Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-12-23
PRINTED AND puBLIsHED EVERY SATURDAY,
tG1 BY HI. REED & s. II. HosMER. oa
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
''' -tH' +/Tao,t.m.,,LN e lif' afiiiI

n VI HC ISPOLt " tlO OothuIooioHCio vi
the General Land Office, which will be
!, laid before you by the Secretary Of
the Treasury will show how the af-
fairs of that office have been conducted
for the past year. The disposition ofthe
public lands is one Of the most impor-
I tant trusts confded to Congress. The
,practicability Of ofretaining the title & con
troll of such extensive domains in the
General Government, and at the same
time admitting the Territories, embra-
cling them into the Federal Union as coe-
quals with the original States, was seri-
ously doubted by many Of our wisest
statesmen. All feared that they would
become sources Of discord, and many
carried their apprehensions SO far as to
see in them the seeds of future disso-
luton of the Confederacy. But happily
our experience has already been ,suffi-
cient 70 quiet, in great degree, all
such apprehensions. The position, at
one time assumed-that the admission
of new States into the Union on the
same footing with the original States,
was incompatible with a right Of soil in
the United States, and operated as a
surrender thereof, notwithstanding the
terms of the compacts by which their
admission was designed to be regulated
has been wisely abandoned. Wheth.
or in the new, or old States, all now
agree that the right Of soil to the public
lands remains in the Federal Govern
ment, and that these constitute com.
mon property, TO be disposed offor the
common benefit of the States old and
new. Acquiescence in this just prin.
ciple by the people Of the new States
has naturally promoted a disposition to
adopt the most liberal policy in the sale
of the public lands. A policy which
should be limited to the mere object of
selling the public lands for the greatest
possible sum Of money, without re.
gard 10 higher considerations, finds but
few advocates. On the contrary it is
generally conceded, that whilst the
mode Of disposition adopted by the
Government should always be pru.
dent one, yet its leading object ought to
be the early settlement ana cultivation
ofthe lands sold and that it should dis.
countenance, if it cannot prevent, the
accumulation of large tracts in the same
hands, which must necessarily retard the
growth ofthe new States, entail upon
a dependant tenantry, and its attendant
evils.
A question embracing such important
interests, and so well calculated to enlist
the feelings of the people in every quar-
ter OF the Union, has very naturally gi-
ven rise to numerous plans for the i'm
provement ofthe existing system. The
distinctive features ofthe policy that has
hitherto prevailed, are, to dispose of the
prblic lands at moderate prices, thus en-.
abling greater number to enter into
competition for their purchase, and ac-
complishing double object of promoting
their rapid settlement by the purchasers,
and at the same time increasing the re-
ceipts of the Treasury; to sell for cash,
thereby preventing the disturbing inAu-
ence ola large mass of private citizens
indebted to the Government, which they
have voice in controlling; to bring
them into market no faster than good
lands are supposed to be wanted for i'm
provements, thereby preventing the ac-
cumulation Of large tracts in few hands
and 10 apply the proceeds Of the sales to
the general purpose of the Government,
thus diminishing the amount to be raised
from the people ofthe States by taxation,
and giving each State its portion of the
benefits to be derived from this common
fund in a manner the most quiet, and at
the same time, perhaps, the most equita-
bic, that can be devised. These provi-
sions, with occasional enactments in be-
half ofspecial interests deemed entitled
to the favor Of the Government, have, in
their execution, produced results as ben
eficial upon the whole as can reasonably
be expectedin mattersova so compli-
Gated, and SO exciting. Upwards Of Sc
venty millions Of acres have been sold,
The greater part of which is believed to
have been purchased for actual settle
ment. The population of the new States
and Territories created out of the pub
lie domain, increased between 1900 and
1880 from less than sixty thousand to up.
wards of two millions three hundred
thousand souls, constituting, at the latter
period, about one-fifth Of the whole peo-
ole Of the United States. The increase
.ince cannot be accurately known, but
he whole may now be safely estimated
1t over three and a halfmillions of souls