services that they shall be permitted to purchase their homes at the government price, without competing with speculators for the fruits of their own toil, hardships, and privations. It is therefore earnestly recommended that this extension be accorded to them. I beg to advert to a recommendation heretofore made, of a grant of land for educational purposes in this District. Here, under the fostering care of the government, model schools could be founded, for imparting instruction in literature, mechanics and agriculture, and civil institutions established, on the plan of the Military and Naval academies, in which improvements in every branch of the arts could be tested and brought successfully into use; and where, in fact, youths from all parts of the country could be prepared to act as instructors in these useful and important branches, and thus disseminate throughout the land the benefits of scientific education.

A thorough knowledge of agricultural chemistry, especially when combined with geology, mineralogy, and metallurgy, would enable the farmers and planters of our country to develop the whole wealth of their respective regions, frequently at inconsiderable expense, causing barren lands to produce abundant crops, and withdrawing from their secret recesses in the bosom of the earth, the mineral treasures deposited therein.

The citizens of the District look to Congress for that assistance, in these particulars, which others receive from the legislatures of the States; and the means of disseminating science and useful information, thus established here, would advance the best interests of the country at large, and materially aid in perpetuating the blessings of civil and religious liberty.

9

The great increase in sales and locations of land for the last fiscal year, and in the third quarter of the current calendar year, mentioned in a former part of this report, has occurred in those States where railroads have been projected and grants made for them, or where such works are in contemplation, or by the proposed construction of the Sault Ste. Marie canal. As evidence of this fact, I would state that the lands withdrawn from sale in Illinois, to enable that State to select those granted to her by the act of 20th September, 1850, were again brought into market in July, August, and September, 1852, deducting, of course, the 2,595,0531 acres selected by her under that grant. During the fiscal year ending the 30th June last,

in that State there were sold for cash............. Located with land warrants......

298,861 acres. 2,509,120

66

not the fact. The following statement of the amount of sales for cash, along the route of this road in the several districts in Illinois, from the time these lands were thus brought into market in 1852, to the 30th of September, 1853, more strongly evinces the effect that road has had upon the sale of these lands:

sold at the
double mini-

No. of acres No. of acres sold Average No. of years
above the ordi- that these lands were
nary minimum, in market, at the min-
and above and
below the dou-
ble minimum.

mum.

District.

imum of $1.25 p. ac. from the time originally offered to 1850, when they werewithdrawn from the market.

As

In Missouri, the lands along the supposed routes of the several railroads for which grants were made by the act of 10th of June, 1852, were withdrawn from market on the following day. those roads had not then been located, these reservations were made more extensive than the lateral lines mentioned in the act, to enable the State to select the best route for each. The excess outside the fifteen-mile limits, ascertained after the survey of the roads, was restored to market on the 5th July, 1853, and hence could only affect the sales for the third quarter of that year. The following statement shows the amount of land sold during that quarter of the three preceding years, in each district:

Here, although the lands sold were fifteen miles or more from the route of the road, the increase has been very great; and I have no doubt, when the alternate sections within six miles, and those between the six and fifteen mile limits, are brought into market, that the increase will be equal to that of Illinois.

In Mississippi the sales have been very limited for several years. On the 20th September, 1850, the lands in Augusta and Columbus districts, along the proposed route of the Central railroad from Chicago, in Illinois, to Mobile, in Alabama, were withdrawn from market, and were not again thrown open to entry until the 26th September, 1853, for the Augusta district, and 19th September, 1853, for the Columbus district. In the former district there were but five days left in that month for sales to be made, and in the latter twelve days. The September return being the last received from those districts, I have caused a comparison to be made between sales for that month in 1853, and for the same month in the four preceding years, and the result is as follows, to wit:

Augusta, September, 1849........
Augusta, September, 1850..

Augusta, September, 1851...

Augusta, September, 1852.....

Augusta, September, 1853.....

424.95 acres.

