The Struggle to Become a Citizen and a Tradesman

Mr. Chenoweth argued against the restrictive nature of the Donation Land Law. He noted that the experience of years has demonstrated some of the ill effects of the donation law. A very slight knowledge of facts might have satisfied the friends of that bill of the utter folly of attempting to force all classes of men to become farmers. The bounty of the government has induced a certain class to emigrate to this country—namely, the farmers. Other classes are here, and many of them are here for the sake of that bill, but know nothing about farming and cannot make a living that way. Their trades would be valuable to the community and lucrative to themselves, but the temptation to get land induces them to abandon a trade to which they were bred. This class of tradesmen are compelled to launch out into an unknown sea to earn their position and make an experiment that does no one good. Meanwhile, the neighborhood is deprived of their mechanical labor. The policy should be to allow everyone to follow their own inclinations. The more free and unfettered men are, the better. All these tradesmen do is multiply the comforts of man.