The Arkansas advocate., 1832-04-04

i imnroyements on the public lands and were unable 10 avail themselves of the late pre- emption law To have placed indiyidu- ais. .las s.tnated, at the mercy of the lspecuiator, would have been an act of iR-s ! justice to the individual, inconsistent with iour political or delegated pow CT, and, ID i the opinion of your committee, never tn- tended by tlse donors. Restrictions, cal l culated to secure the labor of the settler on the public domain, placed on the leea- tions to be made, under the act of Con- igress aforesaid, reduced tine value of the donation. or reduced this land, al best. On as equality with tic unimproyed lands ofthe United States, which, on compar- lalire sie. Of the sales at tue Land Office at Little Rock, will be found in no case i within the last few years, to have exceeded the minimum of one dollar and twenty five f cents per aere-makipg the donation worth S Gee
 :. Taking this view of the subject. and sensible of the delay and expense that must necessarily occur in the disposal Of said lands, and the inconvenience which the present General Assembly labors under, in consequence Of tho want of suitable house to hold their present sessIon, your committee have come to the eonelnslon, that the most advantageous disposition of !, those lands that can be made, at the pre- sent time, will be to exchange them with MT. Crittenden, for the house proposed j, under the restriction in the locations, which lie fCrittenden) has agreed to, viz :; The same that is imposed by an act of Con- gress restricting the location of donation
 claims on improvements, without the con- sent of the owner, and which your com
 mittee arc unable specifically to refer to,
 for the want of said act
 This report s#as submitted with re-
 solution, that 1t be eoncurred il by the
 House, and that the proposition of Mr.
 Crittendenbe accepted, uGdeFand sub- jeet to the Limitations imposed on the lo-
 cation of donation claims, by an act of , Congress, entitled |" An act restricting
 the location of certain land claims in Arkansas,' passed the 9th ol January, { 1899; which, onmotion, was referred
 to a committee of the whole; and, ai- ter being fully discussed there, Was re-
 ported to the House, without amcnd- 1 mcnt. will here remark, that the pro-
 perty of Col. Ashley, proposed to be
 given for the land, rested under heavy lincnmbranees, and be was not able, then, 10 make a 5o,aa-fde title; and, though 1t WIS respectfully considered,
 venture the assertion, that 1t did mol elicit from any gentleman of the commit
 tee a serious thoug It of acceptance over
 the other propositions, both being con, l sidcred ineomparably more advantage a ous to the Territory. Ball offered ten
 thousand dollars, Oil credit of six and
 twelve months, which l considered
 worth the the land land o the the eoi4- tingencies, to wit: Suppose that he had not been able promptly 10 meet his en- ] agreements, than which poihipg is more Icommon than for men to be disappoint- ed and fail in peeupiary engagements, and though it was well secured, a suit
 might haze been the consequence, and
 the Territory might have been kept out of the money some two yearss and una. ble from circumstance of that kind, to
 build State-IEouse for four years.-
 But we will, in relation to Balls conn i pllancc, admit no contingency. Sup 1 pose the engagements met. Yet Mr.
 Crttenden's proposition was better
 bargain. With some alterations, the honse would make a respectable State T House for twenty years to come. Ten thousand dollars cannot give the people of Arkansas the advantages which Mir. l CaHendea's proposition offered them. i Mir. Eller, ga carpenter and master
 workman at Little Rock" the friend
 and relative "of the powers that be, and, to say the least, not the political
 friend of Mir. Crittenden, estimated his I(Crittenden's) house to be worth ten
 thousand six hundred dollars, exclusive of the ground on which it Is situated; which, taking Maj. Fields estimate (of a donatlonof six lots that was offered to
 the Legislature, in the most desirable part of the town, if they would agree te sell the land and erect the house on the same), formy data, was worth 5000 dollars; for Mr. Crittenden's ground, proposed to be given, embraced twelve lots, instead of six. But reduce the standard of value, and say the twelve lots were worth but S30O0, (Maior Fields estimate of the six), which, ad- ded to the Sl0.G00, would make the sum of thirteen thousand six hundred dollars, the amount of Mir. Crittenden's offer.
 Maj. Field tells us, that Balls propo- sltion "he did arlently hope the Legis- lature would have aeceded to; that il Was one he deemed the most adgantaee- ousto the country, and of vast impor- ltancc fo | iftln R nck.., thai C o.ar.,e