The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-08-15
Uncle SAM AS LAND BUYER
THE LARGEST REAL ESTATE
nEALER IN THE WORLD.
Tod states Has Bought 2,247, $3.50
square Miles For $76'O4e' 1865
EouaI to 5.2S Cents an Acre.

Equal to 5.2s Cents an Acre.
7..,on the American colonies threw
g The woke of English rule and be-
n,o an independent nation Uncle
r.r,,. has been the largest real estate
5osIer the world has ever produced.
instead of trading in a few town
49,, or an occasional 1,00O-acre farm
~. oovernment has transacted
-rho1osale business, dealing in thous-
onas Of square miles, and on three
.onarate occasions the transfers nave
..-.o1,,ed more than 100000 square
miles each.
commencing with the purchase
snoro NAPOLEON in 1903 of what is
,.nown as the Louisiana Purchase"
tract of S75,S25 square miles, ex-
1.adiDu from the Gulf of Mexico to
.bo Canadian border and from the
Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean,
tor which 100000 was paid, the
United States has bought land when
over opportunity presented itself.
When Napoleon had become so in
,,o1,ad in wars that he stood alone
ogains+ the whole of Europe he saw
+bo utter impossibility of protecting
bis American possessions against the
snnerior navy of England, and gladly
seized upon the opportunity to rid
himself of something he could not
hold and at the same time put 10
100000 gold dollars into his Golfers
in Paris.
This territory of S75,825 square
miles. nearly IS times as large as
the state of New York, contains the
great gold, silver and copper mines
of the Black Hills and the wonderful
nrairie lands, which have become the
granarv of the world For this rich
country the United States paid 2 2-3
cents per acre.
Getting Florida.
Our next royal customer was Fer
dinand VII of Spain.
Having squandered his ready cash
in vain attempts to regain his South
American possessions he was steadily
in need of money to keep up his dis
sipated court and Iicentious indul-
gences, which had cost his country
81 dearly in men, money and morals
Ferdinand's minister of finance
having exhausted every source from
which funds could be procured sug-
gested the sale of the Land OF Flow
ers. Florida, as a last resort. Nego-
tiations we're Immediately entered
into with the United States, which
resulted in the transfer of this jewel
from the Spanish crown to the starry
field of the union flag. Thus Tor
s5,5OO,000, sufficient to enable Fer
dinand to continue his extravagant
pleasures for a brief period, Uncle
Sam became the possessor OF 1O,lO1
square miles of territory and one
more European thorn was withdrawn
from North America.
While the cost, 12a4 cents an acre,
was considerably higher than the
Louisiana purchase it must be re-
membered that in those days Florida
was much more accessible than the
territory west of the Mississippi.
Buying From Mexico.
In 1S48, after the close of the war
with Mexico, that country coded to
the United States 523,S02 square
miles of land for the sum of 3d.
100000, $3,25O,OO0 of which was to
be paid to the citizens of the United
States who held war claims against
Mexico.
This magnificent property included
the present states of California, Ari-
iona and New Mexico, containing
some of the richest mineral and agri-
cultural land in the world. The
cost was little less than 4 ~ cents
an acre.
In 1853 Uncle Sam became liberal
and made his second deal with Mex
lco the Gadsden purchase, buying a
narrow strip along the southern
boundary of Arizona and New Next
co, 26,211 square miles, for 100000
200 or 43.15 cents per acre, the top
price paid for an addition to our ter
ritory.
In 1867 the Car of all the Rus
sias in consideration OF 100000
IN good and lawful coin of the realm,
SET over, assigned, bargained and
sold to the United States of America
all OF right, title and interest in and
TO the 599,446 square miles of terri
tory, more or less, known as Alaska.
Inc low price-one and nine-tenths