The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-04-18
EVANSVILLE, INDIANA. THURSDAY, APRIL Is, 1874.

must have operated to impart to those lands
a value they did not previously possess. And
what is true in relation to the lands within
the Vincennes land district, it is believed
will be found equally true ofthe lands with
in every other land district, beyond, within,
and around which large industrious, land wide
spread population exists. There is, then,no
mystery in this matter. In proportion as
roads are constructed, canals opened, and
the resources of the country are developed;
in proportion as farms are opened and cul-
tiyated, and villages and cities spring up, as
school houses and churches, and temples of
justice, ~ornamenting the general surface,
mark also the progress of civilization, and
the security of a w~ell-regulated freedom; in
proportion as cheerful industry, and all the
comforts, and facilities, and embellishments
of sociallife prevail-in that proportion does
such a country become endeared to those
who inhabit If, while it holds out to emf
grants and strangers the strongest induce
ments to 90 also and make Off the place Of
theT home. Such causes unquestionably
operSte throughout the West, and will con-
tinue 10 operate if our Government continue
until tie last acre of the public domnin shall
have found a proprietor in the resident citi-
zen. And when the canal in question shall
have been completed, and its in
|tull operation, running, as that canal is de-
signed 10 run, throughthe centre, from end
to end, of the Vincennes land district, your
committee believe they advance no unrea-
sonable proposition when they say, that the
very consummation of the work will at once
procure purchasers of the land.
And now, the question presents itself,
does it comport with the genius and the prin-
Iciples of this National Government, that it
should convert exclusively to its own pecu-
mary benefit profits that result from causes
such as these? Does it accord with the
objects and the conditions of the deeds of
cession, or with the provisions and the spirit
of the ordinance of 1887, that, with the cold
~ayarice of a sgreat LAND speculator,' . it should
thus appropriate to itself entirely a fictitious
value, thus impaired to these, which were be-
fore its "wild and unseated lands?" Your
committee viii not believe that such willbe
the sentiment Of the Senate. Will it not
rather say, "These are the results of the
provident care and wise Government of In
diana-let her have them! These are the
fruits of the collective and hard labor ofthe
citizens of 1ndiana-let them, collectively,
enjoy the rich rewards OF their own industry! -
and the more especially, because, by thus
applying these refuse lands, not only are the
commerce, the wealth, and the prosperity of
~ GIL l-aoool HIT ~ The so mo 4ipoo q
great national work, useful in wal and use
Efufin peace, is secured To I-4~--.~--
The conclusions, then, to whichyour COM
mittee have arrived are: LIST. That these
lands, through comparatively and whimsical
ly worthless perhaps, may yet, in the hands
of the Government of Indiana, be rendered
greatly available, with a view TO the object
sought; 2dly. That a just and liberal policy,
such only as this Government ought TO pur-
sue, fully justifes and commends the appli-
cation ofthese lands, or at least a part OF
them, to the purpose indicated; aud, 3dly.
That they, or a part of them, together with
the great revenue which it seems Justly an
l~ticipated will be derived from the work when
completed, will, with such other resources as
the State may control, probably secure the
accomplishment ofthe object.
The general course ofthought pursued by
your committee would seem to indicate the
expediency of conveying to the State OF In
diana the whole of these refuse lands at
once. But however just that course OF
thought may be deemed TO be, yet it is not
known to your committee that it has ever
heretofore received the sanction of the State;
and they are not disposed, but upon the
most cogent reasons, to propose novelties,
nor to recommend any unnecessary depart
ure from established doctrines. Nor has it
escaped the observation of your committee,
that large appropriations of the public do
main have heretofore beer made for "pub-
lie improvements within the State OF lndl-
ana. Endeavoring cautiously, and yet with
no Liberal views, to weigh all the clrcum-
stances that have presented themselves for
their consideration, your committee have
concluded TO recommend the transfer to the
State of Indiana, for the purposes indicated,
Preserving to this Government rights similar
to those which have been reserved along the
route from Lake Erie to Terre Haute,) of
the moiety only of the unsold lands in ques-
ton; and, as the principle of reserving in
such cases every alternate section to the
Government along the line of the commune
cation has frequently received the approba-
ton of Congress, they have endeavored to
lpreserve that feature in the grant proposed,
although it is not perhaps probable that
much unsold land may remain in the imme-
diate vicinity ofthe line so long ago propos-
ed to be opened. And your COMMITTEES have
the more readily consented thus to limit the
proposed grant to a moiety ofthe whole, be-