Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-01-15

NANNANAA - NHNNA "a 0EAEAH
ton which would necessitate an ex-
pensiye survey, nor on any without
paying the commissions Of the Register
and Receiver Of the US. Land Office,
which amount to two per cent in cash.
But after the land was obtained it was
subject to sale at not less than fifty
cents per acre, whereas, without the
mourning the expense CT locating the
scrip, the board obtained one dollar per
acre for it.. / am therefore warranted
in saying that the board acted wisely
and for the best interests of the State
in making the sale for the price stated.
During the past two years the sales in
the Swamp Land Office have amounted
to only 564,O82 acres, of which 238, 1858
acres were Internal Improvement land.
Under the Act of March Is, 1884,
the marsh lands belonging to the State
and lying on the coast were surveyed
under the supervision of Mr.. Cameron
by Mr.. j. M. T. Hamilton, a competent
civil engineer at a total expense of
$2,872.23, and maps, field notes and
report of the same are now on file in
the Swamp Land Office. These lands
aggregate lS,l79.84 acres, and is valu-
able for different purposes. None of
them have been sold, but several ap-
plications are on f!e for the consider
alton of the board charged with the
dicp0citinn of tho 1nDJ
In the years 1884 and 1885, 1925
585 acres of land were purchased and
redeemed through the Auditors office,
leaving 966, 226 acres still held for
taxes.
These lands are subject to purchase
for the taxes and the cost of the con.
veyance, which is in many cases far
less than their value. If the purchaser
fails from any cause to get title, his
money is refunded with six per cent.
interest. In other words, the State
warrants the title. If the purchaser
gets title he secures a valuable piece
of land for much less than its value,
and has made a good speculation with
out mourning the slightest risk. The
object of this provision was to stimu-
late the purchase of State lands and
get them on the assessment rolls, and
it was a wise provision when, as was
the case in 1875, u per cent. of the
lands in the State were held for taxes.
But now there is no need for it. The
lands will find a ready market without
it. Therefore recommend the amend
ment Of. section 537 of the Code
SO AS not to apply to future
purchases. A similar provision in
relation to swamp lands was
repealed at the last session of the
Legislature. Only so acres of the
CklckasaW school lands have been sold
since January l, 1884. The price is S.
per acre. and | renew my recommen-
dation that it be reduced. About a.
900 acres of these lands remain unsold.
l now invite your attention to a
brief history of the
CHICKAsAW SCHOOL FUND
after which l will ask you to consider
the best e of reducing the high
rate of interest the State now pays on
the that fund.
Congress, by an act approved March
3, 1903 q Statutes at Large, p. 234)
reserved from sale, section number
sixteen in each township for the sup
port of schools withing the same. BY
the treaty of PontoJoc Creek, on the
Goth October, 1882, & Staff tes at
Large, p. $780, the Chickasaw Indians
coded to the United States all their
lands in Mississippi. embracing $685.
804 acres, and the United States on its
part agreed to sell the same and pay
over the proceeds to the Chickasaw
Nation. Since title to the sixteenth
sections in this cession had already
vested in the State, this treaty could
not diVest it. But to settle all con-
troversy that might arise out of these
conflicting grants, by an act approved
July 4, 1886 Is Statutes at Large,
F. l16,) Congress granted to the State
in lieu of said sixteenth sections one.
thirty sixth part Of the land ceded by
the Chickasaws, within the State,
which lands when selected were to be
holden "by the same tenure and upon
the same terms and conditions, in all
respects, as the said State now holds
the lands heretofore reserved for the
use of the schools within said State"
Thus the amount donated for school
purposes and known as the Chickasaw
school lands, was 174,55 acres. By
an act approved February 23d, 184S,
(Acts, l848, P. 62), the State author
l2ed the Secretary Of State to lease
these lands for a period of ninety nine
years, and renewable to the lessee, his
heirs or assigns forever for a sum not
exceeding six dollars per acre, but GER
tain persons were authorized to enter
at two dollars and a half the several pre-
emptions heretofore entered by them
under the laws of the general govern
ment. The fifth section of this act
provided that the proceeds of these
lands, after deducting the expenses of
the sale, were to be a charge upon the
State, "to be held in trust by said
State for the use of schools in the
Chickasaw c%ession, and to be applied
to that purpose as hereafter to pro-
vided by law"
1t will be noted that these sales were
made without the authority of Con-