Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-01-20

for the inspection OF the people. ant
convenient for the use of the Legislative
Committees, to make auch examinations
rs might be deemed necessary.
/ Intimately connected with this sub
iecs is the necessity for the creation o
another State officer, the Incumbent o.
which shall be alone charged with the
management of the financial affairs o.
the State, and of auditing and adjusting
I all accounts and claims due to or from
the State deem it of the utmost
importance that provision be made by
amending the Constitution of the State
for the election of an Auditor, whose
term of office shall be not less than SIX
years, who shall be charged with these
duties.
suggest a long term for that officer,
because he will be the most important
one in the State, aud the people cannot
afford to educate man to discharge the
duties which will devolve upon him,
oftener than once in six years.
1t ~ your duty to throw around the
State Treasury all the safeguards which
human ingenuity can devise. 1t is u
sacred trust given on by the people,
which they have right to expect you
viii fai 'hfully fulfill.
LANDS.
The Commissioners of School and
University Lands report that there
were sold, during the last fiscal ear:
School Lands ............. Al, 48O. 81 acres
swamp Lands ............. 40, 669.9y do
university LanuS. ............. 3,3It.62 do
There are many individuals indebted
to the State for loans from the trust
funds, who are unable to pay. The
property given as security has been for
feited to the State, leaving balance
due, from which the debtsrs seek to be
relieved. j recommend that the Com
missioner be vested with authority to
settle with that class of debtors, upon
the best terms possible. If such a set
Element is not made, the State will re-
ceive nothing from them.
Tresspassing upon State lands, and
stealing timber therefrom, has long
been an existing evil, in spite of efforts
made to prevent it. If there be suiIi-
cient ipower in the State, this crime
should be stopped. / know of no Grim
inal who deserves to he more severely
punished than the one who, by pilier-
ing the timber from the lands donated
to the State for educational purposes,
steals the sacred inheritance of the
children.
respectfully call your attention to
their recommendation upon this and
other subjects; all of which, 1 doubt
not, will receive the consideration their
Importance demands.
In 1850, Congress granted to the
States all the unsold swamp and over
flowed lands, situated within their bor-
ders, respectively.
Shortly after the grant was made, the
Commissioners of the Genera Land
Office proposed to the States to take
the lands by one of two alternatives;
either by having an actual survey made
to determine which were swamp lands,
or by accepting the plats and field-notes
OF the United States survey, and receiv-
ing the lands named in them as swamp
aud overlooked lands, as the share of
the State.
Governor Dewey, by letter to the sur
veyor general of Wisconsin and Iowa,
dated June 81, 1851, decided TO take
the lands as they were designated in the
Government survey.
1t was very soon discovered that there
were many thousand acres of swamp
lands in the State which did not appear
as such In these plats and surveys, and
that this State was not receiving all the
lands to which it was entitled under the
grant. Upon request being made to
tile General Land Office for re-sllrveys,
with view to correct errors, IN order
that the State might receive all the
lands TO which it was entitled, it was
held by the authorities at Washington,
that the State having once decided to
receive such lands as were designated
in those plats and surveys as swamp and
over-howed lands, for its portion, it
was bound by its own action, and that
no change could be made
. This matter having been brought to
the attention of the Legislature, snr-
vey was authorized to be made for the
purpose of testing the correctness of
the United States plats and surveys.
This survey was made aud a report
thereof made to the Governor of the
State, and by him presented to the Leg
islature in 1860. That report proved
that the State had not re
ceived the amount of lands to which it
was entitled.
so the matter stands now; the State
rightly claiming that the
Government cannot Justly hold the
State to its choice TO receive the lands
designated in the United States plats
and surveys, except upon the assump-
tion that these plats and surveys were
and that the State cannot Just !
ly be compelled, by reason of the errors
of Government employees, to lose
of acres of land.
There Is no doubt that we have a |
valid claim against the General Govern |
ment for large quantities of land, and |
for moneys received for the sale of |
lands which should have been included |
III the grant to the State.
Owing to the vast accumulation of
public business incident to the war,
this subject has not been pressed with |
vigor, but now a fitting time has again |
come to move in the matter.
L respectfully refer you to Appendix |
"a" of the Assembly Journal of 1860, |
where you will find the correspondence
which passed between the State author |
tiles and the Commissioner of the |
General Land Office mt Washington,
and the report OF the. survey made 10y
of the State, all of which
to your earnest attention.
All proper efforts will be made to
induce the Government to change its
decision
Chapter 537 IF the general laws of
4 n, III IA