Year: 1864

system is, in my judgment, = bad one,
for two reasons. In the FIRST place, il
must ::happen in many cases that the
County Clerk is not fitted, by previous
business training, to make safe and judi.
cious investments especially, he may
not have the necessary legal knowledge
to enable him to determine, accurately
the sufficiency of the title to real estate
offered as security for loan. 10 the
second place the money may be used to
promote personal or political objects. A
corrupt clerk will use, and an honest but
weak one, will be sorely tempted to use
his power to lend these moneys to secure
his own political interest or that of his
party friends. The system, in my opiu.
ion, is wrong in theory, and that it is
unsafe in practice is clearly shown by the
large amount of insuficiently secured
principal and delinquent interest.
therefore earnestly recommend that the
lending Of any portion of the principal
of said funds, as heretofore, be prohibit
ed, and the enactment of law that will
require the investment, by the Treasurer
of State, Of such principal, as the same
may be paid in, in stocks of the United
States, or of this State.


In this connection request your spe.
cial attention to the report of the Audit.
or of State on this subject.


SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY LANDS.


The School Lands consist of the Eve
hundred thousand acres grant, and the
sixteenth section. Large quantities Of
these lands have from time to time, been
sold by county officers, authorized by
law to make such sales. These sales
have been generally made upon time, the
purchaser paying in hand portion of
the purchase money, and taking con-
tract emitting him to patent from the
State upon the payment of the balance
with annual interest. Many of these
sales were made at high prices, before
the monetary revulsions Of 1857, and
many of the purchasers have since the re.
vulsion, failed to pay either principal or
interest. Portions of the lands have
thus become forfeited to the State for
non payment of the purchase money, and
have been re-sold to other parties. But
there is no sufficient provision of the law
requiring such forfeitures and re.sales to
be reported to any State officer and the
result is that it is now impossible to as
certain, from any record at the capitol,
the number Of acres or the particular de-
scriptiou Of the several parcels OF the
School Lands yet unsold.


This condition of effairs should not be
permitted to continue, and recommend
the enactment OF such laws as will re-
move the difficulty.


The Saline Lands and Funds are now
"a part of the permanent fund" of the
State University. call your attention
to that part Of the report Of the Register
of the State Land Office, which shows
the necessity for further legislation in
regard to the issuance of certificates of
full payment for tho portion of these
lands already sold, and recommend that
the Treasurer Of the University be au-
thorized to issue such certificates, and
that the power to sell the unsold portion
of the lands be vested in the trustees.
. In many cases School Lands were sold
prior to 1857, at such high prices that
after that date, they were not worth the
amount due on them. The purchasers
have ceased to pay either principal or
interest: l suggest the inquiry, wheth.
it would not be we'll to provide for the
surrender of these lands to the State, the
purchaser being relieved from further
liability, by forfeiting payments already
made, without resort to legal proceed.
ings.


THE 100000 ACRES GRANT.


As l have elsewhere stated, it is
not possible to ascertain, in any Office
here, the amount or the description of
the various parcels of this land yet un-
sold by the State. The records of the
Register show the amount that has been
patented to purchasers, but do not show
how much of the balance has been sold
or is held under contract of sale, and
how much is unsold. This is also true
of the Sixteenth Section lands. The
Ninth General Assembly provided by
law, for the purchase, for the use of the
School Fund, of lands mortgaged by Dor.
rowers of that fund, as security, but the
law does not provide for the making of a
return to the Register, of lands thus pur-
chased and of sales made thereof by the
officers authorized to SELL Information
on all these points can be had, only, in
the various counties. Under these cir
cumstances it is clearly impossible for
the State to exercise, over these lands
and their proceeds, that vigilant superin-
tendenco it should exercise.


| therefore recommend the passage of
law making it obligatory upon the
proper county officers to make return to
the Register of all the lands of the Six
teenth Section and the 100000 acres
grant, sold in their respective counties,
the dates of sales, the names Of the per-
sons to whom sold, the terms of sale, and
the extent to which these terms have
been complied with, with full particu.