Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1849-01-31

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by the township trustees, and in case a
survey is not necessary, they will make
the allotment and apprsisement both. BY
the thirteenth section il is made the duty
of the Fund Commissioners to report the
names of persons, who have failed to pay,
as provided by law, the interest on money
loaned, to the Prosecuting attorney of the
county. This has reference to money
loaned on real estate. i hope this duty
will be promptly attended to. Almost ev-
cry report made to this office by the Fund
Commissioners, since the. first instant,
shows some delinquency IN the. Payment
OF interest. In some OF The counties IRON
one hundred to one hundred and fifty dol
lars remain unpaid This evil must be
corrected, for it strikes at once at the very
root of all our operations. The idea that
it will do to pay the interest at any time
between the first Of January and the first
OF March is incorrect. For it will De re-
membered that it is made the duty of the
Superintendent to appor,ion it among the
several counties by the present law on
the 2Oth and by the new law on the 25th
OF January Of each year, and consequent
ly the amount reported after that day can
not be made available until the year fol-
lowing. The school Fund Commissioners
will see the necessity of reporting the in
terest promptly. Notwithstanding the ex-
plicit instructions in my circular, of Sep
TENDER 18th, 1913, on the subject mot more
than half the counties have reported. The
consequence is that the amount of interest
apportIoned the present year is compara-
lively OF but little importance. The APP
portionment cannot be made upon the faith
of the reports OF the Fund Commission
ers forwarded on the LIST of November, as
they simply contain the amount which falls
due on the lst of January following, a
large portion of which is not paid. There
is no propriety in giving the loanees some
eight or ten days grace, but they should
be considered delinquents, and held ac
countable accordingly, when they fail to
make payment in accordance with the
tenor Of their obligations and the provi-
sions Of the law. The interest on land
sold on credit is to be collected as prescri-
in the tenth section of the act of February
18th, lS47 entitled Gan act to provide
for the management and disposition Of the
schoolfund." 1t is left discretionary with
the Fund Commissioner, when the inter-
est is not paid, either to consider the con-
tract forfeited, or to collect the interest by
suit. In case he should consider the form
err most advantageous to the school fund. |
he should notify the purchaser Of the fact
in wiring, and then proceeds to advertise
and sell the land anew. This provision
howver is not applicable to selections of
the 100000 acre grant until they have
been approved by the Secretary of the
Treasury. The second section Of San act
TO define the duties OF Prosecuting Attor-
neys and provide compensation for their
services" approved February 4th, ls47,
makes ii their duty tc give advise TO the
:" officers Of common schools Of their re-
spective counties" The Fund Commits
sioners should employ additional counsel
If they deem it necessary.
l infer from a number of communica-
tons recently received at this Office that
some misapprehension has arisen, from
paragraph in the Governors Message, rel
alive to lands selected as part Of the SEQ,
600 acre grant. The Governor when
speaking of the rejection Of these selec-
tons refers to those made in ls47. No
difficulty exists relative to those made |
since the first of June last. Those made
in the Iowa City and Fairfield land dis
tricts have been approved by the Secretary
of the Treasury, as will be seen by the |
accompanying letter fromthe Commission
err Of the General Land Office at least all
that were received at Washington prior to
the date of his letter. Those made in the
Dubuque district were reported at later
date, and consequently have not been
heard from. They will doubtless all be
confirmed.
shall have the school laws with the |
contemplated forms and instructions pub
lished in pamphlet form and ready for dis
tribution in May uext, and shall endeavor
to furnish every school officer in the State
with copy. To meet the present emer-
gency | shall procure number of extra
copies of the several acts in their present
form, and will forward them to the Fund |
Commissioners. The township and dis
trict officers complain that documents here
tolore transmitted to the Fund Commits
sioners for them, were not distributed. !
hope this cause of complaint will not exist
in the present case. The laws should be
circulated in every township as early as
possible. ...... /
THOS. Fl. BENTON Jr.,
..u= Sup. of Pub. instruction.
A Delicate HlNT.-The Secretary of