Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1850-07-26

which he says "under this Grant the
Territory is entitled to the vacant lands
in the alternate sections within five miles
on each side of the Des Moines river
from the northern boundary Of Missouri
To THE RAccooN FORK
Then comes letter from AnseI Briggs,
Governor of Iowa, reporting TO the Land
Office the selections Of lands under this
Grant made by Jesse Williams aud
Josiah Bonny. by this diagram, which
extended only to tho Forks. No word
of remonstrancc or objection was urged
by Gov. Clark nor by Gov. Briggs, TO
Piper's definite limitation of the Gran:
to the Forks. The whole ships CREW
of I.ocoloco officials, Gen. Dodge, our
delegate ia Congress, Shields, the Com
missioner of The Land Office, and the
Locofoco Committee in Congress con
CURED in "robbing the State of Iowa OF
near million of acres Of land" b. fore
the Bill was passed. And the Locofoco
Commissioner, James HI. Piper, Gov.
Clark in his message, and Gov. Briggs
in his official action, aided and abetted
the robbery after it became {. law.-
Thus the matter rested till the 23d ol
February, A. d., 1913, when commits
sioner Young. moved thereto, it is prob
able, by the critical stale of the Spring
elections in Iowa, wrote letter 10 Corke-
ry stating that in his opinion the Grant
extended TO the boundary of the State.
There is no communication on file to
elicit this expression, and il is probable
that it was obtained in answer to pri-
vate letter asking some aid of that sort
by way of political capital. Young
sold the land al all events. And nothing
further appears TILL the 9Th day January,
lS49, when our delegation i'll Congress
wrote communication to the Secretary
Of the Treasury, X. j. Walker, upon
the subject. Whatever other correspon-
dence may have taken place, if any, was
deemed OF private or political charac-
ter. For although the Presidents pro-
clama,ion was issued in June and pub
lished in several of the papers OF the
State, offering these lands for sale in
October, not word of remonstrance
appears on the files of the Office ill Jan
uary s, IS49.
Does not this look like scheme to
plumber and deceive the people!
From the date of the passage of the
law, August 8, 1916, to January s, ls49
two years and a halC-the Locofoco
authorities of the General and State
Governments in their official action, 10
a man, concurred in robbing the people
of Iowa Of this Improvement Grant
The only whisper TO the contrary during
all that time, at the General Land Office,
being the self-disregarded opinion oI
Commissioner Young.
During this time $4,000 acres or this
land had been sold and numerous pre-.
emption claims had been located under
the laws of the United States.
In reply TO this communication o.
Dodge IL Co. Walker wrote the note
which has been heretofore published, O
the date of March I'd, 1919, expressing
the opinion that the Grant extended te
the source of the river. This was MOI
on an appeal from the Commissioner O
the General Land Office regularly taken
And, when the subject again came up ii
the General Land Office. Butterfield helt
that the entries made under the prc-emp
lion laws of the United States were lie
gal. On the 18th March, the Iowa
Senators appealed from his decision &c
the Secretary of the Interior, who sus.
tained the Commissioner. They ap
pealed thence to President Taylor VIII.
referred the matter TO the ATTORNEY Gen
eral.
Had our delegation in Congress hat
the slightest desire to obtain the exten
sion of the Grant they would have avail
ed themselves of Mr.. Ewing sugges
lion and asked il of Congress. They
wanted no extension of the Grant; the,
only sought political capital. And tlit
interest of the people are likely to suffer
in consequence. The present stale ol
affairs has been brought about entirely
by The action of the Locofoco Office
holders. And now the delegation il
Congress refuse to take the only course
which offers shadow OF chance fol
procuring an extension OF the Grant,
Lie. these ihings be remembered. Dodgt
consented once to yield up about one
third Of our State on the western sid'
aud his Janissaries still succeeded il
electing him to Congress and the Senate
on the strength of the great things h
had done in procuring grants of land 70
Improvement purposes. The peopl'
may now see how little he asked o
Congress, and how shamefuliy he ha'
deceived them. We shall see whethe
they will continue to sing paans in IN
praise after this second exposure Of hi
selfish indifference TO the great interest
of the State.-- W,hig and Register.
VoTcs PoLIED nv NEW STATES.--Ol