Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1835-12-17
will afford a safe guide in your future

will afford a safe guide in your future
calculations, | think it unnecessary to
offer any further observations on that
subject here.
Among the evidences Of the increas-
ing prosperity Of the country, not the
least gratifying is that afforded by the
receipts from the sales of public lands,
which amount, in the present year, to
the unexpected sum of eleven millions
of dollars. This circumstance attests
the rapidity with which agriculture, the
first and most important occupation OF
man, advances, and contributes to the
wealth, and power ofour extended ter
ritory. Being still of opinion that
it is our best policy, as we can con-
sistently with the obligations under
which those lands were coded to the
United States, to promote their speedy
settlement, | beg leave to call the at
tention Of Congress to the suggestions
| have offered respecting it, in my for
mer messages.
The extraordinary receipts from the
sales ofthe public lands invite you to
consider what improvements in the
land system, and particularly the Ge-
neral Lard Office, may require. AT
the time this institution was organized,
near a quarter Of century ago, 1t
would probably have been thought ex-
travagant to anticipate, at this pc.
Rod, such an addition to its business,
as has been produced by the vast IN
crease of those sales, during the past
and present years. 1t may also be OBJ
served, that since the year 1912, the
land offices and surveying districts have
been greatly multiplied, and that nu-
merous legislative enactments, from
year 10 wear since that time, have i'm
posed a great amount of new and addi-
tional duties upon that office; while
the want of a timely application OF
force, commensurate with the care and
labor required, has caused the increas-
ing embarrassment ofaccumulated ar
rears in the different branches OF the
| establishment.
These impediments to the expedition
ofmuch duty in the General Land OF
flee induce me to submit to your Judg.
ment, whether some modification of the
laws relating to its organization, or an
organization of q new character, be
not called for, at the present juncture,
to enable the Office to accomplish all
the ends Of its institution with a greater
degree of facility and promptltude than
experience has proved to be practicable
under existing regulations. The vari
ETY. of the concerns, and the magnitude
and complexity ofthe details occupying
and dividing the attention OF the COM
missioner, appear to render it difficult,
if not impracticable, for that officer, ly
any possible assiduity, to bestow on all
the multifarious subjects, upon which
he is called TO act, the ready and care
full attention due their respective impor-
lance unless the Legislature shall
assist him by a law providing, or end
bling himto provide, for a more regular
and economical distribution of labor,
with the incident responsibility, among
those employed under his direction.-
The mere manual labor of afiixing his
signature to the number of documents
issuing from his Office, subtracts so
largely from the time and attention
claimed by the weighty aud complica-
ted subjects daily accommodating in that
branch Of public service, asto indicate
the strong necessity of revising the or
ganic law of the establishment. 1t will
be easy for Congress, hereafter, to pro-
portion the expenditure on account of
his branch of the service to its real
wants, by abolishing from time to time,
the Offices which can be dispensed
with.
The extinction of the public debt ha.
wing taken place there is no longer any
use for the Offices of Commissioner of
Loans and ofthe Sinking Furd. | rec
ommend, therefore, that they be abol.
ished, and that proper measures be ia
ken for the transfer to the treasury de-
partment, Of any funds, books, and pa
pers, connected with the operations OF
those Offices and hat the proper pow
er be given to that department for
choosing, finally, any portion OF their
business whichmay remainto be settled.
1t is also incumbent o. Congress, in
guarding the pecuniary interests of the
country, to discontinue, by such a law
as was passed in 1912, the receipt OF
the bills Of the Bank of the United
States in payment ofthe public revenue,
and to provide for the designation ofan
agent, whose duty it shall be to take
charge of the books and stock of the
United States in that institution, and to
close all connection with it, after the
I'd of March Ig3 when the charter