The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-03-24

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ing over prairies, hills, and mountaies innumer-
able, ready for those future generations who,
In the prospect OF 80 much land, are demand
ing life, impatient to be born"
In the early days Of the republic our public
lands were chiefly valued as an anticipated
source of puthc wealth. They were expected
to bear the burdens OF a people just entering
into the family Of nations. As oarly as De-
cember, 1776, the agent sent by the Revolution
AIRY Congress to France wrote home to the Com
mittee OF Secret Correspondence, predicting
rush Of emigration from Europe as soon as
American nationality should be det ermined.
And he marked out wide triangle of territory,
with three sides OF thousand miles each, ''as
source amply adequate under proper regula-
tions for defraying the whole expense Of the
war, and the sums necessary to be given to the
Indians in purchase of the native right.
These lands were then universally considered
rs q source OF revenue as we'll as the seat OF en-
pire of nation yet to be. Blu; these pecuniary
expectations were doomed to disappointment I;
and THESE Wild Ian ls are now chiefly used as
stimulus 10 immigration, as the means OF found
ltary services, and giving homestead to every
one who viii live on them. Over seyenty-6ve
millions of acres have been granted for schools
aid colleges. Twenty-Five millions more have
been appropriated to build railroads, and twelve
millions for other purposes. Sixty millions
have been bestowed on the brave defenders OF
their country, their widows and children forty
I q L1a fO,~I Iaof
and-dumb asvlums, and thirteen-milhons re-
reserved for the use OF Indian tribes, And all
this has been done systematically thoroughly,
and legally. The pubic domains have been
lookedupon as gift, held by the nation In trust
| for it's future inhabitants, and no selfish or mar
row views have withheld the lands from their
intended proprietors. Every head Of IA mily,
every widow, every single ma n Cor woman) over
the age of twenty-one, has been invited to select
his own farm, the only condition attached to the
gift being its five years cultivation And yet 80
rapid is the appreciation IN value OF the land
when once settled on, that it is found by ex-
pertinent that from forty to fifty per cent. of
those who enter their lands under the provis-
ions OF the homestead law, expecting to receive
gratutous deed, prefer to pay for them rather
| than wait five years for the contamination Of
their titles. The law practically gives them five
years in which to find purchaser. Even after
! lands have been occupied four years and nine
months, and three months longer would have
/ given ali undisputed title without cost, the
claimants have been known to pay the govern
ment prlce rather than lose the chance of good
sale.
II among other governmental bureaus mar
riage bureau were located 1T Washington, its
data would furnish the best test OF our national
prosperity good crop is always followed by
an increase OF marriage and postal receipts
Next to marital statistics the public lands fur
nish our best national thermometer. When
the country is prosperng when agriculture
paws and labor Is il demand land is easily alb
sorbed. Il passes very rapidly from It's wild
state INTO cultivated homes But when times
are hard, improvements are few and progress
slow. During the first eleven years OF our con
stitutional exlstance, when we were slowly and
painfully proving our right to be, land was only
taken up at the rate of a hundred thousand acres
year. BY 1909 the sales realiz ed $705, ,245.
During the var with Great Britain the sales
largely fell OF but with the return of prosper
ity they recuperated, till in 1919 they nettet
over three millions OF dollars During Genera
jackson's administration, when paper currency
and paper cities added such fictitious value
to the charms OF nature, land was IN great de
mand the sales for 1885 realized fourteen
millions OK dollars for 1886, twenty -one mil
lions. The momentary revulsions OF the mex
few years brought the sales in 1912 down tC
nearly a million of dollars. From 1850 to 1885,
they averaged not far from ten millions year
but in 1862 they only amounted to 1926, O4S
The homestead laws and college and railroad
grants will probably keep the future receipts o
sales from land at low figures. They now re
aize about three millions year.
In two respects the Unlted States differ from
ell other nations. are superior to most othc
nations, and both these are mainly due to tn
large quantity Of our public lands. One o
these differences is the extent Of our common
school system, not more IN the present than il
the rich promise OF the future and if this ma
ton shall ever acquire a culture distinctivel
American, it will spring from the noble an
generous use of wild lands as a support of com
mon schools. In the first ordinance for as
certaining the mode OF disposing of lands il
the Western territory" Congress enacted tina
Lot No. 16 OK every township should be resery
ed for the maintenance or public schools with
in said township. As there are thrty-six lot
OF 6i0 acres each in every township, one-thir
ty-sixth part Of all our lands was thus consc
Grated to tho cause OF education But, as /
this were not enough, a subsequent act CAV
: Lot No. SO also for school purposes so tina
now in every township that shall ever be incor
porated in our boundless West, twelve hundre
and eighty acres, or eight farms of the averag
size of 160 acres each, the whole of the min
mum value OF sixteen hundred dollars, of a
actual average OF seven thousand dollars, o
thereabouts, are reserved for educational pur
poses. Hon. ,loseph s. Wilson. of Washing
ton, who is the highest authority in the Unite
States on all questions relating to public land
- - =. A.