ope he may come, he will meet his countrymen here, and from them and
us receive a cordial welcome. A Government which gives him a farm, the
right to vote, and free schools for his children, must desire his
welfare.

Of this vast domain (more than thirty-two times as large as England) the
Government of the United States grants substantially as a free gift, a
_farm of 160 acres_ to every settler who will occupy and cultivate the
same, the title being in fee simple, and free from all rent whatsoever.
The settler may be _native_ or _European_, a present or future
immigrant, including females as well as males, but must be at least
twenty-one years of age, _or_ the head of a family. If an immigrant, the
declaration must first be made of an _intention_ to become a citizen of
the United States, when the grant is immediately made, without waiting
for naturalization. When the children of the settler reach twenty-one
years of age, or become the head of a family, they each receive from the
Government a like donation of 160 acres. The intrinsic value of this
public domain far exceeds the whole public debt of the United States.

Our national wealth, by the last census, was $16,159,616,068, and its
increase during the last ten years $8,925,481,011, or 126.45 per cent.
(Census, 1860, p. 195.) Now, if, as a consequence of the Homestead Bill,
there should be occupied, improved, and cultivated, during the next ten
years, 100,000 additional farms by settlers, or only 10,000 per annum,
it would make an aggregate of 16,000,000 acres. If, including houses,
fences, barns, and other improvements, we should value each of these
farms at ten dollars an acre, it would make an aggregate of
$160,000,000. But if we add the product of these farms, allowing only
one half of each (80 acres) to be cultivated, and the average annual
value of the crops, stock included, to be only ten dollars per acre, it
would give $80,000,000 a year, and, in ten years, $800,000,000,
independent of the reinvestment of capital. It is clear that thus vast
additional employment would be given to labor, freight to steamers,
railroads, and canals, markets for manufactures, and augmented revenue.

The homestead privilege will largely increase immigration. Now, beside
the money brought here by immigrants, the census proves that the average
annual value of the labor of Massachusetts, _per capita_, was, in 1860,
$300 for each man, woman, and child. Assuming that of the immigrants a