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

river, and in the northern districts Of the
State are covered with valuable woods,
demanding stringent laws for their protec;5
ri The procesis Of the Tramp i,ads W.
ibtended, by fbb terms6 ~ the. act gsntiH3
he same, to 81 used + ~ the purpose %
drfining and Improving -thern.- t'ongress
has specified no method by which this
shall be .dons, and although it ia usual in,
other States to apportion part OF The
proceeds to the counties or townships fo
that purpose, am unable to learn rhat,
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. III
From the different nature Of the trust
involved the principles proper in the dis
posaf Of the school iands are not appiicable
to the swamp iands. q The primary inter
est Of the State in the acase, Of fhe htter
Is to procure their improvements and Set
element = and as the proceeds nre not
necessary to 60 into sa psrpetual fund for
q specific purpose, they may Be- sold to
meet such exigencies of our tociAl gr6wth
as are out OF the ordinary lineS Of civl
expenditures, in founding eleemosyna,y
and other public institutions, and in ulti-
mately fpaying off our public debts, A
minimum Of 81 25 would accord with the
example of other States. asfeiss'il's
But the adoption Of q conservative
policy In the disposition bf the State lands
I will fail Of its objects, unless carried out
under proper system of administration,
and these are certain principles TO be
observed in the organization Of the system
Iitself, which experience has shown to be
Indispensable to It's efficiency and success.
~ II the first place the financial and topo--
graphical supervision over the public lands
should be vested in q 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, intelli-
gible and safe administration of the various
landed interests, and TO prevent q sacrifice
Of tie lands to local combinati land
secondly, what is even more. important,
Ito the management of the resulting funds
with view to the security of the princi-
pal, and to its productiveness as q certain
and regular source OF revenue. which are
the essential objects of the whole system.
The necessity for the ceptrahz ton Of the
land system,. will appear, in q sufficiently
strong light, from what has happened in
Iowa, which has yeniured 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
Compissicners, The results Of this sys-
tem have been precisely what might have
been anticipated from distributing duties,
requiring for their proper discharge, q. high
order of financial ability and prudence,
among numerous irresponsible local agents.
Frequent i defalcations for large amounts,
covered up under an inextricable confusion
Of accounts countless blunders and dis
crepa1cies, arising from the, impossibility
of securing uniformity, or even intelhgibili.
ty, in. the complex details Of bookkeeping
/ uuVs6 az i.AaIy PStSSnc SofS'SSs s.N'",s =
the evils winch Iowa IS suffering rom tneir
system. Inc plsmanagement ol tne iunos,
the investment, 70 large degree as loans
to private persons, N iaiSe or inaaequale
securities, have. produced an amount OF
losses, the extent Of which has. not yet
been ascertained bpt which am informed
already amounts to over q quarter of Q
million of dollars. a. Add to this the. tota
unrSll$ppiA.y " sle 'ncoiAr " uleso n'scss-
ments,i ana you haysia. category y eylls
nclqent 70 sle, iowa system. ~. Nn~u ~ ate
necessarily iatsl0 " al M Ape. .ogjeI's VI pe
scnooi lana gram, ne faaical er.eI .,
this system is, that the olncefs tei.tus'ea
with the conyioi o. .ne lagos anu lo,,us ~
the state, are NOT laiEectiy respopsiols "
the genera anthorityo oi 1Re olate' aiiataa',
II 9theYIweEc'ftosy are 'oo snu'hslous. ,a'''
At too great q remove rom 'hs seatol gov
ernment 70 oe eIiecuVely scru4hlAeosh p
II hapeI commented thus freely. on the
.the evils OF the Iowa system, because pro-
Il positions for its introduction have hereto
ore been fsvorably discussed in our Legis-
lature. "A central land department on the
other hand having supervlslonof all the
various landed interests of tho State, lis
we'll recommended by the successful exa -
\ pie of other States, as well by the iDher-
ent simplicity and economy of that admin
istration. This plan gives unity and effi-
cjency to the land policy Of the State, 1T
concentrates the responsibility of the agent
whose proceedings are thus open at all
sides to the scrutiny of the public, and sur
rounded by efectual guarantees fer fidelity
and competency. l.j - @sl.a.s Z.
| As our land system becomes developed
to seIf-sustaining point, it will doubtless
be found expedient to establish State
Land Office AZ a.. separate departments
similar in its plan to that OF Michigan, com.
bined perhaps with some features OF the
Wisconsin system. The Land Commits
siooer should be entrusted with the entire
snperintendence 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 /;
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 DepEt-
ments, of which, IN cases relating to the
School kands, the Superintendent of Public
instruction might be one. In the details
of the system, some Of the errors Of the
older States may be avoided. y ~- ,bi
8 When-in the opinion Of the Directory
| the resurvey and further subdivision OF the
Government lots shall be deemed expe
dent, contracts for the survey should be
a xp;fJ, <ls, 70 cioynr AZ oct hliah