Speech #480068896

I want to say to the gentleman in question that the American Congress is determined to prevent the absorption and ownership of vast tracts of our public domain by foreign monopolists. I desire to impress upon this House that the preservation of the public land for our people is the burning question of the day. When we look to the enormous growth of our population. when we see the great stream of foreign immigration pouring upon our shores every day. it must become apparent to us all that the hope of the Republic is in the public domain and the cheap lands of the West and South.. We want that the struggling masses alluded to in the article of the New York Sun and spoken of by the gentleman from Colorado . those men and children who arg in comparative serfdom in Pennsylvania. shall have a hope of success in life upon the public domain in the far West and on the prairies of Texas and the fertile regions of the great and growing South. There is another argument for this bill.