The Arkansas advocate., 1836-05-20

may be situated, for such price as, unoer all the circumstances, they may De worth. The ifrice that might be exacteds should certainly be very far below the present ntininiim price of the public iande. These suggestidfs hdRe been prompted, on the part Of your committee, from the thorough conviction which they feel, that t IS due to the honor of the Government, and to the States in which these lands are situated, 10 the health of the people and the general prosperity of the country, that the most practicable plan, and one which the Govern ment might feel was most coDgenial 10 her own interests, should be speedily adopted for tho accomplishment of work which in point of magni6eenee in its extent and gem eral utility, has not parallel in the records of any age or nation.
 Your committee would refer to the fepoft made to the Senate on this subject by Mr. Livingston in Jaiiuary, 1880, and beg leave that said report may be appended to this. Your committee for much of the informa- tlon here attempted 10 be given, would re- fer to the letters of Wm. c. Bozeman, Al- len Martin; T, B. Martin, John Rodney and H. T. Williams contained iu ths report of the Secretary of the Treasury, made to the House of Representatives, December l6, 1885.
 Your eom1iittee; therefore, feeling con hdent of the practicability of the proposed work to a great extent, have adopted and report to the House resolution:
 Resofred by the senafe aud House bf Representatives of the Unifed iStates of .4- merica, m Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, di- reeted to be caused to be surveyed by a sufficient number ef easnnetsnt errgineers; the inundated lands on the Mississippi river, the Missouri, the St. Francis, the Arkan- sas and Red river, and that he report to Congress, as soon as the same is done, the Practlcablllty of reclaiming the same, and removing the Instructions from said rivers: the best mode of 4oiug tho same;. the of money which 1t will cost to ae- complish 1t; the quantity, quality and esti- mated value of inc lands that may be so re- and the effects which such works may have upon the health and prosperity of the country.
 The Coninntiee on Public Lands; to auIich
 sras referred c resolutioa of the Senate,
 directing them to inquire fcheihet justice,
 and the interest of the Unitcd Slides, do
 not require dtot proUision should De made
 6y taae, tor constructing embankments and
 bridges, aud making roads, on the lands
 Belonging 10 thc Umted lStateg ia the
 Sfdte q Louistana, report:
 That the United States own large tracts of land, situated on the banks of the Mis- sfssfppi, or those of several of it's outlets into the lakes and the sea, and on the water courses called bayotfs, iff that State: that all these lands are subject to be inundated by the annual rise of the Mississippi, until they shall be protected by a fevee or en- bankment; and until that work Is perform ed, will be of little or no vafee.
 That such embankment fs not only necessary to give value fo tgts lands on which It IS erected, but also to protect the adjoining plantations from mrSndation, and their proprletors, in many instaffces, from the less of their cFops and consequent ruin, ruin.
 That every individual owning land so situated, IS obliged5 under very heavy penal ties, to make the ievee in front of his land. and keep It Tn repair, on accodht of the great injury that would festfit to the com innuity from breach being made in any part oft. That each grantee of land, under the successive Governments of France and Spasn m Loaislana was also obliged to make and keep in repair road, of fort, feet wide, across the front of his pfantation and make and sustain bridges over the dltches, necessary for carrying off the water that leaked through the leyee: alr these be- Ing matters of the utmost conseauence tc the whole settlement, were ordered fo bf performed under heavy fines and forfeitures and have always been placed under the care of vigilant police, created for that bur, pose. When the lands were not granted and the making of the levee was expensive l: was done, under the Spanish GoyerhI ment, at the expense of the Crown.
 Since the change of Government, nc provision has been made for this purpose by the United States. They own the lands. but are subject to none of the burdens Ina are imposed on individuals for it's improve. Enent, or to prevent its becoming the mean. of ruin 10 the adjoining planters they pa, no taxes, and their property is increased r value, solely at the expense of the State which has no interest in the lands, or o in. divlduals,' less able to bear it: or, if tb;s ;s not done, the lands remain unimproved, ,.and mjure the value of those which have pre. Yiousfy been granted.
 Under these circumstances, the commit. tee think, Tn answer to the inquiry they have been directed to make, that both ssiustice and the interests of the United States re-