, 1864-06-23
TIE TWO PEE CENT FUND.
An IntereAtInE Fragment Of State
History.

An InterestluE Fragment Of State
History
The following communication was sent to
Us some time since and should have appeared
in the TRIBUNE, but was accidentally mis-
hid We now print It as part-and very
interesting part-of the political and fnan-
cial history of Illinois:
Editors Chicago Tribune: 49,,
For several months past ! have seen in
your paper alluslons to *TWo Per Cent
Fund.- c}aimed By this State IRON the Gen
ertl Government, on ace oant Of the sales Of
public lands in Illinois, amounting to nearly
halt.a million Of dollars These notices
wire, until lately, engmatical to me; nor
could by inquiries Nude. to our most intel
gent citizens, learn upon what this two per
cent claim was founded. 3.
The first of these allusions appeared in the
TRIBUNE duringt the last autumn, IRON which
disappeared that the Hon Isaac N. Morris
WAS then at Warrington, as agent Of the
State, prosecuting this claim. Subsequent
II that the Secretary Of the Interior, to whose
DEF astuent the subject Fertained, had de-
cided against It; and TINT the agent then ap-
piled to the Attorney General, who failed or
neglected to give an opinion on the validity
Of the claim
In your Issue ot yesterday is letter from
your Washington correspondent, which
states that the President, Nth the ady1ce Of
the Attorney General, had again referred the
subject to the Secretary Of the Interior, who
wns directed to state the account. The Sec.
retary did 80, but at tho same time charged
the State with the expenditures for the Na-
tional road, so far % those expenditures
were made in tie state, which brings the
State actually in debt to the General Govcrn-
ncnt some one hundred and fifty Thousand
but the best OF the thing Is, TINT those ex-
'penditures were made previous to the act
donating the two per cent to the State.
This decision is pronounced Illegal by some
Of the best jurists In the country.''
By the statements ! am about to make, It
Will appear that this two per cent" WAS
not donation from the General Goyen-
mcnt, but was granted in pursuance OF a v4l
nrble consideration Il will also appear that
the above aVerment OF your correspondent,
that the expenditures on the National Road
were made previous to the act granting tho
two per cert to the State, has not the slight
est foundation in truth.
In the act Of Congress. authorizing the peo.
pic Of that part sf the Northwest Territory
fnclIded IN the present boundaries of Ohio,
to elect delegates to Convention for the
purpose Of forming Constitution Of State
Government, the following proposition was
CONVENTION, which, when ra1iaed by said
Convsntion, should be deemed an
article Of compact between tue
United States and the State Of
Ohio: viz, That five per cent Of the pro-
eeeds Of the sales Of the public lands in said
State should be granted to 1t, three-tifths Of
it ior the construction Of roads within the
State, and two.f .fifths for roads leading 10 The
State. In return for which 1t was stipulated
that the Convention should provide BY erdf-
nance, Us part Of tile Constitution to be form
I'd, that no tax should ever be levied By the
State on the public lands of the United States
Fn-ff nj In ttnf31 Hpa nff fho
date Of Ea1e. The proposition was accepted
by the Convention, and 1t became an article
Of compact between the State Of Ohio and
the United Suites.
On the admission Of the Territory OF India-
ma frto the Union % State, the sumo com
pact was entered into between the parties.
AT The session OF 18l7-l8, our delegate In
+ Congress, 1.-THE late Judge Pope,) introduced
/ tic bill to enable the people OF the Territory
Of Illinois 10 elect delegates to q convention
| for inRtitutinE q Stnte Government. The
| terms Of the BIZ n'>Werc the same Us those in
rsspectto Ohio nd Indiana, excepting that
| tie per cent for constructing roaaa within
| the Suite was changed to purposes Of educa-
uon In the eame-the othertWo Per cent re-
mining for roads leading to the State. On in
Producing the bill Mr. Pope explained, that
Illinois being prairie ceuntry; roads could
be constructed With little cost and labor, and
! when The people wanted them they would
make them. He had therefore changed the
| destination Of the three per cent for roads to
| purposes Of education in the stute.
T, rCong1ess at an earlier period bad under
taken The construction OF a road from Cum
herland in MarJland, to Wheeling in Vir-
ginta, called the ''Cunberiand Road" aud
made yearly appropriations for 1t until 1t
NaB finished. q year or two after the I'D.
mission OF 1llins is in G Union, the House
| ha3 before it bill mailing an appropriation
for tho Cumberland Road, aud il it was . d.
/ fh4f hE XII ~ a la atN
be refunded 10 the TT: asurer ont Of the two
per cent fund OF Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
| hir. Cook, cur Representative, objected to,
this, eo far as Illinois Was concerned, saYing
| that the TWO per cent was tor roads leading
to the State, not those leading to.oatd4 It
road in Massachusetts pointing in the dlrec-
| tiop Of the State. The matter WAS finally
| settled by measure which lad BEEN lung
contemplated. ot extending the Cumberland
Road from Wheeling through the seats Of
I Government OF Ohio, Indi,na and Illinois,
tion vas made 1or That purpose, to be re-
funded ont OF the TWO per cent fund Of those
States, The highway, then took the name
OF the "Nations1 Road.''
It was for several years a subject of fierce
contention eetWeen the people Of St; Louis
the terminus Of he road. The Commission
ets for surveying It we're Instructed to pro-
ceed due West from Vanda1ia to the MissIp-
pt river, and their line struck that river two
or three mi1es below the mouth of the ILL.,
nois. :.' .
When the road was completed as far as
Vand.ia, and the point of Its terminus re-
manned. to be decided, Joint Resolution
was passed BY our Legislature, that the con-
sent of this State il given for the construc-
ton Of the National Road through Illinois,
place and the. month Of the Illinois, river.
and at no other point The influence Of tho
Illinois delegation in Congress was balanced
by that Of Missouri, and the road has never
been extended west from Vandaiia-' ''''~