Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1865-1872, 1868-04-10
SOLDIERS LAND BOUNTY BILL
Adverse Report from the COMMITTEES
on Public Lands. at

'''"ftftttt@f
Is, 1868.
Mr.. JuLrAs, ffom, tho Committee on
Public Lands, made the following report;
The proposition embodied In this bill
should be considered under the two fold
aspect OF its relations to the soldier, aud
It's effect upon the settlement and improve.
ment of the public domain; and a few
we'll known facts. which properly belong
10 the inquiry, will clearly point the way
to a just conclusion. ftH sttf -
Az the close Of the Inst fiscal year there
remained outstanding b3,0i2 military
bounty land warrants, issued under vari-
Gus acts OF Congress, calling for the ag-
gregate quantity Of b,6o3, go acres.
These warrants are selling at about one
dollar per acre. Under the Agricultural
College aes of 1862 scrip has been issued
TO non public land holding States to the
amount Of 5,3I0, 900 acres; aud when the
States of the South shall have received
their shares under the act, the whole
amount Of land covered by IL will be g.
900 900 acres. This will be the subject
oi monopoly in the hands Of spectators,
and the price Of the scrip will depend, to
considerable extent, upon the quantity
of IL in market, aud Of the INDICATED mil:
itary bounty land warrants. The pfs'ee
has generally ranged from sixty to seventy
cents per acre, but has sometimes gone
much lower. As further affecting the
price Of warrants aud scrip, il should be
remembered that over "A, 600. 600 acres Of
"swamp and oyerhowed lands" have been
granted by Congress to the States, more
than one-half of which is probably in the
hands OF monopoists, that about 2O0,-
600 600 Of acres have been granted to aid
in building railroads, and for other pur-
poses of internal improvement, thus ia
suguratiDg further aud fearful monopolies
of the public domain; and that millions
of Indian lands, by virtue OF the most
pernicious treaty stipulations, are falling
into the hands Of monopolists, thus still
further aggravating the wide spread evils
long siuce inflicted upon the country by
the ruinous policy of land speculation.
Every day gives birth TO some new scheme
of monopoly by which the paramount
right of the people TO homes on the pub
lie domain is abridged or denied, and its
productive wealth seriously retarded, and
ho ore will need be told that, should this
policy be continued, the opportunities Of
settlement and tillage under the prc-emp.
tion aud homestead laws must constantly
diminish
Keeping these facts in remembrance,
the effect of the proposed measure upon
tile interests Of the soldier must be quite
apparent. 1t provides that "those who
engaged to serve twelve months or more,
aud actually served niue months, shall re-
ceive eighty a res, and those who engaged
TO serve three months, and less than six
months, shall receive forty acres" Under
the first class specified there are 2,037,-
4l3 soldiers, which number, multiplied
by $50, gives the number of acres reqhir-
ed, namely, 325, ,9S6,080 Under the Sec
ond class there are 16,361 soldiers, who
at eighty acres each, would require ,30S,-
$50 acres Under the third class there
are 19l Ss5. which, multiplied by forty,
requires Z ,675, 400 acres. These are the
official figures which have been supplied
by the War Department, after first de-
dueting the number of acknowledged de-
serters, those who paid commutation, and
those who were dishonorably discharged /
The total number of soldiers to be pro-
vided for, as will be seen, is 2.245 $50,
and the aggregate quantity of land re-
quired 334 $40 800 acres, being more than
one-tLird of our remaining public domain
and at least one-hslf the arabie portion
of the same. Now, considering the pres
ent price of college scrip, and of military
bounty-land warrants, aud the stupendous
monopoly OF the public domain which is
lr~ al
swallow it up, what would be the natural
effect Of throwing upon the market g.
245 ,659 land warrants, made assignable
by this bill, like those already issued?
Every man can answer this question for
himself; but the committee believe the
price Of warrants would fall as low as
twenty-five cents per acre. 1t would, at
all events, be cruel mockery of the just
claims of the soldier, and the policy in
question cannot therefore be insisted upon
In bis interest. If land is what he wants,
he can have il on the liberal terms of the
homestead law, prescribing, however, the
indispensably necessary conditions of set
tlement and Improvement. If bounty
in money is what he needs. and we admit
the necessity, then let the money be grant.
ed by Congress, and let the just claims of
all soldiers be equalized, by the payment
of a fixed sum per month during the time
of service, as provided for in the bill
which has repeatedly passed the House of
Representatives, and as repeatedly been
defeated in the Senate.
But this measure will appear far more
indefensible five consider its effects upon
the settlement of the public domain. This
subject was carefully considered by the
House Committee on the Public Lands of
the Thirty-ninth Congress, and perhaps
we cannot do better than adopt their Ian.
guage in responding to petition praying
for bounties in land: "All the evils of
land speculation, to an extent as alarming
as it would be unprecedented, would be
the sure result. Capital, always sensitive
and sagacious, would grasp these warrants
at the lowest rates. Land monopoly in
the III United States, under this national
sanction, would have its new birth, and
enter upon a career of widespread mis-
chief and desolation. Spectators would
seize and appropriate nearly all the choice
lands of the Government and those near
est the settled portions of the country,
whilst homestead claimants and pre-emp-
tora wouid ho drivan fa the oufski irta of