Iowa news. [volume] (Dubuque, Upper Mississippi Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1837-1841, 1838-06-16
SPEECH OF Mr.. BENTON.
OF MISSOURI, ON TIE

PUBLIC SPECIALIZATION BILL.
In Senate, .qpril 10, Is3s.---The "bill proyi
ding for the reduction and graduation Of tn,
price Of the public lands" having been taker
up for consideration
Mr.. BENTON said he rose with peculiar era
LITIGATION to speak on the present occasion
The Graduation Bill was an old and favori.s
measure of his, commenced twelve years ago
prosecuted with various success. impedee
sometimes by unexpected opposition, baffled a
one period by the scheme to distribute none,
among the States, but never abandoned no.
despaired of. Conscious of the justice and
rectitude of the bill, and firm believer in tn,
eventual triumph of all that is morally and po
litically right, he had never suffered himse
to be discouraged by opposition, or dishearten
ed by defeat: He had always believed in the
final success ofthe bill, and the period for sue
cess seemed now TO be approaching.
| The bill comes 10 US now under more favor
able auspices than it has ever done before. The
President recommends it, and the Treasury
needs the money which it will produce. A
gentleman of the Opposition Mr.. Clay1 re-
proaches the President for Inconsistency in
making this Recommendation; he says that he
voted sgainst it as Senator heretofore, and re-
commends it as President now. But the gen.
tleman forgets to tell us that Mr.. Van Buren,,
when member of the Senate, spoke in favor
the general object Of the bill from the first day
1t was presented, and that he voted in favor Of
one degree Of reduction---a reduction of the
price of the public lands to one dollar per acre
1.-the last session that he served here. Far
from being inconsistent, the President, in this
recommendation, has only carried out to their
Legitimate conclusions the principles which he
formerly expressed, and the vote which lie for
merly gave.
The bill, as modified on the motions of the
Senators from Tennessee and New Hampshire
Messrs. Grundy and Hubbard stand shorn
OF half its original provisions. Originally it
embraced four degrees of reduction; it now
contains but two of those degrees. The two
last---the fifty cent, and the twenty-five cent
reductions, have been cut off. made no OBJ
lection to the motions of those gentlemen.
knew them to be made in friendly spirit;
knew also that the success of their motions
was necessary 10 the success Of any part OF bill.
Certainly would have preferred the whole
would have preferred the four degrees of re-
ductlon. But this is case in which the home
ly maxim applies, that half a loaf is better
than no bread. BY giving up half the bill, we
may gain the other half; and sure am that
our constituents will vastly prefer half TO moth.
ing. The lands may now be reduced TO one
dollar for those which have been five years in
market, and to seventy-liye cents for those
which have been ten years in market. The
rest Of the bill is relinquished for the present,
not abandoned for ever. The remaining de-
! rrcoc nf roducfinn will ha krn,uhf foru,. I'll
hereafter, and with better prospect Of sue.
cess, after the lands have been picked and Gull.
ed over under the prices Of the present blIl.--.
| Even if the clauses had remained which have
been struck out, on the motions of the gentle
men from Tennessee and New Hampshire, it
would have been two years from December
next, before any purchases could have been
made under them. They were not to take eff
feet until December, 1910. Before that time
Congress will twice sit again; and if the pres
cnt bill passes, and is found 10 work well. the
enactment Of the present rejected clauses will
he matter of course.
The bill will operate, not upon the whole
body of the lands of the United States, but on
comparatively small part: seventy millions
of acres is the nominal amount which the dill
will reach, but in reality its effect will be con-
fined to half that quantity. We have anthem
tic reports upon this subject, made under the
reqnisition Of the Senate, by the registers and
receivers of all the land districts. These Off
GERS were required to report upon the quantity,
quality, and value Of the unsold lands within
their respective districts. These reports were
made several years ago, and exhibited this re-
suit: the whole quantity of unsold lands, then
remaining unpurchased at 81 rs per acre, was
seventy-one millions ofacres; Of that quantity,
thrty-four millions Of acres were returned as
unfit for cultivation and worth nothing; the
remaining quantity was reported at various
and average prices, from eight or ten cents per
acre up to the Government price. The guam
tity Of land then, on which this bill can oper-
ate, will be about thiry-fiye millions of acres;
and the quality will be the refuse Of sales, do
nations, and mary years. cuttings and pickngs.
Nominally the bill is to apply to lands which
have been five years, and ten years, in market;
in point Of fact it applies to those which have
been twenty, fifty, a hundred, and even hun
dred and fifty years in msfket, and that not
merely at 81 rs per acre, But, in many instan-
ces as mere donation. Take the case of Mis-
souri,. The Spanish Government was estab-
lished in Upper Louisian in l764-.-say seven
ty.fye years ago---and the lands were offered
as free gift to the settlers. AT the change Of
Government in 1904, the same lands were
picked by head rights and settlement rights,
and when the land system Of the United States
was brougbtto bear upon it, it was again pick
ed over, first by prescriptions, then at public
auction, and afterwards at private entry. Thus,
these lands have been picked for three quar-
tiers Of century, and uuder three different So
yereignties---the French, Spanish, and Ameri-
can---not in fact over the whole State, bnt over
great part. The concessions under the French
and Spanish Governments extended four hum
dred miles up and down the Mississippi. with
in the present limits Of the State Of Missouri,
and above hundred miles back from the hv.
er In IEniaiana MiaaisSinni1 Alabama EIo.