311.47

66

40.65

66

..19,530.47

66

tion. The lands donated for the construction of these improvements, and those thus entered, must of necessity be cultivated, to enable the holders to pay the taxes, and from this legitimate source of revenue great pecuniary benefit will be derived by the States. This cultivation, as a matter of course, will increase the amount of grain and stock in the country; and with these increased facilities for sending those products to market, will reduce the price of living, and thus henefit the whole community. They will also reduce the price of transportation for the manufactures and imports of the seaboard, and so reduce the price of those articles to the settler, and proportionally increase the quantity used, and of course the profit to the manufacturer and importer. The mail facilities furnished by these lines of intercommunication will be of great advantage to the government and the entire community; and in case of war, if hostilities were brought to our own borders, the advantages furnished by them for transporting men and military stores are almost inappreciable. Another and very great benefit derived from these improvements, is the amount of capital and labor carried into the hearts of the several States by their construction. Hundreds of thousands of laborers can find constant employment on them, and each, by a very small amount of labor, can secure the blessings of a "homestead," without feeling degraded by having it conferred on him as a gratuity, even if it were constitutional thus to benefit a few at the expense of the many, or compatible with the pledges heretofore given in relation to the public lands.

It is not my purpose at this time to discuss the principles of the "homestead" measure, my views on that subject having been fully presented in a communication of the 18th June, 1852, to the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands of the Senate, in answer to a call from him; but it must be obvious that the friends of that measure can in this way accomplish all that is desired by it, without any of its objectionable features.

To grants of this character for railroads, canals, &c., not one tangible or substantial objection can be presented. The increased value given to the lands enables the government to get double price, and a ready sale for those retained, and hence the grant costs them nothing. The same reason removes all difficulty in relation to the pledge given by the United States, at the cession of these lands, that they should be considered a common fund, for the use and benefit of all the States, and renders them more available towards meeting the obligation imposed on them by the act of 28th January, 1847, that the proceeds should be set apart for the payment of the public debt created by that act. Let these railroads and canals be completed, and the husbandman will no longer have reason to complain that his grain remains ungarnered from year to year because there is no mode of sending it to market; it will all be eagerly sought after, and with his surplus stock will be sent abroad over the land, to feed thousands of his less

fortunate fellow-beings, while he will thus be made to rejoice in the prosperity secured by his honest toil and industry, saying nothing of the advantages to the business and finance of the country.

Moreover, these means of intercommunication, like iron bands, will unite the whole country together by a community of interest and feeling, and, like the arteries of the human system, will disseminate to every part the benefits of home production, and of the Eastern, Pacific, and Atlantic trade, when the great California railroad shall have been completed.

The recommendation heretofore made is therefore renewed, that liberal grants for all such objects be made, under suitable restrictions.

From the annexed statement E, which exhibits the present condition of the public lands, it will be seen that many millions of acres are now subject to entry, presenting to the settler every variety of soil and climate, rich in inexhaustible fertility and the valuable timber it bears, and in many sections containing mines of the precious metals, and of copper, iron, and coal.

PRE-EMPTION RIGHTS.

The following circular received by D. C. Tuttle, Esq., Register of the United States Land Office, in St. Louis, is carrying out a suggestion in the preceding report, and will be a source of satisfaction to the pioneers. Would that the cause of Geological Education and of the Mississippi Valley Railroad, were promoted, by grants of land by Congress, in accordance with the spirit of the suggestions of the liberal and enlightened Commissioner of the General Land Office.

PUBLIC NOTICE.

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, April 5, 1854.

Whereas, By an act of Congress approved March 27, 1854, entitled "an act for the relief of settlers on lands reserved for railroad purposes." every settler on public lands "which have been or may be withdrawn from market in consequence of proposed railroads, and who had settled thereon prior to such withdrawal, shall be entitled to pre-emption at the ordinary minimum, to the lands settled on and cultivated by them: Provided, they shall prove up their rights according to such rules and regulations as