingdoms. ”

“ Without Land, Labor would be powerless to produce Artificial Objects. But Land is abundant in all varieties. Trees grow in forests, minerals repose in the earth, the soil offers itself to the farmer, the sea to the sailor, solid ground to the builder, flowing streams to all. Together with the winds, the lightning,52 the snow, the rain and all the other subtle and mysterious forces of Nature, those Natural Resources respond freely to the multifarious energies, the broadening knowledge of natural law, and the intensifying skill of Labor. ”

“ The only conclusion to which we are brought by this prolonged examination of authorities is that community in land has not yet been historically proved. Here are scholars who have maintained that they could prove from original authorities that nations originally cultivated the soil in common ”

“ As an instance of what private enterprise can accomplish, I may mention that in the far west now, I am privileged to be a co-worker with a public-spirited and wealthy land owner, and on rich soil, such as we have for countless leagues on our great western plains, he is now irrigating and preparing land for sowing with tropical crops, and the result may be the introduction of several new and remunerative industries. ”

“ Will it be found that the Company's agents have introduced the arts of civilization among any tribe or nation in Africa, that they have made any progress in agriculture, although possessing a very extensive tract of fertile lands, or that they have converted them into any of the regular features of cultivation? Have they explored or brought into action any of the attainable and lucrative branches of natural commerce, abounding in the region they inhabit, or do they employ a single ship in a regular trade with the mother country? ”

“ Is the whole difference between the earth as it is, with its clearings and improvements, its roads and canals, its towns and manufactories, and the earth as it was when the first human being set foot on it, of no benefit to any but those who are called the owners of the soil? ”

“ In considering the land situation as it exists, it is true that the ownership of land or, rather, the access to land, is of primary importance. The question arises, Is there enough land in the United States for all citizens who desire to become cultivators? ”

“ In these unquestioned principles of law, we find its rules which define the nature and extent of all franchises on the shores or waters of public rivers, havens or arms of the sea, which can be enjoyed by an individual or a corporation. ”

“ Judging even by his own imperfect test, that of local situation—how imperfect I need not stop to point out—is it true that in England or France at the present day the uncultivated part of the soil consists of the plains and valleys, and the cultivated, of the hills? Every one knows, on the contrary, that it is the high lands and thin soils which are left to nature, and when the progress of population demands an increase of cultivation, the extension is from the plains to the hills. ”

“ Though the sun's heat and light fall upon the rock of Gibraltar or the sands of Arabia for ever, or however intensely, yet they are for ever barren. And so, on the other hand, the richest soil can produce nothing in darkness and cold. Thus, in order to production, it is seen that two distinct things are necessary, first a proper organization, structure, or constitution in the soil and secondly the influence of active powers from the sun and heavens operating upon that soil. ”

“ The homes, fields, forests, mill-streams, and mining tracts of the whites holding our subdued territory, or even regions still in the depths of the unreclaimed wilderness, are secured to them by a system of deeds, carefully drawn with bounds and measurements, with indications of previous ownership, and the terms of transfer and possession. ”

“ They all knew that out-of-doors there was from time to time a great outcry raised about what was called the "monopoly of land", and, in support of that cry, the wildest and most reckless exaggerations and mis-statements of fact were uttered as to the number of persons who were the actual owners of the soil. ”

“ Suddenly it struck them that all manufactured products of human industry must necessarily obey one law; whilst the products of land obey another and opposite law. Let us for a moment consider arable land as a natural machine for manufacturing bread. ”

“ Thus, to the tenant in looking out for a farm, or to the capitalist in seeking an eligible investment, a knowledge of the mutual relations of geology and agriculture will often prove of the greatest assistance. Yet how little is such really useful knowledge diffused among either class of men—how little are either tenants or proprietors guided by it in their choice of the localities in which they desire to live! ”

“ The transforming of a continent from a wilderness to a land of homes and highly organized industry in the brief space of three centuries; the marvelous and rapid development of the vast material resources of our land; the hastening here of eager recruits from other lands, passionately seeking and needing material betterment, have magnified in this country the feverish acquisition of material wealth and accentuated the hard, calculating business spirit ”

“ Every European factory in China, every Hudson Bay Company post in the wilds of northern Canada, every Arab settlement in savage Africa is surrounded by a sphere of trade; and this in turn is enclosed in a wider sphere of influence through which its civilization, though much diluted, has filtered. The higher the civilization, the wider the area which it masters. The manifold activities of a civilized people demand a large sphere of influence, and include, furthermore, improved means of communication which enable it to control such a sphere. ”

“ Looking at the actual facts of life, and the conditions under which people live in a thickly populated country like our own, I cannot bring myself to believe that the soil of England is one of those purely commercial objects whose transfer ought to be wholly governed by individual agreement between the buyer and the seller, or between the hirer and the letter. ”

“ Other hats, coats and chairs can be made without limit. But more land cannot be made, nor can anything be substituted for it. No human being can say that he exists independently of land. Land is literally the foundation of human life. ”

“ Wealth represented by lands, which were created by God for the benefit of all humankind, and not for the individual, is the so-called right-secured by barter, exchange or inheritance, to use or withhold from use, at the caprice of the owner—of a certain piece or portion of the planet. Under a legal fiction the title to land extends to the center of the Earth and to infinity in an opposite direction! ”

“ Is not that territory enough to make an empire that shall rule the world? With the finest soil, the most delightful climate, whose staple productions none of those great countries can grow, we have three thousand miles of continental shore line, so indented with bays and crowded with islands, that, when their shore lines are added, we have twelve thousand miles. ”

“ The broad and almost interminable forests have yielded to the woodman's axe; the streams and rivers, and even old Ocean itself, have become transformed into channels of commerce and trade, and bear upon their bosoms the auxiliaries of progress and science. ”

“ The Dominion now stretches from ocean to ocean across that vast continent, embracing lands of every nature—some valuable for corn, some for pasture, for timber or for other treasures which will in future centuries make the country one of the richest on the earth—for coal and other minerals. ”

“ From the felling of the trees in the forest, the tilling of the soil and the mining of the ore, through all the steps and processes required to produce from the raw material the complicated machine or the costly fabric, there must have been co-operation, and all incongruous elements and resistant forces must have been eliminated or overcome. ”

“ In this matter, the true equality for these days is to make the ownership of the land—the chief instrument of production, and participation in the produce of the land, as far as possible equal to all by the thousand ways of the thousand forms of industry society now requires. ”

“ In 1684 the selectmen inform the General Court that one half of the proprietors, two only excepted, are dwelling in other places, "Our proprietors, abroad," say they, "object that they see no reason why they should pay as much for thayer lands as we do for our Land and stock, which we answer that if their be not a noff of reason for it, we are sure there is more than enough of necessity to supply that is wanting in reason." [51] This is the authentic voice of the frontier. ”

“ On reference to the Land Regulations, it will be seen that land for any such purposes may be obtained on such terms as will not exhaust the capital which may be more profitably applied to its improvement and cultivation. ”

“ Mining companies, railroad, ranching and plantation companies, and private individuals had invested in a land that has been called "the storehouse of the world," because of its fabulous resources in mineral wealth and fertile soil. ”

“ Leaving the free forces of nature, surrounded by which we live and work, out of consideration, and also the fact that all raw material is due to nature, land is the indispensable foundation of all economy. ”

“ The Use of Land the Foundation of Social Order.—The manner in which tribes and nations have attached themselves to the soil has determined the type of social organization. Before the land was treated as property of individuals or regarded as a permanent possession by tribes, the method in which the land was held and its use determined the quality of civilization, and the land factor became more important as a determiner of social order as civilization progressed. ”

“ To insure the success of the settlers and the settlement, the company proceeds as follows: The most careful study is made of the tract of [Pg 53] land which the company intends to acquire for colonization purposes. Not only is the tract of land closely looked over by the company's officials, but land experts, such as soil surveyors, are engaged to examine the land from the viewpoint of its agricultural possibilities. Federal and state surveyors' reports are also used in considering the possibilities of the land. ”

“ I think that if an intelligent foreigner, accustomed to the system of general proprietorship in land which prevails in most European countries, were to go about the midlands and south-east of England, about our growing towns as well as our country districts, with the object of studying our land-system and the results that flow from it, he might make some of the following remarks:—"I see a country on the whole fertile and well cultivated, but often very lonely. ”

“ As long as some one pays the bill.
The present plan is, surely, fine;
The interest, at least, is mine."
Who owns the land?
In meek surprise
The child said, "Like the air, and skies,
And running water, flowers, and birds,
And lullabies, and gentle words,
And rosy sunsets, clouds, and storms,
And God revealed in all His forms—
'Tis plain the land's the right of birth
Of every creature on the earth:
No man can make a grain of sand;
How can he say he owns the land?" ”

“ On the contrary, even between the most highly civilized countries, in which the people speak the same language, the dividing lines are entirely arbitrary, so far as relation to soil, climate, mineral and timber resources, fisheries, etc., are concerned. ”

“ All persons entitled to the use of lands were declared to be to all intents and purposes the lawful possessors, as much as if the lands had been made over to them by formal grant or conveyance. They became actual owners, with all the rights and all the liabilities of their special tenures. ”

“ Wherever we go with our plea for the foresighted and economical use of the earth and its remaining resources, we are met with the question: "But what can I do?" The answer is simple. Find your place in the nearest team working to utilize, conserve, and, where possible, enlarge the natural wealth of the planet. If no such team exists, join with your neighbors in organizing one. Take seriously your assignment to use the part of the earth with which you are in contact intelligently, economically, wisely. ”

“ The idea of absolute individual ownership of land was a growth through experience, the complete attainment of which belongs to the period of civilization. These lands, however, were taken from those held in common by the Roman people. Gentes, curiæ and tribes held certain lands in common after civilization had commenced, beyond those held by individuals in severalty. ”

“ Suppose we allowed the great estates to break up by the natural operation of natural causes, instead of continuing to keep them together by laws invented to defeat the operation of these natural causes?
"Land is Perpetual Man." ”

“ To meet the requirements of existing laws in the disposition of the agricultural, mineral, pastoral, timber, desert, and swamp lands, a thorough investigation and classification of acreage of the public domain are imperatively demanded. ”

“ Much of the land there is held as a species of métairie; that is to say, the proprietor, at the end of the year, when the land requires ploughing, takes into his employ one or more peasants according to the amount of land requiring cultivation. ”

“ LAND.—The land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is the heritage of the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All land now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their actual needs, and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only. ”