Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-05-25

-Granted for military service to individ-
 uals. ............... 1,45l 433 Grated for salines. ................ 460S0 Sold by the U. $. up to June 30, lS57.. 4,7AiS S92 Estimated and sold since. ............ 260, 900 Private claims confirmed. .......... S,45l Swamp lands confirmed. ............ 6,l35,060 Selected by the State and reportedby the
 Surveyor General as swamp land and
 recommended for confirmation. .... 1,6l6l64 Selected swamp lands which will be con
 frmed under late decision of Secreta-
 ry of Interior and selections made
 since May, l657.. 5,000000
 IOtal .2l ,O22, ib3
 If we add to this 107, 939 acres granted to the railroads in this State, of which L. 465, 297 acres have been selected, we have the following statement:
 Whole numbero of acres in the State B .4o6720 Disposed of by the U S.. B, l3N. .702 Still owned by U S.... ........... .l0216,9lS
 By which itappears that over two-thirds of the lands in the State are sold or granted by the general government.
 ~ Of the lands belonging to the State she has disposed of the lands granted for speci- lie purposes, 1,011,47 acres-and of the swamp lands, 3,69l ,153 Ofthe twenty one millions, twenty-five thousand, seven hun dred and siXtythree acres disposed fby the general government, which does not include the grants to railroad companies, the State owns, in rounl numbers, including the lands iavorably reported for confirmation as swamp lands, 4,640, ,47l The late decis- ion of the Secretary of the Interior will n- crease this number. This leaves 1882 292 acres owned by somebody In 1858, there were on the tax-books 1,81l, S5S acres. Deducting from this last sum those on the tax-books twice and otherwise erro- neously, and adding those covered by town and city lots, we have at the lowest calcu- lation three and a half millions of acres of land in the State of Arkansas subject to taxation, that are permitted to go untaxed. Some of these, there is every reason to be- ileve, are among the most valuable lands in the State, were entered or located fifteen or twenty years ago and have never been tax | ed. Assuming the average value of these lands at five dollars an acre, and admitting that three millions of acres only are untaX- ed, we have the enormous sum of fifteen millions of dollars worth of property that is not taxed. The facts and figures in themselves indisputable, are corroborated by other facts. Every day tracts of land are discovered to have been omitted from the tax books, and lists are yearly sent out for taxation with back tax from one to twenty five years.
 Your committee were in hopes to be able to report the number of acres in the six teenth sections sold and unsold throughout the State. The means of ascertaining the exact number of acres sold are not within the reach of the committee though, in the | calculations made, the committee have as l sumed the number of acres sold to be, 50,- GOO. This amount is predicated on infor- nation received from the Secretary in the following reply to note directed to him by the committee:
 OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE.
 LITTLE ROCK, ARK, Dec 6, 1858.
 AesSrs. C2arh and 1uc Camneon, Ch'metc.
 In answer to your inquiry, | have the honor to state, that there have been 30. .995 acres of the common school land (16th sec tions) patented by the State under the pre- sent law. The committee is no doubt aware that the counties of Pulaski, Fulton. Marion, Searcy, Bradley and Van Buren, are exempt from the operation of the gen eral school law. The amount of land sold in these counties, have no means of ascer- taining; besides there must have been con. siderable amount of the school lands sold previous to the organization of the present common school system, of which likewise have no knowledge.
 Respectfully,
 D. B. GREER
 Sec'y of State
 Upon examination of the records connec- ted with the sales of lands for taxes and those forfeited to the State, we found three of those in the Auditors office, coming to pieces, and so worn by the daily handling of them as to be unsafe. These are the foundation of the evidence of title to thou sands of tracts of lands, and their preserva- ton is a matter of supreme importance The committee think it unnecessary to do more than state the facts and present the accompanying bill, to be entitled "Anact to authorse the transcribing of cerrain re- cords in the Auditors office and to make appropriation therefor''
 As matter of much importance to and connected with the landed interests of this State, the committee present and call atten- ton to the following facts connected with the lands belonging to or mortaged to the State or to the Real Estate Bank.
 The General Assembly of this State by the 18th section of the act approved Janua- ry 10, 1851, enacted
 "That no tax title shall be valid or bind ing against the equitable or legal interest of the State, in or to any real estate what ever, but such tax titles are and shall be void, so far as the same shall conflict with the interest of the State and shall be treat ed and considered as null and void in both law and equity,in all courts of this State.'
 Notwithstanding this, the supreme court of this State, at the January term, 1857, in the case of Biscoe ct al. vs. Coulter ct al., (lS Ark. Reports, 423, decided that the sale of land for non payment of taxes, pass ed an absolute title to the purchaser, and that the State thereby lost the benefit of her mortgage. In delivering the opinion of the court, the Chief Justice said:
 Waiving any question as to the power of the legislature to exempt particular lands from taxes, where lands generally are taxed, we know of no statute exempting the lands mortgaged to the Real Estate Bank from taxation"
 "The other branch of the proposition, that if the lands were subject to sale for taxes at all, only the equity of redemption of the mortgagor could be sold, is equally untenable. Under our statute the lamd it. self IS sold for taxes, and not the particular interest or title of the person to whom it is assessed. A full and perfect title to the land passes by the sale, where the proceed lngs are regular"
 Lands belonging to the State, of course, would be exempt from taxation. They are not embraced within the object and inten.