The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-08-12
From the Detroit Tribune.
A Don Quixote in the Field.

n II
The Pontiac Jocksonian is fired up
TO run tilt against the Swamp Land
Law and its execution. The following
Is q sample of its charges;
SsTo cure the effects of this obnox-
ious legislation, (the Swamp Land Law
of 1851 at the extra session of the
past winter, another swamp bill was
passed, appropriating sl5, 900 to these
persons, nominally for publishing lists
of the lands sold. In carrying out that
law, extended lists of all the swamp
land were published at Lansing. and
these were distributed among the fusion
press of the different counties to circu-
late among their subscribers, for which
each one receives s2O0i!l This is
nothing but a gratuity, a voluntary gift
by our State government, to fusion
press IN each comfy to keep the thing
In motion. The distribution is not done,
but packages are scattered in different
localities, and persons are notified IN
the paper, that they can obtain them by
calling for them. The peoples money
is thus FILTERED away by this State adj
ministration, for the purpose of keeping
themselves in power. Not content with
squandering the half million of dollars
they found in the Treasury, four short
years ago, and more than that amount
since received, they are now lavishinc
upon their party papers, more than all
the cash receipts of the swamp lands,
on account of the sales, they have
caused to be advertised"
30 Il tht- lists was published at Lansing,
but the Republican press hired 1T done
and will pay for it, and so far from the
price provided for the publication of
these lists by the Legislature of 1858
being exorbitant, not a Republican pa
per in the State could set up the list
alone, and comply with the requirements
of the law in its distribution, except at
an actual pecmaiary loss. This is a
fact we defy the Jacksonion or any
other locofoeo paper to controvert.
The only way for the Republican papers
to protect themselves from loss while
doing the business of the State, was to
do as they have done, employ one of
their number to do the work. as a whole
and pay him for it. This was simple
business transaction among the pub
fishers, with which the State has moth
ing to do, and which we respectfully
inform the the .Iockso,aia,s isnone of its
business.
But, our contemporary charges that
the lists were not distributed. We
thank it for the allusion. So far as the
Tribune and others of our contempora-
ries are concerned the charge is wholly
untrue. We distributed them accord
ing to the law, sending them for four con-
secutiye weeks to all our weekly sub
scribers, and to every County Treasur-
er in the State. Some of our contem-
poraries did the same, and all others
who did not, were precented from doing
so 6y the Buchanan Postmasters IN The
State aoho refusedto maitthena! That
is something the Jdcksonian is very
careful not to mention. We want the
people of Michigan to know, that with
some few honorable exceptions, of
whom Postmaster O'Flynn, of this
city, is one, the partizen Postmasters
have done all they could to nullify the
Swamp Lana Law,-to .epbarass .he
State administration-toe mbarass the
hardy settlers requiring these lands,
and to keep immigration out of the
State and retard its Improvement.
The closing statement in the extract
we have quoted is falsehood in toto,
as the figures in an article in this issue
Untitled "The Swamp Land Sales
Closed" will abundantly show. The
total appropriation made by the legis-
lature for advertising the Swsmp Lands
is $4,000, only a portion of which,
somewhere about 81 900 has been ex-
pended upon the recently published
lists. The patents for the restnot being
received yet from, Washington, they
will be advertised hereafter. The prin-
cipal defect in our contemporaries
statement is its almost entire want of
truth. 1t promises to try again. We
hope it may do better,