of all our
subsequent legislation on the subject.

This ordinance was another proof of the way in which the nation applied
its collective power to the subdual and government of the Northwest,
instead of leaving the whole matter to the working of unrestricted
individualism, as in the Southwest. The pernicious system of acquiring
title to public lands in vogue among the Virginians and North
Carolinians was abandoned. Instead of making each man survey his own
land, and allowing him to survey it when, how, and where he pleased,
with the certainty of producing endless litigation and trouble, Congress
provided for a corps of government surveyors, who were to go about this
work systematically. It provided further for a known base line, and then
for division of the country into ranges of townships six miles square,
and for the subdivision of these townships into lots ("sections") of one
square mile--six hundred and forty acres--each. The ranges, townships,
and sections were duly numbered. The basis for the whole system of
public education in the Northwest was laid by providing that in every
township lot No. 16 should be reserved for the maintenance of public
schools therein. A minimum price of a dollar an acre was put on the
land.

Congress hoped to find in these western lands a source of great wealth.
The hope was disappointed. The task of subduing the wilderness is not
very remunerative. It yields a little more than a livelihood to men of
energy, resolution, and bodily strength and address; but it does not
yield enough for men to be able to pay heavily for the privilege of
undertaking the labor. Throughout our history the pioneer has found that
by taking up wild land at a low cost he can make a rough living, and
keep his family fed, clothed, and housed; but it is only by very hard
work that he can lay anything by, or materially better his condition. Of
course, the few very successful do much more, and the unsuccessful do
even less; but the average pioneer can just manage to keep continually
forging a little ahead, in matters material and financial. Under such
conditions a high price cannot be obtained for public lands; and when
they are sold, as they must be, at a low price, the receipts do little
more than offset the necessary outlay. The truth is that people have a
very misty idea as to the worth of wild lands. Even when the soil is
rich they only possess the capacity of acquiring value under labor. All
their value arise