The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-02-23

IHt OuIItSt VI PaOoC foSai WIN -
poetry But tho Senator must permit me
say to him, that if he had not used his figure
of speech far better than he then used those
u arithmetic, he would never have enjoyed III
u hiyh reputation which ne so deservedly posse
ses, for an elegant and finished style. | hay
looked into his calculations, and must be pei
y United To say, that have never. seen just such
y specimen of cyphering before. Whether to Ca
u it poetica arithmetic or arlthmetical poetry
: hardly know but think it may be fairly sal
that his calculations are highly metaphorca
. He say we are deeply indebted to the Ian
. States for taxes for twenty five years, at tn
= rate of one cent an acre, or, probably, at tn
rate Of two or three cents per acre. lie ha
calculated the amount He has given the debit
and credits; and he makes it out that we owe
the land States, in lS49, even at the rate of on
cent per acre, at least $60.O00O00 for taxes
which they had an equitable right to have i'm
, posed upon the public lands. At two cents al
acre, we should have owed, upon the basis o
his calculations, somewhere about y 10000 00t
and at three cents little over $200000000.
Mr.. President, it so happens that the subjec
of public lands was before us here in 1910, ant
it was referred to committee composed chief,
of gentlemen from the land States and they
made calculation as to the value of the public
annual amount to be derived from the public
lands in the States until they were exhausted
and found the value of that annuity for the term
of years so ascertained From this principal
sum they deducted such an amount as would
pay the expense of administering these lands
the entire value of these lands--about one hun.
dred and sixty millions of acres--was tOnnd by
them to be ut that time worth $36,400 900
But sir they were not aware Of the fact that they
were undertaking their own case. No senator
/, from Massachusetts had then appeared to in
| form them as to the large amount OF the in
debtedness of the general government to them.
After deducting for the nine years the $780,
GIG, which he says we owed for taxation an
nually, it appeared that we are indebted to them
$34,7l3,4 29, or $S,3l3,429 more than their es-
innate of the value of the lands within their
limits. And If we suppose them to have been
| taxed at the rate Of two cents, we owed some
thing like 100000 and if the rate of taxa
ton was fixed at three cents per acre, we owed
them between $l20.O00,000 and 81 30,000,000.
But, sir, wish to make a calculation for him
upon data which will help out his assumptions
still more, and to still greater extent than
that which is afforded by the estimate made by
the gentlemen from the Few States themselves.
find upon inquiry at the department. that the
quantity of land unsold in the land States is n
fraction under two hundred millions of acres |
find that for the last ten years the average sale
has been about one million eight hundred
thousand acres per annum. find still further,
by reference to the past history on this subject,
that the sales of the public lands within the
land States have not increased in the number of
acres, from year to year, but have generally
fallen off Such, at least, i, the history of the
sale of public lands in Ohio, as given US from
the Land Office But by the way of making the
calculation as much in his favor as possible,
with an approximation to the truth, will sup
pose the average amount of sales to be in
creased, and that they sell something like three
millions of acres per annum in the land States,
and that the lands are worth the full government
price, or 81 25 per acre, with deduction sup.
posed to be necessary for the administration and
survey of the lands, which is something like
twenty-one cents per acre. This believe is the
estimate of the expense for purchase, survey,
| and administration, as made by the Senator
from Michigan, Mr.. FELCH, in report made
in July, 1850. put, therefore, the highest in
come from the sale of the lands ut Ss3,000,0O0
per annum, an income which is probably much
beyond what may fairly be expected if we esti-
mate upon the basis Of the present land sales
| | designedly ovcrstate the amount to satisfy The
Senator from Massachusetts, well knowing that
we can make no calculations which do more
than approximate the truth
| Three millions of acres per annum would ex
haust the 200,000,000 of acres in something less
| than sixty seven years. A permanent annuity
of three millions of dollars for sixty sever
years, would be worth, according to the tables
fraction over Ss50,000,000 and we owe them
according to the estimates of The Senator from
| ,,n,,th;po
900, estimating the taxation Mt one cent per acre
and SSOOO0,OOO or $l32,49O, Ats at two cent:
per acre, and more than $2OO,OOO,O 900 at three
cents per acre-a debt which all the public lands
and ali the customs likely to be received, would
not enable us to pay fora long time. The only
thing which saves us from utter bankruptcy is
that we did not own ten times as much land M
we happened to possess. For it is very evident
| from the nenteman's calculations, that the more
land we own, the larger will be our debt and thu
poorer we shall become. Calculations like
these Mr.. President, must be founded on erro
somewhere; the data upon which they rest mus
be false in some respects, if the conclusions are
we'll drawn, for the results are such as mus
starte even the most common observer
How does he propose to lay the taxes? A
the rate of one cent (" probably of two or tire,
cents" per acre, and on land that would not
after the expense of administration, average il
value more than dollar per acre. This would
be one per cent. on every acre; at two cents OF
an acre, it would be two per cent. and at three
cents per acre, three per cent. Was such taxa
ton ever heard of in any State in this Union
In the Senator's own State, Massachusetts,
which has small superficial extent, and has
mny large towns and much capital, under
stand that the tax does not exceed seven mills
on the dollar, or seven-tenths of one per cent.
and yet he thinks it just to charge one, two, oil
three per cent on lands, many of which are wild
and still in possession of the Indians, and thinks
it very unjust towards the land States if we re-
fuse to allow it. But | pray to know if the
history of the past does not show that we have
compensated the land States for the right Of
taxation. In the first place, we sustained them
while they were territories, at the public ex
pense and, as the honorable Senator from
Tennessee Mr.. BELL very well remarked, We
defended them from all dangers from without
!. and from within. We gave them the sixteenth
section or one thirty-sxth part, or two and seven
ninths per cent. of all the land within their lin