The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-05-19

are beneath criticism. They can b
safely left to their own self-refutation
We recur TO the original ~groundssof as
sault upon this sale; the grounds whicl
we're originally taken by The black-re
publican newspapers, which have'brains
as distinguished from those taken by tn
black republican, committeeman who bavv
no brains.
The leading complaint Of the opposi
ton papers against the sale was founded
on the alleged i~nadequacy of the pric,
obtained. Upon that point thirty-tw,
witnesses testified before the committee
the great majority of whom were sum
moned at the instance of the prosecution
OF these thirty. two, twenty-five testified
that the property bad brought its full
price, or else more than it was worth
The other seven testified that, in theil
opinion, it was worth more than il
brought. The opinion of these sever
was, when prebed, found to rest on the
idea that the site was favorable for Q
town ,r city; and that the government
of the United States might have real
lied speculative prices from the property
- a " IL lulOd UuODit IOWL
scheme, got up a fourishing New Blim
mersville on paper, and then made a sale
by town lots, instead of by the plain old
farmers plan of by the acre. The idea
of a town speculation is of itself fatal to
the allegation that the price obtained
was inadequate. The government of the
United States is not a Spectator in pa.
per town lots, or a gambler in bubble
speculations. 1t was content to
take what the soil was worth and to
leave the business of blowing bubbles to
better experts in the art. The testi-
mony taken by the committee is over
whelmiug in favor of the point that the
price obtained was fully as great as the
property is intrinsically worth.
The establishment of this fact by the
evidence e~masculates the whole case of
the opposition, and forces them into
idle pretexts and subterfuges. So long
they could assert that the price OBJ
tanned was inadequate, there was plau-
in their complaint that the sale
was private, and not public. But the
evidence rs as conclusively in favor of
the action of the commissioners on this
point as on the others. It is the com.
mon law of the West hat a dollar and
a quarter in general, or two dollars and q
half in special cases, per acre, is the
full price that government is entitled to
receive for land, however valuable
And the experience of all the sales that
uad been made by the government Pre-
vious to the one in question, had re
the existence of combinations of
purchasers which had Systematically and
uniformly succeeded in preventing the
of more than minimum prices
The evidence taken by the committee
shows that sales by public outcry uni
resulted in these sacrifices and
that-advertisements for sealed proposals
scarcely mended the matter. The only
left for obtaining full prices for
specially valuable lands, was by private
sale that was the mode resorted to by
commissioners in this case,
and the evidence proved that by this
mode a full price had for once been real
lied by government. The cutlery of dis
appointed spectators was great, and the
onslaught upon the administrators for
disregardirg the common law OF the
western land grabbers, was ferocious and
frightful: but the government for once
got its dues. Fortunately, the Secreta-
~ of War is a man who is not afraid of
bis own shadow, who is not ~dismayed by
,lamor, and who never gets down upon
lpon his knees in the face of a fee
He stands by his acts, confident that
hey will vindicate themselves under the
ordeal, and implicitly trustful
the sober Judgment of the honest
md unbiased democratic masses of the
country, who love a bold man that does
lis duty and sticks TO it deiaptly, In
he face of armies of ~devouring specu-
ators and clamorers.
The only ground worth noticing ofthe
grounds of assault upon this sale
hat have been fallen back upon by the
after the demolition of their
one, is the charge hat the Fort
property was still required for military
purposes. The evidence on this branch
# the investigation, however, is as CON
lusive as on all the others. The Fort
s no longer on the frontier, but more
han a bundled miles within it. q
1t is of no more service as a post of
lefence for frontiersmen, or of offensive
perations against the savage, than the
ort at Old Point Comfort. As a fror-
Ter post, it has been for some time of
% service whatever; and the quarter
Master general had long beforehand re
the sale of it. The only
question remaining was, whether it was
as a depot of supplies :. To
.eep it up would cost S27, 600 annually
md the question was, whether it was
'xpedient to keepit up for mere pur-
POSES of warehousage and storage at
hat annual expense. A few army off.
'ers testifedrthat it ought to be kept up
or such purposes, but these did not
consider the annual cost of maintaining
b. post as compared with the small cost
# storage at mercantile points in the
usual mode. Other army officers te<ti-
led strongly against the propriety Of
the post, and proved that it
aad never in fact baen heretofore used
IS a depot of supplies for military posts
IN the frontier. It was proved that it
you'd cost as much to take supplies
rom St. Paul, up the river and up the
lill to Fort Smelling, as to transport
them at once to the post on the frontier
As a depot for storing supplies. the ev-
idence aad actual history of the facts
disprove the practicability
81 using it at all, except for supplies
for troops stationed in Fort Smelling
itself.
Secretary Davis had at one time a
plan of massing the army regiments,
and thereby endeavoring to correct the