“If Spiritualists could furnish one clearly-proved case of a spirit from the other world, seen and tested by those now living on the earth, there would be some sense and reason in their claims to be heard; but until they do, the great mass of intelligent people will refuse to listen, and rightly, too.”
There must be an immense mass of the same kind of lazy ignorance in the community, when such stuff is tolerated in a newspaper. The contents of daily newspapers show that they expect more patronage from the debased and ignorant classes than from the intelligent and honorable.
Robbery of Public Lands.—The report of Surveyor General Geo. W. Julian, of Colorado, shows that of the patented and unpatented lands referred to, aggregating 8,694,965 acres, it will be safe to estimate that at least one-half have been illegally devoted to private uses under invalid grants, or unauthorized surveys.
He thinks it would not be extravagance to say that these land claimants, with their enormous interests, have exercised a shaping influence upon Congress. Congress has approved 47 out of 49 of these claims. In this connection the report calls attention to the action of Congress in 1860, and the Interior Department in 1879 in the famous Maxwell land grant case, which he characterizes as a wanton and shameful surrender to the rapacity of monopolists of 1,662,764 acres of the public domain, on which hundreds of poor men had settled in good faith and made valuable improvements. It has been as calamitous to New Mexico, says the Surveyor General, as it is humiliating to the United States. The report says:
“During the last Congress several members of both Houses, including the delegate from this Territory, reported bills for the confirmation of the Socorro grant, which is one of the most shocking of the many attempts yet made to plunder the public domain. I do not say that the men who introduced these bills intended to make themselves parties to any scheme of robbery, but their action shows that the hidden hand of roguery is still feeling its way in Congress for a friendly go-between.”
As a remedy for this condition of affairs, Mr. Julian recommends resurveys of all grants about which there is any doubt, and the entering of suits to set aside patents obtained by fraud.
Land Reform in England.—One hundred and twenty-four members of the English Parliament are in favor of the following land scheme propounded by Charles Bradlaugh:
“Ownership of land should carry with it the duty of cultivation.
“Where land capable of cultivation with profit, and not devoted to some purpose of public utility or enjoyment, is held in a waste or uncultivated state, the local authorities ought to have the power to compulsorily acquire such land.
“The compensation is to be only the ‘payment to the owner for a limited term of an annual sum not exceeding the then average net annual produce of the said lands.’
“The local authorities are to let the lands thus acquired to tenant cultivators.
“The conditions of tenure are to be such ‘as shall afford reasonable encouragement, opportunities, facilities, and security for the due cultivation and development of the said land.’”
Life in Europe.—Senator Frye, of Maine, having returned from Europe, spoke thus to a reporter, at Lewiston:
“We have taken a tour of the continent and of Great Britain, and although we have seen many places, we have seen no place like home—no place in all respects equal to America. You will find in the Old World much that is admirable, but what impressed me most painfully was the poverty of the masses of the people. Why, the people in Europe live on the poorest food, and mighty little of it. I found that laborers in Glasgow work for 2s. 6d. a day—sixty-two cents. I was charmed with Edinburgh, but when I saw women drunk and fighting in her beautiful streets, the modern Athens lost her charms. I cannot convey to you the picture of the degradation and want throughout Great Britain, caused by drink. I come back a stouter cold-water man than when I went away. The drink evil is a horror. Speaking of wages, I found girls in factories in Venice working with great skill for from five to twelve cents a day, the most experienced getting twelve cents a day, out of which they have to live, but how they live is a wonder. Their chief diet is macaroni. Farm hands all over Europe—women—earn twenty cents a day. Women do most of the field work. I saw no improved machinery on the farms of the continent. I have seen twenty women in one field at work—not a man in sight. The plain people see no meat to eat once a week on the continent. The condition of American wage-earners is incomparably better than that of working people in Europe. It’s the difference between comfort and competence, and discomfort and insufficient food and clothing.
“Perhaps the most contemptible people one meets abroad are the Anglicized Americans—the man who apes, both in manners and language, what he regards as the English aristocracy, affects to believe everything in England perfect, and seems to be ashamed to institute any favorable comparison between his country and that.”