1. The Trustees shall be men of either known wealth, ability, financial
strength, or business capacity, in whose honesty and integrity the
community will have the most implicit confidence.
2. All moneys entrusted to them shall be appropriated in strict
conformity to the directions of the donor or lender, whether for the
general expenses or the purchase of lands.
3. The funds furnished the Trustees for the purchase of lands, shall be
treated as loans or donations as the party may elect, the deed in each
case to be taken in the name of the party furnishing the money to pay
for the land, which deed may be held by the Trustees, or passed over to
the owner as he may elect, as security, if for a loan.
4. The terms of sale to the freedmen by the Trustees shall be
substantially those of the pre-emption laws, to wit: $1.25 per acre; but
the terms of payment may be mutually arranged between the owner and
purchaser, or their agents, the Trustees.
5. Every freedman who can pay for his own farm may have his deed at
once, and enjoy the privileges granted to and by this association, by
the payment of five dollars towards the general expenses.
By the above plan it will be seen that any person investing fifty
dollars for a quarter section, one hundred dollars for a half section,
or two hundred dollars for a section, and so on, will hold the land as
security at $1.25 per acre, while the alternate sections which have been
sold by the Pacific railroads have averaged much more, or about five
dollars an acre (some have sold for fifteen dollars). Thus it will be
seen that the investment will be a safe one, and at the same time
facilitate the exodus of the freedmen to the Western States.
The Trustees will not be allowed to run the association in debt, but
will invest the money put into their hands in the best lands, according
to their judgment, and sell them to the freedmen in the order in which
application and selection is made.
Justice to the freedmen, after the treatment they have received,
requires that the United States government should transport them free of
charge, together with their families, household goods, farming
implements, &c., to unpre-empted lands in the Western States and
Territories, giving to each family land sufficient for their
maintenance, with due diligence and care, and a reasonable time to pay
for it. But the prospect of a "labor reform" movement of that magnitude
does not look very encouraging, when we remember that the rebel South
have thirty-five bogus members in Congress, to which they are not
entitled, while depriving large Republican majorities of several States
of the exercise of the elective franchise, which the amendments to the
Constitution conferred upon them.
If we had more STATESMEN in Congress, and fewer corrupt politicians, the
prospect would be more flattering that the demands of justice would be
heeded.
If, however, the government as at present constituted, should take hold
of the matter in earnest and good faith, our "National Farmers'
Association" may be easily modified to conform to the circumstances. But
on the other hand, if the "solid South," by virtue of its _thirty-five_
bogus representatives, should rule the nation as in ante-bellum times it
did with its _twenty-five_, neither the freedmen nor their friends can
expect any thing to be done in the direction we have suggested that will
benefit the freedmen, until Congress shall be reconstructed at the
polls, or until the large Republican majorities of freedmen in the
South, despairing of the protection of their political rights by the
Federal power, seize their last resort and defend them by their own
strong arms, under "home rule and State rights." If they should do this
the "dominant race" and their rifle clubs would vanish like dew before
the sun, and that ball wouldn't stop rolling until the whole nest of
Southern rebels are cleaned out.
But we propose to the government to prevent all this bloodshed, and
quietly remove the freedmen and their families to the Western prairies.