St. Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1861-01-11


demanding stringent laws for their. protac;5 |
| ton. # a I'd M
The proceeds of the kswamp lands ara
Intended, by the terms of the act granting
the same, to be used FOR the purpose Of
driining and improving them Congress
has specified no method by which this
shall be done, and although it is usual in
other States to apportion part of The
proceeds to the counties or townships 70 |
that purpose, | am unable to learn that
any useful results have been Effected by
| that policy 1t viii be sufficient to make
the drainage and improvement of the
lands incumbent on the purchaser as one
of the conditions of the sale. ~
From the different nature Of the trust
| involved the principles proper in the dis
posaf Of the school lands are not applicable
to the swamp lands. The primary inter
| est of the State in the case Of The latter
Is to procure their Improvement and set
| element = and as the proceeds nre not
necessary to 60 into 'a perpetual fund for
specific purpose; they may be sold to
| meet such exigencies of our social gr6wth
| as are out of the ordinary lines Of civil
expenditures, in founding eleemosyna,y
and other public institutions, and in ulti-
mately paying off our public debts. =" A
minimum Of 81 .25 would accord with the
example of other States. Aieis '''"h
But the adoption of conservative
policy In the disposition Of the State lands
I will fail Of its objects, unless carried out
under proper system of administration,
and these are certain principles to be
4 xkr M, Nft tho forn
I'itself, which experience has shown to be
Indispensable to its efficiency and success
i II the first place the financial and topo-
I graphical supervision over the public lands
should be vested in a central department.
| at the seat of Government, under the
Immediate scrutiny OF tho Legislature, In
other States this has been found necessary,
firstly. to the economical, efficient, intell-
glble and safe administration Of the various
landed interests, and to prevent q sacrifice
! of the lands TO local combinations,--and
secondly,-what is even more. important,
to the management of the resulting funds
with view to the security of the princi-
pal, and to its productiveness as certain
aud regular source OF revenue, which are
the essential objects, of the whole system.
The necessity for the centraiiz ton of the
| land system. will appear, in a sufficiently
I strong light, from what has happened in
Iowa, which has ventured to depart from
the policy OF the older States, in this re-
gard. Under. the laws of that State, the
sale of the school lands, and the investment
and control OF the resulting funds, have been
entrusted to certain County Officers, elect
ed for, the purpose, and called School Fund
Commissioners, The results of this sys-
ten, have been precisely what might have
been anticipated from distributing duties,
requiring for their proper discharge, a high
order of financial ability and prudence,
among numerous irresponsible local agents.
Frequent defalcations for large amounts,
covered up under an inextrieable confusion
of accounts countless blunders and dis
crepances, arising from the, impossibility
of securing uniformity, or even intelhgibii.
ty, in the complex details Of bookkeeping
among so many persons-are the least OF
J the evils which Iowa is suffering from their
system. 4, The mismanagement of the funds,
the investment, to q large degree, as loans
t to private persons, in false or inadequate
I securities, have produced an amount of
! losses, the extent Of which has not yet
been ascertained !; but which am informed
! already amounts to over q quarter OF a
million of dollars. !, Add to this the. tota
, unreliability of the income Of these invest
) ments, and You .haye,a category Of evils
. incident 10 the. Iowa system. which are
4 necessarily fatal to ali the objects OF the
: school land grant. The radical error OF
: this system is, that the officers entrusted
g with the coptroi of the lands and funds OF
: the State, are not directly responsible to
! the general authority of the State, and that,
if they were, they are too numerous, and
!, at too great remove from the seat OF gov
ernment to be effectively Bcrutinlzed,
: / baveI commented thus freely on the
: the evils of the Iowa system, because pro-
e positions for its introduction have hereto
3 ore been favorabiy discussed in our Legis-
3 lature. A central land department on the
other hand having supervisiono of all the
t various landed interests, of the State, lis
: well recommended by the successful exa -
! ple of other States, as well as by the inher-
I ent simplicity and economy of that admin
istration. This plan gives unity and eff
" cency to the. land policy Of the State, it
? concentrates the responsibility of the agent
whose proceedings are thus open at all
: aides to the scrutiny of the public, and sur
rounded by effectusl guarantees fer fidelity
: and competency, , "-:
AS our land system becomes developed
to selfsustaining point, il will doubtless
be found expedient to establish State
: Land Office as a.. separate department,
. similar in its plan to that OF Michigan, com.
| rbap xs~;t c,af nj ha
= Wisconsin system. The Land Commis-
sioner should be entrusted with the entire
: superintendent and disposal Of the State
: Lands, while the State Treasurer should
, have the management of the resulting
: funds and the distributi n of the income ;
r while both should be under the control, in
specific cases Involving important discre-
, tionary powers, of Directing Board, com
) posed of some of the Heads of Depart
] merits, of which, in cases relating to the
School Eands the Superintendent of Public
I instruction might be one. In the details
of the system, some OF the errors OF the
: older States may be avoided. .1'
When in the opinion of the Directory
: the resurvev and further subdivision of the
Government lots shall be deemed expe-
, dent, contracts for the survey should be
, made with the Commissioner at establish
, ed prices. each contract to- include several
! counties, and in the case of swamp lands a
full land district
r Accurate descriptions of each tract, the
|quality of soil, timber, &C., with plsts OF
the same, should be filed in the Land Office.
, The lands should be Classified in grades,
with minimum price affixed to eash class.
They should then be appraised, and not
sold for less than the appraised value. The
terms of sale should be as liberal as com
patible with the security of the principal
f and prompt payment of the interest, non
payment Of which should work forfeiture.
: In the case of timbered lands, the whole
purchase money should be required.
All tracts of land, which upon appraisal,
shall be found to have reached or exceeded
, the minimum value, shall then he offered
, at public sale, unless the Directory
should deem it for the interest of the fund
, to withhold them. II not then sold the
Commissioner should be authorized to sell
at private sale at not less than the appraised
value. r..,,,s..t,,:.. ..s y.r
The Michigan plan Of conveyanc'ng
seems to. embody all the necessary
checks. Under this system the moneys
!. arising from sales, instead Of being en-
trusted to the caprice of County agents to
loan on real estate of doubtful value or
fallacious title, and subjected to innumera-
BILE risks of principal and interest, would
be paid into the Treasury to be invested by