Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-04-08
From the National Mtelligencer.
The Public Lands.

s ! The Public Lands.
Q The immense donations of public land mad
of late years BY Congress to corporations within
the new States have awakened the attention o
the people of the old States to the subject, ant
! of Virginia especially, where the burden of taxa
ton for internal improvements has been greatly
; increased. 1t strikes US, therefore, that brie
recurrence to the history and conditions of the
tenure of the public domain may be OF genera
interest at this time.
II At the commencement Of the Revolutionary
war there belonged to some of the States large
tracts of wild and unappropriated lands, whilst
in Others none such existed. The States possess.
ling no such lands claimed that, as the war was
waged with united means and equal sacrifices,
the waste lands which might be conquered from
1.-THE enemy should become common property,
and under the recommendations of Congress,
10th October, 1880, ''thEt the unappropriated
lands which might be ceded to the United
States by any particular State, pursuant to the
recommendation of Congress of the 9th OF Sep
tember last, shall be disposed Of for the common
beneft of the United States"
Virginia promptly made cession of her vast
domain north of the river Ohio, out of which
six States have since been formed. The cond-
tion of her cession adopted substantially by
other States) was, that all the lands conveyed
shall be considered as common fund for the
use and benefit of such of the United States as
have become or shall become members of the
'coniederacy or federal alliance ofthe said States
Virginia inclusive, according to their usual re.
'spective proportions in the general charge and
expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona
tide disposed of for that purpose, and for no 9TH
'er use or purpose achaterer." Thus We're the
lands ceded, accepted, and held in trust. How
they have since been disposed of in total dsre-
gard of the conditions of the trust, the history
of the country tells in the annals of Congression
al legislation.
In disregard Of the plain obligations of the
trust, President Jackson, in the early days OF
his administration, proposed to cede the lands
thus acquired, and all subsequently purchased.
TO the States in which they lie, gratuitously or
for a nominal price.
To counteract this movement, which at that
time met with no favor in Congress, but which
has since been substantially adopted in the sys'
TEN OF partial grants, Mr. Clay introduced his
well-known distribution bill, which was passed
by Congress on the I'd day Of March. 1633 by
vote OF "a to 20 in the Senate, and 80 to 40 in
the House of Representatives. This bill Presl-
dent Jackson refused to approve, and it did not
become law, the popular will, as indicated by
the vote Of the House, to the contrary notwith
standing. Some of the Western members did
not hesitate to avow the purpose OF eventually
appropriating 70 the States III which they liz all
the public lands, and one OF the most eminent of
them declared that after the census OF 1890 the
power to do 81 would be irresistible. The full
hment of this menace is almost complete, aud
after the cersris of 1860 the old States will be
utterly powerless unless they unite cordially for
their common protection.
The whole amount OF money which would
have gone into the Treasury of Virginia, under
the provisions OF Mr.. Clays land bill, from 1882
to 1899, Il period OF seven Years, would have
been fur million three hundred md sirty nine
thousand one hundred nad sirty- y-?'lne dollrS, or
for each year seven hundred and twenty.elght
thousand one hundred and ninety-tuur dcllarS.
| On September 4, 1871, an act was passed to
Appropriate the proceeds of the sales OF the
yubc lands amongst the several States. The
first section provided that from and after the
31st December, 1S41, there should 'be allowed
and paid to each of the States of Ohio Indiana,
illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisia-
ma, Arkansas, and Michigan, over and above
what each of the said States is entitled to by
the terms of the compacts entered into between
them and the United States, upon their admis-
sion into the Union, the sum of ten per centum
upon the nett proceeds of the sales the public
lands, which, subsequent to the day aforesaid,
shall be made within the limits Of each of said
States respectively"
After deducting the said per centum, the resi-
due of the nett proceeds was to be divided a.
mongst the then twenty-six States of the Union
and the District of Columbian the Territories
of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Florida, according to
their respective representative population,
as ascertained by the last census, QS40) to be
applied by the Legislatures of the said States to
such purposes Us the said Legislatures might
direct, provided that the distrbutive share to
which the District of Columbia shall be entitled
should be applied to free schools or education in
some other form, as Congress might direct. In
tile sixth section of the act there was O proviso
that if at any time there should be all imposl-
ton of duties consistent with the act of March
| 9, 1888, beyond the rate of duty, Qwenty per
centum) fixed by that act the distribution should
be suspended until this cause should be removed.
The proceeds were thus divided for one year,
and accepted by all the States, we believe, ex-
cept Virginia. The Legislature of that State re-
fused to receive the forty thousand dollars for
that year, "a much smaller sum than the average
would have been had the law been continued)
on the ground that it was an attempt on the
part of Congress to corrupt the people of the
State by gifts from the Federal Treasury.
By the operation of the act of August 4, 1872,
to provide revenue from imports, &c, the dis
tributon of the nett proceeds of the public lands
among the States was suspended. The proceeds
OF the lands up to and including the lst OF Janll-
ary, 1889, amounted to the sum Of $57, ,227 ,o2O.
The following sums have since been received !: